Morphing

[Jier]

Since this is here to request FX, I'm going to assume this goes for Indy Mogul's shows, not just asking advice, etc.

Personally, I'd like to see a BFX, or Weekend Extra, or whatever, dedicated to performing a morphing sequence with the Squirrel-boy costume.

To be honest, I'm not planning on doing a movie with this effect, I just know how I'd do it and I would like to see someone else's method for tackling it.

[WesScog]

Like just an instana-morph, or what?

The easiest way I guess, would be to find a program that does Morphing, capture the Morph, and insert it on top of the footage Greenscreen style.

[hotelfboy55]

if you have a mac, download morph x. its free and gets the job done.:p

[SWRULS]

or download debugmode's Winmorph which is also free for windows

[Paladin1221]

Use the liquefy tool.

[jared]

just a little bit of film history for you guys...

the initial algorithm for morphing was developed for a scene in the the 1988 film willow (which was an ok flick, but legend was better).

[edwardlavender]

Legend is very cool (i have Todd Macfarlane "The Darkness" action figure still in its box)

but Willow was far from an "ok" flick...Willow rules all fantasy based films that don't involve light sabers.

[Jier]

I'd of replied sooner, but I'm having a hell of a weekend, so I'm sorry. Anyway, when I say morphing sequence I am making reffrence to the sentai morphs from street to "sentai" forms.

[moonwolf]

and i don`t mean power rangers what i mean is chnging a person in or something else like an animal or a diffrent person

might be one for steve rather than eric

[Kevinaz]

go to www.debugmode.com, and download winmorph, and wax. use winmorph as a plugin for wax, and you can morph video.

[biohazard]

How would you do morphing (say from one person to another) on Adobe after effects. I have a mac, and I don't think winmorph or wax work on them, plus i would rather not have to do an additional exporting sequence and then importing back to final cut and rendering again, that takes a lot of time.

[leeproductions...or_is_it?]

how would I make a shape shifting effect?:confused:

[Crosius]

What kind of shape-shifting effect? Something like a werewolf, something like the evil terminator in the third film?
Do you want it to look mechanical? biological? magical?
Does it involve the whole actor, or just a limb?
Do you want to accomplish the effect digitally? or with make-up & props?

[WesScog]

You could do something similar to the "Demon Warp" effect, but instead of messing with it to look less human, you mess with the face to look more like the other person or thing.

What you can do is get the person to stand in the same position and face the same way as the person/thing he is going to be changing into.

Have a picture of the other person or thing he is changing into ready.

Then overlay them in Photoshop, and slowly using the liquify effect, shift the original persons face to fit more into the shape of whatever its turning into.

And SLOWLY turn down the opacity of the original person, and turn up the opacity of the new thing.

You'll have to mess with the face a little, turn down the opacity, and save it, then do it again, save it, do it again, save it. I would go with doing this for about 24 frames.

Double all the frames and you get a 2 second morphing sequence.

You take all of the frames, and then place them between the two shots of the two different things/people that its changing into.

You'll want to take video of your actor, then in the same place, the person or thing that it is turning into, standing or sitting in the same spot and facing the same direction.

So you'll import the images you edited in between the two videos, so you'll have a video of the actor walking up and standing, doing his incantation or drinking his magic potion or whatever he has to do to change, THEN take a video of the person or thing he was changing into, standing in the same place, then have that person walk away.

[nooneimportant77]

^^^ that had alot of steps that i didn't really see as necessary, you can do this in after effects, and its easier or harder depending on how you do it.

if you just need your actors face to change then thats pretty easy, go check out the deamon face warp at videocopilot.net, i think they mentioned it above.

if you need the whole body to change thats a little more tricky but could use the same idea.

i would shoot your actor on a green screen, put him/her in the shot. then liquify the person twards the thing you want him/her to become. do the same thing with the picture or whatever of the thing your actor is becoming and use the liquify again to line up the transformation and fade it in. if you dont use the liquify again it will just look strange if you fade it in, because your actor will be morphing in areas that your actor is not in.

hope that helps.

