Boris FX Mocha Pro: Add Face Paint with PowerMesh and the Insert Module

In this in-depth tutorial, Boris FX Senior Product Specialist, Mary Poplin, shows you how to add face paint to a person using Mocha Pro's PowerMesh and the Insert Module inside of After Effects.
PowerMesh adds a unique, sub-planar workflow for motion tracking organic movement on skin and fabrics. The Insert Module is used to composite the inserted graphic with warped distortion and motion blur.
Mocha Pro is available as a standalone application and as a plugin for Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Nuke, Fusion, Flame, Vegas Pro, and more.
Learn more: borisfx.com/products/mocha-pro/

[@ewaughok]

Loved the finger roto near the end!

[@BorisFXco]

It's the small details that make these effects work.

[@beMOTIONdESIGN]

Great information as usual!

[@ChristiaanRoest79]

Thanks for sharing your tutorial Mary! I remember you making a tracking video with this girl before.

[@johntnguyen1976]

So good!

[@BorisFXco]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@topgunmaverick9281]

Great! Thank you so much.

[@BorisFXco]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.

[@ScrapyardFilms]

Amazing!

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks! Good to see you.

[@englishforsrilanka2535]

Thank you for this tutorial. Can you also make a tutorial on how to add embossed surfaced vein growth using mocha pro? Most of the lessons online are too complicated but you seem like a fantastic teacher.

[@ChristiaanRoest79]

Yes, she is great. This is pretty easy compared to some more complex stuff they teach

[@user-hs4sc8ds9q]

this is amazing

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks so much.

[@GarethOwenFilmGOwen]

This is awesome, I would love to see the same effect implied into Nuke but get confussed between this and ambliec tracking data info

[@NullObjectVFX]

so cool

[@qhubban]

nice

[@WaqasYTC]

Sorry for being too random but I've noticed a problem in Mocha and Silhouette that the animation tends to drift from frames and when I purge the ram it comes back to its intended place but I have to purge ram in each and every frame. Am I the only one facing this issue?

[@BorisFXco]

You can post in the Silhouette Forum (forum.borisfx.com/c/silhouette/31) or the Mocha Forum (forum.borisfx.com/c/mochapro/6).

[@MindfulMeditations1]

Please share the link of face paint.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

Great tutorial! Question. I thought the powermesh subplanar tracker is very sensitive, so when we draw a spline, we should not include things that are outside the texture or area we are interested in? This was also stated this way in the Mocha More than the Essentials course. Another question. We're not Roto'ing for sure, but I was expecting that the Face track woudl only be done using 'Shear' since this is an organic shape. However, my guess is, since PowerMesh comes into the picture, things are slightly different because the powermesh is also warping the spline (otherwise the spline/track would be super flat if we were using perspective)

[@BorisFXco]

Hi Rahul. When tracking the PowerMesh, you don't want to have your spline outside the texture we're interested in. When creating the initial shape, you can often get better results by giving yourself a bit of a border. Regarding question 2; yes, the PowerMesh changes this too. If we were just rotoing the face, then Shear is usually the right choice. Remember though, with PowerMesh we are also tracking the subplanar elements too. That _generally_ responds well to Perspective more than when we are just doing regular tracking. Hope that helps.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

@@BorisFXco Yeah, I guess drawing the POwermesh spline at the border or slightly out of it is okay, since it barely contains a texture/area that would massively influence the sub planar subplanar splines of the powermesh (it would definitely influence the sub planaer splines at the borders of the spline, but in the grand scheme of things, it won't be an issue. Plus, we're applying the pattern/paint not at the border or center etc of the spline so it is not an issue). Am I in the right direction? And yes, thanks for the other answer too. It makes sense.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

Sorry I am asking a lot of questions. You guys are the only ones who can help as I am learning on my own!

[@BorisFXco]

Yes. That's correct. You're doing this in the right way. Watching, trying, understanding, and questioning. I'm glad you're spending time learning this with us.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

@@BorisFXco thank you!

[@jmricks]

Any examples of how to use PowerMesh on something like a forearm that then rotates 180 degrees? I had a client ask to put tattoos on one side of the forearm (palm facing up), then they would rotate the arm revealing the other side of the arm (palm facing down). I did a number of test shots but was having real trouble getting the textures to stick and not freak out as the tracking data would eventually be lost since it wasn't visible to the camera any longer. We ended up abandoning the idea and putting tattoos on someone's back. But if there are any ideas on how to successfully pull that off, let me know.

