• Adobe Photoshop

  Need lower thirds help

  Posted by Seth Hancock on July 5, 2005 at 3:04 pm

  Hi all,

  I was reading Richard Harrington’s book on Photoshop for NLE. I went to page 109 to read about creating a lower third. I followed the process step by step but am still coming up with crappy results.

  I created a new project, made it 720×480 with a transparent background, created a new layer, drew the lower third and then tried to apply the gradient. The problem here is the gradient covered the entire work area and wasn’t just confined to the rectangle I just drew. So then I trashed that started over, drew a new rectangle, created a new layer and applied the gradient. This time everything worked and looked great. I tweaked the gradient to where I was completely satisfied with it and then tried to output to After Effects. I created an Alpha Channel for both layers but I when I imported it into AE only the solid color imported.

  What am I doing wrong here or what have I overlooked. Can someone please simplify this for me as I have grasped the concept but can’t seem to be able to export as well as I would like. Thanks.

  Seth

  wordtoyomutha

  Richard Harrington replied 20 years, 10 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Richard Harrington

  July 5, 2005 at 3:34 pm

  Be sure to read chapter on alpha channel and targeted flattening.

  The technique in that chapter is to save as a flattened file such as PICT or Targa… it does not prep the layers for import into AE

  There is both a chapter on Transparency and an Appendix on After Effects… both will contain additional info that you need. The book is written that you have started at the beginning and read linearly. It assumes you’ve learned things in previous chapters and does not repeat.

  Good Luck

  Richard M. Harrington, PMP

  Author: Photoshop CS for Nonlinear Editors
  Co-Author Final Cut Pro On The Spot & After Effects on the Spot

  edit – produce – direct –
• 

  Seth Hancock

  July 5, 2005 at 4:50 pm

  Thanks Richard.

  I will give it a try later. I assumed it prepped the .PSD for exporting into AE. Sorry for making that assumption. I do thoroughly enjoy the book. Thanks for the clarification.

  Seth

  wordtoyomutha
• 

  Richard Harrington

  July 5, 2005 at 4:55 pm

  It’s a logical assumption that anything made in PS would import cleanly..

  But MANY things do not (but we see improvement coming)

  Keep askign Adobe for tighter integration

  Richard M. Harrington, PMP

  Author: Photoshop CS for Nonlinear Editors
  Co-Author Final Cut Pro On The Spot & After Effects on the Spot

  edit – produce – direct –

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