Rotoscope HOW-TO

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human
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Rotoscope HOW-TO

Post by human »

Corrected post.
Last edited by human on Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
human
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Post by human »

..
Last edited by human on Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
rplate
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Post by rplate »

human wrote:Does anyone find this helpful?

Or has all comment been stifled by something unspeakable?
No, and, it takes time to check out what your talking about.

I have just been on the site you recommended for movies to rotoscope.
As I looked through the thumbnails of Capt Kidd I did not see anything that looked like a sword fight.
So I watched through the steaming video and... Capt. Kidd just pulls out his pistol and shoots them.
I then did a search in the site you recommended, and looked for the Three Musketeers and found this site...
http://www.archive.org/details/markofzorro-1920
A 1920 silent movie of Zoro. Took 2 hours to download and then it was so small that when I magnified it to watch,
everything got very pixelized. You would never be able to roto scope that sword fight. :(

I use Poser 6 as a reference tool for myself. Even then as I magnify the animations to roto, they leave a lot to the imagination to fill in.
It is no easy task. But I would say it's way ahead of how you would go about it.
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

Hee hee...

It did take me a little while to determine if you were making some kind of social comment or documenting a rotoscoping process.

I have to admit the dancing cowboys was distracting from the lesson. I don't do any rotoscoping of this type myself but I enjoy reading about the process... never know when I might need it.

Just to be clear... the waltzing cowboys are not the main topic right? It is about rotoscoping from a video or similar source? ;)

p.s. When I say I enjoy reading about the process... I don't mean about dancing cowboys specifically. I meant the rotoscoping. Cowboys can dance as much as they want of course. ;)

-vern
human
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Post by human »

rplate,

I let "Captain Kidd" stream and more or less watched it out of the corner of my eye (or browser, or whatever).

There are indeed some excellent swordfightin' sequences, and the picture quality is more or less passable.

Note in general that if you download from the Moving Images Archive, select the MPEG2 version of any given movie--it's usually the highest quality.

If you paid for a QuickTime Pro upgrade, you may be able to edit an MPEG4 version of a movie, but I seem to recall that these versions are not typically created with good quality.

In any event, you're correct if you want to imply that in rotoscoping, Garbage In = Garbage Out.

I have much heartbreaking experience to prove that's true....

Oh, PS, you wrote, "I use Poser 6 as a reference tool for myself. Even then as I magnify the animations to roto, they leave a lot to the imagination to fill in. It is no easy task. But I would say it's way ahead of how you would go about it."

Do you mean to say you've got a better way to rotoscope? Let me know; I'm not too proud to learn... especially if it saves my sanity!
rplate
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Location: Minnesota USA

Post by rplate »

heyvern wrote:Hee hee...
I have to admit the dancing cowboys was distracting from the lesson.
Just to be clear... the waltzing cowboys are not the main topic right?
p.s. When I say I enjoy reading about the process... I don't mean about dancing cowboys specifically. I meant the rotoscoping.
Cowboys can dance as much as they want of course. ;)
-vern
Hmmm! I wonder why Vern is so sensitive about dancing coyboys?
Image
THIS is Heyvern in case you haven't met yet.

What could it be ?? :P :P
Human here's another source of action movies. Click on any one of the icons and then scroll to the sample animations. These can then be saved as movies and imported into ASP to roto scope. POINT by POINT.
Rotoscoping is an excellent way to study motion.
http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/shop/artistlis ... artist=409
I have learned a lot by copying frame by frame and moving the vector points to match the figure move. It's very time consuming but I still enjoy doing it.

Hey Vern, if this offends you I'll take down from my site. Just having a little fun. Now that your famous you might not be able to walk outside your house without being mobbed for an autograph. :P
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

I'm glad you outlined my hat.

Funny story. On the Hash forum after pictures of myself became available someone created an extremely accurate 3D model of me (accurate in that it looked like me). I appeared in a couple of image contest entries. Usually wearing a superman costume for some reason. I don't look good in tights.

I am so glad that project file never got into the public domain. The creator of it was kind enough not to make it available for public use. All I need is a 3D version of myself showing up in some TV commercial. Probably a badly animated bee with a French accent buzzing around my head.

;)

p.s. So I was the only one who thought the dancing cowboys oddly out of place? I really need to get out more.

;)

-vern
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

I loved the dancing cowboys! Hell, after a hard day's pounding the trail, roundin' up those dogies and brandin' an' suchlike, a guy's gotta git in touch with his feminine side, y'know?
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
rplate
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Location: Minnesota USA

Re: Rotoscope HOW-TO

Post by rplate »

human wrote:An animator gets busy (but it isn't easy!).

It has actually been an incredible learning experience, especially for an animation noobie. Now that I have a (very rough) intermediate product composed solely of the keyframes, I'd like to share my rotoscoping process.

Now the plan is to clean up the images further, and add color to the characters using global color replacement. (In fact, the characters are more likely to be sailors than cowboys in the actual footage.) Then I hope to generate serious footage using MorphMan to tween between my keyframes.

Only after I'm survived all that (IF I do!), do I want to even think about vectors...
Human,
I have read and re-read your tutorial and just now this morning I have a question in my mind. Did YOU rotoscope the dancing cowboys or are they the source for what you want to rotoscope? Are the cowboys the outcome of what you just described above? WOW! if so that was quite a feat. Especially since they are the same cowbow, only reversed and partnering together in the action. That's amazing! What does the original source look like?
I hope to put a tutorial movie on line soon as to what I do to rotoscope. I hope my critcism wasn't too harsh and personal. Your process was new and somewhat obscure as I have never thought of doing something like that.
Never say die, never say quit. Just keep on keeping on.
human
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Re: Rotoscope HOW-TO

Post by human »

Corrected post.
Last edited by human on Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
rplate
Posts: 257
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Location: Minnesota USA

Re: Rotoscope HOW-TO

Post by rplate »

human wrote:
rplate wrote:Are the cowboys the outcome of what you just described above?
Yes, naturally.

You wanted to see the original source image, so here it is:

Image
WOW! Now I am impressed. I'll have to print out your procedure and try to follow it through.
I'm working on MY tutorial movie even as I reply to this. Hope to have it done soon.
As for the cowboy thing I posted above, I couldn't resist having some fun with Vern when I saw the photo and comments from Darthfurby, at the conference they went to.HERE! Then, scroll to the bottom.
Genete
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Post by Genete »

Perhaps if you would started showing the B&W picture we could understood better your tutorial from the begining.
One silly question. Why did you rotoscope the scrap around the cowboys if finally you want to clean it?:
Now the plan is to clean up the images further, and add color to the characters using global color replacement.
But, (other silly question) which programs did you use to do the rotoscoping? AS? or what? I dont understand the workflow. Please show step by step the sources files and the programs used to do the result you show in your first post.
I've watched rplate's tutorial and it is very simple: put a movie under a vector layer in Anime Studio and copy every frame (well not so simple to do but symlpe to explain how to do)

Other question. The substitution of the lay for the cowboy itself could be only done if the original movie is rotaional symetrical enough. It could not be used in all situations in my opinion.
Anyway thanks for share the knowhow with all of us. Also thanks for make me interested into rotoscoping. A new world to explore.

Genete
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