DR - Masking and Tracking
- Nikola Mateja
DaVinci Resolve allows you to mask certain parts of the image and then track them. It’s a great solution for fixing parts of the skin tones, such as face, or applying changes to certain objects without affecting others.
HOW TO CREATE AND USE A MASK
 | On your Color Page Tool Bar, go to the Window panel. |
 | To add a new mask click on any of the icons on the left side (RED BORDER). Once created, It will have a red stroke around it. To add more masks click on other icons on the left side or the ones on the top (GREEN BORDER).
A new mask will appear on the video preview.
The grey area won’t be affected by the mask.
(WHITE BORDER) You can invert the mask using the button on the left and turn off its visibility with the button on the right. |
For easier navigation, you can rename the mask by double-clicking on the empty space next to the selected mask. | |
You can change the size, pan, rotation, aspect, tilt, opacity and softness using the panel to the right. | |
To be able to see the mask in relation to the rest of the image, you can toggle on and off the Highlight. | |
You will also be able to see the mask on the node you put it on. | |
To delete a mask you can:
Click the Delete button in the right top corner of the window. OR Click on the desired mask icon with the red border. |
HOW TO TRACK A MASK
On your Color Page Tool Bar, go to the Tracker panel. | |
Position your mask over the element you wish to track. | |
Depending on your needs you can select up to 5 parameters that the tracker will focus on (Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Rotate, Perspective 3D). Check or uncheck the ones you require. | |
| RED - Track Forward and Reverse - Use to automatically track the whole clip. GREEN - Track One Frame Forward / One Frame Reverse - Use to track the clips frame by frame. BLUE - Track Forward / Reverse - Use to track the clips forward or reverse. PURPLE - Stop Tracking - Use to stop the tracking in case of any tracking issues and reposition if needed. |
Once you track your mask, a graph of parameter changes will appear. Your mask is now tracked. Hooray! |
HOW TO USE A MAGIC MASK
A Magic Mask allows you to quickly mask complex elements!
On your Color Page Tool Bar, go to the Magic Mask panel. | |
You can choose between: OR Person Mask (RIGHT ICON) | |
If you choose a Person Mask you will get a choice of:
Making a full person mask by selecting 'Person' OR Making a selective person mask by selecting 'Features'. Here you will be able to choose which parts of the person you wish to mask (Arms, Hair, Face, Clothing, etc.). | |
On the right side you can find a panel where you can adjust more settings.
In the quality settings you can choose between: FASTER - takes less time but is less precise. BETTER - takes longer but is more precise (great for picking up details - like hair!) | |
Click the Add Qualifier and draw over your person/object to create a selection. You can also use the Subtract Qualifier to erase already selected parts of the mask to make it more accurate. Make sure to have your qualifier visibility ON to see the tool on the preview screen. | |
If you can’t see the selection mask (red overlay) make sure to Toggle Mask Overlay ON using the right icon. The left icon allows you to invert the mask selection. | |
Tracking options are the same as in usual Tracker. You can: TRACK FORWARD & REVERSE TRACK FORWARD/REVERSE TRACK ONE FRAME FORWARD/REVERSE For more detailed info, check out ‘HOW TO TRACK A MASK’ above. | |
Once your tracking has finished a blue line will appear. You can scrub through the masking timeline to check for any issues. |