pulling mattes from add-mode layers?


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pulling mattes from add-mode layers?
by Laika on Feb 21, 2006 at 3:36:26 pm

i want to provide renders of fill and matte to a flame artist for compositing over picture. one of my layers has a knoll light factory effect on it that composited nicely over footage using "add" but its alpha is the full layer, not just the effect. any ideas of how to cut a clean matte for this? have tried keying fx but am unable to pull an acceptable matte given the grdations in the LF effect.

thanks!

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Re: pulling mattes from add-mode layers?
by Dave LaRonde on Feb 21, 2006 at 4:37:18 pm

Sometimes AE filters have a "Composite Over Original" switch; I hope this one does!

If it does, you're in luck. To render the fill, just leave the "Composite Over Original" switch on.

Then turn that switch off, and you'll see just the effect. From there you should be able to figure out how to render the matte you need.

Of course, if there's no such switch with this particular effect, this trick won't work.

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Re: pulling mattes from add-mode layers?
by chris newman on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:40:54 pm

if your problem is what i think it is, there is an easy solution. within the knoll light factory package is a plugin called UNMULT (it's also online for free - http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/unmult.html). just add this effect to the same solid that you have the lens flare effect applied to. add it after the lens flare effect. it essentially unmultiplies the image from the alpha and creates a perfect alpha for your lens flare. i'd render it with a straight alpha, then it will give you the exact image you need along with the exact alpha.

hope this helps.

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Re: pulling mattes from add-mode layers?
by Laika on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:44:43 pm

this was exactly what I needed...thanks!

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