Copy edge pixels and expand edge color?

[TheFosterHouse]

I'm looking for a plug in or script that could help with a very specific issue. I have an object that is out of focus and I need to replace what is behind it. I'm aware of the regular methods and techniques to achieve this, but I'm looking for a faster way. I'm looking for a way to use a filter such as Stroke or Edge Finder in conjunction with a mask to create an outline on the layer. I want to mask the object at the point of the last solid bit before the blur begins and apply a filter that creates a stroke on the mask. Instead of using a single color the stroke, I want to have it sample the color of the pixels of the image at the edge of the mask and expand them outward. Basically, I want fake a "Strait Alpha" so I can defocus from there. Does anyone know of anything that can help achieve this? Thanks.

[Mylenium]

Easily done, but not with plug-ins or any of that. You simply need a ton of pre-comps as duplicates of your source footage and then work with Track Mattes, Shift Channels, Set Matte, Minimax, Matte Choker and similar effects. You would apply Find Edges to one of the pre-comps, then use the resulting greyscale image as a matte and massage it further with the mentioned effects to increase its thickness, smooth and feather it. this can then easily be used on another (blurred) duplicate of the layer/ comp as a matte to get your colored edges. Similarly, with additional masking or channel-based voodoo individual areas can be extracted. Again, no magic, just work and a relatively complex setup.

Mylenium

[dean_k]

It's very possible this is asking too much, and please dont take it as me being rude.

Would you care to explain a bit more specifically this approach?  I dont have a ton of experience with AE, but am trying to extend the pixels of an animated layer with a character dancing across it (the character is the only non-alpha pixels on the layer). I think I am in essence trying to do that which you explained above.  Thanks alot.

[Towerguy]

Hi. Have a look at the Refine Matte effect, it may do what you need with a bit of study.

[default7b8tlafp91dd]

I second this. Add Refine Matte and crank up the Shift Edge parameter and it does exactly what you need. Perhaps a few more layered duplicated Refine Matte FX would shift it outwards even more but I haven't tried that just yet.

[TheFosterHouse]

It does not work for this purpose. This is what I'm asking for: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-ideas/ae-needs-an-edge-extend-color-smear/idc-p/1356312...

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi TheFosterHouse,

Did any of the suggestions mentioned above help?

Let us know.

Rameez

[Nate_Foster]

Thank you all for the tips. Mylenium gave me an idea. Rather than the mass of precomps and duplicates, I was able to use RedGiant's Hall of Mirrors plug-in on the masked area. Scale set to 1.01 and ramping up the number of images to about 50 gave the edge I was looking for. The center of the shape was averaged via Tracker-Vis, so I got a decent center point for the effect. It may not work on all examples, but it gave me what I was looking for. Thanks.

[Rameez_Khan]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know.

Regards,

Rameez

[kiakima]

Use CC RepeTile with the slide setting for Tiling. Super easy. It will be based on the original size of your layer, so you will have to resize a precomp to the edge you want to use.

[TheFosterHouse]

great solution. masking the effect off helps hide seems as well.

[sncfrk]

Hey there, woulld you mind elaborating a bit on how RepeTile solved your problem? As I understand you were asking for the entire silhouette of an animated object (a dancing person) to have the edge extended by a certain amount of pixels. I just tried doing this with RepeTile and while it does have the exact desired effect, it only works as constrained to a rectangle which isn't helpful at all in the case outline. I've attached an example where I've applied the effect to a tiger with an alpha channel. 

This is a really commonly desired effect for compositing to clean up bad edges. Not sure why AE can't just make an effect that does this. Maybe even... a suite of effects for basic compositing needs they still don't have? Anyway, I digress!

Thanks!

[TheFosterHouse]

This is from a while back and I can't remember how I got it to work. An extend edge tool is still needed and shouldn't be a hack from a plug in that doesn't just do this. I agree that the effect doesn't work if it's just applied, I just can't remember how I got it to work. The Hall of mirrors trick doesn't work either any more. The issue is that AE doesn't have any tool that's even remotely like Nuke's extend edge. That's the problem. 

[sncfrk]

Just want to add that Refine Matte does seem to work pretty well for this effect by using Shift Edge. However, for some reason they cap the effect at a value of 100 which only increase the edge a tiny ammount. Duplicating the effect 3-5 times seems to give the desired result, at least on this crappy PNG test image. It's nice to find work arounds, but Refine Matte always feels like an effect that taxes my machine more than others, so having to use this, and then duplicating it many times, is not as ideal as having a simple, dedicated effect with an intuitive name and maybe even some extra controls such as a checkbox to isolate just the extended region, adjust the feathering of the extended edge, and tint/brighten/darken the region as well. These are the kinds of things AE should be focused on updating because there are tons these kinds of problems that would be easily solved. I'm probably preaching to the choir here though!

[TheFosterHouse]

Refine edge "kinda works" but never in the way I need it to. It's way too processor heavy to use for the crappy results it gives. We need a dedicated extend edge tool