Basic Video face pasting

[tridog]

I am working on a quick project where napolean dynamite is dancing but i paste someone's face on him. i don't care if it looks realistic i just want to get it done quick but it would have to follow napolean's face. i have adobe programs. I have the picture but i don't know how to get the video off youtube and i don't know how to insert the picture into the video. Where should i begin?

[poisondeathray]

To download the video off youtube you can use firefox's download helper, jdownloader, internet download manager, just about anything willl download from non encrypted, non live, youtube streams

This effect is normally done with motion tracking (e.g. after effects) .

e.g you motion track the target (eg. napolean dynamite's face), apply the tracking data to a null object, then parent the replacement face layer to the null object

Look on youtube or related tutorial sites - there should be many step by step tutorials

[TreeTops]

Tridog, you don't say how experienced you are in editing videos. Motion tracking is somewhat complicated for beginners. poisondeathray has good advice but you need some experience in editing videos first.

[budwzr]

You can track manually via keyframe too. Sort of a poorman's tracker.

[tridog]

I am just now starting with adobe, i am pretty good at learning computer related subjects, but with adobe it feels as if it is a completely different thing all together. My current problems right now is inserting the picture without it just replacing the video screen. then once i actually get the picture in then i will worry about motion tracking. oh thanks for tbe info on youttube downloading deathray but could i get aome links to somewhere i can get tutorials with just about the same problem that i have please?

[Brainiac]

You don't say what Adobe program you'd like to use, but here is a fairly decent, quick tutorial using Premiere Pro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUX61MZip-A

Brainiac

[poisondeathray]

\My current problems right now is inserting the picture without it just replacing the video screen. then once i actually get the picture in then i will worry about motion tracking.

You have to isolate your friend's head from the background of the photo

You do that either by manually masking it out, or other techniques might be applicable depending on what the background looked like, such as keying

Basically, with the pen tool you just draw points around his head . It's the same way you make mask selections in photoshop. You could even do this part in photoshop if you wanted to


Note this is very "cheezy." It's only a 2D motion track in 1 plane. Any rotation or other movements will make it look completely fake. The effect is similar the various "this is sparta" spoof videos .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvYZRskNV3w

To make it slightly more realisitic you need more than 1 photo, more than 1 projection. And to make even more realistic you need a true 3d program and camera projection techniques, preferably with a special video shoot with facial motion tracking (markers) of the replacement head

[budwzr]

Hey, you guys with the $50 words are scaring the OP.

First off, use "4K Downloader" to get YT videos.

Second, get a free trial of Sony Vegas Studio, and report back when you're ready and we'll walk you through it. And we'll do a little "Match Moving" too, poorman's style.

[tridog]

\My current problems right now is inserting the picture without it just replacing the video screen. then once i actually get the picture in then i will worry about motion tracking.

You have to isolate your friend's head from the background of the photo

You do that either by manually masking it out, or other techniques might be applicable depending on what the background looked like, such as keying

Basically, with the pen tool you just draw points around his head . It's the same way you make mask selections in photoshop. You could even do this part in photoshop if you wanted to


Note this is very "cheezy." It's only a 2D motion track in 1 plane. Any rotation or other movements will make it look completely fake. The effect is similar the various "this is sparta" spoof videos .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvYZRskNV3w

To make it slightly more realisitic you need more than 1 photo, more than 1 projection. And to make even more realistic you need a true 3d program and camera projection techniques, preferably with a special video shoot with facial motion tracking (markers) of the replacement head

since i am going for the comical look i think cheesy will be just fine but would i be able to do all the editing in a week?

[tridog]

Also i cut everything in the photo out except for the face and the black and white grid, is that what i needed to do?

[poisondeathray]

since i am going for the comical look i think cheesy will be just fine but would i be able to do all the editing in a week?

I can't answer that . It depends on many factors. e.g length of clip, what you plan to do, how good of a job or how picky you are. It might take a few hours, it might take a few weeks

You can do it by hand as budwzr suggested, but it won't "stick" as well, and it will take longer. Motion tracker makes everything easier

Also i cut everything in the photo out except for the face and the black and white grid, is that what i needed to do?

