Use tracking data as both a mask and surface deformer

Question

Hi!I am currently working on a project where I have to add an animated hairstyle to live-action footage. The hairstyle is quite Elvis-hairspray-like, so the idea is that the hair does not deform much except for perspective changes. Thus, in order to quicken my workflow, I am trying to come up with a way where I can use tracking data as both a mask and a surface deformer. To be more specific: I can track the head's shape by tracking a mask, but then I also want to use this tracking data to deform a solid or an image that contains the hair texture, so it can follow the perspective change of the head. Is there a way to do that? Pehraps with Mocha? I hope I am explaining it clear enough and please let me know if u need more info!

Mylenium · Answer

Not really. First you would need to create an algorithm that actually calculates a plane or mesh from the moving mask points to even have some sort of 3D info to base any perspective shifts on. Other options would be using mocha's planar tracker rather than the mask tracker to already have soem sort of 3D-ish plane or using actual 3D tracking tools like Syntheyes or mocha Pro and their mesh trackers/ mesh reconstruction tools. In the end none of them will provide a 100% perfect automatic solution, so it may simply not be worth it, especially if the shot isn't that long. Just tugging and pulling the hair into shape using distortion effects like the Puppet Tool, the Reshape effect or Mesh Warp could be much quicker and more straightforward. Point in case: whatever tracking-based solution might work is still going to require extra work to set up the whole thing and clean up the result, so you might as well just skip those steps and do it by hand and still finish your work faster.

Mylenium

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