Squaring up a warped image outline in the Canvas

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Level 3

613 points

Squaring up a warped image outline in the Canvas

I put some digital photos on the Timeline, and found that due to camera angles, lens distortion, and other factors, some of the images didn't look very true to life. So I used the Distort Tool to tug the corners of the pictures around until the proportions looked better.

But that, of course, caused the formerly rectangular outlines of the photos to become out-of-square against the black background of the canvas--the sides of the pictures slant now. What I would like to do is square up the outsides of the pictures again, or at least make them appear square, even if it means covering up a little of the images. The Crop Tool doesn't do it; all it does is move the edges of the pictures in and out, leaving the angles the same.

How can I square up the outlines of these photos so that they look rectangular again?

Tom

G5 2.0 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 8 GB of RAM

Posted on Mar 6, 2010 12:11 PM

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Answer 1

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,826 points

Mar 6, 2010 2:46 PM in response to Tom Baker1

Hi =
Click on the picture clip that you have distorted and drag it up one Video layer (from V1 to V2, for example). On the now open layer that is below your distorted picture, mark an in and out point that matches the photo on the video layer above.

In the Viewer window, click on the Generator Button (the small button with the "A" on it that is in the lower right hand corner of the Viewer window) and select Shapes > Rectangle from the drop down menu. This will place a rectangular shape in your viewer.

Edit that shape to the timeline,placing it in the open space you marked below your distorted photo. Double click on the clip of the rectangle you just edited, and in the viewer window, click on the Control tab and adjust the rectangle to roughly the size, shape and edge softness you want using the control sliders there. Don't worry about being to precise - we will come back and adjust/fine tune it again later.

Now Control-Click on the clip of the distorted photo that is directly above the rectangle we placed and roughly adjusted on the timeline, and from the drop down menu choose Composite Mode > Travel Matte - Luma. As soon as you make that selection, you will now see the photo is restricted by the rectangle that is on the Video layer below it, and the only part of the photo that will show is the part that is where the white of the rectangle is. You can now double click on the rectangle again, and by using the Control tab sliders, fine tune the shape to your liking.

Repeat for your other photos, or is the shape that we made works for other pictures, you can copy and paste it where you need it. Just remember to set the Composite mode of the distorted pictures correctly.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 6, 2010 10:56 PM in response to Meg The Dog

That helped a great deal, Meg. It did the trick, in fact. Thanks very much for taking the time to show me how to do that. I found that I couldn't quite get the aspect ratio of the rectangle correct with just the shape controls alone, but then I discovered that the crop tool can also operate on the rectangle just fine, so all came out well. The pictures are all squared up now and look great.

Best wishes,

Tom

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Answer 3

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 11, 2010 12:19 PM in response to Tom Baker1

Now the only little problem I have is that the when generated rectangle shape (mask) on V1 takes effect on the image above it (the photo), it happens suddenly. I mean, I cannot bring the rectangular mask in around the photo gradually whenever I want to (there are a few places in this video where I want the rectangle to smoothly confine the image just as the latter is appearing, instead of just suddenly jumping in there in a sort of jarring blink.)

In other words (how do I get this across?), there are places in my video where a photo is supposed to appear, and the image itself does appear smoothly using a cross-dissolve, but the rectangle shape beneath it does not come in smoothly along with it, even when an identical cross-dissolve is added to its front end. While the photo is smoothly appearing, the rectangle just suddenly confines the photo with a jarring pop. In other words (I think I'm running out of words) I can't get the photo and the rectangle to dissolve into view identically and simultaneously.

What is it about this generated rectangle that prevents it from taking effect gradually using a cross-dissolve? Is there any way to prevent it from so suddenly taking effect? If not, is there perhaps a better way to square up the edges of a distorted photo than placing it inside a rectangular mask like this? No matter what method I use to square up these distorted photos, the squaring process has to dissolve into effect right along with the photos when the latter appear.

Any suggestions?

Tom

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Answer 4

Mar 11, 2010 12:46 PM in response to Tom Baker1

I'm unable to recreate your issue here...have you dbl-checked that you followed Meg's advise correctly?

I get smooth incoming clip/mask regardless of having a second dissolve added to the 'shape' and/or whether it comes in over black or over other video.

Check your process again.

What format is the photo...should be RGB, not CMYK.

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Answer 5

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 11, 2010 1:47 PM in response to Kevan D. Holdsworth

Hi Kevan. Thanks for trying to help.

The photos are JPEGS with an RGB profile attached, and you are correct; if I just stick one of these photos down on the timeline all by itself, and put the clip/mask beneath it, put the photo clip into the Composite mode, and then put a matching cross-dissolve on both clips, then they both come into view smoothly and simultaneously as the playhead moves across them, just the way I want.

However, if I put a video clip in front of the photo clip, and make a transition between them, and then put the clip/mask below the photo with a matching transition, that the mask pops into effect suddenly instead of dissolving in gradually. So it has something to do with the fact that the photo is joined to a preceding piece of video that makes the mask come in suddenly.

I thought it might be because the photo is in a composite mode and the video preceding it is not, so I tried putting the video clip in Composite Mode also (Composite Mode > Travel Matte-Luna), but that doesn't help, because instant the mask/clip gets under it (whether the clip/mask has a cross-dissolve on it or not) the mask just suddenly pops over the video. This happens at the very beginning of the dissolve, just as if the dissolve were not there. If I take the video clip out of Composite Mode, then the mask pops into effect the instant the playhead hits the mask/clip underneath the photo clip, even (again) if the playhead is passing over a cross-dissolve on the front end of the mask/clip.

In other words, a cross-dissolve on the front end of the mask/clip has no effect on the mask/clip whenever a video clip is joined onto a photo clip on V2 above it. A cross-dissolve only works on the mask/clip if the photo clip above it is all by itself, unjoined to anything.

I guess I'm too new to Final Cut to figure out why this should be so. Can you think of any reason?

Tom

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Answer 6

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,826 points

Mar 11, 2010 2:30 PM in response to Kevan D. Holdsworth

Hi -
In this example:
!http://www.spotsbeforeyoureyes.com/DissolveMatte.jpg!
There is a simultaneous dissolve on V! between moving video and a colored background.
. . . and on V2, the matte (the rectangle) dissolves on.
. . . and on V3, the matte fill (the picture) dissolves on.
The result is a smooth dissolve so that as the motion image dissolves to a colored background, and the picture which is matted by the rectangle, smoothly dissolves on.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 7

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

613 points

Mar 11, 2010 3:41 PM in response to Meg The Dog

Thanks again, Meg. That's the solution, all right. I had the moving video dissolving directly into the still photo, in other words I had them both on the same video track, butted together, with the dissolve between them.

I changed that to match your example, putting the still photo and its matte on the two video tracks above, with identical independent dissolves on each, and then let the moving video on the lower track dissolve into a colored background as shown.

Now it all works smoothly the way I wanted it to. I'm all set.

Thanks Kevin & Meg for the help. You got me straightened out again. I'll get the hang of this video editing yet.

Tom

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