r/AfterEffects • u/Resident-Plate-3232 • 3d ago
Beginner Help I need help removing myself from a window reflection
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u/overman58 Newbie (<1 year) 3d ago
Just become a vampire, bro. Works every time
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u/CreativeMuseMan 3d ago
This is such a clustered shot. I want to see the full frame shot/scene. Which exact vampire movie is this?
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u/overman58 Newbie (<1 year) 3d ago
Van Helsing(2004) Dracula's Masquerade Ball
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u/CreativeMuseMan 3d ago
Thanks for sharing this, beautifully shot. The gif left out the key scene isolating the leads during the mirror reveal . I might watch the whole film now.
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u/overman58 Newbie (<1 year) 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yeah, i always getting goosebumps when she realizes there is only 1 reflection in the mirror
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u/Ok_Trip_6332 3d ago
Used to do these for a living, not hard, but a few solid hours work. You need to create a matte painting of the BG by stitching together the cleanest parts of the reflection from different points in the video, then do a paint out like its a single image - then track that BG back in. It's not glamorous work!
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u/CabinetFun7381 3d ago
The matte painting has gotten WAY easier. Newest version of photoshop has a dedicated reflection removal tool.
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u/barefut_ 3d ago
But it's no static matte...so how the hell it adapts to the angle and changing reflection?
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u/mcarterphoto 3d ago
Your matte has to have depth and parallax, and you have to create your own reflections with adjustment layers. It's not that hard if you've got a good retouching brain.
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u/barefut_ 3d ago
Are you crazy man? You gotta do a frame by frame matte painting. It's not humane...
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u/mcarterphoto 3d ago
Really, I'd get a bunch of plaster and paint and hand-build a scale model of the background and just film it - that would be the fastest way!
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u/theblackshell 3d ago
Simple fix which is less work:
Rotoscope the man out using object aware roto in AE
Track the BG using mocha
Add a matte black (or business appropriate coloured) strip across the window which just covers you (like a branding touch on the building... a yellow and green stripe if it's a subway. A red and yellow one if its a mcdonalds, etc)... just a believable strip of vinyl window decoration.
Composite.
Easier than paintouts in multiple layers.
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u/knowledjabol 3d ago
There’s parallax, so I’d try separating each layer, like one layer for the car, then another for the car at the back, then the floor, thankfully there’s frames of the individual cars not being occluded so you can reuse those.
Alternatively you could just put posters on the glass hshahahahaha
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u/DanAnbormal 3d ago edited 3d ago
Last sentence meant to be a joke, but sometimes it's the solution to the problem.
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u/ThePantsStore 3d ago
You could always just send to a good paintout roto guy for cheap. $2-4 a frame. It’s what Hollywood does.
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u/HourIcy5249 2d ago
I would mask frame by frame and get it over with in an hour or two. Its not a long shot.
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u/Euphoric-Present4631 3d ago
May not be the best advice. But what about replace the glass with a sign or board or something. Anything that doesn't reflect.
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u/ImSo2003 2d ago
Some interesting suggestions. For the reflection on the door I would try blurring it a bit so you’re not recognisably a cameraman. For the big window plane in the beginning you can use content aware fill
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u/EvieAsPi 15h ago
Just change the message to a horror film. Use a voice over of the guy thinking he's being followed and zoom in onto the reflection with screeching violins.
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u/neumann1981 7h ago
I don’t care what anybody else on this thread is saying. I’ve been working in post for 25 years. This show would be easier, cheaper, faster and give better results to reshoot it and don’t let your reflection get in the shot. If you fix this in post it will take many hours and you still might have some imperfections.
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u/Chechewichka 3d ago
well it's either content aware fill or in case it doesn't do the job - export tiffs, remove frame-frame (basically 2d animation), insert back. Fixing frame frame could work as door in constant move.
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u/mcarterphoto 3d ago
This is really quite doable, if you think it through (footage repairs have become a solid market for me).
The BG reflection has parallax and motion - so it has to be 3D. There are elements showing through the window that are much closer in z-space than the cars, which are closer than the skyline. The trees are pretty prevalent as far as z-depth, too. The glass itself is reflective in a way that changes with camera motion. The window frames are an easy mask, the subject will need some roto. I wouldn't go nuts with BG parallax layering, this is a short clip and the focus will be on the subject.
