The Patch tool works fine for simple edits, but the Content-Aware Fill workspace gives me more control. The previous Content-Aware Fill tool is still available EditFillContent-Aware Fill. This will open the fill panel and you can select Content-Aware. But this tool has by and large been replaced by the workspace. Open a video in After Effects and export it to a sequence of images 2. Using AE’s Tracker, track a point through the sequence 3. Select the track point, and execute the script posted below. After Effects will automatically manage the reference file. Generate a Fill Layer Go to the Content-Aware Fill panel and select Surface for the Fill Method. Adobe Sensei goes to work and creates a suitable fill for your clip.
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It’s that time of year again, when Adobe raises the bar with amazing new features in its professional video and audio tools. In the months leading up to the big reveal, some very talented creative professionals road tested features in the latest beta version of Adobe After Effects and provided valuable feedback to the product teams.
One customer, Jack Tunnicliffe of Java Post, is a veteran of the film and television industry, having worked in nearly every aspect of film and television production. After purchasing Adobe After Effects in 1995, he started focusing exclusively on post-production, namely visual effects and color correction work. Today, he’s a go-to person in the industry for fixing shots and doing invisible effects work.
Putting Content-Aware Fill for video to the test
For the past few months, Jack spent time testing Content-Aware Fill in After Effects, and even used it on an upcoming Hollywood film, A Score to Settle, starring Nicholas Cage and Benjamin Bratt. His focus on fixing shots is one of the things that drew him to Content Aware Fill for video, which is powered by Adobe Sensei, our artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.
“Repairs are a big part of any high-end production,” says Jack. “For me, Content-Aware Fill in After Effects is a huge tool in my tool box.”
Almost every project Java Post works on requires some form of removal, such as logos, objects, or shadows. The studio does most repairs by tracking clean plates and painting. Now with Content-Aware Fill, Jack can accomplish many of these tasks directly in After Effects or by using it in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop to create reference frames to help handle lighting changes in shots.
“When people start learning how to do removal, they often think it’s simply a matter of painting or cloning items away using adjacent frames. But in reality, the clone work has to be so precise, it’s an impossible task, as even the smallest changes in paint or texture chatters in playback,” explains Jack.
With Content-Aware Fill, the dream of easily painting or cloning out items is now a reality. One scene in A Score to Settle uses squibs, which are miniature explosive devices, to simulate Nicholas Cage being shot. In the original scene, the squibs were visible under his jacket—especially when the sun reflected off them. To fix the shot, Jack created a reference frame in Photoshop of the jacket with the bulges removed. He then brought the frame back into After Effects and ran Content-Aware Fill, which adjusted the other frames to match.
“Content-Aware Fill in After Effects stayed true to the reference shot of what the jacket was supposed look like, and it did it over multiple frames,” says Jack.
Images courtesy of Goldrush Entertainment and Minds Eye Entertainment.
In another shot, Jack used a reference frame to calculate lighting changes in a clip. A bottle of pills fell under a bed and the cap remained directly in the light source. In the master shot used by the film, the cap was not there. There was also a hand passing through the light source. They further refined the shot by using several reference frames to correct the lighting.
“Tracking a clean plate or freeze frame doesn’t account for lighting changes and takes another form of manipulation to accomplish,” explains Jack. “Content-Aware Fill can provide the data for the lighting changes through reference frames in the shot. When we posted the corrected clip for producer approval it was immediately approved.”
Images courtesy of Goldrush Entertainment and Minds Eye Entertainment.
Traditional removal and repair work gets a makeover
Content-Aware Fill is also useful for fixing blemishes on skin, also known as digital makeup. In the past, Jack painstakingly tracked every blemish and then blurred and painted each shot. With Content-Aware Fill, he can track regions of a person’s face, create reference frames in Photoshop to clean up the blemishes, and then give After Effects the information to follow the lighting changes as the person’s head moves in a scene.
“Content-Aware Fill in After Effects in the right hands is much more powerful than Nuke and digital painting,” Jack says. “I could process a shot in one-tenth the time in After Effects.”
Jack also discovered that Content-Aware Fill can save the day if a movie is rejected during the QC process at lab. This can happen when a camera hasn’t been black shaded properly or has dead pixels. These pixels, which are visible on the big screen, can be invisible during post production. By putting a mask around the region where the pixels exist and running Content-Aware Fill, Jack easily filled in spots with information from surrounding pixels.
Images courtesy of Java Post.
“In one shot I fixed there were almost 400 dead pixels, but they weren’t visible until we blew the shot up to 400%,” says Jack. “Once I knew where they were, I created a mask for one shot that ultimately worked for every shot because the sensor never moves. Content-Aware Fill just uses the surrounding information to fill in the pixels in each frame – it’s amazing.”
