Apply the Reveal Source

You might notice that the transformation introduces a bit of softness in the matchmoved images relative to the original source. I added a Sharpen to counter this and used the A/B view again to adjust parameters until the images matched acceptably.

Now I'm finally ready to do the real work of the shot. I'll add a QuickPaint with it's first input connected to the original source footage and it's second input to the replacement I've generated.



I load the Viewer's A buffer with the QuickPaint node and its B buffer with the reveal source so I can quickly toggle back and forth to see if the area I'm going to reveal is clear of the wire in the reveal source. I've also got the TimeX node loaded into the Parameters 2 tab so that I can quickly switch to a different reveal source frame. Just keep in mind that you can only choose one frame for any particular global time. In a more complicated shot it might be necessary to generate clean areas at different source times to fix other parts of the frame. This can be done by duplicating the reveal source branch and applying the output of this copy through another QuickPaint node.


Other Applications

Keep in mind that this technique isn't limited to use with QuickPaint. I could have just as easily used a RotoShape node to create a cutout for layering into the original. In this case, the wire is small enough that I'm able to simply paint it out without noticeable boiling. However, for removing a bigger object, where boiling is more likely to be noticeable, a RotoShape would generate a more consistently defined reveal section. Likewise, if a key could be gotten on the object to be removed, that could be used to define the area of the reveal source to be merged into the original footage. This retime and match procedure is general-purpose, enabling you to quickly set up and easily manage matching an arbitrary frame from a sequence to any other frame in that sequence. Even if QuickPaint evolves to support manipulation of the reveal source's position, this technique provides access to that functionality in combination with any of the tools available in Shake.