Placing 30,000 little squares one by one (Motion tracking question)

[miggs73175733]

I'm making a video of a time lapse of me placing squares one by one, tracing the photo behind it (pictures below). What i want to do is track and block out the picture im tracing in the background, and replace it with just white. I just need to know if AE motion tracking can handle tracking the background image and blocking only that precisely while still allowing you to see the little squares and the mouse placing them?

[Andrew Yoole]

I'm having difficulty understanding what you want to do.  It'd be helpful if you could explain more thoroughly what material you have, and what you want to achieve.

Your image looks like a composite of many other elements/images.   Do you have access to all those individual elements?  Or is the artwork flattened? IS it stills, or video footage?  What do you want to cover with white - all the background elements except the human head?  Other things as well?  What makes you think tracking will be necessary?

[miggs73175733]

The background is indeed many photos, but you can look at it as one big solid photo, or flattend, in the back of the squares (since again, this will be a time lapse video of me placing the squares over the photo/photos in the background)  i want the background photo/squarless part to be whitened out, so it looks like im just placing the squares blind. The squares eventually cover everything in the back (the photos) not just specific things like oa head etc...I dont know how else to describe it.

[Andrew Yoole]

But when you say "this will be a time lapse video of me placing the squares over the photo/photos in the background", is this footage on a keyable colour so you can seperate yourself from the background using a chromakey effect?  Have you already shot this footage?

How is the tiled/squares effect achieved?  Have you manually built this in Photoshop or Illustrator, for example?  Are all of the squares on independent layers that you can turn on or off?

What do you want the final result to be?  A time lapse video of your body manually placing tiny squares onto a white background to form the final art, is that correct?

I can't work out why you think you need to use motion tracking.  If all the above questions are answered "yes", it should be a matter of keying yourself onto a white background, placing the tiled artwork (precomposed) between yourself and the white background, then animating the tiles/squares on one by one, matching your own performance/movement in the footage to reveal the tiles at appropriate times.  A bit time consuming but very straightforward.

Unless I'm missing something.

[miggs73175733]

The squares arent an effect, they are a prop on a site called "pixton" where you make comics. They have car props you can use, houses, people, cirlces and other shapes etc...I uploaded the photos you see behind the squares to the site, and then i took each square prop and placed them one by one with my mouse cursor on the screen (not my body). Each square is independent. I clicked and dragged all of them in pkace over the images until the images were fully covered. Then i downloaded the completed work from the site and uploaded it here.

I wanna track the images behind the squares so the background can continuesly be blocked out as i place the squares. So it just looks like im placing the squares blind and/or doesnt look like im tracing the photos behind it.

[Andrew Yoole]

But what motion are you tracking?  What elements are moving?

Sorry if I'm being slow, I just don't get what you want to do.  I think maybe there are some terminology issues here.

Let me try and break this down for you.

Firstly, what actual elements do you have to work with?

From what I understand, you have 1 - your original flattened artwork, and 2 - the flat artwork you've created and exported from the Pixton website.  What format are these files?  Or is the Pixton file NOT flattened, ie provided in a layered format like PSD?  You said the little square tiles are "independent", but in what way?  Can you individually control them once they are imported to After Effects?  Can you import them so that each tile becomes a layer?

Secondly, what will the final result look like, SPECIFICALLY.

You have referred several times to seeing yourself in time-lapse, eg "So it just looks like im placing the squares blind and/or doesnt look like im tracing the photos behind it."  

But do you mean that you will visually see yourself in the end result (like your full body positioning tiles, or just a hand positioning tiles?)   In which case, motion tracking may be required.

Or do you mean you just want the square tiles to appear one by one on a white background, gradually, without seeing yourself in the shot?  In which case, I can't see any purpose whatsoever for tracking.

Or, ignoring everything above, are you saying you have a screen recording of the creation process on the Pixton website, where we see your cursor dragging each tile over the original artwork, and you want to eliminate the original art from that screen capture so that you only see the tiles being placed?  If this is correct, once again there is no tracking involved at all, just some intricate rotoscoping/masking. Or, possibly, if the footage is high quality, it may be achieved easily using a Difference key.

[miggs73175733]

Forget it. Maybe somene else will understand more.