[Crosius]

If it's a werewolf sort of transformation, you could always do the "extreme zoom in on the actor's eye(s), followed by an extreme zoom out from the actor's eye(s) to reveal the transformation," super-cheap transformation effect. All that requires is some morphing/fading between the two close-up shots of the actor's eye(s).

[DeSalvionjr]

This would be very cool to see! you could do a fade into picture...
But I really want to see the BFX Pros do it on video!
Also you can try this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphing
be sure to check out the related articles and external links!

~DeSalvionjr

------
ORANGE BLOB PRODUCTIONS

[punkandska66]

if u dont mind it being chesey, you can just stand somewhere, leave your camera on and dont touch it, then change into ur costume and walk back to the same place you were standing b fore. than add a fade.

[BandDfilms]

:eek::nonono::supermad::rolleyes::D:cool::):(pants :steve::hayguyz::love::teehee::geeeee::ohsnoes::le arn::fcross::grumble::'(

[punkandska66]

shut up brandon, and u spelled "smarty" wrong. did u eat too many dum-dums on halloween?

[drumsofdoom]

for magical, you might need apple motion or flash and this is for final cut.
you make the partical of like a wall of magic in front of a black background and screen it!Then you do the apearing/dissapearing effect with normal-whatever. Have the part where the magic completly covers your acter be where the shot changes.



ps, mind the typos

[drumsofdoom]

its esier to show than to tell

[kight325]

could u do a segment on how to make someone morph or shapeshif ito an animal or somthing else.:steve:

[punkandska66]

that takes computer animation most of the time.

[mac_millz]

man u beat me to the punch thanx

[UndergroundMark]

You could MAYBE do it somewhat similar to stop motion?

[bridboyross]

you could do it in camera though and then a slight bit of work in post.

Film your actor using a tripod bending into the same position as your animal.

Do not move the camera, if you must stop the tape use a remote.

Place your animal into the same place that your actor was.

During post cut out the middle section when you swapped the actor for the animal and add a fade between the two pieces of footage.

Also you can greenscreen your actor and animal and in post put them over a background plate.

When in post start with the actor and as he begins to transform place the plate of the animal over the human.

Now frame by frame alter the size of each so they look to fit together slightly but still look like a morph and make the actor more transparent and the animal less.

In the final frame you should be left with a normal animal.

This requires more patience but if done correctly could look really good, set back is that you will need an editing suite that can do greenscreening (although nowadays most do).

[kittytownfluffsa]

I know how yu could shapeshift into a rock.

[Alasdair]

I have an old programme called morph that could take two pictures and morph them together in an avi. You'd pick points on each image so it would know what morphed to what - eyes to eyes, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, etc.

You could hunt that down, I bet it's free, and use two still pictures of the guy and the animal for the morphing cut and go from there.

[floppy won]

hay
i want to know how to make someone morth into another object or person or animal
i tryed lots of things and i cant get it right
plz help me

[bridboyross]

type MORPHING in the search button.

[New Spark Films]

type MORPHING in the search button.

He said morthing, not morphing. Floppy, I would suggest looking here (http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/).

Just kidding, do what Ross said.

[jugglingfreak]

He said morthing, not morphing.

Isn't that what the Swedish Chef used to always sing on the Muppet Show? :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXrmn5uqOk

[rooster.237]

the people that originaly came up with morphing spelt it 'morf' foget what it stands for but it's rather interesting as to why they changed it

[Indymoguler]

so yr wanting to morph the squierrl boy into something? im not getting the whole picture but i know that there is software for morphing.
i remember using a morphing software back in 7th grade.
but i cant remember wat it is :(

[UndergroundLairProductions]

just a little bit of film history for you guys...

the initial algorithm for morphing was developed for a scene in the the 1988 film willow (which was an ok flick, but legend was better).
Ha, I just watched that movie last night.
Gotta love them Brownies :D

[rooster.237]

I like to part where everyone turns into pigs thats a scene I COULD DO!