If you're talking about the transparency background - If you have view transparency enabled, the areas that are transparent will look like a grid. If you have it disabled, it will look "black" . Eitherway, if you drag that layer on top of your video clip layer you should get basically what you want . The grid won't appear in your finished result (it's just a viewing aid)

[tridog]

since i am going for the comical look i think cheesy will be just fine but would i be able to do all the editing in a week?

I can't answer that . It depends on many factors. e.g length of clip, what you plan to do, how good of a job or how picky you are. It might take a few hours, it might take a few weeks

You can do it by hand as budwzr suggested, but it won't "stick" as well, and it will take longer. Motion tracker makes everything easier

Also i cut everything in the photo out except for the face and the black and white grid, is that what i needed to do?

If you're talking about the transparency background - If you have view transparency enabled, the areas that are transparent will look like a grid. If you have it disabled, it will look "black" . Eitherway, if you drag that layer on top of your video clip layer you should get basically what you want

would i have to convert the file into like a jpeg format or something? and the video is only like 3 or 4 minutes so nothing too long. just enough to get laughs out of.

[poisondeathray]

would i have to convert the file into like a jpeg format or something? and the video is only like 3 or 4 minutes so nothing too long. just enough to get laughs out of.

which file ? I don't understand your question? Why would you convert ?

3-4 minutes is quite long for effects. It depends how many scenes (you can't motion track across different scenes, you do it by scene, but it's still faster and more accurate than doing it by hand)

[tridog]

Never mind, dumb question. anyway i take a sample video and try to insert the picture onto it but when i do it just shows up as the picture with black all around it covering up the video for a couple seconds. is there something wrong with the picture or do i need to do something extra on the premiere program?

[budwzr]

Throw a luminance mask on the picture.

[poisondeathray]

Never mind, dumb question. anyway i take a sample video and try to insert the picture onto it but when i do it just shows up as the picture with black all around it covering up the video for a couple seconds. is there something wrong with the picture or do i need to do something extra on the premiere program?

You need to mask it out, e.g. with the pen tool in photoshop or after effects or any image editor like gimp, draw points around his head




You also need to save the alpha channel if you are using another program like photoshop e.g. RGB+A (alpha channel) as a .png , .tiff , or .psd . You can't save it as a jpeg . If you were doing this in the same program e.g. after effects, it's not necessary to save the alpha channel. The alpha channel stores that transparency , so the other program that you're transferring the masked out photo knows that area around the head is "see through"

[tridog]

Throw a luminance mask on the picture.

on photoshop? or premiere pro? sorry i am just stunned with the whole new program.

[poisondeathray]

luminance mask will only work if there are high contrast edges, e.g. in the photo , if it was very well lit, but the background is very dark. I wouldn't do it this way, it won't be as accurate

[budwzr]

luminance mask will only work if there are high contrast edges, e.g. in the photo , if it was very well lit, but the background is very dark. I wouldn't do it this way, it won't be as accurate

I thought it was cut out already, but in .jpeg format, so no TransAlpha.

[budwzr]

What PDR says is absolutely the best advice for best results.

However, here's a sample done by crude, but easy, keyframing. It can be much more fine tuned, but you get the idea.

What you do is start at the beginning, and make a keyframe adjustment for each rough movement. Then go back and make more adjustments between those points, and keep fine tuning until it's smooth enough.

I couldn't put it on YT because of copyright.

[tridog]

Ok i finished the project, now i need to change to where it plays on a different program so i can watch it on a different computer. how would i do that?

[poisondeathray]

Ok i finished the project, now i need to change to where it plays on a different program so i can watch it on a different computer. how would i do that?

Export the video

[Brainiac]

What software are you using?


Brainiac

[tridog]

Premiere. and i tried to export it but it gave me a few options that i didn't recognize like aff and i used it but it didn't work.

[Brainiac]

It would help if you told us what the specs are for the video you imported into Premiere. Mediainfo is a good piece of software to get the needed information about the file. Download Mediainfo from the tools section of this website, install it and report back here with the info.

Brainiac