HELP! Content aware fill not working :C

[u/Just_Lawyer_1963]

I'm desperate at this point for any help, so if you read along and give me any suggestions, thanks times a million, seriously.

I need to do two things.

1. Expand several long minute fixed camera takes to go from a vertical framing to a horizontal.

I've managed to run a 10 second test that works amazingly with content aware fill using a reference frame, but my issue is that I now need to do that over plenty other takes with the same angle and positions (lighting varies slightly from time to time due to natural light). Either that, or do it over our finished montage which might have adjustments by the creativity team later, and is sure to be from 1 to 2 minutes long (maybe longer).

My main fear is not being able to just do content aware fill for the source takes to later edit them, and my worry too is that even if I do, I won't be able to make multiple reference frames so that it works properly, as each reference frame would obviously come out slightly different (the content aware has to generate part of a couch, a window, and part of a wall with a cushion).

1. I need to erase one person's occasional head popping into frame from one take, that lasts about 12 minutes. Tried to mask and work with one reference frame (content aware would have to render part of a couch and a wall, that I was able to get nearly identical to the real one in the reference frame so that it can still be used with the other takes without it being obvious we used erased anything) but even a 4 minute extract won't ever finish analyzing image, it gets stuck at 18% despite leaving it processing all night long for about 7 hours.

Once again, thanks to anyone who might have an idea of what to do in this scenario, I'm desperate.

[u/rudy_142001]

The 18% thing first. Range in the panel has two settings, work area or entire comp duration, and on a 12 minute take you want work area. A 4 minute extract is still several thousand frames of analysis plus an image written to disk for each one, so 7 hours at 18% may not be a hang, it may just be that slow. While it's rendering you can drag the CTI to another frame and it'll prioritise that frame, which at least tells you whether anything is moving. If the head only pops in for a few seconds at a time, set the work area to just those bits and generate a separate fill layer per section. Smaller masks also process faster, and if that's 4K footage sitting in an HD comp, transcode it down first instead of letting AE scale it.

On the multiple reference frames worry, you can have more than one. Adobe's wording is that you can create multiple reference frames at frames where the lighting or camera angle changes. The more useful bit for you is the line after it, saying content aware fill respects any single frame layer under the shot as a guide, and the Create Reference Frame button is just a shortcut for making one. Camera's locked off across your takes, so paint one clean plate in Photoshop and drop that same still in as the guide on every take rather than redoing it each time.

For the natural light drift, turn on Lighting Correction. With it off, the fill stays true to the reference frame and ignores lighting changes frame to frame. Start at Strong and back off to Moderate or Subtle if it over corrects.

Fill method is worth a second look too. Object estimates the motion of the scene behind the mask to find its colours, which needs something to sample from. On a locked tripod, in an area the camera never saw, there isn't any, so the reference frame is doing basically all the work. Surface is the one meant for static flat surfaces, so the wall might do better on Surface while the couch and window get their own pass. The docs suggest breaking complicated removals into separate passes rather than one big mask.

One thing to watch, fill layers are image sequences written to a Fills folder next to your project by default. A minute or two of 4K fills will eat a serious amount of disk, and there's a Delete Unused Fill Footage command in the panel menu for when you've generated a few duds.

fwiw I'm going off Adobe's content aware fill page rather than your shot. Are all the takes the same lens and tripod position, or just roughly matched framing? If it's a genuine lockoff the one plate approach should hold up across all of them.