Morphing and The History Behing it
---------------------------------- I am sure you have seen morphing in movies, on the computer and even in some advertisements.
Morphing - The visual merging of one image to another. This is a powerful tool that can somtimes tell a graphic visual story, give you a quick laugh and even leave you in awe. The term 'morph' derives itself from the word metamorphosis. Morphing first made it's debut in the 1988 Film 'Willow' by George Lucas and Ron Howard. Morphing had been around decades before Howard and Lucas first used the technology in the film to transform a goat into a woman. But back then, morphing tools were complicated to use, and computers could not keep up with the technology and resources used in morphing.
Morphing and it's Progress
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Today, with super fast computers equipped with dual and quad core processors, and simplified morphing software, you can morph some very creative and professional-looking morphs right at your own computer.
How to Begin Morphing
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There are many morphing applications to chose from, and most will offer a free trial that you may download.
-Choose your Morph Pictures
Sort through your photos to get a glimpse of what you have. Profile pictures seem to be the best for a beginner to start with.
"SOURCE" and "TARGET"
A "source" picture is considered the starting image as the "target" picture is the ending image. The morphing transition should be so perfect that you will see several clear, complete, new images between the morph source and target photos.
It is a good practice to choose a common theme between the images you wish to morph. A few examples of common themes would be:
1. Both the source and target images show people wearing sunglasses
2. Both the source and target images show people holding an object
3. Both the source and target images show people in a similar pose
-Choosing Quality Images
The images you choose should be of good or exceptional quality. Use only light (not dark), clear images. You can touch up images with Photoshop or a similar photo editing software before you start your morph. The quality you choose now, will decide the outcome quality of your morph.
Morphing: The Process
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Once you have decided on the source and target pictures and a viable morphing program such as FantaMorph or Morpheus it is time to begin.
-Basics of every morph program
No matter what software you choose for your morphing, there are common features that will always exist. These common features are what I will focus on.
Once you load your source and target images you can then begin to morph.
1. Morphing consists of placing a "dot" on the source picture and then placing a corresponding "dot" on the target picture. An example would be placing a dot on the left corner of the persons eye in the source picture, and then moving the corresponding dot that appears on the target picture to the left corner of the eye. What you end up with is two dots, on two images, in two equal spots.
-This will tell the software that these areas are to be watched closely. This will result in smooth transition, and quality. So the more "dots" you place equally on the source and target images, the more professional the morph will turn out.
2. Simply continue to place dots on specific areas (eyes, nose, mouth, facial outline, chin, eyebrows, hair, forehead) of the source picture and then move the corresponding dots on the the target image to match up equally with the source image.
-It is good practice to use enough dots to make a circle around the eyes, a copy of the lips, a mold of the nose, and a cast of the whole head. By doing this, your morph will turn out fantastic.
3. Once you are finished, it is time to export your morph. By exporting you simply convert the source and target image along with your defined path (dots) and turn it into one animation or morph. There are a few options that you should be aware of.
-Frames per Second
-Time
Frames per second or FPS decide how many frames you will see per second of animation.
Time decides how long the morph will run.
You can make a morph go at 30 FPS at a length of 3 seconds. This will result in a morph that is 90 frames in size.
You can make a morph go at 10 FPS at a length of 2 seconds. This will result in a morph that is 20 frames in size.
The difference is the speed at wich your images morph, and the quality. A good tip is to stay at 30 FPS to start. The time all depends on how fast you would like your image to change from the source to the target photo.
So now that you have the basics down, go grab some software and start experimenting! It really is a simple process once you play around with it. Good luck, and have a blast!
