Adobe® After Effects® 6.0 includes a clone stamp tool, similar to the clone stamp tool in Adobe Photoshop®, that allows you to paint an area of one video frame into another. You can use the clone stamp tool to easily fix such problems as removing powerlines, mike booms, and other unwanted elements from a sequential series of frames.
You can reference a single frame as your clone source or set the clone source to advance in time. You can paint the same pixels each time you click the mouse or you can paint more of the source frame. And, you are not limited to painting in the same layer once you’ve set your source point, you can paint any other layer in a composition.
1. Import a motion footage file.
In a new project file, import a motion footage file. You can use any movie file or sequence of still images that After Effects supports. Drag the footage file to the Composition icon in the Project window to create a new composition with same dimensions and duration as the file.
2. Apply the clone stamp tool.
In the Composition window, double-click the footage to open it in the Layer window, which appears as a new tab in the Composition window. Select Auto Open Palettes, and then select the clone stamp tool in the Tools palette.
3. Choose a brush tip.
When Auto Open Palettes is selected in the Tools palette, the Brush Tips palette and the Paint palette appear. You can use any preset brush tip with the clone stamp tool or create your own tip by adjusting and saving the brush tip properties. To change the brush values, drag the underlined value. You can resize your brush tip as you draw by pressing Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS).
The Paint palette contains two options that are specifically for use with the clone stamp tool. For now, make sure that both options are deselected. Choose Constant from the Duration menu so that each clone stroke appears on all subsequent frames.
4. Set your clone source point.
To find an interesting element, drag the current time-indicator in the Layer window. Place your cursor over the element and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) to set the clone source point.
5. Paint a clone stroke on a video frame.
Advance the footage to a frame where you want to paint the pixels you just sampled. Then, drag in the Layer window to paint in the layer using sampled pixels from the source frame. Release the mouse, move the cursor a short distance away, and drag again to paint more of the original sample. Each stroke paints on the pixels from the source point.
(After Effects sets the duration between your clone source point and your initial stroke in the Time Shift value. When you advance the frame from your initial stroke, painted pixels change to reflect subsequent source frames. To prevent strokes from changing over time, use the Lock Source Frame option.)
6. Align your strokes.
Next, paint aligned clone strokes. Select Aligned in the Paint palette, and then locate a new area of interest in your footage and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) to set the clone source point.
7. Paint aligned clone strokes.
Advance the footage to the frame you want to paint. When you first drag in the layer, you paint on pixels from the location where you set your clone source point. However, as you release and drag in new locations of the frame, you paint on more of the source point frame rather than painting the same source pixels. If you continue to paint without releasing the mouse, you will eventually reproduce the entire source frame. In the example below, the clouds from the source frame are painted into other locations of the frame using aligned clone strokes.
You can achieve similar results with graphic images by using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop. After Effects and Photoshop provide additional cloning options, such as blending modes. For more information about the clone stamp tool, see After Effects online Help.