[Fisherking]

Anyway, when I say morphing sequence I am making reffrence to the sentai morphs from street to "sentai" forms.

You know, it would have been a lot easier if you'd have just said Power Rangers. I loved that show when I was a kid. Dissecting it is going to upset me greatly (it'll spoil the magic), but I'll give it a shot.

It looks like most of the stuff is just simple jump-cuts disguised with lens flares (like the user-submitted 'disappearing' episode; one of the oldest tricks in the book). A glow filter is used liberally. It looks like most of the stuff is shot green-screen with some pretty funky backgrounds. Some of it appears to be done with expanding masks. Some of the sections in later programmes appear to be CGI, those it could probably be crudely approximated with the 'puppet' tool in CS3 (if you don't have CS3, you could probably try to animate it).

I think you'd really need a copy of Adobe After Effects or Apple Motion to do such a sequence. I suppose you could do it on freeware, but that would just be making it hard for yourself.

I learnt that a lot of the original series was taken from the Japanese show. The stuff with American actors was produced in the USA, but many of the sequences with the rangers were Japanese. I feel personally hurt. On the upside, a quick Google search was able to disprove the rumour that the Red Ranger is now a gay porn star. Phew - my childhood is saved.

[MGSSpaz]

I’m planning a face morph from normal to scary [in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when bad guys become vampires. And\or Pirates of the Caribbean, when the pirates enter moonlight].

Maybe a simple cross-fade between two cuts. Any advice or better methods?

[bubbabooey2]

bfx doesnt do tutorials that have to do with video editing, they only build props, i repeat, they do not show you video editing tutorials, only props.

[ciwi286]

Here is a tutorial for doing it in after effects. http://library.creativecow.net/articles/zwar_chris/morph.php

[mr_goodbomb]

My friend wants this done, and I assume she's going to be chincy with providing supplies, so how can this be done fairly cheaply?

[Alasdair]

becoming an animagus is very advanced magic

[Jakekilgore]

check out the werewolf build
same principle

[operationivy5656]

This summer a friend and I are making a vampire film
I have figured out to do most of the effects
but i cannot figure out how to make a vampire poof into bats
I have After effects CS4, and i would like the person to turn into multiple bats and have them fly away

[Neoproks]

When they transform you should have a blast of smoke. Then, just film your actor "transforming". Go to detonation films and get some stock footage of smoke. Next find some footage of bats or make your own with something like toys in front of a green screen. Take all the footage into AE. On the first layer have the actor footage and then add the blast of smoke when they are supposed to transform. While the smoke is still there have the bats fly out of it and away. Finally when the smoke clears just have some footage of your backround without the actor.

The hardest part of this (not too hard) would be getting or making bat footage.

[operationivy5656]

When they transform you should have a blast of smoke. Then, just film your actor "transforming". Go to detonation films and get some stock footage of smoke. Next find some footage of bats or make your own with something like toys in front of a green screen. Take all the footage into AE. On the first layer have the actor footage and then add the blast of smoke when they are supposed to transform. While the smoke is still there have the bats fly out of it and away. Finally when the smoke clears just have some footage of your backround without the actor.

The hardest part of this (not too hard) would be getting or making bat footage.
thats kinda what i was thinking, cept with the bat toys how would i make them like flap there wings. ive realized that the hard part would be getting bat footage, but i was wondering if anyone knew any tricks in AE for making bat like things?

[ciwi286]

If your using cs3 or upwards you have the puppet tool. Be careful... if you use it right it can help sell and effect. Use it too much and everything looks so cheesy it hurts.

[Skycarl]

There is an article in Videomaker magazine from one of the last recent
issues that showed how to use particle playground to
make a flock of birds fly through the shot. I know it would work
for bats also. Might want to search their online tutorials on
particle playground. I wish I remembered the exact issue and
I can't find it here right now but I'm sure they have it online.

I think it would be just what you want for this.

