Help Request for Matting in After Effects 6.5

Author: darkhelmet
Time: 4-May-2006 12:45 AM
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If anyone's got any advice on doing some clean matting in After Effects 6.5, I'd love to hear it.

Here's why I need to know: I'm working on a shot I may use for my re-cut of SW: Episode 3. I'm trying to matte one character out of the frame.

Here's what I've done so far: I have my original video layer imported as a .flm file. I created my background matte in Photoshop, and imported it as a .tif. I created a matte on my background matte layer to let the character I want to see in the final shot show through, and I bezied it for a curvy blend of the two layers. I've roughed in motion on the matte layer using simple keyframing so that the two layers move together.

Here's what I need to know: Since the color on the background matte layer doesn't match the original layer exactly and since the matte border is hard and not a soft transparency, the layering is quite apparent. Is there a way to make ONLY ONE EDGE FEATHERED/TRANSPARENT to blend the two layers as my matte cuts the frame pretty much in half?

Thanks again for any helpful tips or tricks.

Author: darkhelmet
Time: 5-May-2006 12:43 AM
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I figured it out! If anyone needs help with a similar issue, I'll try to help.

Author: darkhelmet
Time: 6-May-2006 4:19 AM
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BTW, if anyone was interested in the shot I was modifying, it was one of Padme and Anakin from the first scene where she meets up with him upon his return from rescuing the Chancellor. I was able to remove Anakin from the shot, and it looks pretty flawless! That being said, I'm not sure it will work as insert in my Episode 3 re-cut. Oh, well. Learned something regardless.