[Andrew Yoole]

Please re-read the last paragraph of my last post.  Does this make sense?

are you saying you have a screen recording of the creation process on the Pixton website, where we see your cursor dragging each tile over the original artwork, and you want to eliminate the original art from that screen capture so that you only see the tiles being placed?  If this is correct, once again there is no tracking involved at all, just some intricate rotoscoping/masking. Or, possibly, if the footage is high quality, it may be achieved easily using a Difference key.

[miggs73175733]

Yes that is accurate. I thought rotoscoping was a lttle different than that, i viewed it differently. From what i understand about rotoscoping i dint think it could do this, But can you get more specific on what to do? And why you think it would work specifically? I don't actually have AE yet i was trying to decide whether or not to get it.

[miggs73175733]

Hello? Can you tell me if what you're recommending is a frame by frame method? Will i have to do anything frame by frame?

[Andrew Yoole]

I made two suggestions previously.

1 - Rotoscoping/Masking

This is a long and meticulous process, which will involve creating masks around objects that you want to remove or keep within your screen captures.  It can definitely end up being a frame by frame process, yes.

2 - Difference Key

A difference key compares two frames and erases the pixels that are the same in both frames.  It relies on the material being high quality, without too much video compression.  It also relies on your screen captures being framed identically throughout.  Even a one pixel discrepancy will cause a difference key to fail. 

In your case, if you have a clean frame of the artwork before you start working on it, then the time-lapse of you working, theoretically a difference key using the clean frame as its source would erase all the original artwork, and leave behind your square tiles and cursor movements. 

But this is a fairly advanced technique that is prone to problems.  If you are new to After Effects I strongly recommend you do some beginner tutorials to get up to speed first.

[miggs73175733]

Thank you again. Motion tracking can track a backgound, the sky for example, and replace it. That why i originally thought it could handle this. Are you sure this couldn't also  be an option to try? Just in case.

[Andrew Yoole]

I think you're misunderstanding what motion tracking actually does.  Motion tracking examines and matches movement in a frame.  For example, track the movement of a delivery van in a shot to replace the signage on that truck.  Track the movement of someone's hand so you can place an object in their hand. 

I'm not clear what you would track in your screen captures to achieve your objective, as the thing your replacing (your original art) is not moving. 

[miggs73175733]

Thanks again. I'm looking at videos on it right now.

[Stan Jones]

The pixton trial does not allow a download, so I can't test. We need to understand what actual elements you have in your download.

From the site, I am assuming it is not an animation or movie, but a series of images, like comic frames. But are these single layer images? Or is each "prop" on its own layer or in its own file?

Please describe what kind of file you have downloaded (.jpg, .psd, .mp4) and what you see when you open it in AE.

[miggs73175733]

What i would be uploading to AE is a series of screen capture of me placing the squares on pixton.com.

I dont have AE i'm trying to figure out which is better for this, sony vegas, or AE? I have sony vegas but either im doing things wrong or it cant seem to keep track of the little squares.

[Dave_LaRonde]

miggs73175733  wrote

What i would be uploading to AE is a series of screen capture of me placing the squares on pixton.com.

I just looked at that site -- I'm not signing up for it! 

But I saw enough to know that it's made to make COMICS.  Still images.  Not animations. 
And that if you're actually talking about 30K still images, you're going to be REALLY busy for a VERY long time!  Think weeks.  Maybe even months.

Frankly, I'd look for a Plan B to do what you want.  Certainly not that comic book web site!

[miggs73175733]

Lol no i meant video screen capture of me placing many of them. Not pictures. There's about 25 videos im already done..also you can make animations on the site also. Using flash animation. It's pretty good actually

[Stan Jones]

Thanks for the additional info about animations on pixton.

[miggs73175733]

Thinking about trying it? It's free.

heres my page red boy | Pixton for Fun

[P.M.B]

miggs73175733  wrote

There's about 25 videos im already done.

Only 29,975 more to go!   

[Dave_LaRonde]

miggs73175733  wrote

Forget it. Maybe somene else will understand more.

I have a feeling you're brand-new to After Effects.  And I have a feeling there's a lot about it YOU don't understand.

[miggs73175733]

Yeah i am new. I guess i didnt realize motion tracking wasnt necessary etc...