AI Magic Mask 2

AI Magic Mask 2 is a sizable upgrade to the already mind-boggling Magic Mask Legacy in subject/object selection and then tracking. The subject recognition is much better than the already great Legacy.
However, it is now more difficult/time consuming to correct tracking errors.
Previously, if the track caught onto a background element, drawing a line with the minus drawing tool at first appearance was very, very good at selecting the unwanted element, and then even more importantly, recognized it and carried that change forward on resuming track.
Now, the dot doesn't do a great job of selecting the line between the subject/background element, and most importantly, doesn't recognize the change on
resuming track, and you need to click a dot over and over, frame-by-frame.
Tracking also seems about 1/2 as fast also at the moment. Slower for better results is great by me.
And sure to improve over time/optimization.

It's amazing how smart the Legacy Tracker is for carrying changes through the track, and the accuracy of a drawn line vs. the dot.
The new drawing tools for frame by frame are a really neat addition and will be very useful.
Hopefully you/BMD can find a way to implement the Legacy Tracker strengths mentioned above.
(maybe include a drawn-line option in the pallet?)

Super great stuff though!!!

In the node tree you don't see the masked area. Neither do you when creating an outside node after (just shows grey node), but the outside node works as expected. So this is just a visual node tree thing.

Feather on paint tool. I can change the size of the brush, but it would be good if you also could change the feather, it's really hard to make subtle adjustments.

...I can change the size of the brush...

There is the change brush size in the palette, but I thought I saw a vid where someone changed it via the scroll wheel + alt key - or some other key combo?
I tried scroll wheel+ various keys, no luck.
Any details?
If not, the 'standard' interface of scroll wheel + alt key or cntrl to change brush size would be great.

I tried scroll wheel+ various keys, no luck.

Hold Ctrl and left-click while dragging to resize

I tried scroll wheel+ various keys, no luck.

Hold Ctrl and left-click while dragging to resize

My hero!
Thanks for that!
Left mouse - not middle scroll. Excellent

They should do like runwayml does since the beginning, adding a point (to add or remove elements) is just another keyframe/info for the selection. (or Boris FX with silhouette, their matte ML stuff works like that too, we can fix the selection and it calculates the whole thing with the new data.. .pretty much like the first version of magic mask).

So we gained a better mask, but lost the ability to fix it "easily" over time.

Having to brush every frame is not a good workflow

This is based on experience with V19 (haven't had the chance to test V20 yet) but to me the most annoying feature is that the mask is regenerated almost if you just look angrily at the keyboard .

Would it be possible to turn the mask into a compound clip that would not regenerate and could be edited like any old clip? Especially us on lower specced systems would appreciate not have constant regens.

Having used MM2 for a bit longer now, gotta say it really is a nice improvement overall.
The dot idea for initial and most selections usually works well and is easy.
And it *does* usually then follow that new selection on track resume fairly well.
However, there are a reasonable number of occasions where a drawn line is far superior to a dot for corrections. Sometimes I've got 7 dot clicks on screen trying to remove a background element it has grabbed, and it still doesn't get it right.
The 'workaround' I suppose is to use the new draw tool frame-by-frame, really long and tedious, especially with no sizing control.
Or even split the clip in the problem area and use Legacy MM and it's drawn-line tool.
But the Golden Solution imo is a drawn-line tool added to the MM2 palette.

Thanks again for all the great stuff in 20!

Previously, if the track caught onto a background element, drawing a line with the minus drawing tool at first appearance was very, very good at selecting the unwanted element, and then even more importantly, recognized it and carried that change forward on resuming track.

I found the old version also had the same problem of not carrying the subtract lines forward. I had to go frame by frame and re-draw the subtract lines in the exact same spot over and over again because it wouldn't remember them. With MM2 taking so much longer to engage/track, this process is much slower now unfortunately. However, the mask itself looks much nicer and the edges look better, so that's a big plus!

[I found the old version also had the same problem of not carrying the subtract lines forward. I had to go frame by frame and re-draw the subtract lines in the exact same spot over and over again because it wouldn't remember them. With MM2 taking so much longer to engage/track, this process is much slower now unfortunately. However, the mask itself looks much nicer and the edges look better, so that's a big plus!

Yea, sometimes it would require redrawing, but it was pretty dang good most of the time.
In my initial testing of MM2, I was using problem footage to test it I guess.
MM2 seems just as good, maybe even a little better in that regards.
It's not so much that it doesn't 'remember' as it just get confused again in the next frame from the low-contrast etc of the subject/background
And the 50% slower tracking is bound to speed up over time.
And yes, I agree the mask is cleaner in MM2

MM2 is pretty good. I agree with others, that it would be nice to use a line for negative. And that it would not constantly regenerate.

I think this later is what is causing the problem I'm having. I have a "talking head" video clip but I don't want the background, just the person talking. I used MM2 which took about four dots to get right, but it did get it right. Added alpha channel output allows a background clip on the lower track to make it perfect. I have various clips above that track. So far, so good. Perfect. UNTIL I had any fusion effect. I mean any. Resolve loses the tracked person. Completely. And I have to regenerate from scratch by resetting the node. Is anyone experiencing that?

For a temporary workaround, I am rendering the talking head with alpha channel output enabled, and when I hit render, Resolve decided to retrack and regenerate the MM2 mask. Frustrating.

Perfect. UNTIL I had any fusion effect. I mean any. Resolve loses the tracked person. Completely. And I have to regenerate from scratch by resetting the node. Is anyone experiencing that?

Fusion effects happen before the Color page, so essentially you are modifying the video before the Magic Mask which causes it to break.

One way is to render the mask from Color page and load that into Fusion... however, my preferred method is to put the clip with Magic Mask inside of a Fusion Clip, then do your Fusion work on the Fusion Clip. So you have the Magic Mask clip nested away inside of it. Now you can add Fusion effects and it won't affect the Magic Mask.

If you need to make changes to the Magic Mask, open the Fusion Clip inside of a new timeline to get access to the clip with the Magic Mask. Then when you go back to the main timeline (and Fusion) the changes to the Magic Mask will be updated.

Perfect. UNTIL I had any fusion effect. I mean any. Resolve loses the tracked person. Completely. And I have to regenerate from scratch by resetting the node. Is anyone experiencing that?

Fusion effects happen before the Color page, so essentially you are modifying the video before the Magic Mask which causes it to break.

Thank you for the very good suggestion. I did create the mask on the color page first, and then verified that it had created the alpha correct on the edit page.

I do like your idea for fusion clip.

my preferred method is to put the clip with Magic Mask inside of a Fusion Clip, then do your Fusion work on the Fusion Clip. So you have the Magic Mask clip nested away inside of it. Now you can add Fusion effects and it won't affect the Magic Mask.

Thank you for the very good suggestion. I did create the mask on the color page first, and then verified that it had created the alpha correct on the edit page.

I do like your idea for fusion clip.

You're welcome.

And yes, I forgot to mention that you have to add the Alpha Output in the Color page and connect the Magic Mask to it, otherwise your mask won't have a clear background (it'll be solid black) when you go back to the main timeline and try to use it in Fusion. This is a very important step.

So if using the brush tool to paint out an errant selection, how to you edit/delete the stroke applied?
You can delete the select tool clicks in the list,
but I don't see any way to edit/delete the brush strokes.

oh... never mind. Guess you just switch to the +brush and brush it back in ha