[operationivy5656]

If your using cs3 or upwards you have the puppet tool. Be careful... if you use it right it can help sell and effect. Use it too much and everything looks so cheesy it hurts.

There is an article in Videomaker magazine from one of the last recent
issues that showed how to use particle playground to
make a flock of birds fly through the shot. I know it would work
for bats also. Might want to search their online tutorials on
particle playground. I wish I remembered the exact issue and
I can't find it here right now but I'm sure they have it online.

I think it would be just what you want for this.
Thank you both very much

[Skycarl]

You probably found it already, but if you didn't,
http://www.videomaker.com/article/14207/

[Razback]

Anyone know some free morphing animation software

[ciwi286]

Ive heard jahshaka (http://jahshaka.org/) is like a free after effects. Try that.

[cyrax037]

Ive heard jahshaka (http://jahshaka.org/) is like a free after effects. Try that.

oh, that looks promising! Anyone ever used it?

[Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.]

Hey BFX,

It would be awesome to see an effect which shows the transformation of one thing to another, with the viewers actually seeing the transformation take place. This would be awesome for werewolf, monster, or other transformation related clips.

[crossplatform]

It would be great if everyone used the same software as well. I am going through the process of converting some of the tutorials on the videocopilot.net site for use in Apple's Motion. Due to some items that are not the same, I was almost not able to complete the conversion of one of the tutorials. Thanks to a Motion 4 genius on the support boards a solution was created to replicate the After Effects tutorial. I can now modify this to create the effect that I want to create. Using a search engine, can usually help find a tutorial on some other site to suit your needs. Different software packages require different solutions. I really wish that people would stop requesting computer driven effects here. Also learning about blending modes in your editing package can help with effects such as magical dueling effects. If your editing app has blending modes (most do) pick up a book on digital photo editing that shows how to do some special effects type things and it can easily be translated to your video editing package. Transforms are handled differently in different packages so doing an online search will probably be your best bet. Try videocopilot.net (aftereffects tutorials) or applemotion.net or motionsmarts.com (Apple Motion tutorials) or filmmakeriq.com for links to sites that have tutorials for both programs and more. I would include my site, but I don't have the conversions from After Effects to Motion done in a followable structure yet, just personal project files. There are sites dedicated to digital VFX work, look for them.

[BIG BROTHER Studios]

It would be great if everyone used the same software as well. I am going through the process of converting some of the tutorials on the videocopilot.net site for use in Apple's Motion.
Why not just get After effects? It's a seriously great investment. And if you cant afford it, that's what pirates are for...:ninja:

[crossplatform]

If I wanted After Effects I would have gotten After Effects. I buy the software I use and as FCS3 costs as much as AE, I found it to be more cost effective, and if you are creative enough you can get close to if not the same results as you can from AE. Also if I need the extra compositing power I also have Shake. My point was look around the web, you can find tutorials for these requests on VFX centered sites that specialize in the software you are using, if the company doesn't have a tutorial somebody on their forums can probably help out in regards to a VFX request. FCS3 is a great investment as well. I get paid for what I do on a freelance basis, so if I need something I'm going to buy it, I don't condone pirating and I don't think the folks at IndyMogul do either.

Why not just get After effects? It's a seriously great investment. And if you cant afford it, that's what pirates are for...:ninja:

[Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.]

I'm Looking to get After Effects some time soon, but right now I don't have enough money to buy it.

[Razback]

I belive the morphing tecnicque would work in a very highly way.All the morphing software, from basic to advanced,are free to try.

[Globeversal Pictures]

I posted an FX request that was similar... (http://forum.indymogul.com/showthread.php?t=24513)

Here's the poor mans method... you can just have someone pass right in front of the camera (on a tripod), in front of the shot of you unchanged actor. Crop behind the silhouette moving in front of your camera, and place in the exact previous shot, except with a new person. It might even look pretty cool if you pull it off right.

P.S. Have your second actor wear the same clothes. And the shot should be a medium close-up, to see the faces are different.