To create crossovers in videos like "Tainted Donuts", I use Photoshop and either Premier or After Effects. Premier and After Effects both recognize the alpha channels and layers of Photoshop images. As such, Premier and After Effects can import a specific layer from a Photoshop image, preserving the transparent and semi-transparent areas of the layer.
I refer to these layers as cutouts, though this probably isn't the official jargon.
The following is the method I currently use. It's a bit more sophisticated than the methods used to create "Tainted Donuts." The idea is the same, though. In fact, steps 1-4 and 29-30 are identical to the steps used to create many of the scenes in "Tainted Donuts"? The other steps were added to adjust the darkness and antialiasing of the borders around the cutouts.
----------------------Cutout Instructions-------------------------
Disclaimer:
I'm mostly self-taught. I'm also a dumbass. As such, there are likely better, quicker, more competant ways to perform these tasks. Also, I probably misuse terminology. I don't claim to have all the right answers. At the very least, these instructions will provide a useful jumping-off point. If you'd like to send feedback, flames, or corrections, please send them to
ekobet@juno.com?
Miscelaneous notes:
Several steps in these instructions are intended to quickly and
systematically darken the borders around of cutouts. If a darkened border is undesired, omit steps 5-17.
This guide does not cover color correction.
Some warnings about pixel aspect ratio: It is my understanding that full frame video (DV 4:3 720 X 480 DV/D1 pixel) has a pixel aspect ratio of 0.9. If you export a frame as a still, edit it in Photoshop, and import it back into either Premier or After Effects, Premier or AE may interpret the still image as having a 1.0 pixel aspect ratio (especially of you resize the image - I've found that when I keep the image 720 X 480, it's usually interpreted as having a 0.9 pixel aspect ratio. If I change the size of the image, it's usually interpreted as having a 1.0 pixel aspect ratio)? When this happens, you will likely want to change the pixel aspect ration back to 0.9. Easily done in either Premier or After Effects. In Premier, this option is in the "pixel aspect ratio…" dialog box (under the Clip menu, advanced options submenu)? In AE, this option is in the interpret footage dialog box.
When dealing with a sequence of stills (like a running motion), you may
wish to merge each cutout into a single layer before performing steps
5-28. This accomplishes two things. First, it speeds up the process by
allowing you to manipulate each clip at the same time rather than
seprately. Second, it insures that you are treating each cutout in the
same manner. Some steps, such as 25, are subjective and may be difficult to reproduce. Merging the cutouts into a single layer ensures that each cutout is treated the same (levels and curves features of Photoshop also allow you to "save" and "load", allowing one reproduce results without merging cutouts into a single layer)? Merging the images also makes it easier uniformly color correct/adjust and apply filters to the images. After finishing your cutouts, they may be cut and pasted back into their own layers. Before merging cutouts into a single layer, it may be necessary to increase the size of the canvas.
Some values (such as border thickness) are subjective. A show with thick borders (like the ill-fated "Clerks" TV series) would use considerably different values (or methods) than a show with thin/no borders.
O.K. On to the current ritual:
1) Export image you want to composite as a bitmap
2) Open the exported bitmap in Photoshop
3) Copy and past the image into a new layer. The image should now have
two layers, a background layer and an image layer. From here on out,
we'll be working with the image layer - this contains the image you want to
composite, your cutout. For the remainder of these instructions, the background image layer will be ignored. If you wish, feel free to hide it.
4) Using the eraser tool, erase the unwanted area around the edges of your cutout (oftentimes, it is more convenient to use the lasso tool to select unwanted areas and press the delete key to remove them)?
5) Activate magic wand tool. Set it as follows:
tolerance = 255
anti-aliased = yes (check the box)
contiguous = no (don't check the box)
use all layers = no (don't check the box)
6) Use the magic wand tool to select the cutout image. At this point,
marching ants should be marching around the borders of your cutout.
7) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching), use
the eyedropper tool to select the darkest color in cutout. This will color
serve as a border for the cutout, so select something like a deep
shadow, a border around a facial feature, etc. Try to sample from the
blackest part of the cutout (or just use black - it works in most cases)?
8) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching),
activate the paint bucket tool. Use these settings:
Mode = normal (experiment if you wish)
Opacity = 100 % (experiment if you wish)
tolerance = 255
anti-aliased = yes (check the box)
contiguous = no (don't check the box)
use all layers = no (don't check the box)
9) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching), go to
the select menu, go to the modify submenu, select the "border.??" option. Enter a
value of 2 into the "Width: _____ pixels" dialog box. There should now be
two columns of marching ants. Click "OK"
10) Use the paint bucket tool to fill in the selected area. Clicking
anywhere within the cutout should work - only the selected area (between
the two columns of marching ants) will be filled.
11) Deselect everything. The cutout will now have a jagged, dark border
around its edges.
12) Activate magic wand tool. Set it as follows:
tolerance = 255
anti-aliased = yes (check the box)
contiguous = no (don't check the box)
use all layers = no (don't check the box)
13) Use the magic wand tool to select the cutout image. At this point,
marching ants should be marching around the borders of your cutout.
14) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching), go
to the select menu, go to the modify submenu, select the "contract.??" option. Click "OK." Enter a
value of 1 into the "Contract by _____ pixels" dialog box.
15) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching), go
to the select menu, go to the modify submenu, select the "border.??" option. Enter a
value of 2 or 3 (I'm a wuss so I usually use 2) into the "Width: _____ pixels" dialog box. Click "OK." There should now be two columns of marching ants.
16) Apply 1.0 pixels of Guassian Blur (Filter menu, Blur submenu,
Gaussian Blur, Radius of 1.0 pixels) to the selected area (only the area
between the two columns of marching ants should be blurred)?
17) Deselect everything. At this point, the borders should be a little softer and there
should be some antialiasing.
18) Activate magic wand tool. Set it as follows:
tolerance = 255
anti-aliased = yes (check the box)
contiguous = no (don't check the box)
use all layers = no (don't check the box)
19) Use the magic wand tool to select the cutout. At this point,
marching ants should be marching around the borders of your cutout.
20) With the selection still active (ants should still be marching), go
to the select menu and choose the "save selection" option. This opens a
dialog box. Change "Channel" to
"Layer 1 Mask" (I'm generalizing that the layer name of your cutout is "layer 1")? (This will gray out the "Name" portion of the dialog box, leaving only the "new channel" operation.) Click OK.
21) Deselect everything. We're done with the marching ants.
22) In the layers pallet, select the layer containing your cutout.
23) Go to the channels pallet. In addition to the usual channels (RGB, Red, Green, and Blue), you'll notice that
there is ablack-and-white channel labeled "Layer 1 Mask" (I'm generalizing
that the layer name of your cutout is "layer 1")? This black
and white outline is actually an 8 bit channel defining the transparency of
your cutout. The black areas (which should correspond with the area outside your cutout)
represent 100 transparent (0 % opaque) areas of the image. The white
areas (which should correspond with the inside of your cutout) represent 0 % transparent
(100% opaque) areas of the image. Gray areas (which shouldn't be present, yet) will indicate intermediate levels of transparency. Intuitively,
darker gray values are more transparent than lighter gray levels.
24-1) Channels may be edited individually. With this in mind, highlight the
"Layer 1 Mask" (I'm generalizing that the layer name of your cutout is "layer 1") channel. The other four channels (RGB, Red, Green, and Blue) should NOT be highlighted.
OR
24-2) In the levels pallet, the layer containing the cutout will have two
boxes. The left box contains a small image of the cutout. The right box contains a gray-level image representing the mask. Each box may be selected and edited separately. Select the gray-level box on the right by clicking it.
25) Apply 2 pixels of Guassian Blur (Filter menu, Blur submenu, Gaussian
Blur, Radius of 2.0 pixels) to the "Layer 1 Mask" (I'm generalizing that
the layer name of your cutout is "layer 1") channel. This
will create a thin gradient of gray between the Black and white areas of
"Layer 1 Mask" (I'm generalizing that
the layer name of your cutout is "layer 1") and a slight feathering (transparency gradient) around the overall
image.
26) Go to the Image menu, Adjustments submenu, and select "levels."
27) This histogram may be used to adjust the border thickness and antialiasing of your cutout. There should be a black, gray, and white arrow under the
histogram. Slide the black arrow (the on the left side) to the right. You
should see the edges of the composite contract as you do this. Slide the
white arrow (on the right side) to the left to darken the border of the cutout. Adjust these arrows until you're satisfied with the cutout (borders and antialiasing look acceptable)? Click OK.
28) In the layers pallet, context click (right click) the gray-level box on the right side of the cutout. A dialog box will open. Select the "apply layer mask option."
29) Save the image as a Photoshop file.
30) The cutout/composite is now ready to be color corrected/adjusted and
imported into Premier, After Effects, etc. When importing, be sure to only
import the Photoshop layer containing your cutout. This is fairly intuitive - when importing a multi-layer Photoshop file, both After Effects and Premier will ask you to "Choose a layer." Select the layer corresponding to your cutout.
After the cutout has been imported, it may be placed on the timeline and edited just like any other still image footage file.
In an After Effects timeline, place the cutout in a layer above the background footage value (in other words, the foreground cutout will have a lower layer number than that of the background footage. A simple scenario would place the cutout in layer 1, background in layer 2)? The transparency of the cutout will be maintained. Through the use of After Effects's motion graphics capabilities, there are plenty of ways in which you can position and animate the cutout.
In Premier timeline, place the cutout in a video track above the one containing your background footage (in other words, the video track corresponding to the cutout will have a higher track number than that of the background footage. A simple scenario would place the cutout in video track 2, background in video track 1)? Use the "motion" settings in Premier to position (for a static image, starting point = ending point) and animate the cutout.
It looks like a long process. Step 4 is the only particularly tedious step.
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