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Matte/Mask Question?
Yet another final cut defector…
I use mattes often, and in FCP it worked great. I could create my matte (whatever size and shape) and place it on a video layer. I could then place my video/graphic on top of this layer and choose “composite mode alpha/luma”. I could then take it and zoom, pan, rotate, whatever… within the confines of my matte and its defined edges.
Now in PP, I’m having great difficulty achieving the same results. Example…
I have a wide shot of a gentleman reading a very technical spectrum rf analyzer. As he is reading the rf signals, he is calling out these numbers coming from the screen. Because he is faking the reads, I’m not able to insert close ups of the meter itself. So we created a graphic that mimics the screen with the correct numbers. I need to be able to place this graphic in a box off to the side of him and zoom in/out, pan, the graphic as he calls out the numbers… All while staying within the confines of my box.
So, what used to be very easy and creative is now very difficult and cumbersome to do.
So as an alternative, I tried a 4-point mask on my video layer. Sure I could move my points to fit within my box frame but there is no “invert” mask option with this effect to cut a hole in the video. With the hole cut, I could then place my graphic behind the video layer and zoom/pan all day long. Effectively what the 4-point mask is doing is cropping the video to fit with my box, leaving empty black space outside of it.
So, is there a way to cut a whole in my video to place a graphic behind to zoom/pan around?
I’m definitely not “winning”!
Thanks.
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10 Replies
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Gregg…do you need to motion track?
Garbage mattes in PPro live up to their name…they’re good for quick confinement of keys, etc.
Have you tried a track matte? Some of us use the title tool and simply create a black/white graphic and use that as the matte, then track matte content that way…(PPro’s Title Tool is extremely useful).
From my experience there are some abilities of FCP that aren’t duplicated in PPro because of the close familial GFX capabilities in AE, but it doesn’t sound as if what you need is that complex if motion tracking isn’t part of the deal.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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No… don’t really need to motion track. I tried using the track matte with no luck. I tried it with a white matte made in Photoshop and with Premiere’s title tool… but a very weird thing is happening. To long to explain here.
But I’m not trying to move or animate the matte anyway. I want it to stay still. What I need is to zoom/pan a piece of video/graphic within the matte. Although, when I do move stuff around, the matte moves/grows with the it.
Yea, maybe I need to learn to do it in AE now. Try that “New AE Composition” feature 🙂
I’m just a little frustrated that I need to do that. I would think a simple matte would have worked. A lot of it may be do to that fact that I’m learning a new program too…
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Try this tutorial for some insight on Track Matte Effect inside of PPro.
I know the unexpected behaviour you are experiencing, it seems to be the way it was designed for PPro which is a different way to After Effects and FCP use of Track Mattes.
– JB
Jon Barrie
aJBprods
Jon’s YouTube Tutorial Page
follow Jon with twitter -
I’m quite sure there is likely a way to accomplish what you want to do…since you are very new to PPro, I’m not sure where you may have encountered issues with track mattes…or if you want the matte to move with the key source or the background plate or…?
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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Gday Tim, there is an unexpected behaviour when using the Track Matte Key effect on a clip and it has any motion or scale applied to it, whereby the Track Matte itself is “stuck” to the Motion and Scale of the clip that is using the Key Effect.
Which means the Clip one may want to “zoom” or reposition is not able to be done with a “window” or “Custom Cookie Cutout” whereby seeing the background clip (plate) can be manipulated and the window remains static (unless the clip used as the Track Matte is manipulated) as one would expect coming from an After Effects workflow.
I have already filed a report with Adobe 🙂
– JB
Jon Barrie
aJBprods
Jon’s YouTube Tutorial Page
follow Jon with twitter -
It’s unexpected unless you want to have the matte track the key source…then it’s handy as can be…
It’s all about what you’re looking for.
You can always make the matte for the larger shot (reverse the transparency from what you might try initially) and put the “master shot” on top with the matte cutting the “hole” in it instead of using the matte to “trim” the keyed footage over the top. The put your “replacement footage” on the track underneath where it is not the matted clip and move it and scale it all you want as it shows through the hole created by tracking the matte to the base shot, which is now on top.
Not so insanely difficult, really.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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Thanks for all the comments… I’m going to give Tim’s idea a shot.
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Well as it turns out I just went in to After Effects to create the effect I was looking for. I was quickly able to build my composite and move/zoom/pan/rotate my footage without zooming/panning/rotates the matte as well. I hope Premiere offers a “alpha matte” soon.
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Well…I think the method I outlined would work just fine.
Keep in mind that a “tracking matte” tracks the layer you’re assigning it to…the matte in question needed to “track” the base shot…to cut out the hole. The content inside the hole was dynamic.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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I realize this thread is a few years old, but I found it trying to solve a similar problem: I want to create create a matte for still photos I’m moving in the timeline. Now, if you use a “track matte”, it will track the motion of these photos. But here’s a cool trick–when you “nest” that layer of photos and then apply track matte, the matte will then remain static, while the images move within the matte. Just tested it–it works great!
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