Blackmagic Forum

Good morning!

I want to thank everyone at DaVinci Resolve for making epic improvements to Magic Mask in their second version!

I also want to note that, while trying this feature out on different things, I discovered that while it's great for real people, places, and things, it's not that great on animated 2D cartoons. This is especially true when trying to mask a character or object similar in colour to surrounding or background colours (e.g. yellowish light in background scene vs. light brown or white clothing or caucasian skin tone on foreground character).

I'm unfamiliar with the AI technology used, but is there a way to get it to work on 2D cartoons (or perhaps make a Cartoon Magic Mask tool that can do it if it requires a different algorithm)? As I write this, the thought arose that if it has trouble with colour 2D cartoons, it may also have trouble with B&W cartoons.
I've seen some edits of cartoons that have recently become Public Domain, but (as far as I've seen) none have used any "cut out" animated characters from PD cartoons for their projects. A Magic Mask that could mask animated 2D B&W Public Domain cartoons (and allow editors to isolate/"cut out"/use animated PD characters for their projects, colour them, etc.) would be epic!

Please make Magic Mask 2 work for 2D colour and B&W cartoons, or create a separate Cartoon Magic Mask if it requires a different AI algorithm.

Thank you and God bless you!


Roger

I haven't used MM2 but I've used MM1, and it had a similar difficulty, so +1 if this quirk has carried over to MM2!

Magic Mask in my experience should work on almost anything. You might need to provide a bit of help though to increase the changes of tracking. Increase saturation, appropriate exposure and contrast, clean up any nasty noise and artifacts, change color space if it fails etc. All that can take otherwise failed tracking and making work very well. I would suggest for rotoscoping to use fusion if you are on Magic Mask 1. And when eventually comes to fusion also magic mask 2. There you have more control about how you prep the files. I haven't tested magic mask 2 all that much, but I have done enough work with magic mask 1, to know that like many other trackers, its best to help it out. Just like you would with planar tracker or ordinary tracker.

KrunoSmithy wrote:Magic Mask in my experience should work on almost anything. You might need to provide a bit of help though to increase the changes of tracking. Increase saturation, appropriate exposure and contrast, clean up any nasty noise and artifacts, change color space if it fails etc. All that can take otherwise failed tracking and making work very well. I would suggest for rotoscoping to use fusion if you are on Magic Mask 1. And when eventually comes to fusion also magic mask 2. There you have more control about how you prep the files. I haven't tested magic mask 2 all that much, but I have done enough work with magic mask 1, to know that like many other trackers, its best to help it out. Just like you would with planar tracker or ordinary tracker.

Good evening, KrunoSmithy,

Thank you for your suggestion. I've tried modifying the saturation, exposure, contrast, and colour space, and I cleaned up the noise, artefacts, etc. Granted, I'm not a professional, but I relied on videos by expert colourists, etc., to learn and apply what they did with live scenes to 2D cartoons.

Magic Mask and Magic Mask 2 still had issues recognising and distinguishing 2D characters and objects from their 2D surroundings and background scenery in 2D cartoons. I'm not sure why. The only way to make it work was to manually outline each frame of each object or character that needed to be masked, which (I'm sure you can imagine) was extremely time-consuming and painful with arthritis.
Resolving this issue would make masking and editing 2D characters and objects in 2D cartoons easier, faster, and (in my case) less painful. My children would likely find it amusing to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse from Steamboat Willie (now in the Public Domain) on film playing with them at the park (for example).

Thank you again for your suggestions! Take care!


Roger