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Controls let you track all mask analysis strokes forward and backward through the shot.
Once you’ve added the strokes that are necessary to isolate the subject, and you’ve motion tracked them to follow along with the motion of the shot, a mask is automatically generated live for each frame of the shot. This is important to know because any change you make, adding or removing strokes or moving them manually, will alter the resulting mask on the fly.
What Magic Mask Is Good For, and What It’s Not
Keep in mind that the Magic Mask tool does not specialize in soft translucent mask edges, such as those created by the HSL, Luma, or 3D Keyers (when they’re used carefully). On the other hand, it excels at creating form-fitting masks that isolate human features in situations where a typical keyer does poorly. For example, Magic Mask can isolate exposed skin in shots where that person is standing in front of a background with wood, stone, or soil that inhabits the same ranges of color as that person. It can isolate beige clothes against a beige background. It can even isolate a person within a black and white clip.
Once you’ve drawn one or more strokes to isolate a mask, a variety of controls let you adjust the resulting mask to better fit the subject, if necessary. Depending on the adjustment you’re making to the subject at hand, you may find that the keys generated using Magic Mask are sufficient to convincingly isolate the person you’re grading, particularly if you’re working in Better mode.
However, real world projects pose plenty of unexpected challenges. Keep in mind that, depending on what you’re trying to do, the resulting automated mask isn’t always going to be perfect enough to
replace precise rotoscoping for intensive secondary color adjustments. However, it’s been designed to easily create tight-fitting garbage masks to use in conjunction with secondary keys or windows, with which to exclude the background around a difficult-to-isolate subject.
If you’re using Magic Mask to create a garbage mask, keep in mind that the Faster mode has been optimized to create looser masks more quickly for situations where you’ll be using it in conjunction with a keyer or window to isolate a specific area for special grading.
TIP: The Magic Mask palette can even isolate people in photos and paintings. However, figurative representations must have a minimal level of shadow rendering and anatomical detail for a figure or feature to be recognized. For this reason, cartoony or abstract representations won’t isolate very well.
TIP: The Magic Mask palette can even isolate people in photos and paintings. However, figurative representations must have a minimal level of shadow rendering and anatomical detail for a figure or feature to be recognized. For this reason, cartoony or abstract representations won’t isolate very well.
TIP: The Magic Mask palette can even isolate people in photos and paintings. However, figurative representations must have a minimal level of shadow rendering and anatomical detail for a figure or feature to be recognized. For this reason, cartoony or abstract representations won’t isolate very well.