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Making one layer the mask for another .. Beginner’s Question
Hi
Sorry for the basic question
I have tried and tried to get text to have another layer(s) as its fill while the fill changes and the text moves across the screen.
I guess I basically want to be pointed at a tutorial on how to make one layer only visible through another irregular shape in one layer while being able to see all the other layers behind these 2 layers
Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks for the help
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6 Replies
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Welcome to the wonderful world of Track Mattes in AE! If you have AE 6.0 or later, try this:
1) Create a solid. Apply some kind of noise effect to it — fractal noise would be cool, or some other kind of noise if you have it — and maybe give it some kind of coloring effect. Want to get tricky? Hows about animating some of those parameters with keyframes? It really doesn’t matter, because you’re just looking for something that is NOT one dull, boring, solid color. Unless you’re partial to solid colors, in which case, it’s okay.
2) Create a text layer. Any text, any typeface. Don’t use outlines. And don’t make your text the same color as you made the solid! Place this layer above the solid.
3) Going back to the solid layer, go to the Modes Pane in the timeline. Don’t know what that is? Look it up in AE Help: that’s why it’s there… to help. Under the TrkMat column, do an Alpha Matte of the text layer.
4) Poof! You’ve got the stuff you see in the solid inside your letters of text! Cool! Now, think about this: instead of a solid, what if your layer was video footage? You’d have video inside those letters. What if it was a precomp instead of a solid? Heck, it could be darned near anything!
Track Mattes are great to know how to use, and AE’s help is pretty darned… well, helpful on the topic.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV -
Thanks for that /…. try it now … as for the Help … well – lets say I am on here because of it.
Watch out for more Janet & John questions
Thanks again
S -
Well, just keep in mind that as you continue to use AE, you’re going to find that AE Help is a darned good quick reference. It’s got all the facts in it, but it’s not always organized the way YOU think it ought to be.
It’s a good idea to get familiar with Adobe’s way of organizing the facts NOW, and not later when you really need it.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV -
Dave
Thanks for that tip.
To help me get my mind in line with the Help … what should I have asked for or searched on to find what you said?
(Another question … in using text as a matte, how do I maintain the strokes and have the fill as transparent … or again … where should I look in Help).
Thank you for spending the time to help a beginner
Steve
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It’s not so much the capabilities that you’ll find in AE Help as the technical terms, descriptions, how the controls work… and the lingo, too. Heck, if you don’t know what AE can do yet, and this forum’s a great place to ask.
But if somebody writes, “You need to interpret your footage as lower field first, reverse the horizontal scale only, parent it to another layer, use it in as an inverted luma matte, animate its position with a combination of bezier and hold keyframes and use an expression to get luminance values from another layer,” AE Help can turn the jibberish into plain English in your mind, and you’ll learn a bunch of valuable concepts as you do the translation.
Adobe calls the shots in terms of functionality and terminology in AE, so you need to know it or you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage. That’s where AE Help is a big help.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV -
Speaking of masks and moving them, IS THERE ANY ALTERNATIVE TO A “POSITIONS” SECTION FOR A MASK? I have a video clip where two invisible walls slide onto and off of some text as the background video passes over a certain area. I have motion captured the location of the walls successfully and have applied the data to two “transparent” shapes (opacity set to 0%), but have recently learned that the only way to hide the text with a transparent cover is masks and their “subtract” option (right?). Unfortunately, a certain layer can only be affected by its own masks, so I was wondering if there was some way I could apply the motion capture data (or keyframed positions) of the shape layers to a mask that belongs to the text layer (without moving the text itself)in order to make it slide onto the text, wiping it off and making it disappear at a certain moment. Is there any way I can do this or achieve my general goal?
Thanks,
Jacob
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