Editing multiple masks frame by frame is not reliable

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Level 1

82 points

Editing multiple masks frame by frame is not reliable

I need to create about 10 masks on the same clip. Say, for example a house window with multiple transparent squares. The window coming in and out of the screen. What I do is creating every mask when the corresponding area of the window appears on the screen. I move along each mask and/or re-edit it and it's ok.

The trouble comes when one or more masks disappear completely from the screen. What I do is simply disable every point of the corresponding mask in order to disactivate the mask. Then, I re-enable it if I need. FCP seems to be mixed up with the status enabled/disabled of some points, showing points with the wrong status.

This glitch appears even after I seemingly successfully fixed all the masks.

I've had that problem for a while and didn't find any reliable fix to it.

Have you met with this problem? Is there any way to go around this?

--

Claude

Posted on May 17, 2023 11:18 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

74,208 points

May 17, 2023 12:56 PM in response to claude_210

Just a suggestion: masks don’t have to be completely inside the frame.

Instead of activating and deactivating points, let the mask itself go out of the frame as needed.

You may needed to scale the viewer down a bit to see the points that are outside the frame.

Also: besides editing the points individually, one can also edit the mask transform as a whole.

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Answer 2

May 18, 2023 6:43 AM in response to claude_210

Thank you for clarifying.

In that situation, perhaps another option will give you good results:

1) adjust the mask to a good form and position just before, and after it is meant to disappear or be deactivated;

2) Blade the clip so that there is a section that corresponds to where you don't want the mask, and in that part turn it off or delete the effect.

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Answer 3

May 18, 2023 3:59 AM in response to claude_210

Here is an example of what I was talking about. I still think it would apply to your situation. There are two Draw Masks applied, with the playhead at the first marker, for easy reference. I set up keyframes for the Transforms and the Control Points as well.

On the second marker, the portrait on the right is partially outside the screen, so the Draw Mask itself is also partially outside. There was no need to deactivate any points.

Then the pan continues, and the portrait is now completely out of the frame, and so is the Draw Mask!

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Answer 4

claude_210 Author

Level 1

82 points

May 18, 2023 3:29 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

Just a suggestion: masks don’t have to be completely inside the frame.

Instead of activating and deactivating points, let the mask itself go out of the frame as needed.

Unfortunately, this is not always possible. I am working on a clip where a Draw Mask, after having been normally created and edited on few frames, disappears totally for many frames and reappears later.

I didn't find any other way to do that but disabling half of the Control points (out of 4). Then the mask looks like a single red line which I can easily find at next editing session.

The trouble starts then: FCP get mixed up after changing the status of any Control Point and, on the next editing session, FCP shows the mask as if it had not been disabled, furthermore, showing the disabled Point as enabled. The situation gets worse if I try to fix it by clicking a few times on the Control Points and trying to get it right.

I left a bug Feedback message to Apple. I hardly expect any response from them since I am running 10.5.4 on a vintage iMac, as they say...

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Answer 5

claude_210 Author

Level 1

82 points

May 18, 2023 7:26 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Got it right. Here is what I did.

1) as you wrote

2) on next frame select 2 Control Points from one side of the screen and move them to the other side of the screen. That was made possible in my case as half of the CP are on one side and the 2 left on the other side. My luck.

3) On next frames, fix the automatic attempts from FCP smoothing algorithm to bring back the mask to where it was.

I quit FCP and restarted it. No change. It worked.

I have your proposal nbr 2) in mind which sounds feasible. Next time {;-) Tx again!

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Answer 6

claude_210 Author

Level 1

82 points

May 18, 2023 6:03 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Very good demo, tx Luis. I believe I understood what you meant. It covers the case where the right hand portrait and its mask disappear from the screen. I need to make a Draw Mask entirely vanish and reappear *from the screen*.

Going on with your example setup, imagine that on a still shot (no pan, the camera does not move significantly), when both portraits (and both Draw Masks) are still visible someone grabs the right portrait and turns it over for few frames long, *still letting its back or side entirely visible on the sreen*, then turns it back visible to its former position. I believe this illustrates what I have in mind: the Draw Mask disappears while it is still visible, and then reappears.

The problem is in deactivation of Draw Mask Control Points. I believe FCP does not handle it very well. I hope I am wrong.

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Editing multiple masks frame by frame is not reliable

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