- About rotoscoping
- Getting started
- Creating a segmentation boundary
- Fine-tuning the matte
- Freezing your Roto Brush tool results
- Changing the background
- Adding animated text
- Outputting your project
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Freezing your Roto Brush tool results
You’ve put a fair amount of time and effort into creating the segmentation boundary across the entire clip. After Effects has cached the segmentation boundary so it can recall it without having to make the calculations again. To keep that data easily accessible, you’ll freeze it. This reduces the processing demands on your system so you can work faster in After Effects.
Once the segmentation is frozen, you cannot edit it unless you unfreeze it. Refreezing the segmentation is time-consuming, so it’s best to refine the segmentation boundary as much as possible before freezing.
Depending on your system, this may take a while.
Click the Freeze button in the lower right area of the Layer panel.
The image shows Chickadee.mov in the Layer panel. The matte is encompassing the bird and the rock pool beneath it. The last frame of the scene is displayed in the timeline beneath the image and highlighted as green. The Freeze button is circled.
)
After Effects displays a progress bar as it freezes the Roto Brush and Refine Edge tool data. Freezing may take a few minutes, depending on your system. As After Effects freezes the information for each frame, the cache line turns blue. When it has finished freezing, a blue warning bar appears above the time ruler in the Layer panel, reminding you that the segmentation is frozen.
)
The image shows the lower section of the Layer panel. The Freeze button is active at the bottom right. There is an alert spanning the bottom of the screen saying: “Roto Brush & Refine Edge propagation is frozen. Unfreeze to update”.
Click the Toggle Alpha Boundary button (
) in the Layer panel to see the matte. Then click the Toggle Transparency Grid button (
). Move the time marker across the time ruler to see the subject without the distractions of the background.
The three images show the entire screen with transparency on. This is represented by a gray and white checkerboard behind the bird and the rockpool. The first image shows the bird in its initial perched position looking down. The second image shows the bird tipping down to drink from the rock pool. The third image shows the bird back upright and looking to the left. The matte tracks the boundaries correctly throughout.
Click the Toggle Alpha Boundary button again to see the boundary.
Choose File > Save.
)
After Effects saves the frozen segmentation information with the project.