Reshape - 2

Reshape- 2

6. Create a mask around the area of the Source layer that

is the focus of the morph. In my example, the focus is

facial features: the eyes, nose, and mouth (Figure 7.9).

Make this mask as simple as you can; use Rotobeziers

and as few points as will work to outline the features in

question.

7. Set the mask mode to None; this mask is your fi rst

shape, you don’t need it to infl uence the layer at all;

you will use it for the Reshape effect only. Give it a

name (mine is called me).

8. Copy this mask shape and paste it in the Target layer. If

the two layers are the same dimensions, it should be an

identical size and position as it was in the Source layer.

9. Duplicate the mask. Give it a different color and rename

it. In my case, I called the mask it.

10. First scale and rotate, then if necessary move individual

points (as little as possible!) so that the it mask

surrounds the equivalent area of the Target layer that

me does of the source: in my example, the eyes, nose,

and mouth.

11. Copy the resulting it mask shape, and paste it to the

Source layer to create a new, third mask.

12. You now have three masks for each of the Source and

Target layers. Now apply the Reshape effect to each

layer.

13. Starting with the Source layer, set the Source Mask

(me), the Destination Mask (it), and the Boundary

Mask (outer). Set Elasticity to Liquid (you can experiment

with other settings later if need be). Set Interpolation

to Smooth.

14. At the fi rst frame of the morph transition, still in

Source, set a keyframe for Percent (at the default,

0.0%, meaning no reshaping is occurring). At the last

frame, set Percent to, you guessed it, 100.0%. Now sit

back and wait for the gruesome transformation. Don’t

worry about how it looks yet.

15. Repeat steps 12 and 13 for the Target layer, with the

following changes: Set Source Mask to it and Destination

Mask to me. The Percent keyframes should be set

to 0.0 at the last frame of the transition (where it is keyframed

to 100.0 on the Source layer) and, you guessed

it, 100.0 at the fi rst frame.

16. You’ve created the warps, now you just need the cross

dissolve. Set an Opacity keyframe for Target at the

last frame of the transition (leaving it at the default

100.0%), and then add a 0.0% Opacity keyframe at the

fi rst frame.

You should now be ready to preview. The preview may take

a long time to build the fi rst frame; subsequent frames render

much more quickly, so be patient. The main question

to resolve is whether the features line up properly; if not,

you must adjust the source and destination mask shapes

accordingly, watching the median frame to see whether the

changes are improving matters.

At this point my example may be looking good in terms of

the face transition, but, of course, I’ve made life hard on

myself by transitioning from a head of one size to a larger

one, and the edges just kind of fade in. Therefore—and

this is where it can get really complicated—I add a second

morph, using the same steps as before, but with all

new masks.

Why complicated? Why new masks? These two questions

are interrelated. If you set a second Reshape effect, the

key is to avoid infl uencing the result of the fi rst Reshape

effect at all. Therefore, on the second instance the Boundary

mask should be the boundary of the object minus the

area occupied by the original source and destination masks. My

second set of shapes covers the ears and top of the head

but avoids the area of the previous masks completely.

Now, a quick look at a detail I left out (by having you

duplicate the Source and Destination masks in step 9, for

example, rather than draw them from scratch).