After Effects Mocha tracking data no mouth effect

[PeterRoden]

Hi there,

I came across this tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82lb40PkNms) and have been struggling to follow it because of the changes to the latest release of Mocha. Is anyone able to tell me how I would go about getting the same results with the latest version of Mocha? It would be greatly appreciated 🙂

[Rick Gerard]

That is an awful tutorial. The workflow is incredibly inefficient. I give it a D. You have to vet your trainers.

The only part of the Mocha workflow that is different is that you don't have to copy the tracking data to the clipboard, you just select it in the ECP (Effects Control Panel). Pick the layer and export, then apply. But again, I would not use that workflow at all. 

If you show us your original footage and describe in detail what you are trying to accomplish we should be able to suggest an efficient workflow to accomplish the task. The most efficient workflow depends on the shot. 

[PeterRoden]

Hi Rick,

Ha ha agreed, its very hard to follow with no explanation. Attached is a snippet of the footage I'm using. Essentially I'm trying to remove the mouth of the model using the clone tool. Once this is acheived I wanted to use the Mocha tracking data and a feathered mask to then cover the mouth through out the clip.

Thanks for your time

[PeterRoden]

Hi Rick,

Any thoughts on this? Hope that's all the info you need.

Much appreciated

S

[Rick Gerard]

The first thing I would do with that shot is motion stabilize the face. That would be easy to do using AE's Stabilize motion easily available in the Motion Tracking workspace. Here's how I would set that up:

That will give you this:

When you have that done you have a face that doesn't move much. Duplicate the layer, Pre-compose the duplicate making sure you move all attributes to the new comp, name the pre-comp, open the Paint workspace, right-click on the face comp and open the layer, then use the clone tool to cover the mouth. You'll get something like this:

Go back to your default workspace and add a blue solid to the comp, set the blend mode to Overlay, then draw a mask around the mouth. The blend mode allows you to see through the layer and accurately adjust the mask. That will give you something like this and you probably won't need to add any keyframes to the mask.

The next step is to add some blur to your Pre-comp layer and set the blue solid as a track matte. You'll get something like this:

The last step is to remove the stabilizing and add the motion to the other layers. Start by renaming the original footage "stabilized" then add a null to the top of the timeline. Move the CTI to the first frame and apply this animation preset to the Null layer. 

Here are the expressions that will be added to the Null:

//Position
thisComp.layer("stabilized").transform.anchorPoint

//Scale
x = value[0];
y = value[1];
tx = thisComp.layer("stabilized").transform.scale[0];
ty = thisComp.layer("stabilized").transform.scale[1];
nx = x/tx*x;
ny = y/ty*y;
[nx, ny]

//Rotation
- thisComp.layer("stabilized").rotation

The last step is to parent all layers to the Null layer. This will remove the stabilization from the original footage and add that motion to the other layers. I ended up having to make just 3 mask keyframes to keep things working perfectly. It took about 10 minutes. Here's the final screenshot:

And here is a project file for you to look at that used your uploaded footage. That's the difference between an amateur approach and an efficient professional workflow.

If the shot was different, I would have used a different workflow.

[PeterRoden]

Hi Rick,

Thank you so so much for this! I'll follow the instructions and see how it goes.

Thanks again!