17 Replies Latest reply: Jun 25, 2010 12:58 PM by Bill Hunt RSS

    CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only

    gapiro

      Ahoy there

      Heres a slightly more complicated question!

      I post videos etc for my band online, and we are always looking for fun stuff to do on them, on this video we want to make the guitar in the guitar solo stand out, through the colour pass option. However the problem is, the background etc are too close to the colour of the guitar, so when we use colour pass, the background half shows too (sort of pale pink walls)

      Is there any way i can apply a colour pass to just an area of the video?

        • 1. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
          gapiro Community Member

          I did think If i can cut out just an area on the guitar and run 2 layers would that work? If os , how would I go about cutting out the middle of the video?    

          • 2. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

            Welcome to the forum.

             

            The idea of doing a dupe and then applying the Effect to the "upper" one should work. I'd add the 16-pt. Garbage Matte to that upper dupe footage.

             

            Now, to really do a cool Key of just the guitar, take a look at this TUTORIAL on the RotoBrush in AfterEffects CS5. Back at the release of the CS5 suite programs, there was a better one, but now with hundreds of tutorials out there, I cannot find that old one.

             

            Good luck,

             

            Hunt

            • 3. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
              Todd_Kopriva Adobe Employee

              Here are links to better resources on Roto Brush:

              "Roto Brush in After Effects CS5"

              • 4. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                Todd,

                 

                Thank you for that link. Going back to the very first days of the CS5 release, there was a great intro tutorial on the RotoBursh, but with all the new material, it seems to have become lost. I thought that I had bookmarked it, but cannot find that now.

                 

                If I do, I will share it, as the examples were excellent, and I think would be right up the "alley" for this OP.

                 

                Appreciated,

                 

                Hunt

                • 5. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                  Todd_Kopriva Adobe Employee

                  > Thank you for that link. Going back to the very first days of the CS5 release, there was a great intro tutorial on the RotoBursh, but with all the new material, it seems to have become lost. I thought that I had bookmarked it, but cannot find that now.

                   

                  If I do, I will share it, as the examples were excellent, and I think would be right up the "alley" for this OP.

                   

                   

                  If you describe it, I can probably point you to it. As one of the members of the team that created Roto Brush, I was keeping close watch on all such materials, so I would probably recognize it from a description. I even shepherded the creation of quite a few of the tutorials and such.

                  • 6. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                    gapiro Community Member

                    Cheers for the help, however I only have CS4 Pr/AE, and not CS5

                    Is there any way I can cut out just a fragment of video in cs4 onto a second layer? even if its just a crude square around the guitar ?

                     

                    Sorry i'm not that great at this, I really only use the software for adding semi fancy introductions and cutting tracks down to the right size etc, and making compilation videos! However We're thinking about making a proper video, instead of just videos of us performing so It would be nice to learn some efefcts

                    • 7. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                      Ann Bens CommunityMVP

                      Place your video 2 times on the timeline and add a white color matte to track 3.

                      Add the 8 or 16 point garbage matte to the white color matte and draw the guitar also add a Fast Blur (15) to soften the edges.

                      Add the Track Matte Effect to track 2 and point it to the color matte.

                      For finishing touch add the Black and White Effect to track 1 and also the RBG curves effect (set S-curve to the Master) to give it a more intenser look

                      Example shown below is for two garbage mattes.

                      SC1.jpg

                       

                      SC2.jpg

                       

                      SC3.jpg

                       

                      SC4.jpg

                      If you want to change the whole color just add Tint.

                      SC5.jpg

                      • 8. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                        gapiro Community Member

                        Thanks for that utterly awesome post.

                        It works very well, however naturally it is limited by the movement of the guitarist, presumerably this is where the roto tool comes in handy!

                        Very helpful and think i've learnt some stuff now

                        Many thanks.    

                        • 9. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                          The tutorial featured footage of a lady with slightly curly hair, and the RotoBrush was used to knock her out of the background. Wish that I could find where I bookmarked that danged tutorial. Just prior to the release of AE CS5, it was the first Google hit on RotoBrush, but there were very, very few other hits then. Now, there are 1000's, so RotoBrush must be quite popular.

