Is it possible to blend out colors from a still image?

KrypTonKniGht · Post by **KrypTonKniGht** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 7:04 pm

Say I have text on a transparent background. and when i save, it creats a white background, and when I put it into premeire the white is still there and effects the the other scene I'm blending with. So my question is how, and what can I do to somehow exclude the white either in photoshop or premeire ?

burntoast · Post by **burntoast** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:20 pm

hey, so u wanna place an image w/ text over ur video in Premiere?

it's quite easy.. and i know of two good ways to do this: working with a white background image using Adobe Premiere's Title program, and blue background images made in Photoshop.

(note: i'm using Adobe Premiere 6.0 and Adobe Photoshop 7.0 thru these instructions..)

i'm not sure if ur white background image will work in Premiere the way its titles do, so i suggest u create a title following my steps:

White Alpha Matte:
first, start up Premiere and go to "File" - "New" > "Title". an image should appear with a totally white background. now click on the Type Tool (the little T within the left menu column), and click on a place in the image. now type in whatever u need, and then right-click and highlight to change to change the font size, font color, and such. exit out of this window, which prompts u to save ur newly created title. save it, and it will automatically appear in main project bin.

now drag that title over the video ur using in the workspace. if the vid is in the Video 1A track, u can place ur title in any track, 2 or above. then right-click on ur title which is on a video track, and go to "Video Options" > "Transparency...". next to the "Key type" should be a drop-down menu. here u wanna select "White Alpha Matte". click OK and u should be set to render and preview. check ur text font color so that it's the way u want it to look.. u can edit the title by double-clicking it in ur project bin, and changing the font color according to ur needs.

that takes care of white background titles.. if u wanna use Photoshop and use a blue background, then follow this second set of steps:

Blue Screen:
first, open up Photoshop and specify the background color, by going into "Set background color" in the left toolbox. u should see a set of values called R, G, and B. make sure the numbers next to the R and the G are both zero, and type 255 next to the B. this will make the background purely blue. click OK and go to "File" - "New...". type in a name for the current project, make sure it says "RGB Color" next to "Mode:", and click "Background Color" under "Contents". here you'll have a completely blue background, and all u have to do is add ur text to it. once ur done, save this image as a bmp or jpg. u can also use gif, but u may lose some slight quality.

now that u have ur image, import it in Premiere. drag it from ur project bin, onto one of the video tracks above the track ur vid is in. right-click the image and go to "Video Options" > "Transparency...". next to "Key types", find "Blue Screen" from the drop-down menu. watch in the preview window as the blue background magically turns white.

click OK and render/preview it to make sure the text color is alright..

i hope this helps.

u can PM me if u need more assistance..

NicholasDWolfwood · Post by **NicholasDWolfwood** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:37 pm

Unless Blue Screen is different from Green Screen, the backround doesn't turn white, it blends in with the backround of the video you're using, so it looks as though you took each frame of the animation you're putting the title over and then added it to each frame and imported them.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:39 pm

Easiest thing to do is just go to Transparency>White Alpha Matte.

burntoast · Post by **burntoast** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:46 pm

NicholasDWolfwood wrote:Unless Blue Screen is different from Green Screen, the backround doesn't turn white, it blends in with the backround of the video you're using, so it looks as though you took each frame of the animation you're putting the title over and then added it to each frame and imported them.

oops, i meant the blue screen turns white in the preview window.. which basically means it has turned transparent.

no confusion intended..

Zarxrax wrote:Easiest thing to do is just go to Transparency>White Alpha Matte.

does this work for u using jpgs, bmps, or gifs? for me, it doesn't work with these types of images, which i assume KrypTonKniGht is using to put over his video. titles made in Premiere seem to be the only type of images that can use the white alpha matte, but it may just be me.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Sun Mar 23, 2003 10:48 pm

He said an image with a transparent background, so I take it he's using a PSD file.

KrypTonKniGht · Post by **KrypTonKniGht** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 6:23 pm

Oh don't worry about the transparent thing, this is exactly what I wanted to know

. Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated