Blur messy background behind a moving and tumbling gymnast

fpdave

Newbie Joined: Jan 23, 2023 16:34 Messages: 2 Offline

Solved by

Jan 23, 2023 16:58

I have a viedo of a gymnast (my daughter) doing a front flip/tumble but the background is really messy and I'd like to blur most of it.

So, I have the motion tracker tracking the motion, but she changes shape and rotates as she tumbles.

I added a blur to the motion tracking (blue rectangle appears), which i then reverse so it blurs the background rather than the gymnast.

But, if along the timeline, I change the shape and size of the blue rectangle to best fit the current shape of the gymnast then that seems to affect it throughout the timeline.

I want to be able to change the blue rectangle and have it just take affect from then onwards in the timeline.

This is my first project, but is the reason I bought PowerDirector over using Lightroom and Photoshop. I'm pretty impressed with the motion tracker (once I'd reduced the tracking rectangle down to just the main part of the obejct to track).

I have looked for tutorials for motion tracking and watched several, but havent found any for background blurring of such a moving and changing object.

Would really apprectaite some help.

PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jan 28, 2023 16:22

Quote I have a viedo of a gymnast (my daughter) doing a front flip/tumble but the background is really messy and I'd like to blur most of it.

So, I have the motion tracker tracking the motion, but she changes shape and rotates as she tumbles.

I added a blur to the motion tracking (blue rectangle appears), which i then reverse so it blurs the background rather than the gymnast.

But, if along the timeline, I change the shape and size of the blue rectangle to best fit the current shape of the gymnast then that seems to affect it throughout the timeline.

I want to be able to change the blue rectangle and have it just take affect from then onwards in the timeline.

This is my first project, but is the reason I bought PowerDirector over using Lightroom and Photoshop. I'm pretty impressed with the motion tracker (once I'd reduced the tracking rectangle down to just the main part of the obejct to track).

I have looked for tutorials for motion tracking and watched several, but havent found any for background blurring of such a moving and changing object.

Would really apprectaite some help.

Hi ,
No-one has picked this up, perhaps because of the display and indexing issues the forum has had recently.

I think the effectiveness of any approach is dependent on the speed and size changing of the gymnast. Just on a quick experiment with a 720p clip grabbed from Youtube, I could get the attached relatively easly - but is the type of thing you want?

Gymnast 3 is done by tightly tracking the gymnast and then applying an inverted gaussian blur circle mask, sized to an oval and taking account of the change in shape, with a small gradient depth to visually suit. I also applied the Adjust effect size parameter.

There is no easy way to ramp changes in shape using Motion Tracking masks within the same clip.

Gymnast 4 is done with Mask Designer and manual keyframing of position and scale and Opacity adjustment.

Gymnast 5 same as 4 but using another track to provide a different form of blur, by way of example.

Other members may have alternative suggestions.

Cheers,
PowerDirector Moderator

Filename	Gymnast blur mask 3.mp4	Download
Description
Filesize	11228 Kbytes
Downloaded:	88 time(s)

Filename	Gymnast blur mask 5.mp4	Download
Description
Filesize	13544 Kbytes
Downloaded:	90 time(s)

Filename	Gymnast blur mask 4.mp4	Download
Description
Filesize	9400 Kbytes
Downloaded:	110 time(s)

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fpdave

Newbie Joined: Jan 23, 2023 16:34 Messages: 2 Offline

Jan 28, 2023 16:34

Many thanks for these.

I had attempted something like this, altho I attempted to crop more tightly and hadnt used the gradient, and I really couldnt get the mask to follow the gymnast effectively so gave up. The gradient gives much more lee-way and is a great idea!

Eventually i bit the bullet and started to use keyframes and a custom selection mask. This mask does seem to auto-morph allowing me to be pretty tight up to the gymnast, and I can make it as accurate as I want just by using more key frames. It is some work, but not disasterous on a clip of only several seconds.

I think I'll persevere my auto-morphing, key framed masks, and will use your idea of the gradient as well.

Again, many thanks.

Quote

Hi ,
No-one has picked this up, perhaps because of the display and indexing issues the forum has had recently.

I think the effectiveness of any approach is dependent on the speed and size changing of the gymnast. Just on a quick experiment with a 720p clip grabbed from Youtube, I could get the attached relatively easly - but is the type of thing you want?

Gymnast 3 is done by tightly tracking the gymnast and then applying an inverted gaussian blur circle mask, sized to an oval and taking account of the change in shape, with a small gradient depth to visually suit. I also applied the Adjust effect size parameter.

There is no easy way to ramp changes in shape using Motion Tracking masks within the same clip.

Gymnast 4 is done with Mask Designer and manual keyframing of position and scale and Opacity adjustment.

Gymnast 5 same as 4 but using another track to provide a different form of blur, by way of example.

Other members may have alternative suggestions.

Cheers,
PowerDirector Moderator