Topic: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Is it possible to use a video editing software, and put two timelines, of the same place, just not same people, and make it work? is that possible? if not is there any alternative?

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Yes, if you're a wizard.

Why ask if it's possible when it's already possible.  It's been possible for decades.  The better question is how and you've pretty much answered it.

https://i.imgur.com/4b9NnS3.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/GUIl0qk.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/ox64uld.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/v3iyhE5.png

Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Yea but can you tell me how? The problem is I don't know how, as I have tried, and when I do it, it seems to diolate the others like it makes them fade, when I put in a different layer together in sony vegas, so can you tell me how to do it?

I'd really appreciate it.

And I don't know if your referring to stop motion when you say decades.

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Generalned wrote:

Yea but can you tell me how? The problem is I don't know how, as I have tried, and when I do it, it seems to diolate the others like it makes them fade, when I put in a different layer together in sony vegas, so can you tell me how to do it?

I'd really appreciate it.

And I don't know if your referring to stop motion when you say decades.

In films in general.

What you need to do is create masks. Basically...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slnTDtETMgg

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

No jampot I don't believe that has to do with what I am asking, what I was asking was for example, say you have 1 character sitting in a seat, but then I want to add a new layer in sony vegas with a new image sequence, of the everything the same only its to add another character to the same scene, how can I do that while my other character originally still being there is what I am asking, I am not trying to take anyone out, trying to put characters in is what I want to achieve, I just would like to know how.

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Ned, about the photo of the guy, sorry, but you'll have to mask it.
And Sony Vegas can't do masking so it's off to GIMP for you.

Sony Vegas is not an effects program, so if can't do all the fancy stuff After Effects can.
What you want is masking, and is possible in After Effects how you say, just not in Vegas.

Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

It's the same basic concept as taking someone out- except the someone in question is the background of your shot. You want to take remove bits of the new picture so the character to be inserted is the only thing that isn't transparent, and then layer it on top of your original scene. You could do it manually, by filming on-set and masking, or I guess if you had a decent chroma-key setup you could use that and set the keyed-in area to display the old shot (which would be faster, but much harder to get good results from).

Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Hey Pritchard, so wait what your saying is, I have to mask every single frame? mini/eek and on After effects, is it more simplified? and are you able to give me a brief example of how to do it? I mean, I thought it would be as simple as adding different layers, of two different characters in different spots of the same place,

Squash do you know how to when you say manually do you mean masking out just the character I want added? and how do I add him in later anyhow? and what if I want them moving throught the scene how does that work if his masked or it doesn't really effect him?

Kind regards,

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Well, take my input with a grain of salt because I've never done significant effects work- I'm fairly certain that in After Effects or the like it can be simplified significantly, but if I had to do something like this I would wind up going the route Pritchard mentioned and use GIMP because I don't own AE.

The long and short of masking frame by frame is that you: make a new image -> create two layers -> put the original frame on the bottom layer and the frame you want superimposed on the top -> draw a mask/selection around the character you want to keep and delete everything else from the top layer -> save the image -> repeat until you've done that for all of the images you want to mask.

It's an arduous process, but if you're careful and patient you can get very good results. I wouldn't recommend it unless it's a very short shot or entirely necesary, though.

Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Hey squash, thanks for the response, I have just one more question, so far I've understood most of what you've said, now,

just a few questions to be sure,

When you say original image, is that the image that just has the background or the one character you want to keep while adding other people?

when you save the image after deleting everything else besides the character how do you add him in, and which character is this for the original or the new character?

What if you want to add several characters into one scene does it work the same?

I really want to know, as I want to attempt to pull this off.

Kind regards,
Generalned

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Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

For clarity, I'll try to define some things:
Image 1: The image you take first. From your initial question, I assume this has the set and a figure already in it (if it doesn't already have a figure, that's fine as well- what's important is that it has the set).
Image 2: The image taken containing the figure you want to add to the first image. It could have the set as well, but it doesn't really matter- you're going to remove everything that isn't the figure. That said, if you can film on the same set, with the same lighting and camera angle, it will make things look more consistent.

By original image, I meant image 1. By default, layers in GIMP have an attribute called transparency: this means that if you have images on two layers, and you erase part of the one on the top layer, you can see through to the image on the bottom layer. So if you put image 2 on a layer above image 1, and erase everything but the minifigure from image 2, the final result will be an image with the minifigure superimposed on top of image 1. When you save to a final image, the layers will be merged. 

There are a fair amount of tutorials about applying the concept on Youtube (try searching "brickfilm masking"). Watching how they work might give you a better idea of how to use it to add characters to your scene. Once you know how to add one character, you can use the method to add as many as you like.

One final note: I'm simplifying a bit here in that if you have flawless lighting and absolutely no camera bumps, you could get by with filming on the same set and only erasing the part of image 2 that covers the character in image 1. In practice this can be difficult because light flicker and unstable cameras lead to small differences between the images which peak through at the border of the area you erase

Ultimately, you should read/watch tutorials and experiment. I have a feeling some hands-on with GIMP will do a better job of getting the general idea across than I could in five hundred pages.

Re: Is it possible to make Two layers of pictures, then put them in a seq?

Squash thank you for that great information, that has definitely helped a mile mate, I'll get more into it, now on one final question, and this is the only thing that bothers me, and I don't understand, this one thing, and its this, once you remove everything but the figure on image two, how does it work as him being added onto the scene? that's my question were I am confused, or is it possible, that from the set it came from,

say I took two photos, and there both the same set only the figures are different spots, is it possible even after removing the set, from image two, that the character will still be in the spot it was mean't too? Is pretty much what I am trying to figure out, cause what confuses me, is as you said, it doesn't even have to be taken with the set, but then how will the figure look in the layers that's were I am little lost that's all.

And when you think about it, its more difficult then it sounds, jeez.. unbelievable it would a total mission, how prestigious this could get.

But in all, you have pretty answered everything I will check youtube videos too, but I feel I learn much better from getting answers from specific questions, ohh and just one more little thing to ask

, when its added to the photo how can you keep it apart as in the character being added to the image when you doing layers in timelines, for example, when freezing frames? Cause it would be sooo difficult, and time consuming along with alot of work, without it. That's my final questions mate, I really appreciate all your help, and answers.

Kind regards,
Generalned

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"You don't know what you have till you lose it, but then when you realize it, it's probably to late.."
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Proverbs 26:21