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Blurring or censoring multiple faces in the same clip

I have followed this old thread on this question and I'm almost but not quite there.


I've applied keyframed masks to two faces in the clip. They track the faces perfectly. The weird thing is that the masks won't display in the preview window at the same time; I have to uncheck one of them in the Inspector in order to get the other one to display and vice versa. Similarly, if I have both of them checked in the inspector and I scrub over the blur or pixellation that I want to apply, it just appears black in the preview window. The same goes for the pixellation or blur. It'll display perfectly if only one of them is activated, but not both.


Help???


Many thanks,


Steve

Posted on Jul 28, 2019 8:57 AM

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Posted on Jul 28, 2019 9:49 AM

Not clear how you're building this, but this is the way I'd suggest doing it.


Apply as many Pixelate effects has you need and use the Shape Masks built into to each effect.




Use the keyframes to animate the shape masks that cut the effect.



6 replies

Jul 28, 2019 9:39 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks a lot for responding, Tom. I was hoping you'd chime in. ;-)


Here's a grab of the preview window with the first instance of the draw mask checked and the pixellate effect applied and the desired face obscured (circled):



Here I've disabled the first mask in the inspector and enabled the second one, and again, the corresponding face is pixellated (circled):



And here it is with both masks enabled; note that now neither face is pixellated as it should be:



I'll also note that when I play the clip with one or the other mask enabled in the inspector, the keyframed effect tracks the faces just fine.


Thanks in advance,


Steve

Jul 28, 2019 10:45 AM in response to rebbi

Tom, I very much appreciate this suggestion and I will give this workflow a try. I am new to this kind of effects-plus-keyframe work, and I was aware that there is more than one way to get most things done in Final Cut Pro. Up until now I have been using Draw Mask to apply the mask and key frame it to the movement of the face. Then, I applied whatever blur effect I wanted by dragging and dropping it onto the clip. But somehow I think your methodology is simpler and makes more sense. I will give it a try and report back if it works, for the benefit of others. Thanks again!

Jul 28, 2019 5:26 PM in response to rebbi

Tom, thank you, this is working. I'm using the Censor effect and applying an instance for each face I want to blur in a particular clip, and key framing each one separately. It works!


One other question: Is there a way (besides using the Blade tool to split the clip) to terminate an effect in the middle of a clip, so that (in this case) a stray blob of pixellation from a no-longer-needed effect isn't hanging around, unwanted, beyond the end of the time it's needed?


Thanks for everything!

Blurring or censoring multiple faces in the same clip

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