Morphing Shots with GridWarpTracker

Morphing refers to dissolving two images together so that the subject of one image seems to change shape and turn into the subject of the other through a seamless transition. A morph can be easily noticeable or very subtle. An example of a noticeable morph would be a man turning into a woman or one animal turning into another, whereas a transition from an actor to his stunt man would result in a much more subtle morph.

In this video, VFX designer and compositor, Shahin Toosi, talks through the variety of techniques involved in creating a male-to-female morphing effect in NukeX.

Tip:  Go to Foundry Learn and click the Course Files tab to download the assets in the video.

Shahin covers the use of SmartVectors in the GridWarpTracker node as well as techniques for using NukeX's CameraTracker node for stabilization, the 3D Viewer, and a walk-through of the final composite.

• 00:40 - Optimizing the Canvas: focusing on the area of interest.

• 01:50 - Tracking and Stabilizing: using Camera Tracking to align the plates.

• 06:23 - Creating SmartVectors: creating and copying Using the Smart Vector Toolset data.

• 07:32 - The Morphing Effect: using Drawing Grids to morph the plates.

• 10:00 - The Final Composite: merging onto the background plate.