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Traveling Mattes in FCP?
I’m trying to do a travling matte… I’ve got the geometric shape (created as a PSD file in PhotoShop) in place on one track in FinalCut… I have my video clip in place underneath it. I have the composite mode on the PSD graphic set to “Traveling Matte – Alpha”…. and everything is working as I had hoped.. except that the video is playing through the matte in gray scale, rather than in color. What have I messed up?
-Taylor
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8 Replies
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Is your matte saved in RGB color mode?
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You’re not using the composite modes correctly. The matte layer has to be underneath the video and no composite mode is applied to it. It’s set to normal. The video is on the layer above and set to Composite Mode>Travel Matte Alpha. Does that do what you’re trying to do?
All the best,
Tom
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD
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Walter Biscardi did a series on Traveling Mattes. Click on his head to find the series of video tutorials.
Kathlyn Lindeboom
The Mistress of Mmmooooo! -
Thanks Tom,
That did the trick. I KNEW the problem was me. It’s interesting though, that the mattes will still work (at least in grayscale) when applied to the layer ABOVE a video clip…. because that part was working, I was totally thrown off track…
Thanks for the help! See you at NAB!
-Taylor
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Actually, from what you described, I think what was going on was that your video footage was acting as the matte for your PSD file.
This is why it was in greyscale, because the PSD was greyscale. Your video footage, in effect, was acting as an animated matte.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong (I’ve got being wrong down to a science!)
Scott
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Actually, the PSD graphic mattes were in RGB color….. It’s just weird science!
Thanks to everybody for getting me straightened out…. I’m happily building multiple video streams, matted in strange shapes….-TC
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The correct term is Travel Matte, not Traveling Matte people.
Taylor, please check into my book, “Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro” where all the mysteries and methodologies of mattes are explained!
Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Seminar!
fcpworld.com -
Perhaps the name has shifted with video usage, but I’ve always heard the term as travelling matte, but that’s from the film terminology. I actually first read reference to the technique as Travelling Matte Color Replacement Cinematography. Here’s a listing from the British Society of Cinematographers’ Bert Easey Technical Award from 1949:
“1949 GEORGE ASHWORTH
Chief Engineer, Denham and Pinewood Studios, for outstanding work in designing and perfecting a beam splitter camera which advanced the technique of the travelling matte process.”Dennis R. Anthony in 1982 received patent 4,406,529 for a Travelling-matte process improvement. In the prior art description for that patent:
“BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In modern film-making there are two standard methods of inserting a subject image into a separately photographed background image to create a composite scene: travelling-matte synthesis and front-projection photography.”
In the FXhome.com glossary, a Travelling matte is defined: “A development of the stationary matte, this enabled the matte to change from frame-to-frame, enabling greater freedom of composition and camera movement. Would eventually evolve into the bluescreen process.”
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