Fluid Morph. Easy Morph

[user_deleted]

Hey on AVID thier is this plugin called Fluid Morph. It is like 2 click morphing. Everything is automated. Is there something like that for SHAKE? The morphing in shake, though nice, takes a lot of tweaking for simple things. Like shots at of the same subject same place but at different angles morphing together.

Thanks.

[fxnurbs]

I don't know haw work fluid morph in avid, but the way of shake to morph is really usefull for compex morph.
It is the same than in elastic reality who is the reference.
Don't do morph automatic, maybe for little simple things it can works but if you want to creat nice morph you have to tell what will be morphed in what. That's the better way.
I didn't find the time groupe to morph parts before other part like in elasticreality
but the alpha use is really better in shake.
So don't let fall the morph in shake before testing his possibilities

jaz

[mediasaurus]

Nope, no quick morph like what you're describing in Avid as far as I know. Gotta setup the shapes through the morph node. That would be pretty sweet though. Gotta imagine it wouldn't be that hard to do with the optical flow technology.

[fxnurbs]

I never try the real optical flow, (like in lord of the ring when he put the ring, that's what you mean ?)
i am not sure of the way to do it.
If you have some tips, i will like to test that.

Jaz

[mediasaurus]

Haha, no I meant I bet the Apple could use the same optical flow technology to create a node like you're describing. Right now, the best way to morph in Shake is via the Morpher node. Read the help. It's actually easier than you think.

[user_deleted]

I am not sure what you mean by "real optical flow". It is simply a technology that is used to analyse motion from one frame to the next or identify the same objects in different positions in two or more images. It is used in some of Shake's retiming and deinterlacing tools, Shake's smoothcam node, Stitcher, Furnace and a host of other applications. It is also used in the encoding process of MPEG's. It is also known as 'motion estimation'.

Rumour has it that the wraith world effect in lord of the rings was achieved in part by analising footage of fire using optical flow. It is likely that the resulting motion vectors were used to drive a complex particle effect in houdini or maya. However it was done, it is great R&D.

I dont personally see how optical flow could be used to drive an automatic morph between two images but it is an incredibly useful technology and people are finding new applications for it all the time.

Shake is not made to be a one click solution. The morpher in Shake isnt meant to be simple. It is meant to provide the tools so that artists have the controlability that they need. If Avid's fluid morph is working for you, why not use it?

[user_deleted]

the automatic morph from avid is sometimes a nice effect...

but the 'wow' morphs are almost done 'by hand'. by manually or tracker-supported defining of source and target shapes, their motion and a clever timing.

no real improvement since elastic reality...

let me think: if there were a pattern-recognition/motion-analysis algorithm COMBINED with shape-based morphing some jobs could be a lot easier.
you concentrate on defining raw shapes or simply drag some areas around and forget about the details.
hmm....

greetings

alex