Question about which editor I should use for a specific task.

[DoctorDyna]

Hey!

Just a really quick question for the experts. I've got a couple of videos that I'd like to edit. Basically, I'm planning on having a little fun with a friend of mine by editing out an object that he's recorded a video of himself with and replacing it with another object.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

My question is, what do you think the best piece of software would be to accomplish this?

[edDV]

Hey!

Just a really quick question for the experts. I've got a couple of videos that I'd like to edit. Basically, I'm planning on having a little fun with a friend of mine by editing out an object that he's recorded a video of himself with and replacing it with another object.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

My question is, what do you think the best piece of software would be to accomplish this?

What is the source video format? Camera model number?

[Cornucopia]

3D modelling (e.g. Blender) + Compositing (e.g. AE, Nuke, Combustion, Fusion, Shake, Blender). And LOTS of long, hard work...

Scott

[DoctorDyna]

3D modelling (e.g. Blender) + Compositing (e.g. AE, Nuke, Combustion, Fusion, Shake, Blender). And LOTS of long, hard work...

Scott

Cool, this is kinda what I was looking for.

Basically, it's a video of someone showing something off and I'd like to take a photo of a different object and stick it over the top of it.

So blender is what I'm after for stuff like that eh?

Thanks bunches!

[Cornucopia]

Really depends alot on what you know, how close you want to get to "reality", and how many shortcuts you take.

Lots of people talk about quality like it's linear (like a simple scale of 1...10). If you add in the amount of effort to get seemingly improved output, it's more like an exponential scale - you might start out at 3% quality, and you'd have to double it to get 6%, double it again to get 12%, double it again to get 25%, and double it again just to get to 50%. So that last doubling is already on top of all that other effort.

Think of a simple picture cutout "pasted" onto a video background as 3 or 6% quality/effort. Hollywood compositing with 3D elements, matchmove, greenscreen is 50% or better (occasionally less). Even then, it's not 100%.

How much is your $ budget and your time & effort constraints?

What I suggested earlier would probably have put you in the 12-40% range (depending upon your skill level, understanding of optics/physics and attention to detail).

If you want to do the 6%, take an image and use photoshop to create an alpha channel, then use something like Vegas to import the still into its timeline (with alpha masking), and composite on the top layer, adjusting the size & rotation...

If you want more, let us know (particulars!!). If you want less, it's not worth my time.

Scott

[DoctorDyna]

Really depends alot on what you know, how close you want to get to "reality", and how many shortcuts you take.

Lots of people talk about quality like it's linear (like a simple scale of 1...10). If you add in the amount of effort to get seemingly improved output, it's more like an exponential scale - you might start out at 3% quality, and you'd have to double it to get 6%, double it again to get 12%, double it again to get 25%, and double it again just to get to 50%. So that last doubling is already on top of all that other effort.

Think of a simple picture cutout "pasted" onto a video background as 3 or 6% quality/effort. Hollywood compositing with 3D elements, matchmove, greenscreen is 50% or better (occasionally less). Even then, it's not 100%.

How much is your $ budget and your time & effort constraints?

What I suggested earlier would probably have put you in the 12-40% range (depending upon your skill level, understanding of optics/physics and attention to detail).

If you want to do the 6%, take an image and use photoshop to create an alpha channel, then use something like Vegas to import the still into its timeline (with alpha masking), and composite on the top layer, adjusting the size & rotation...

If you want more, let us know (particulars!!). If you want less, it's not worth my time.

Scott

Well, it's meant to be funny, I'm not really going for the Hollywood style "omg, he's petting a triceratops!" I suppose it's probably not worth your time.

Thanks for the help though!

[edDV]

So does it need to be more than a simple picture in picture overlay? Most any simple edit program can do that.

An object overlay like this can be done with a luma key, chroma key or alpha shaped to the object.



Objects can be layered so long as it is possible to create an alpha or mask. This one was created with a chroma key.



alpha used to generate the composite...


If the object must be put into motion or otherwise animated, or put into 3D, higher user skill is required.