Trying to use a track matte

Mad_Cyric · Post by **Mad_Cyric** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 5:20 pm

Okay I suck with Photoshop and I know it, but I don't need to use it for that many things anyway. However, I've been trying for 2 hours (after reading the photoshop and premiere help manual t hings) to make a functional track matte, and I can't get it to work properly for the life of me.

I've been making a black background with a feathered white circle in the middle in shop, as a test of the whole track matte technique, and then trying to use that as a 3rd layer track matte (with a backgound and foreground under it in layers 1 and 2 in premiere). At first I wasn't using alpha channels 'cause I don't understand them very well, which meant I had to use luminescence, which led to either a solid white circle in the center of the frame with the second layer footage behind (no first layer at all), or if I selected video one on the matte options, they'd both blend together with a bright circle in the middle. So I decided that alpha channels were probably the way to go. Now, keep in mind that I have almost no idea what I'm doing with alpha channels and such, so I might be doing something really stupid. However, when I make a black background layer, then a second layer which, in the alpha channel (I think) has a feathered white circle, when I import it it's just a solid white circle in the center no matter what!

I'm aiming for a circular foreground scene which more or less blends at the edges with a background scene, but I can't get the feather or the superimposition to work for the life of me! Can someone give some sort of step by step instructions for someone who is stupid when it comes to Shop? I just want to see if I can get this effect to work in case I ever need to use it! Thanks if you reply

Btw I'm using photoshop 8 and Premiere Pro 1.5... hopefully they're compatible?

Mad_Cyric · Post by **Mad_Cyric** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:58 pm

Okay well I figured it out finally, (export shop file as image, make separate sequence in Premiere and apply matte to video two targeted at video three), and even though I know no one knew how to answer the original question... I'm going to ask one more. Is there a way to move the matte itself? To illustrate, I made a feathered circle, which is the target of the matte, meaning I have that feathered circle showing my video track that's in video 2. What I'm wondering is if you can move that feathered circle so that it shows different parts of video 2. As of now moving the shop image doesn't do anything, and moving video 2 moves the feathered circle but also the video itself, so it doesn't show different parts of video 2, it just moves around the screen.

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:56 pm

To move the matte, you have to make a new Sequence. (Same as making a new Title or importing a new file, just hit Sequence instead). Then in that new Sequence, put your matte in and move it around as you want. Then use that Sequence as a Track Matte the same way you did it before. More or less...

Mad_Cyric · Post by **Mad_Cyric** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:55 pm

Hey thanks man, that worked like a charm! I'm still kind of in shock that it works actually. You know what this means? You can basically make an image mask in Premiere! ...sort of. awesome!