<p>You can also checkout some of the various keying techniques. I've been able to color key things pretty well in After Effects or Nuke - for After Effects you can either use "Change to Color" to create a matte or "Linear Color Key". Either way you're going to need to split up the video into a bunch of layers - each one keying in (or out) a specific color. The end result you're going for is a black-and-white matte which you can use to cut out the footage. Often times it requires a combination of all kinds of techniques - keying some colors, luminance based keying (which can be done with "extract" in After Effects), luminance based keying on specific channels (also "extract") and a bit of hand-made roto.</p>

<p>If you need a more in depth explanation let me know.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-05T13:24:38.743Z
What do I do if it also keys out some parts of the character ?
K. Cinches
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-06T04:04:49.043Z
That's where the roto part comes in ;)  It's not a perfect technique unfortunately. If you give me a still frame I can take a look at it and try to give you some pointers.
Spencer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-09T06:19:26.963Z
Oh I see, thanks, I think rotoscoping is more than enough it's already a lot of help for me since I have always been masking.
K. Cinches
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-03T23:49:13.343Z
2017-07-03T23:49:13.343Z
Spencer
<p>The following video is made from a number of different Anime videos, masked and composed in to a single video. I am wondering if the person who made this masked the videos frame by frame or is there a faster way in achieving this?</p>

<p>I am just asking for guidelines or another way of cutting the characters from a background, in an Anime which is made of a limited number colors.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPv6c3xGwzw&amp;spfreload=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPv6c3xGwzw&amp;spfreload=1</a></p>

<p>Here is an example of a replaced character in the video:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/g6C5i.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/g6C5i.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-29T20:58:52.070Z
The technique is called rotoscoping.  You can search for many ways to speed up or automate rotoscoping.  But in general it is a labor-intensive process.
Michael Tiemann
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-01T11:58:56.287Z
After effects and other compositing packages have tools which make this easier (roto-brush in AE for one example). They work a bit like the magic wand in Potatoshop. They're not perfect, but they would probably work fairly well on Anime with its flat colours and hard edges.
stib
<compositing>
Is there a process faster than masking frame by frame for cutting an animated character from a background?
K. Cinches
# Is there a process faster than masking frame by frame for cutting an animated character from a background?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-29)

The following video is made from a number of different Anime videos, masked and composed in to a single video. I am wondering if the person who made this masked the videos frame by frame or is there a faster way in achieving this?

I am just asking for guidelines or another way of cutting the characters from a background, in an Anime which is made of a limited number colors.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPv6c3xGwzw&spfreload=1>

Here is an example of a replaced character in the video:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/g6C5i.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/g6C5i.jpg)

**Tags:** compositing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The technique is called rotoscoping.  You can search for many ways to speed up or automate rotoscoping.  But in general it is a labor-intensive process.  
> **username_2**: After effects and other compositing packages have tools which make this easier (roto-brush in AE for one example). They work a bit like the magic wand in Potatoshop. They're not perfect, but they would probably work fairly well on Anime with its flat colours and hard edges.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-07-03. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

You can also checkout some of the various keying techniques. I've been able to color key things pretty well in After Effects or Nuke - for After Effects you can either use "Change to Color" to create a matte or "Linear Color Key". Either way you're going to need to split up the video into a bunch of layers - each one keying in (or out) a specific color. The end result you're going for is a black-and-white matte which you can use to cut out the footage. Often times it requires a combination of all kinds of techniques - keying some colors, luminance based keying (which can be done with "extract" in After Effects), luminance based keying on specific channels (also "extract") and a bit of hand-made roto.

If you need a more in depth explanation let me know.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: What do I do if it also keys out some parts of the character ?  
> **username_3**: That's where the roto part comes in ;)  It's not a perfect technique unfortunately. If you give me a still frame I can take a look at it and try to give you some pointers.  
> **username_0**: Oh I see, thanks, I think rotoscoping is more than enough it's already a lot of help for me since I have always been masking.  

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