“blend if” in after effect?

[Iancorey]

Maybe you could describe what it does. We’ll help you with AE if you do the same for us with PS.

[Steve Morris]

I have not seen the option in AE. It may exist?

Blend IF in Photoshop is a way of splitting the slider when blending. I think you Alt Click on the blend slider to spit it apart. It gives you more control over blending.

[Ross Gerbasi]

hmmm not exactly sure what this tool does, but it sounds like the CS3 puppet tool maybe helpful…

or I could be totally off…

-ross

[Filip Vandueren]

In After Effects CS3, if you enable layer effects, you get access to some of the advanced blending options that are available in Photoshop.

Select your layer, enable drop shadow or any other layer style by choosing:

Layer -> Layer Styles -> Drop Shadow.

If you twirl open your layer in the timeline, you’ll see two properties have been added under Layer Styles: Drop Shadow & Blending options.
You can now throw away the drop shadow, or click off it’s eyeball.

Under Blending options -> Advanced Blending.
You’ll find the option: use Blend ranges from source.

set it to yes.

It will use the “Blend if”-Slider settings set in the photoshop document for this layer…

“But wait: I want to use ‘Blend IF’ on a video layer, or a non-Photoshop graphic…”:

Well, there’s no way to do that using this method. It only works for Photoshop layers, and you can’t edit the sliders in after effects.

Here’s the closest thing:

Use the “Extract”-filter. It has the same functionality with slightly different interface, but alas you can’t use it to “blend if underlying”

[Ross Gerbasi]

bLend it.. I am stupid… sorry about that

-ross

[Eyal Elbaz]

Thanks everybody

[John Brownwood]

Does anyone have an update to this question. I figured out how to do it statically with a PS file imported with layers set with split sliders in the blending mode options of PS, but how to get the same simple extremely POwERFUL effect so it can be set with differing amounts set with key frames. A slight work around if fading from one image to the other is to set the blending mode in PS and then on the appropriate layer fade image off with opacity, position, scale etc.

[John Brownwood]

also you can add your varying blending mode settings to PS files, then import files, then copy and paste by selecting the layer and copy then select your layer you want to apply it to in AE. be sure to name your PS files appropriately with some idea of the settings. You can make a folder full of small files, technically one pixel is ok, you only need it for the settings on the layer blending mode.