[Jeff Hinkle]

Hold the E key. You’ll get the eraser for as long as you hold and switch back to the brush when you release. Tapping will swap tools, holding will temporarily toggle.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Best bet: your black is not 100% black, so when you select white, it’s partially selecting the area you’re trying to keep. I would make your selection like normal, then instead of deleting, make a layer mask based on your selection and adjust the levels of your mask to get pure white/black

[Jeff Hinkle]

You can achieve a similar look with a round, hard brush and turning on Shape Dynamics in the Brush palette. Then set it to Pen Pressure (with a pressure-sensitive tablet) or Fade (without). Although looking at your samples, I’d probably do it with custom vector shapes to better control the shape and varying thickness.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Like Kalleheikki said, view both mask and image simultaneously by turning on both visibility eyeballs in the Channel palette (same function as backslash) and just paint straight in the mask layer. If the rubylith is obscuring your image too much, just double-click the mask layer in the Channels palette and set the opacity down. You can change the color of the rubylith there as well.

I’m thinking your procedure might be flawed. Make your selection in your image first, then click the “Add layer mask” button in the Layers palette. That will give you your base mask in the shape of your selection. If it’s opposite what you want, just Invert. Then paint in the mask with black (to hide) or white (to reveal) anything you missed with your selection. And with that image, I’d make my selection with the pen tool for cleaner edges.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

No need to go into Quickmask mode when using a Layer Mask. As long as the Layer Mask is selected in the Layers palette, it’ll stay selected until you choose something else. If you want to view just the mask, Opt/Alt-click the Layer Mask thumbnail in the Layers palette. If you want to view the mask and the layer simultaneously just hit the backslash \ key and it’ll appear as a rubylith overlay.

You mention accidentally cutting your image instead of your mask. You’re not deleting portions of your Layer Mask, are you?

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I did not personally use it, but another guy on my team used it and loved it, and the results were quite impressive.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

On VoluMax, the end result was much better than just layers offset in Z-space.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

There’s a plugin called VoluMax that might fit the bill.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Call off the dogs. I “fixed” it, in that it’s working but damned if I know why. Re-rendering the problem files as DNXHD and replacing them in the project seems to have worked. Why that should be is beyond me, but it worked. Thanks to everyone for their help.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I did a Collect Files just to make sure everything would be at the same level and where AE would expect to find it. The missing files should be found in PROJECT/(FOOTAGE)/VIDEO/ And if I unpack the mogrt, that’s right where they are. The AE file lives in PROJECT as well.

I thought it might be a Mac/PC thing (I’m Mac, editors are PC), but a fellow Mac user had the same issue. I even copied the mogrt to a USB drive and walked it over to her desk to eliminate the PC-based server. No joy. Permissions for the video files are I can read/write, Staff and Everyone are read-only. Didn’t set them that way, just how they are. The stills, which work fine, are set the same. Googled “User 501” but that just left me more baffled than before.

It’s SEEMS like it should be working, but it just won’t. And my company frowns on me hitting the computers with large, blunt objects so I’m stuck.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.