[@BorisFXco]

I don't think we have any direct tutorials about this yet. It's a good topic to explore. The basic tactic for something like this is to break it up into multiple bites. When the arm rotates and areas go out of view, put more weight on the planar tracker. Don't use Auto Smoothness in the Mesh Tracking. Take that smoothness up manually. At 100, Mocha will basically stop using the sub-planar data and just uses the planar data. Where there is limited tracking data, you may have to get your hands dirty with AdjustTrack and manually adjusting mesh points. Don't try to adjust on top of really bad data though. You're just adding to your work by fighting bad tracking. Delete those bad keyframes instead and you'll get a better result. I hope this gives you some direction to go. I will put this idea in our tutorial list.

[@claudioDOVM]

@@BorisFXco made this video I'm interested

[@larc-productions]

Hi ! How long the shoot can be actualy? I've try on a 45sec shoot, after 10sec vertex start to collapse nor weird / random directions. Too much to be corrected properly... How can I solve that please? Split the shoot is not an option, cause each part will "start over" and will not be consistant with previous on... Thank you sooo much for any help / advise! :)

[@BorisFXco]

There's no real shot length limit, it all depends on your shot. Firstly, try to diagnose *why* things are collapsing after 10 seconds. Is it because of shadows or other obstructions? If so, use additional track mattes to solve that, or keyframe the smoothness up. Or is it because the object is turning a lot and then turns back again? You can absolutely split this into smaller sections by finding a good split point, for example where it disappears from view and then comes back in again. Also remember that the reference frame is stored in the Stabilize module. If you set the same frame in the Frame List between sections, then you will be 100% consistent between sections. If you're still having trouble, then please join us on the forums, where you can add some screenshots and descriptions of your shot and what's happening : forum.borisfx.com/

[@larc-productions]

@@BorisFXco thank you so much for your answer.

[@ManzoorStrange]

please also share the same footage and pictures, we want to try it please

[@BorisFXco]

Here's the original video clip : www.pexels.com/video/happily-surprised-kid-7327398/ You may have to create your own face painting. I'll ask Mary if she can share the file.

[@ManzoorStrange]

@@BorisFXco Thank you sooo, this mocha really helped me in vfx i am very thankful to you guys, you post tutorials which helped me alot, i want to work with you guys in youtube channel too, i want to be your editor too, because i am a big fan of you guys, this video clip also help me thank you for everything

[@SR_PRODUCTIONS]

why is tracking so bad in mocha AE? i try and try and try to track simple things and it warps if the camera turns even a little. I cant afforc mocha pro.

[@BorisFXco]

If you're just starting out, I heavily recommend spending a little time with the free Mocha Essentials course. It will teach you where is best to track, what settings you should use, and what to do when it goes wrong. Take a look here : borisfx.com/free-training/mocha-essentials/

[@SR_PRODUCTIONS]

@@BorisFXco thank you!

[@iuriius]

it's so hard (((

[@BorisFXco]

If you work through it a few times, it gets a lot easier. Take a look at the free Mocha Essentials course to get yourself familiar with the basics first : borisfx.com/free-training/mocha-essentials/

[@chumcool]

"Wait... Why don't I have PowerMesh Warp option? Please tell me I don't have to s.p.e.n.d m.o.r.e m.o.n.e.y on this..." The above is a COMMENT that I posted to this channel at an earlier time, and it was deleted for reasons unknown. Why? Just in case, as a clever EDIT, I have separated the letters of a few certain words within the sentence with periods. I have a theory...

[@BorisFXco]

PowerMesh Warp is available in Mocha Pro. If you don't see it, it is probably because you are using an old version of Mocha Pro or Mocha AE. Mocha AE is a version of Mocha that comes bundled with After Effects, which has shape and tracking data export. Mocha Pro has many other modules that help on a huge range of VFX tasks. Here is a link to the Mocha comparison chart : borisfx.com/products/mocha-pro/?collection=mocha-pro&product=mocha-pro&host=standalone-multihost-plug-ins&purchase-options=annual-subscription PS I have no idea why your previous comment disappeared. It seems like an easy question to answer.

[@sadythegreat626]

My mocha ae is not laughing

[@BorisFXco]

No, sadly not. PowerMesh is a Mocha Pro only feature. You can see the other differences between Mocha Pro and Mocha AE here : bit.ly/30FLFMZ