Creating a mask of a head in video?

[Rudyard]

I was playing around with Premiere Pro 2 and After Effects 7 trying to create a mask of a princess leas head in a scene from starwars so I can eventually put someone elses head in her place.

I was able to, in after effects mask out only her head but there arent enough nodes to accurately select the shape I want to mask. For example in photoshop you can click as many points as you want on a photo to cut out exactly the shape you need. But when working with video I only am allowed a circle or 4 points and that doesnt let me pick with any accuracy what I want.

I figured for my task I would mask out the head using keyframes as the video moves to keep only what I want in the scene and then add my video over and scaling it to fit.

I could do what I want if was masking out a square but the mask tool doesnt seem to let me pick more than 4 nodes to create the shape I need. I can do it with a still picture but not with video.

Can anyone help or point me to a guide on this?? ( I actually have Vegas 5 if that is easier but have access to premiere pro 2 and after effects 7 on a different PC and they are what I was trying this on).

[daamon]

Hi Rudyard,

I don't know if you've ever come across www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial - it's a great site for Adobe video-related s/w that may well have the answers in the forums. If not, you can register and ask.

Good luck!

[Rudyard]

Thanks Daamon, I have been directed to that site before - will have to bookmark it so I can use it for reference!

Didnt know it had a forum and will hopefully learn some tricks there.

Thanks for your help.

[guns1inger]

If you are restricted to four nodes you are using the wrong tools.

One of the best free sites for effects and video tutorials is the creative cow. Lots of AE stuff as well as many other packages.

http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=2&page=http://www.creat...ts_script.html

will get you started. You might want to look at the podcast on motion paths and how to create you paths in photoshop and import them for masking.

[Rudyard]

thanks gunslinger, am checking it out now.

[mogoyon]

Use the pen tool. You can shape whatever you want, and I believe you can also add or delete nodes through the video.

[pijetro]

You can add nodes...You can move the mask, reshape the mask, etc...It simply represents an extra keyframe under the "mask" properties of your layer...
Just to push you into the right direction...If you're looking for fancy masking, google "rotoscoping"...
Unfortunately you haven't opened up the treasure box that masking allows for..