Great effect here in the gallery... Freeze Time...

[Paul LS]

Great effect here in the Gallery...

http://www.muvipix.com/cpg/displayi ... p?pos=-887

I'm guessing it is a Photoshop cut out of a frame overlaid on the background video...

[Jayell]

Is there any easy way of 'cutting' a portion of a photo out. I've done it, but spent a fortune of time trying to get it perfect .. I think due to the fact that I'm not totally familiar with my photo editing features. It's been demonstrated in a few of the videos in the gallery, and I keep wanting to play with it.

[Paul LS]

In Photoshop Elements they have the wizard... Magic Extractor. Does a good job but sometimes you need to go in and clean it up. Really depends on what you are cutting out. Otherwise you can use the magnetic lasso tool (... oh no, not that german cowboy song again... ) which also does a good job.

[Jayell]

Thanks, Paul. I use Fireworks, but they have very similar tools. I'll look for something similar and see what I can come up with.

[momoffduty]

I like this effect. Has anyone tried rotoscoping? I tried this last month and could not make the background transparent. Sent a small portion from PE3 to PS5 (about 18 frames) as a filmstrip. Used the magic extractor and saved as a filmstrip again. Opened it back up in PE3 and the background wasn't transparent. When I opened it back up in photoshop it was transparent. Any clue why this won't work?

Catchy song for your PS lasso.

[happy2bapappy]

I'm guessing it is a Photoshop cut out of a frame overlaid on the background video...

perhaps, but since the camera is not moving, wouldn't it be equally possible to show the same video on two tracks at 50% and out of sync. Freezing frame of one of the tracks at mid jump. Cutting out the extraneous parts such as daughther walking over to take position at the end of the driveway?


John.

[Paul LS]

I dont think it would give such a good effect using 50% opacity, particularly where the girl walks behind her frozen self. But as the resolution is low it is difficult to tell.

Regarding the rotoscoping question. Perhaps it is something in the export settings for filmstrip. For example if you export video with transparent background you meed to set the export settings appropriately as in this FAQ:
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbe221a

[happy2bapappy]

yah, I believe you're probably right.

Something on my list of things to try out, for sure.

[Red Ryder]

Hello to all---I have been out of town--so it has taken a little bit to get back here and claim blame for the freeze frame video.

My daughter and I are newbies really excited about PE3 and its capabilities. I have been lurking for a while and we saw an earlier post that suggested an after effects site with several tutorials. We were inspired to try this based on one of those sites.

Yes, it is a snapshot of a frame, isolated in photoshop elements using the magnetic lasso and eraser for cleanup--very rough, but our attempt was primarily to see how the techniques might work.

We did use the opacity feature to view the two clips overlaid on each other, but as noted above, the problem came when she walked behind herself--which in and of itself was pretty cool--but not the effect we were seeking.

LOVE this forum and the great ideas and exchanges that take place. Can't wait for our next adventure. Any suggestions on easier ways to accomplish the effect would be welcomed.

Allen

[Paul LS]

Good stuff Allen. The way you did it was probably the easiest for a stationary object/person. If your object/person was moving you could have used a "blue screen" effect and "keying".

[Red Ryder]

Thanks Paul. We have played with the green/blue screeen effect a bit as well. I used a flat green color wrapping paper (inexpensive green screen material for a small space). I found even and indirect lighting is one of the keys to getting the most from this effect. We want to do some more, but will need to get better & bigger screen and work on some lighting.