[Phil Mccarty]

The Very Great Szalzam,

Thanks so much for your remarkably helpful tutorial. I didn’t want to write back prematurely, in case I ran into any problems so that I could ask you them all in the one fell swoop. But I figured it out perfectly, with your help, and the effect looks good. I’ve been using the generated ramps, at the moment, but I will try some stock cloud footage for a more organic fill soon.

As soon as I get a ‘finished’ version I will upload it so you can see. Thanks so much, I could not have done it without you, and you took a lot of time and energy putting together that project, that was very kind of you.

Phil

[Phil Mccarty]

Michael (Aka The Great Szalam)

First, thank you for helping me with this. You might not think you’re great, but being willing to help me with this is pretty fantastic, so I appreciate it.

Second, you blew my mind a -little- bit. I’m a little rusty with AE, I worked through the Total Training (back when it was AE…5, maybe 6), and have done a handful of the VideoCopilot tutorials, but I am not quite as fluent as you are with the terminology and techniques.

I believe I have access to some libraries that have that kind of organic movement, let me do a quick brush up on Track Mattes…

Okay, I checked 4 online tutorials, and while I vaguely understand what they do, none of them give a solid conceptual explanation of what a track matte really is, so I don’t quite understand how to apply it in this context.

Track Mattes allow me to use one layer as a either the alpha or the luminance channel for another layer. Does that mean if I have a (lets say) billowy smoke cloud (on a black background) and use that as the Track Matte / Alpha of the Green layer (as the fill) and the regular layer (as the matte) then the green layer would expand using the motion/texture of the billowy smoke cloud?

At least, thats what I think you mean, but I want to confirm. I’ll have to make a few calls to see who has stock video. And do I need motion textures w/ alpha channel videos as well?

Thanks Again,
Phil

[Phil Mccarty]

Ooh, somehow I didn’t get the notification that you’d responded:

Well, there’s a person running through the scene, from various angles. Towards the camera, away from the camera. And I’d like the “spread” to happen as he goes through, or shortly thereafter.

Phil

Here’s a sample shot:
Runner