Is Adobe losing its AI edge? We put Roto Brush to the test.

Rotoscoping has long been a VFX artist’s least favourite chore—tedious, time-consuming, and prone to frustration. But with AI-driven tools now entering the scene, the game is changing.

In this blog, we've compared Adobe's Roto Brush to Electric Sheep and DaVinci Resolve's Magic Mask, exploring areas of critical importance to VFX artists. All conclusions are based on the outputs provided in this article.

Methodology

• All tests were conducted by the same user who had extensive prior experience with all three platforms
• Tests were performed on identical hardware configurations
• Each clip was allocated exactly 20 minutes of work time
• The same footage was used across all platforms
• Multiple output formats were analysed for quality assessment

Object Selection & Tracking

Electric Sheep

Electric Sheep excels in its multi-layer and layer-locking capabilities, allowing users to select and track multiple objects simultaneously. The edge tracking is precise, with consistent and smooth edge lines that maintain integrity throughout the sequence.

Adobe Roto Brush

Adobe's solution offers some compelling features, including motion blur capability and a side-by-side view of mask and output. The refinement tools provide quick results, and the edge blur (feather) option for output adds flexibility. However, Roto Brush lacks a layering system, making complex scenes with multiple objects challenging to manage. Its tracking capabilities are limited in that refinements only correct subsequent frames, requiring manual fixes for previous frames.

DaVinci Magic Mask

Magic Mask provides useful preset selections for specific objects such as humans, hair, and other common elements. It handles slow, single-character movements relatively well and generates results quickly. Its edge consistency is where it falls short, particularly with movement. While stationary areas maintain reasonable quality, moving areas exhibit noticeable wobbling and inconsistent edge definition.

Edge Quality & Consistency

Electric Sheep

One of Electric Sheep's greatest strengths is its edge consistency. The AI maintains smooth edge lines throughout sequences with little of the ‘boiling’ or ‘blooming’ effect common in other tools. This consistency is crucial for professional-quality outputs. Additionally, Electric Sheep’s platform has very few issues with matte holes, a common problem with AI tools in rotoscoping. On occasions when holes do appear, they are easily fixable within the interface.

Adobe Roto Brush

While Roto Brush offers decent initial selections, it struggles with edge consistency over time. Edges often appear rough, and there's significant inconsistency from frame to frame. The tool also faces challenges in low-light conditions, and users frequently encounter discrepancies between the viewport display and the rendered output - requiring multiple render tests to achieve desired (or even expected) results.

DaVinci Magic Mask

Magic Mask's most significant weakness is edge stability. The edges appear noticeably wobbly and inconsistent, particularly when the shot contains motion. While it performs adequately on static elements, it struggles to maintain selection integrity during movement. The limited ability to handle fast movements further restricts its usefulness in the sort of dynamic scenes that are common in professional productions.

Workflow & Usability

Electric Sheep

Electric Sheep provides an intuitive and efficient workflow designed specifically to cater to rotoscoping needs from professional VFX workflows to content creators. The ability to export layers separately gives compositors maximum flexibility in post-production. One unique advantage is the ability to upload single or multiple frame alpha masks for extremely detailed selections. This feature dramatically reduces work time for complex objects.

Adobe Roto Brush

After Effects' Roto Brush includes useful features like an undo functionality and background pixel deletion. However, the interface isn't specifically optimised for rotoscoping workflows, professional or otherwise. The lack of layer options significantly hampers efficiency when working with multiple objects, while the limited refinement possibilities mean even relatively simple shots can require meaningful amounts of artists’ time.

DaVinci Magic Mask

Magic Mask offers a relatively straightforward interface but lacks the specialised rotoscoping tools found in dedicated solutions. The absence of layer options creates the same workflow limitations as Roto Brush.

Performance Requirements

Electric Sheep

As a cloud-based solution, Electric Sheep shifts the computational burden from the local machine to remote servers. This architecture makes it significantly less demanding on CPU resources and accessible to a broader range of users without high-end hardware.

Adobe After Effects

After Effects' Roto Brush is notably resource-intensive, requiring substantial CPU power for smooth operation. This requirement can lead to performance bottlenecks on all but the most powerful workstations, especially when working with high-resolution footage.

DaVinci Magic Mask

Similar to Adobe's offering, Magic Mask places heavy demands on system resources. The computational requirements can impact overall system performance, particularly during complex tracking operations.

Complex Scenarios

Electric Sheep

While Electric Sheep excels in most scenarios, it does face challenges when characters overlap. In these situations, the UI can sometimes lose track of the original layer, requiring manual intervention. The current version also lacks motion blur capabilities (although these are close to production) and doesn't provide an output view before exporting, showing only the mask overlay during the editing process.

Adobe Roto Brush

Roto Brush struggles with complex scenes for different reasons. The possibility of matte holes creates additional work, and edge wobbling becomes more pronounced in challenging footage. Roto Brush finds object selection more challenging in low light and areas with low contrast between background and foreground. The inconsistency between viewport display and final output adds another layer of complexity when working with intricate scenes, often requiring multiple render tests.

DaVinci Magic Mask

Magic Mask faces substantial limitations with complex footage. It performs adequately with slow-moving, well-defined objects but struggles with fast movements and intricate details.

Results

Conclusion

After thorough testing of these three rotoscoping solutions, clear patterns emerge regarding their respective strengths and limitations. Electric Sheep's platform stands out as the most comprehensive solution for rotoscoping tasks, with the requisite blend of convenience and control to suit any use case from professional VFX artists to content creators. Adobe's Roto Brush remains a viable option for basic rotoscoping within the Adobe ecosystem but lacks the specialised tools required for high-end production, while DaVinci's Magic Mask provides the least consistent results among the three.

For VFX professionals seeking the optimal balance of quality and efficiency, Electric Sheep provides the most comprehensive toolset. However, as with any AI-driven solution, no tool produces perfect results every time. The key advantage of Electric Sheep is not just its superior output but its specialised workflow designed specifically for the demands of professional rotoscoping. While it stands alone as an AI solution, Electric Sheep’s end-to-end workflow for VFX professionals is the ultimate solution, enabling workflows to increase efficiency, with no disruption to pipelines.

Electric Sheep are continually refining their technology to address remaining challenges, including motion blur capabilities and viewport previews. Their mission remains clear: to provide those from VFX professionals to content creators with the accuracy and control they need to tell spectacular stories while dramatically reducing the time investment traditionally required for rotoscoping tasks.

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