track mattes

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Roy1
Posts: 466
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:04 pm

track mattes

Post by Roy1 »

Hi. I can chromakey using a talent videod in front of a green screen ok using CS5 premiere pro. But I can't manage to use a Track matte in the same programme I have scoured all the references to this method in adobe official manuals and youtube presentations, but I can't follow them. They all seem to assume that I know everything, which is far from the truth. What I want to do for example:- I have a shot of a house exterior in semi darkness and this house has several windows on show but none of them lit. I would like to show that one window is lit to convey occupancy. Can anyone please tell me step by step how to achieve this. I know about garbage points but having framed one of the windows that's as far as I get. All advice will be most welcome.
col lamb
Posts: 680
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:51 pm
Location: Preston, Lancashire

Re: track mattes

Post by col lamb »

Roy

I am not near my PC but if you search for track matte on the creativecow.net site I am sure that you will find tutorials there. Or do the same search on Vimeo or YouTube.

If you have no success I will sort out a sep by step guide for you tomorrow night
Col Lamb
Preston, Lancashire.
FCPX, Edius6.02, and Premiere CS 5.5 user.
Find me on Facebook, Colin Lamb
Roy1
Posts: 466
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:04 pm

Re: track mattes

Post by Roy1 »

Hi Col. I have searched Vimeo and YouTube for hours and found many so called tutorials on the subject and none of them explain in a way I can follow. I would be grateful if you can give a step by step lesson on how to do what I want to do. Thanks for your interest.
col lamb
Posts: 680
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:51 pm
Location: Preston, Lancashire

Re: track mattes

Post by col lamb »

Roy

I am assuming that your house shot is static and shot using a tripod.

If so then it is possible, if it is not then it is possible but not in Premiere, that is a task for After Effects.

So back with Premiere, I hope that you can export a still from the video clip in question.

If you can export it then I'd like you to email it to me.

All will become clear once I have worked on the still

I have sent you. Private message with my email address
Col Lamb
Preston, Lancashire.
FCPX, Edius6.02, and Premiere CS 5.5 user.
Find me on Facebook, Colin Lamb
col lamb
Posts: 680
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:51 pm
Location: Preston, Lancashire

Re: track mattes

Post by col lamb »

Track Mattes – Step by Step
Picture this, a static shot of a series of buildings, one of the buildings has a large advertisement board attached to it and you want to use this clip but replace the advertisement board with a simulated video screen which shows a video of your choice.
On Track 1 place the shot of the buildings, adjust it to the desired duration
Make sure the timeline cursor is in a position that make the clip visible in the monitor window
Then create a new title, and in the title window create a white box that just covers advertisement board.
Place the title on track 3 and adjust the duration to the track 1 shot.
On Track 2 place the clip you want to appear on the advertisement board and adjust its duration to suit.
In the Effects tab type track matte in the search box and the preset will be shown
Click on it and drag it onto the clip on Track 2
Click on the clip on track 2 to highlight it and in the Effect Controls tab you will see the Track Matte Key effect, open up the effect by clicking on the arrow so you see the text Matte:
From the drop down menu select Video 3
Job done, you have the effect showing
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If you cannot achieve what you want with the Titler, you will need to use Photoshop.
Export a still frame from the clip you want to use, make sure it is the same pixel x pixel resolution as the video clip
Open the still in Photoshop and then create a new blank layer above the image, select it and fill this black and turn the opacity down so that the still is visible
In the Layers window create a new Layer Mask
Create a box using the Marque tool approximately covering the space you want to remove from the video clip and with the marching ants visible
Use the Edit > Transform Path > Distort option to have control points visible on the box
Move them around until they cover what you want on the video clip still press Enter and press Ctrl and X to remove the selected portion
Click on the still in the layers window to select it and drag it to the trash can
You should now have a single black box with a grey and white checker board effect behind it, this is the alpha channel that Premiere will need but before you save it put the opacity slider back to where t was
Save the file but make sure the Alpha Channel box is ticked
Import this into Premiere and use it in lieu of the title mask I explained earlier
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I’m not finished yet
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If your scene has camera motion the effect is still possible but you need to use After Effects and for this there is a video on the Creative Cow website that shows how to do it.

http://library.creativecow.net/devis_an ... acking-1/1
Col Lamb
Preston, Lancashire.
FCPX, Edius6.02, and Premiere CS 5.5 user.
Find me on Facebook, Colin Lamb
Roy1
Posts: 466
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:04 pm

Re: track mattes

Post by Roy1 »

COL. Thanks very much for your tutorial, It's the easist to follow that I have seen yet and I will try to follow the instructions. The only thing I am not sure about is making a white area in the titler and then making it to size. Up to now I have only used titlers for doing just that-making text titles.
Roy1
Posts: 466
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:04 pm

Re: track mattes

Post by Roy1 »

COL. I have followed your instructions and am pleased to tell you that everything has worked perfectly. It just goes to say that even ancients like myself can do wondrous things on editing programmes if the instructions how to do it are presented in a manner we can understand. Thank you again for finding the time to instruct so clearly.
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