How to add a cropped-overlay section??

cadmus · Post by **cadmus** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:10 pm

Howdy guys. I'm still an FNG here on this board, so I hope I'm not asking something that is obvious or will annoy, but I can't figure out how to do what I want. I've used MSP7 for years, and am now using the MSP8 trial, and hope you can help me!

I have a video that is filmed from a tripod, so the majority of the footage is stationary, apart from the presenter herself. I have a small section where something hapens (a hand reaches in and sticks a bit of blu-tak onto a whiteboard) that I want to remove from the video. My first though on how to do this is to copy an existing bit of footage where that section (bottom left corner, about 1/6 of screen) is perfectly still, crop it and play it over the top of the running footage.

I still think this sounds like a good solution, to use a cropped section of footage to overlay over the main footage, but I can't work out how to do it! I thought it would be a moving path, but while I can do positions etc. on mp's I can't crop the footage, and there seems to be no video filter to do it either.

Can anybody help with a solution? I can't believe this is a new requirement (can anybody ever think they're the first to have the issue?), but I'm stumped. Any help would be appreciated!!!

Cheers guys. I'm really dodging the end of my 30 days on the trial - apart from audio filters dying completely on me, I LOVE this version, but I'm also a VERY cheap ***!!!

NickJushchyshyn · Post by **NickJushchyshyn** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:20 pm

Here's the approach I typically use...

Save a frame of your video to an image file (JPG will do), lets say it's "myvideo_frame.jpg"

Open this image in a photo/paint editor.
Paint black over the area you want to REPLACE with clean video.
Paint white everywhere else.
Apply a slight blur to soften the edge.
Save as to "myvideo_mask.jpg"

Now, place your "clean area" video in a track over the time that the hand appears.
right-click the new clip and choose overlay options.
Select gray key
Select image matte
You'll get a file open dialog, select your "myvideo_mask.jpg" file.

That should do it.
Click OK and your "clean"video should be solid in the areas you painted black, covering the hand that enters the frame.
Remember to turn off the audio for the replacement clip.

Have fun.

cadmus · Post by **cadmus** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:34 pm

Sweet. More effort than I was looking for, but that will do!

What's the best way to get the jpg saved from the video image? Can I do it from within MSP?

Thanks mate!!

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:18 pm

My 2 cents;

Use BMP's instead of highly compressed images like JPG's. Less likelihood of re-compression artifacts in the rendered overlay.