Magic mask and Paint tool for object removals?

I've got two issues that are causing me a major headache.

My aim is to remove the seams from the corners of this set.
I thought I could just paint over the corner using a clean frame, before the subject enters the shot. And then use magic mask to separate the subject from the background and layer her on top of the painted corner.

The first issue is with the paint tool. It either clones the background, which creates unwanted double imaging as it is cloning every frame. or it only holds for 30 frames maximum, I want it to just hold the the same paint job over the entire length of the clip, not clone every frame.

The second issue is the magic mask, which for me simply doesn't work, when I apply it to any footage, the entire image/layer goes transparent. I've watched and read several tutorials where people simply attach the magic node draw on the subject and it works, I follow step by step but can't get the same result.

Until now I've had to take the image in to photoshop, do the paint over, bring it back, track and paste it over the footage, mask the corner, then hand mask the subjects frame by frame, which is taking me waaaay to long. so I'd really like to get this solved as I know there is much easier ways to get it done.

Any help, much appreciated

The paint tool should work for this, but I find that I have to sit down, read a bunch of documentation, and futz around experimenting for an hour or two every time I try to use it for this kind of thing. I keep trying to write step-by-step guides for myself for various paint tool scenarios, but the steps never seem to work quite the same way twice in a row. Yes, I'm afraid the paint tool has gotten the better of me.

As a result, I now do this kind of thing in Fusion. I split off a copy of the scene I want to clone, isolate the part I want to clone using a polygon applied to a Matte tool, and then use the Time Stretcher node to offset the masked portion to a point where it's not obstructed.

Magic Mask ought to work too, but because I'm a Fusion guy if there aren't too many frames to deal with then I'd just animate a mask in Fusion to match the outlines of the moving subject.

Sorry, haven't really answered your question. My colleagues always used to call me the "workaround king" - find a way around the problem instead of solving it. For me that's usually been the fastest way to do it.

This is a really good tutorial on how to paint and then track the painted or cloned area.

Be aware, to use tracking in the paint tool, there is only one brush that works. The third brush called STROKE1. The first two brushes (Multistroke1 and Clonemultistroke1) cannot be attached to tracking data are usually good for frame by frame painting out jobs. It's not intuitive at all how it works, so I always refer back to the Youtube video to attach the tracking to paint strokes.

Fusion is not intuitive software. You have just to pretty much work videos to understand how it works. But I also use photoshop to use the AI to fill in backgrounds. The paint tool has its limits and at the end of the day, whatever works for you and gets the job done.

Be aware, to use tracking in the paint tool, there is only one brush that works. The third brush called STROKE1.

I may not have realized this - thanks for pointing it out. Perhaps you've given the paint tool a new lease on life for me!

Fusion is not intuitive software. You have just to pretty much work videos to understand how it works.

We all have our own favourites. I moved to Resolve after Adobe went to a subscription model. I was always frustrated with trying to do effects work in Adobe's "layered" paradigm, and when I went through the Resolve tutorials and discovered how Fusion's flow-based effects engine worked it was like light shining from the heavens. Some of the specific tools like "Paint" are a little too idiosyncratic for me, and one of these days I'm going to have to learn the 3D aspects of it - but boy I sure love how easily I can control what effects get applied when and where.

The other approach I've seen is to stabilize the footage using the planar tracker, work the painting on the stabilized footage and then apply the inverse stabilization to restore movement. I suppose it very much depends on whether the movement in the footage can be defined by a single point tracker or if the movement is more complex. The technique illustrated above is great - thanks for posting.

The other approach I've seen is to stabilize the footage using the planar tracker, work the painting on the stabilized footage and then apply the inverse stabilization to restore movement. I suppose it very much depends on whether the movement in the footage can be defined by a single point tracker or if the movement is more complex. The technique illustrated above is great - thanks for posting.

Thanks,
Though the issue I have is not the tracking part, at least in this shot the camera is locked, so all I really need to do is paint over the corner and then mask the subjects that moves in front. Fusion seems fully capable of doing this, but to figure it out is a brain teaser.

Sorry, haven't really answered your question. My colleagues always used to call me the "workaround king" - find a way around the problem instead of solving it. For me that's usually been the fastest way to do it.

No worries, I am the same, people assume I am an effects guy when they saw my first film, and I have to tell them, I have no idea what I'm doing, basically hacked my way through every shot.

What makes me angry is that I can see magic mask working for others, and I have paid for this software to use that tool and it just doesn't work for me at all, and so I have had to spend an entire day now, masking the subject by hand, frame by frame.. it's just so unnecessarily time consuming.

This is a really good tutorial on how to paint and then track the painted or cloned area.

Be aware, to use tracking in the paint tool, there is only one brush that works. The third brush called STROKE1. The first two brushes (Multistroke1 and Clonemultistroke1) cannot be attached to tracking data are usually good for frame by frame painting out jobs. It's not intuitive at all how it works, so I always refer back to the Youtube video to attach the tracking to paint strokes.
.

