CGM DVE Vol.3+ (also included in CGM DVE Complete) contains a very flexible tool to clone areas of video, meaning you can brush out unwanted objects by using other parts of the picture. Of course you can do this by with Photoshop - but you lose the grain! The CGM Clone Area renders in 10bit high-precision YUV (if allowed in your Sequence Settings, tab Video Processing).

The workshop shown here has nine video layers and is running in realtime (UnlimitedRT mode of FCP4 at a G5 2Gig DP, Quality: Medium, DV Video Output off). In this TV commercial the customer wanted us to remove a line of text on the product.

First place the video on the timeline. Then apply the CGM Clone Area filter (located in: Video Filters / CGM DVE Image Control) and open its input controls in the viewer. Set the source area by defining its four edges (Bezier Point 1, 2, 3 and 4). In the example I've defined the blue area above the unwanted text as source area.

The first copy of the source area is marked with a white outline.

In the Offset Area 1 section you can modify the position, alignment and opacity of the first copy (Horizontal, Vertical, Rotation and Opacity). In the example I've placed the first copy directly below the source area.

In the Offset Area 2 section you can paste a second copy of the source area which is marked by a green outline. The properties of the third copy are defined in Offset Area 3, and the third copy is marked by a yellow outline.

Next I switched the View Mode of the CGM Clone Area to Final. This is the result of the first cloned area, the source video layer and three copies of the source area.

If you need to copy different source areas, simply apply further CGM Clone Area video filters to your scene. I took the second source area from the blue area below the unwanted text, plus I used two copies of this source area to erase the text above.

I then added a third CGM Clone Area and set a source area to blot out some unwanted reflections, therefore using three copies in all. I set Edge Feather to 6 to soften the edges.

The end result is really convincing!

View Modes: The mode Wireframe shows the source area and the first copy. Both areas are marked with white borders. The second and third copies are marked with green and yellow borders. If enabled, the labels and bezier controls of the source area are also displayed.

The view mode Preview shows only the labels and bezier controls. Because the outlines are not drawn, you'll be able to see the result of your work much better.

Before you add further Clone Area filters you should always switch the view mode of the filter to Final so the controls will not distract you.

The Curve Resolution defines the resolution of the Bezier curve. You won't normally need a higher value than the preset of 10.

You can use up to 8 corner points: simply switch the additional points on by using their Use Point gadgets.

Every point has two Bezier handles. If defined, the Bezier Control In is shown as red point and the Bezier Control Out is shown as blue point. If the option Smooth is enabled, the Out point is defined automatically and you'll get always a smooth shape.