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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Stock footage compositing question.

  • Stock footage compositing question.

    Posted by Brandon Savoie on December 23, 2008 at 1:30 am

    Hi, I’m currently working on a composition in which a spaceship crashes into some woods in the background and creates a large cloud of dust. For the cloud of dust, I am using a combination of free stock clips from Detonation Films, mostly the ones that key out with “luma” or “multiply” using blend mode. The problem that I am having is that these clips appear too bright (the smoke/dust is white, I need it almost black) and it doesn’t blend in with the rest of composition. I am trying to darken the dust, so that it almost appears black, but every time I try this, the blend mode options key out any black. I’ve tried using key effects like luma/color key, but they ruin the effect by making the dust look too solid, fake, and not transparent. However, when I use blend modes like multiply or silhouette luma, the smoke looks very realistic, but just too bright. So, using those blending mode options, how can I darken the dust without losing any detail or quality?

    Brandon Savoie replied 17 years, 8 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Brendan Coots

    December 23, 2008 at 8:22 am

    You can try inverting the file (Effects>Channel>Invert I believe) and then use a different blending mode like Darken, Multiply or similar.

    Brendan Coots
    Splitvision Digital
    http://www.splitvisiondigital.com

  • Brandon Savoie

    December 23, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    Hi Brendan, thanks! I tried inverting the footage and it looks perfect now. Knew I was overlooking a simple solution, thanks again.

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