Thanks
yep, I've tried all the brushes, nothing seems to work.
And my issue for this is not tracking, the camera is locked, it's that the brushed area is cloned from other areas of the frame rather than a painted solid that stays as is, for the entire clip.
And then of course the magic mask that just doesn't work at all.

Zip 30 frames up or post an MP4. I'll but it in order and give it back. I've rolled a couple of macros that help with these kinds of things.

Zip 30 frames up or post an MP4. I'll but it in order and give it back. I've rolled a couple of macros that help with these kinds of things.

Many thanks!
Though I hope whatever you do is something that I can learn and repeat, there are a tonne of shots to do.
I really need to know why the magic mask refuses to work for me..
I've uploaded a MOV here, for one of the shots, it has a clean view of the corner, then a subject steps in front. I should be able to just use the paint brush and magic mask to solve this in a couple minutes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pDbNE4 ... drive_link

As a result, I now do this kind of thing in Fusion. I split off a copy of the scene I want to clone, isolate the part I want to clone using a polygon applied to a Matte tool, and then use the Time Stretcher node to offset the masked portion to a point where it's not obstructed.

I've tried this approach as well, it makes sense. but again, the time stretcher seems to have no affect on the footage for me. I try all settings, mess around with all the dials and nothing happens.

There is actually a tutorial on how to do this in the official Resolve/Fusion Reference manual.

https://elements.tv/blog/davinci-resolv ... l-is-here/

Here is how to create a clean plate with time stretcher, and you can use any rotoscoping techniques you prefer to mask out the person, magic mask will do fine.

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sshot-3931.jpg (36.75 KiB) Viewed 1026 times

I tried it with your clip, I hope I got what you were trying to do.

Basically... since the camera move a bit, I had to track it using planar tracker. Usually after track I set planar tracker to steady to be able to work on a steady area and than at the end of whatever I'm doing with the clip I reintroduce the motion back by putting a copy of the planar tracker and just check the invert steady transform.

I used TimeStrecher to extend first frame and I used that as a source for the paint/clone tool. I use background node with alpha set to zero so its giving me the dimensions of the original clip but also a transparent area to paint on. And I used a merge node after the paint and set to "Darken" apply mode or blend mode. This helps only to keep the dark line and from the clone tool and not all the other stuff. It was actually so efficient for this particular clip that I didn't even have to rotoscope the person, it just need blend mode. But in case you will need it in another clip you can always use magic mask.

Here is my set up.

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About the clone or paint tool. Use Stroke option in "clone mode"

— Multistroke: Although this is the default selection and the first actual brush type in the toolbar, Multistroke is not typically the stroke type most often used. However, it’s perfect for those
100-strokes-per-frame retouching paint jobs like removing tracking markers. Multistroke is much faster than the Stroke type but is not editable after it is created. By default, Multistroke lasts for one frame and cannot be modified after it has been painted. Use the Duration setting in the Stroke controls to set the number of frames before painting. A shaded area of the Multistroke duration is visible but not editable in the Keyframes Editor. While Multistrokes aren’t directly editable, they can be grouped with the PaintGroup modifier, then tracked, moved, and rotated by animating the PaintGroup instead.

— Clone Multistroke: Similar to Multistroke but specifically meant to clone elements from one area or image to the other. Perfect for those 100-strokes-per-frame retouching paint jobs like removing tracking markers. Clone Multistroke is faster than the Stroke type but is not editable after it is created. By default, Clone Multistroke lasts for one frame and cannot be modified after it has been painted. Use the Duration setting in the Stroke controls to set the number of frames before painting. A shaded area of the Clone Multistroke duration is visible but not editable in the Keyframes Editor.

— Stroke: In most cases, the Stroke tool is what people think of when they think of paint and is the tool of choice for most operations. It is a fully animatable and editable vector-based paint stroke. It can become slow if hundreds of strokes are used in an image; when creating a lot of paint strokes, it is better to use Multistroke. The Stroke type has a duration of the entire global range. However, you can edit its duration at any time in the Keyframes Editor. When the painting is complete, choose the Select button in the Paint toolbar to avoid accidentally adding new strokes.

.........................

For a simple line you want to change, paint or clone there is another tool. Also for wire removal.

— Polyline Stroke: This provides the ability to create and manipulate a stroke in the same way that a Bézier path or polygon mask might be created. To add a Polyline Stroke, select the Polyline button and click in the viewer to add the first point. Continue clicking to add additional points to the polyline. This click append style is the default, but polyline strokes can also be created in draw append mode. Polylines can be tracked or connected to existing polylines like masks or animation paths. The Polyline Stroke has a default duration of the entire global range. However, you can edit its duration at any time in the Keyframes Editor.

There is actually a tutorial on how to do this in the official Resolve/Fusion Reference manual.

https://elements.tv/blog/davinci-resolv ... l-is-here/

Here is how to create a clean plate with time stretcher, and you can use any rotoscoping techniques you prefer to mask out the person, magic mask will do fine.

sshot-3929.jpg

sshot-3928.jpg

sshot-3931.jpg

Thanks! Will have a readthrough

I tried it with your clip, I hope I got what you were trying to do.

