Making layers behave in After Effects like in Photoshop

[Daniel Waldron]

Are the layers 3D? If so, the shadow layer’s z position could be in front of the person layer, in which case it wouldn’t matter how the layers are ordered on the timeline.

If they aren’t 3D, you could always enable 3D for both layers and just nudge the shadow layer’s z position back slightly so it falls behind the person.

[Andrei Popa]

Hey Daniel,

They were not 3D, but even after I made them 3D same thing happens.

Note that girl layer is on top, and the black shadow layer is made to look like that, it’s the whole layer that comes on top even if it’s the bottom one, not just the shadow.

Image upload does not work for this forum, at least for me.

I did embed the screenshot and it worked in preview post, but not after I posted.

So here is a link

https://tinypic.com/r/vreq92/8

P.S. If someone knows how to do this in Motion as well please share

[Andrei Popa]

Hi Dave,

I posted a link of the screenshot above, because uploading directly does not seem to work, here it is again:

https://tinypic.com/r/vreq92/8

I’m not assuming AE is PS on steroids, I was just explaining what I’m trying to achieve, and the analogy with PS seemed the easiest and clearest way to convey it.

It’s not a pain in the neck, I understand it works differently, and that’s why I started this thread to learn how to do it.

Andrei

P.S. If i want to ask how this would work in Motion as well, is it enough to leave it here, or should I post in the Motion part of the forums as well?

[Andrei Popa]

Layer1(on top) is the girl with the background.

Layer2(bottom) is a person dressed in a blue suit, which I keyed out, selected the matte view (to make it black), and rendered it out in matte view with an alpha channel. So this layer by itself looks like the black person with a white background.

Andrei

[Andrei Popa]

I understand about the 3 layers.

I know about & understand rotobrush, but I’m not very good at it, so I’ll have to practice more.

Honestly I was expecting a transparent background too…., so obviously, something went wrong when exporting.

I exported in ProRes 4444 (RGB+Alpha), as I understand 4444 is the only ProRes that supports transparency…

Is it possible that transparency did not work is because I exported just the matte view?

When I keyed it out the person in the blue suit and it became black, I selected the matte view, so I got a black person on a white background.

I probably wrongly assumed that the white background is a transparency and exported like that in matte view…

My questions are:

Is this the reason I did not get a transparent background with the black person, because the white in matte view is not transparent?

Is there a way after you keyed out a person, to export just the keyed person on a transparent background, or will I have to rotobrush the black person as well?

What other codecs besides ProRes 4444 support alpha?

Thanks

Andrei

[Andrei Popa]

Hi Dave,

Sorry for the late reply…

Had some health issues that needed taking care of.

By pulling the key, you mean turning the key off is this correct? I used the Keylight effect so I should just turn this off right?

Where are the alpha only or the photoshop checkerboard buttons….

Thanks,

Andrei

[Daniel Waldron]

Actually pulling a key means the exact opposite. Keep Keylight on. There is a small checkerboard button underneath your composition window that will toggle between the checkerboard that represents the transparent parts of your footage and your composition background color. This button actually has no effect on the transparency of your footage, but is helpful in determining how good your key is.

[Andrei Popa]

Hi Daniel,

Actually I did find that checkerboard button and it does absolutely nothing.

Of course if I move the composition it is underneath, but that’s it.

What I’m aiming to do is have this keyed character cut out, so having only the person without the background (I have a person in a full body blue suit), render it on an alpha channel.

And then combine it with another piece of footage.

[Daniel Waldron]

If there is a layer underneath what you are keying, you will not see the checkerboard, as the checkerboard represents the alpha channel of your entire composition, not one layer.

Solo the layer with keylight on it. If the background is properly keyed out, you will see the checkerboard behind your subject.

In Keylight you can also choose the screen matte view to check your key. Your background should be completely black and your subject white. If not, adjust the settings until they are, then change the view setting back. You should now have a layer with subject on a transparent background.

[Andrei Popa]

It seems it was a bug.

I deleted the Keylight effect, re-dragged it and I can do it up to this point in Dave’s description:

“You should see a blue-guy-shaped hole.”

Yes I have that, and if I press the checkerboard button I have a checkerboard filled shape.

Dave now says:

“Apply the Invert effect. You should now see the blue guy….”

I don’t have a blue person though….

The background kind of goes negative film in looks and the person is black if I add invert under Keylight and orange if I add it above.

What is not right here?