BCC Video Morph

Category: BCC Warp

Effect Name: BCC Video Morph

The BCC Video Morph filter, part of the BCC Warp category, performs a combined warp and dissolve blend from one video clip into another clip, resulting in the generation of an animated image morph image clip. The filter uses matched pairs of user generated Adobe After Effects spline mask shapes to define edges on the source and the corresponding destination clips at key points along the timeline.

For example, when morphing the face from one video clip into a different face in a second video clip, the user creates and animates matched pairs of open or closed spline shapes on the source image clip that follow the contour line of key elements in the source and destination images, such as the jaw line, eyes, ears etc and the filter uses these shapes to aid in generating a smooth morph transition between the two clips. While it is creating the image warp, the filter also generates a blend over time between the source and destination clips. In addition to the AE spline mask shapes, which the filter uses to define the warp, the filter also uses Key Markers, which serve as instruction points for the Morph filter’s software algorithms that are set in the filter control panel by the user for the source and destination images to control of the duration of the morph. The Key Markers function is to instruct the filter on when to start and stop the image morph.

Working with the Filter

Presets and Common Controls

• BCC filters come with a library of factory installed presets plus the ability to create your own custom presets and preview them with the BCC FX Browser™.
• BCC filters also include common controls that configure global effect preferences and other host-specific effect settings.

For more information about working with presets and other common controls, Click Here.

• Render Mode: Selects the view from the filter in the composition window
  • Blended: Displays the morphed result when selected
  • Source UnWarped: Displays only the undistorted source clip when selected
  • Source Warped: Displays only the distorted source clip when selected
  • Destination UnWarped: Displays only the undistorted destination clip when selected
  • Destination Warped: Displays only the distorted destination clip when selected
  • Warped Splines: Displays only the warped spline shapes when selected
• Destination: Selects the destination clip for the morph. All clips that are in the current composition timeline will appear in this list.
• Use Global Warp: Used to enable the global warping function. When enabled, all spline shapes will be warped globally. To control the warp of each spline shape individually, disable this checkbox and keyframe the Mask Expansion feature under the Mask Controls in the timeline to animate the warp.
• Global Warp Percent: Used to control the global warp animation. Animate this parameter from 0 – 100 to warp all splines uniformly.
• Use Global Blend: Used to enable the global blending function. When enabled, the dissolve blend between the source and destination clips will be controlled globally by the Global Blend Percent parameter. To control the warp of each spline shape individually, disable this checkbox and keyframe the Mask Opacity feature under the Mask Controls in the timeline to animate the blend dissolve.
• Global Blend Percent: Used to control the global dissolve blend animation. Animate this parameter from 0 – 100 to generate a dissolve blend effect, affecting all areas of the image uniformly.
• AntiAliasing pop-up: Used to set the level of anti-aliasing in the morph result.
  • None: No anti-aliasing is applied to the image.
  • 5 Samples: Minimum level of antialiasing is applied to the image.
  • 9 Samples: Maximum level of antialiasing is applied to the image.
• Accuracy: Used to set the optimal performance / speed versus the accuracy of the morph. Lower values produce a less smooth morph with fewer points on the grid but increases filter performance. Higher settings produce a smoother morph but take longer to render.
  • Low: Most coarse grid setting lowest number of grid points.
  • Medium: Medium grid setting.
  • High: Fine grid setting.
  • Highest: Finest grid ‐ highest number of grid points.
• Warp Area: Used to set the size of the area in the image that is ultimately affected by the warp grid. Low values will warp only a small portion of the image, while higher values will extend the warp over a larger portion of the image, but will decrease the filter’s performance.
  • Smallest: Contains image warp to the smallest permissible warp field.
  • Small: Small size warp field.
  • Medium: Medium size warp field.
  • Large: Largest permissible warp field.
• Pin Edges: Used to hold or pin the image edges. Sometimes the image morph can pull the image away from the edges of the frame. Enable to pin or lock the edges of the image to the edge of the frame.
• Contain Source Warp Shape: Used to contain the source morph to a select region in the clip. Selecting a mask shape will contain the source morph to within the bounds of that mask. If an open spline point is selected, the filter will automatically close the shape by linking the first and last points along the spline.
• Contain Destination Warp Shape: Used to contain the destination morph to a select region in the clip. Selecting a mask shape from this pop-up will contain the destination morph to within the bounds of that mask. If an open spline point is selected, the filter will automatically close the shape by linking the first and last points along the spline.
• Point Match checkbox: Matches point for point the spline masks of the source and destination images, when enabled.