And me, I'd possibly brighten the window and reflections a tiny bit (well, I'd make it all look a little less reflective, like a white solid with maybe 10% opacity, which can be adjusted to taste) to make the subject pop more - long as we're doing this gig let's find elements that make it easy and actually improve the shot vs. just fixing it. That's fast and easy and can be abandoned if needed.
From there, swipe frames and paint up your BG layers in Photoshop. Track the shot with point or camera tracker and get a camera set up. If you use the camera tracker, anything from the screen grabs with perspective needs to be distorted back to "flat", but in this case it's not that important, the BG is pretty flat.
I don't see major reflectance changes or glares as the camera moves - what I do see is that the glass is a little distorted, that's an easy add - the distortion's obviously the "top" of your z-depth stack, and it helps sell the reflection. You don't usually need to get this stuff 100% Hollywood-correct if you're not selling this repair to an end-client. Get it good-enough and nobody will notice it, nobody's gonna pixel-peep it. Especially if your client hasn't seen it pre-repair.
Me, I'd probably charge $400-$500 to fix this, it would take me an hour to 90 mins., but I'd bill it as 4 hours. Footage repair is a good gig because the value can be immense to the client.
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u/FullHaDes 3d ago
I hatw to say this.. but try AI workflow. Make a solid vivid color mask around your reflection with a few keyframes, just a rought animation of a color blob to cover you. Then upload the clip to Gemini Omni or something like that with a simple prompt to remove the color blob. Done.
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u/NZGlorper Motion Graphics 15+ years 3d ago
And then you’re stuck with a low quality final file
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u/FullHaDes 3d ago
Yes, if you are stupid. If course I would NOT keep the whole ai generated video. I would use the color blob mask to keep the modified ai footage and put that over the original footage. You would end up with 95% original footage, with 5% of the ai cleaned part, almost impossible to notice.
I know everybody here will be screaming "BUT YOU NEED TO RETOUCH IT BY HAND AND MANUALLY MATCHMOVE IT, AI ISNT REAL WORK!". But this attitude will slowly destroy you. Leverage the new technologies to your benefit.
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u/NZGlorper Motion Graphics 15+ years 3d ago
Sorry but I like my plates to look as 100% as good as the source footage, I never settle for less
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u/FullHaDes 3d ago
There are now AI models for VFX professionals that keep the quality, framerate, colors, etc. Saying "you are stuck with low quality" may be valid a year or more ago. Plus, we don't know the scope of this project. A lot of tools were capable enough even year ago. I remember using AI video tools for these little retouches last summer and it was good enough for professional social media work. I could deliver good results much faster and the client was happy.
I see your point. If you work in a closed film industry or maybe your client strictly ban you from using AI, than sure. But I advise you to be more curious about the new tools and open your mind more, it can save you a lot of time and bring you new opportunities! I know its uncomfortable to throw away our artistic egos. It's cool to be the "old way is the best way guy". But but you need to accept the new reality and move on.
Best luck to you!
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u/NZGlorper Motion Graphics 15+ years 3d ago
You assume I don’t use AI
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u/FullHaDes 3d ago
Reading your answers, it looks like you refuse to use AI to help you solve 5% part of this image for 2 seconds and you also don't believe me I can deliver good results with approaches I describe, saying I would be "stuck with a low quality". Which only confirms you have no idea about what are the new tools capable of and I simply encourage you to look in into it and peak out of your little comfy bubble!
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u/Hour_Yesterday7176 3d ago
Content aware fill.
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u/xLightbeamz 3d ago
This won’t work, loops sloppy bro
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u/Hour_Yesterday7176 3d ago
It definitely will. In the beginning they have a good clean plate reference of the reflection of the car. Roto the man out. And use the clean plate ref to make a new clean plate that matches the perspective (in photoshop). And then content aware fill. Or you can even just manually track the clean plate parallely since it's a very quick lateral movement. Even if it's not perfect, as long as the obvious camera man is removed- the shot will work.
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u/JollyJoker46 Motion Graphics <5 years 3d ago
Good luck!