A FASTER way to MASK in After Effects

***Exclusive Discount For The Olufemii Tuts Community:***

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Masking can SUCK. Here's a better way.

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Olufemii Tutorials by Josh Enobakhare

[antonnikolla]

Good one, but you could also set the mask layer from "add" to "none" and you will see the main footage and get no black. Also, you can duplicate your main layer and add the mask. In this case, you don't need to do that TrkMat thing.

[slackdave]

A key technique when rotoscoping is to move the vertices in groups. Not one by one. That way you maintain the shape and reduce the risk of chattering edges. Also create ...keyframes.
If you're tracing a ball that flies up and down. Trace first the lowest position, the highest and then the final low position. Then adjust the in-betweens, correcting the positions where after effects goes wrong.

[harihadwin]

It takes around 45-50 mins .... I saw his desktop time at the corner 😁

[pascaldepree]

This one step saved me around 20 minutes for each mask I do. Thank you so much for this!

[laroslav]

Your tutorials are appreciated. You explain everytNice tutorialng so simply and show the fundantals of producing. Many people and myself thank

[cliffalexander]

Thank you so much for pointing out using adjustment layers, for anyone who does not know, if you have everything in one mask and you mess up, it is a few hours of cleaning up you have to do. Thank you again for this technique. Almost feel stupid with the answer being right under the nose the whole time.

[KrunoslavStifter]

You should look into Mocha rotoscoping. Saves time because you don't have to adjust for every key frame, Mocha interpolates well and you have more advance tools available that allows you to track more difficult shots, even with motion blur and occlusions. Once you are done the selections and track data can be used in AF as masks. I think Mocha is included in AF btw. Pro version offers more tools for removing objects etc. But for rotoscoping work you can use mocha that ships with AF.

[HypeTrains]

Masking out body parts at a time is really smart! thanks for the tip, still relevant 2 years later!

[mariotte]

I briefly saw this concept mentioned in another video and this is exactly what I was looking for! No just another "just rotoscope" when in many cases it is just same amount of work and worst results.

[inciteful_kavi]

thank you. Only vid showing this on YouTube and now I'm not confuse anymore. Continue to follow whatever dream you have. peace and love hommie

[Jacobooze]

Thank you very much for the tip, I know this was in 2017, but the mask mode can be set to none instead of applying it to an adjustment layer, the less layers in a compostion, the better haha.

[_Gabyo_]

One thing I would really like to be able to do is to parent adjustment layers to tracking points. It would be really useful when the camera is moving but the subject not so much, and more precise when working with masks or effects such as mesh warp. I don't know if there's an expression for that but I couldn't find answers online.

[josiahtaundidesigns]

Awesome tut. Love from Calgary, Alberta

[fareehabatoolmaan]

This works. Recommended to try this out. Thanks a lot for your help

[KeyIntelMedia]

If you look at many tracking videos this segmented strategy is the way to go. nice video

[qwestf]

using it for a few years and now I want to upgrade and I'm happy I did that.

[DJTronuk]

Ahhh, wow... I can't believe after 10 years of editing, I never thought of this myself 😂😂. Thanks Josh, great tip bro! ✊✊👌👌

[davidpoulton]

The rules apply to also photoshop. It is sometimes easier to mask parts individually instead of taking on the whole selection.

[jumanjiwarlord]

What’s the advantage of using the adjustment layer / track matte technique? I assume you could just duplicate the layer and mask each “ligament” individually anyway?

[valerio]

is that really better than roto brush plus refine tool? I mean roto brush looks much faster and the result it's still good