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Get Track Mattes Right: After Effects

Track mattes work like masks in Photoshop and can take most motion projects to new heights. This tutorial will show you how to create a clean, smooth-running track matte. Master the techniques outlined here and you can apply them to almost anything.

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Rodrigo Braga
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79 views

Get Track Mattes Right: After Effects

Track mattes work like masks in Photoshop and can take most motion projects to new heights. This tutorial will show you how to create a clean, smooth-running track matte. Master the techniques outlined here and you can apply them to almost anything.

Uploaded by

Rodrigo Braga
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GET TRACK MATTES RIGHT


TIME NEEDED

AFTER EFFECTS

30 minutes
INFO

Track mattes are a very effective and creative way to generate an endless array of transitions for your motion projects. JJ and Robbie Johnstone reveal how to create track mattes in After Effects using simple DV footage
Track mattes work like masks in Photoshop and can take most motion projects to new heights. They can create transitions for your type, between scenes, or with almost any object. This tutorial will show you how to create a clean, smooth-running track matte master the techniques outlined here and you can apply them to almost anything. This will open up new ways to create motion graphics and add the wow factor to projects that are otherwise dull. A track matte is a simple element to add to your work, but can develop into a really complex and effective motion tool. After Effects can be very powerful if you take advantage of its impressive precomping and blending mode capabilities. When importing Photoshop or Illustrator les, for example, you can use these options to create even more vivid results. In this short tutorial you will work through one specic example for a track matte, but the project shown here uses three track mattes in total. Look on this issues disc and use any of the three video clips provided. Alternatively, you could use your own footage to create a unique track matte of your own.
Illustration and tutorial by JJ and Robbie Johnstone www.rockadee.com

JJ and Robbie Johnstone are brothers, motion designers and founders of the Portland-based Rockadee Collective. Visit their site (www.rockadee. com) to see the awardwinning music videos they create together.

First, import one of the three video clips provided on the CD powdersugar.mov, smoke.mov or splatter.mov. The raw footage has been shot using either a natural black or white element on the opposite coloured background. This will enable you to use the Luma controls for your track matte.

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Feather your mask to ensure a smooth transition between the clip and the background. Now add a solid, in the same colour as your clips background, to get rid of the transparencies. This is an important step to remember you will deal with this whenever you pre-comp in After Effects.

WHICH TRACK MATTE SHOULD YOU USE? A Luma matte will use the lighter shades of a clip or image to create a mask of the object its applied to. An inverted Luma matte will use the darker tones to mask the specic object. If you have the ability to use green or bluescreen footage, Alpha mattes will also work really well. Alpha mattes draw from the alpha channel instead of the luminance.

Using the Hue/Saturation controls shown in the screengrab above, start to de-saturate the colour from your video le. This will ensure a clean matte. Now scale up your image and reposition it to remove any visible edges and take full advantage of the entire comp size. Your matte will need to cover the element you wish to transition to and from, so remember this when scaling.
Click on the bottom of the Switches column in your timeline. The column will say Switches/Modes if you are using After Effects 6.5 or earlier. If you are using version 7, it will be blank.

Import the Illustrator le named gradient.ai from this issues disc or bring in a colour, texture or type element of your own. Now create a new composition using the element you just imported and the track matte comp you have been working on.

You can now apply the Levels effect to your clip. You will need to make the graph as small as possible. Drag your white and black settings towards the centre of the graph. The more pure the white and black the better the resulting matte will be.

PRE-COMPING Whenever you use blending modes, track mattes or adjustment layers, simple layer order problems will arise. Use the Precomp function to solve these problems. Precomping takes specic layers of a composition and places them into their own composition in the same time and position, then places that composition into your timeline in its place. Try using Command+Shift+C to Pre-comp selected layers in your timeline.

Next, create a mask around the element you selected from the disc to get rid of any background that will take away from your matte. Scrub through your clip and make sure your mask doesnt block the matte. You may have to keyframe your mask to move with your element.

Now click on the dialog box under the TrkMat column. Select the Luma or Inverted Luma setting, depending on the effect you are going for and the colour of your elements. Back in the timeline, make sure your pre-comp sits above the image you are transitioning to and/or from. If you are using text, a photo or an illustration, reposition and scale the precomp to t directly over the specic element. Experiment with different styles of mattes. The only rule to remember is to stick to black and white. Besides that, get creative!

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