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Someone in our forum asked if it were possible to create the stylized footage effect of Sin City in After Effects. I suggested using Silhouette Roto to take care of the task.

Let me start out by saying that I've heard great things about Silhouette Roto, but have not had much of a chance to play with it. The plug-in was very easy to learn and I was able to complete this effect in about an hour.

This clip was shot with this technique in mind, so it was lit so that minimal colors were reflected and the red was very strong in the footage. Rotoscoping so many objects is a bit of a pain though, so if you're just starting out, I'd recommend using simpler footage to practice, like red lips.

I'm not including the project file because, honestly, it isn't going to help you. Silhouette Roto works a little differently than other plug-ins. I'd recommend downloading a demo and trying it out.

Note: Silhouette Roto is sold as a plug-in for After Effects and Final Cut Pro, and as a standalone.

Instructions:

1. Install Silhouette Roto if you have not already done so.
2. Create a new project in After Effects.
3. Import your footage into After Effects.
4. Let's assume that you're using the full duration of the clip. Drag your clip in the footage window onto the "Create a New Composition" icon. That creates a new composition (obviously) that is the same size and duration of your footage.
5. If you'd like to rename your composition, you can select it in the project window and press the Return key. Rename. I renamed mine Silhouette Roto.
6. Go to the timeline and select your movie layer. Duplicate the layer (Command+D/Alt+D).
7. On the bottom layer, apply Hue/Saturation. Effect > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Turn the Master Saturation down to -100%. Turn off the visibility for the top layer for a moment by clicking the eyeball icon in the A/V features of the timeline.Your bottom layer should now be completely black and white.

Now is where the real work begins, but Silhouette Roto has good tools for rotoscoping.

1. Turn the visibility back on for the top layer of footage and select it. Apply Silhouette Roto. Effects > Silhouette Roto.
   Look at the screen shot of the timeline above and make sure that you have the right effects on the right layers.
2. To get into the features of Silhouette Roto, you need to click the options link in the Effects Control Window, or under the effect in the timeline. A pop-up window will tell you this.
3. Take a look at the left side of the Silhouette Roto interface. You'll see the toolbar which has several masking or roto tools.
   
   The Circle tool is perfect to trace my little fingernails, then I can use the reshape or transform tool to pull them into the exact shape. The names of the Tools are in purple (actually, more of a periwinkle) in the screen shot to the right.
4. I have fingernails to cut out, so the Circle tool is the most logical to start with. I drew the circle shape and then used Reshape and Transform to match the edges of the nails perfectly.
5. Each nail that I mask will get it's own layer in the timeline, so you'll end up with 10 layers. Keyframes will be automatically added when you put a mask on a layer. Each new mask will default to a name such as "Circle 2" and "Circle 3". These can be renamed.
6. On the right side of the interface, each layer is listed with switches such as mask color, motion blur, visibility and lock. I made mine random colors so the masks could be quickly located.
7. After I had all 10 masks drawn on my first frame, I jumped to the one second mark. I used the Reshape and Transform tools to match the mask to the nail. I repeated this process at the two second mark.
8. Silhouette Roto, like the Mask tool in After Effects, will take care of the inbetweens for you, but quite often they will not match. Jump to the 15 second mark, match it up, then back to the 7 or 8 second mark, match it up and so on. Before long, your masks will all match up.
9. Press the play button to preview and make all necessary adjustments.
10. Once you are happy with your rotoscoping, you may want to apply a bit of feather to your masks. Click the Feather tool in the Toolbar and click your mask layers to apply.
11. You can change the view of your project, so you can only see the masked items by changing the View to Composite in the upper left corner of the interface.
12. Happy with it? Let's output. File > Export > Shapes > After Effects Masks.
13. Close the Silhouette FX window.

Now, one would think that you would have 10 layers of masks, but that is not the case. Select the layer with Silhouette Roto on it and press the U key, which will open any parameter that is keyframed. Interesting, eh.

You could also try using the Tracker in Silhouette Roto to accomplish this task.

Footage courtesy of Circle in the Park.