                           

                          Trying to recall the narrator, I think that he was a bearded, dark-haired gentleman with a buzz cut and no beard named Richard Harrington, and I got the impression that he might have been on the Adobe development team, rather than with some group like Lynda.com, or Total Training, but could well be wrong. Found it - Creative Cow Tutorial.

                           

                          Since I linked to that tutorial a few times, I have been pouring over the Premiere fora, looking for those links, but have not found any, and I know that I did at least 3.

                           

                          Thanks,

                           

                          Hunt

                           

                          Message was edited by: Bill Hunt - added link and corrected my horribly faulty memory.

                          • 10. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                            Todd_Kopriva Adobe Employee

                            Thanks, Bill.

                             

                            I had seen that tutorial by Richard, and I don't like it. Richard shows a sub-optimal workflow: making lots of little strokes with a thin brush along the edge of the object (person in this case). The tool works best when you start with a broad brush and make broad strokes along the center of the object first. Tiny strokes along the edge come later if needed for refinement. I think that someone would be better served by the tutorials by Mark and John that I point to here.

                            • 11. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                              Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                              Todd,

                               

                              Thanks for the critique. Never having used the RotoBrush left me without a baseline to judge. I was more impressed by the straightforward approach to a commonly encountered subject. Little did I know that the technique shown was sub-optimal.

                               

                              Thanks,

                               

                              Hunt

                              • 12. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                Todd_Kopriva Adobe Employee

                                BTW, lest anyone think that I only criticize Richard, I'll point out that a lot of what he does is extremely good. I point to many of his books and tutorials from After Effects Help. He just didn't quite nail it on Roto Brush the way that Mark Christiansen did in his video.

                                • 13. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                  Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                  Todd,

                                   

                                  I just took a look at more of Mark Christenson's RotoBrush tutorials, and like what I saw.

                                   

                                  Thanks,

                                   

                                  Hunt

                                   

                                  PS - I should have been spending my time looking at everything he had, rather than trying to find that Creative Cow tutorial... Now, I just need to update my suite to CS5!!!!!

                                  • 14. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                    David Zeno Community Member

                                    Hi everyone,

                                     

                                    can anybody access the jpg images below ? I get an error on every link saying the link is bad.

                                     

                                    Thanks for any info.

                                     

                                    Dave.

                                     

                                     

                                    Ann Bens wrote:

                                     

                                    Place your video 2 times on the timeline and add a white color matte to track 3.

                                    Add the 8 or 16 point garbage matte to the white color matte and draw the guitar also add a Fast Blur (15) to soften the edges.

                                    Add the Track Matte Effect to track 2 and point it to the color matte.

                                    For finishing touch add the Black and White Effect to track 1 and also the RBG curves effect (set S-curve to the Master) to give it a more intenser look

                                    Example shown below is for two garbage mattes.

                                    SC1.jpg

                                     

                                    SC2.jpg

                                     

                                    SC3.jpg

                                     

                                    SC4.jpg

                                    If you want to change the whole color just add Tint.

                                    SC5.jpg

                                    • 15. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                      Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                      David,

                                       

                                      I cannot. IIRC, when Ann posted, the screen-caps appeared in the body-text of her reply, but now seem to be dead, at least on my Google Chrome.

                                       

                                      Not sure what happened,

                                       

                                      Hunt

                                      • 16. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                        David Zeno Community Member

                                        Hi Bill,

                                         

                                        thanks for checking into that for me.

                                         

                                        by the way, even without Ann's images, I was finally able to use her technique, and wowie, it worked GREAT !

                                         

                                        ( in regards to my other post , where somebody linked me to this thread )

                                         

                                        Dave.

                                        • 17. Re: CS4 Pr : Colour pass on one area only
                                          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                          Yes, I caught that in the thread, where you replied to Todd. Glad that it worked fine. Ann's methods are almost always spot-on.

                                           

                                          Good luck, and wonder what happened to her images. I have seen similar, where they no longer displayed in the reply, but some clicking/dbl-clicking normally opened 'em up. Could not get those to open?

                                           

                                          Hunt