Hey, thanks for all the effort! I will try this out.

I'm still trying to figure out why magic mask is making my whole image disappear, rather than keeping the subjects and removing the background. I must have watched about 20 videos now, and every time they simply open the footage, place the magic mask, make one stroke and it works.
So I have no idea why my MM is behaving this way.

This is how my Magic Mask behaves in Fusion
screen capture video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hJyDkO ... sp=sharing

This is how my Magic Mask behaves in Fusion
screen capture video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hJyDkO ... sp=sharing

Hmmm. That is peculiar indeed. From what I can see in that video, you did it as I did and I assume everyone else, but for some reason, your result is that you only get transparency. Weird. I don't see you did anything wrong from the video you posted. But I'll try to replicate that result you got a bit later, and see if I can dig up some reason why this might be happening. Otherwise it might be a bug.

Hi there

Post a clip here if you can...

I admit that tl;dr, but saw that screen of weird MM behavior, as applied to edges only at a tiny moment (like the mask looked like after a Filter - Laplacian mode - bitmap node.

Again, if you can, post a clip

I was not able to replicate the behaviour with only transparency. I get Magic Mask results that I expected. So far I've must have been lucky since I've not had any of the problems with the MM that people on this forum mention. So it could be a bug that I'm not seeing it. For me works as intended.

sshot-3953.jpg (209.4 KiB) Viewed 827 times

Yes... That's what's likely to happen if others among us try too, it's obvious the issue shouldn't be embedded in the screenshot example, see ? Like, we cannot learn from a pic MM track, no offense.
My "post a clip" suggestion intended to MM the clip and why try to compare workflows.
BTW it looks like the thread shifted from removal WFs to a specific MM - actually weird but that should have an explanation - issue.
Lastly, coming back to the OP, just a word about what Steve suggested, which may be an underrated however really solid way to reach the goal, I mean inverting a stabilized - and painted - time-stretched frame.

Yes... That's what's likely to happen if others among us try too, it's obvious the issue shouldn't be embedded in the screenshot example, see ? Like, we cannot learn from a pic MM track, no offense.
My "post a clip" suggestion intended to MM the clip and why try to compare workflows.
BTW it looks like the thread shifted from removal WFs to a specific MM - actually weird but that should have an explanation - issue.
Lastly, coming back to the OP, just a word about what Steve suggested, which may be an underrated however really solid way to reach the goal, I mean inverting a stabilized - and painted - time-stretched frame.

Yes, I am using his suggested node arrangement and all works well, except for the MM, which I assume is a bug.
I have done a full uninstall and reinstall of Resolve Studio 18.6.6 and the MM continues to not work

Is it messing the same in Color ?

I have done a full uninstall and reinstall of Resolve Studio 18.6.6 and the MM continues to not work

Have you tried creating a new project and just importing the elements into it that you need for this particular scene and effect? There may be some weird thing persisting in your project that's gumming the works up for you.

I realize that you may have a large project that you've put a lot of effort into and you won't want to have to start the whole thing over from scratch. But sometimes for troubleshooting purposes it's useful to isolate the problem you're having into its own small project to see if it works. The bonus (sort of) is that if it still doesn't work then you have a small contained package you can send to the BlackMagic support team to get some assistance with.

I have done a full uninstall and reinstall of Resolve Studio 18.6.6 and the MM continues to not work

Have you tried creating a new project and just importing the elements into it that you need for this particular scene and effect? There may be some weird thing persisting in your project that's gumming the works up for you.

I have done a full reinstall, started a fresh project and still the same thing happens, Magic mask doesn't work at all, not in the color page or Fusion. I have contacted Black Magic twice for help and received no reply. Anybody know how I can get their attention?
Thinking I should start a separate thread to deal with this MM issue.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PL_RsK ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12yZhpV ... sp=sharing

I have contacted Black Magic twice for help and received no reply. Anybody know how I can get their attention?

Did you email them using the link at the bottom of the support page? I've done that in the past and received a trouble ticket number and follow-up.

It will help if you can package up the problem and send it to them, or provide a simple series of steps they can follow to reproduce the issue.

I have contacted Black Magic twice for help and received no reply. Anybody know how I can get their attention?

Perhaps you could create a short project with just one clip that shows the problem of MM not working. Then archive the project and upload to a file sharing site, posting a link here. That way we can use the footage as well as timeline and project settings to see if some combination fails. Outside of that, the problem may be GPU or driver-related. Apologies if this has already been covered by your trouble-shooting steps.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Just to let others who encounter this problem know.
After sending all the diagnostics to Mike at BM, he advised to update my GPU Drivers.

Although I had already checked for updates in Adrenalin and it said all drivers were up to date I found that the last update had a suspiciously old date. Turns out the Adrenaline software itself was not working, so I reinstalled the AMD Adrenalin, ran an update.

I also made a fresh install of DR.

And set windows graphics settings to use the GPU.

This has solved the issue and my MM now works perfectly fine.

This has solved the issue and my MM now works perfectly fine.

Great news - thanks for posting the solution. With any luck it may help someone else who lands here hoping for an answer to the same problem.