Actor Assignment

Estimated reading: 3 minutes

Assign Characters to Actors

Scan a frame of your video. Register an actor by assigning a character to a detected person. This is the core principle of Actor Selection. Let’s break it down further.

Scan Frame for actors

Use the timeline to select a frame you wish to scan.
Tip: Choose a frame with a low amount of motion blur where the actor is clearly visible.
Click on “Scan frame for actors”.

Global Settings

Global Settings are a unique set of settings available in some project types.

Global Settings are a unique set of settings available in the Live Action Advanced project type. Visit the Global Settings page for detailed information on these settings.

Assign a CG Character to an Actor

If your character is visible in the Characters tab on the right-hand side, you can simply drag and drop that character onto a detected person to create an actor and assign a character to it.

The actor, that we just created by dragging and dropping a character, will appear in the Character Selection tab on the left-hand side along with additional options unique to the Live Action Advanced project type (see the image below).

If the character is not visible in the Characters tab on the right-hand side we can assign it manually.

Click on the detected person to select it.
Click the “<” button to expand the Characters tab.

Select the character you wish to assign.
Click the “Assign” button.

If you wish to use your Custom Character in a project, simply switch to a “My Characters” tab. For information on how to upload your Custom Character visit the Character Upload page.

Advanced Retargeting Options

Advanced Retargeting is a unique set of settings available in some project types.

Advanced Retargeting is a group of settings with which you can additionally control how the actor is replaced with a CG character. You can change how the character is fitted with more detail.
Visit the Advanced Retargeting page for detailed information on these settings.

Advanced Features are a group of settings that you can use to additionally control how your project processes each actor.
Visit the Advanced Features page for detailed information on these settings.

Editing and Reusing Actors

After we have finished assigning characters to actors, all actors will be displayed in the Character Selection tab on the left-hand side. From here we can rename the actors, delete them, or use them to reassign the actor in other shots.

Click on the Actor’s name to edit it. Press enter to save your changes.

We can delete an actor by pressing “⋮” and then “Delete”.

ReID

Autodesk Flow Studio incorporates a technology named ReID (Re-Identification). This technology enables us to track the actor across multiple shots without a need to assign the actor for each shot individually.

Different persons in the video should not be assigned the same actor. This also applies in cases when the person can be seen multiple times in the same frame (i.e. from reflections).

Please note that the ReID feature may not work perfectly in every situation. In these cases, you can "Scan frame for actors" in multiple shots to ensure that the actor will be tracked across shots. Here are a few scenarios where performing a new "Scan frame for actors" might be necessary.

Blurry shots
Drastic lighting change
Actor wearing different clothing
Drastic change of actor orientation toward the camera