As Jack works with movie and television clients to meet their exacting requirements, he envisions the latest After Effects feature to become an integral part of his everyday work. With just one keystroke, he can remove objects and avoid hours previously spent cleaning up shots. “In an industry where both speed and quality are paramount, Content-Aware Fill is invaluable,” he says.
Learn more about Content-Aware Fill in After Effects.
For years it has been possible to remove unwanted objects from your photos using Adobe Photoshop, but for video, it has always been a challenge — until now! Adobe After Effects has a new feature called the Content Aware Fill that removes unwanted objects from your footage.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use it by removing people walking on the beach.
New to After Effects? Check out the Beginner’s Guide to Advanced Tools and Techniques for a primer. And if you’re looking for stock footage to use, head over to Storyblocks Video for endless options, like the clip we used here.
Here’s a still frame from the footage we will be working with:
And here is a still frame of the same footage after Content Aware Fill has been used:
Let’s get started!
1. Once your footage is imported into After Effects, drag it down to the Composition button at the bottom of the Projects panel. This will create a composition with the same settings as the footage.
In this clip, there’s nothing that interferes with the people walking since the background throughout the frame is very consistent. Since there’s a person near the left side of the frame, as well as two people and a dog toward the middle of the frame, we’ll use Content Aware Fill twice.
Adobe After Effects Content Aware Fill
2. With the layer selected in the composition, switch to the Pen tool (G on the keyboard), and scrub through the footage to find the best place to create a mask. In our case, it would be where the dog moves away from the people. The idea is to draw a mask with the Pen tool that is large enough to cover the elements you’d like to remove from the scene.
Once your mask selection is complete, you will now have an area that includes your elements, and everything else has been removed. Architect design free. software download mac. On the mask layer in your composition, set the mask to None for now.
3. Next, with the timeline cursor still on the same frame that you’ve made your mask selection on, inside your mask layer, click the keyframe stopwatch to create a keyframe.
Switch back to the primary cursor tool, then move your timeline cursor to different frames throughout your composition. Anytime that the mask isn’t surrounding the elements you’d like to remove, reposition the mask.
Repeat the pattern until you’ve created enough keyframes that the mask follows the selected elements throughout the composition.
4. Next, go to Window > Content Aware Fill.
Then, on the mask, change it to Subtract.
5. At this stage, with the mask set to Subtract, we could click on Generate Fill Layer inside the Content Aware Fill panel, and it would do its best job to fill in the mask with what it thinks should be there. However, I’ve found that the result is often not accurate in doing it this way. It’s best when you provide Content Aware Fill with more information to work with.
To give Content Aware Fill more data, change the mask back to None like we did in Step 2, then inside the Content Aware Fill panel, click on ‘Create Reference Frame.’
This will open Photoshop. Change to the Lasso tool.
After Effects Content Aware Fill Not Working
6. With the Lasso tool, I will make a selection around the people (excluding the dog for now.)
Then press Shift + Backspace (Shift + Delete on Mac) on your keyboard to open the Content Aware Fill panel in Photoshop. Press OK.
That will remove the people from the scene. Now do the same for the dog.
7. Go to File > Save, and switch back to After Effects. You’ll notice back in After Effects that a new layer has appeared called Reference Frame. This will provide clean data for your mask selection in After Effects that the Content Aware Fill feature can utilize to create a better result.
Let’s set our mask back to Subtract like we did in Step 4. The effect will look complete, but that’s only because of the reference frame. Every other frame in the composition still needs to be completed.
8. In the Content Aware Fill panel window, click ‘Generate Fill Layer,’ and wait for the effect to analyze and complete.
Once complete, it will show a new .png layer in your composition above your footage. The effect is now complete for the people and the dog in the middle of the scene.
If you only have one element in your footage to remove, those are all the steps that are required!
In our footage, we have another person on the left of the frame, so we will repeat steps 2 to 8. Wps office to word converter. This time, we will select the person on the left.
9. I will create a second reference frame, then when Photoshop opens, I will remove the person from the shot, Save and return to After Effects.
10. Back in After Effects, I will draw a second mask around the person and will make sure both masks are set to None. From there, I will create keyframes throughout the composition and reposition the mask as needed.
Since we are using the Content Aware Fill feature twice in this project, I will turn off the first generated Fill layer, and the first generated Reference Frame layers.
After Effects Content Aware Fill Black
11. Once again, let’s go to the Content Aware Fill panel window and click on ‘Generate Fill Layer.’
12. Next, I will turn all of the layers back on, and make sure the two masks that were created are set to Subtract.
And now we’re done!
The Content Aware Fill workflow has its limitations, as a lot depends on the footage you’re working with. However, once you’ve attempted it a few times, you’ll have an understanding of what footage you can use with the feature. It’s a beneficial tool that can help you achieve the perfect look in your clips and drastically reduce your editing time!
After Effects Content Aware Fill Tutorial
Want to see more from Will Bartlett? Look for more tutorials to come on the Storyblocks blog or subscribe to his YouTube Channel, Alli and Will.