Premiere: How to matte/mask using an image?

[Gameshow Host]

I have three images:

1. A logo I made
2. A 'shine' image that I want to move around on the logo
3. A mask based on the logo which specifies which parts of the logo will show the shine

In Photoshop, this kind of thing is child's play, but in Premiere I am really struggling to achieve it.

I read that 'Track Matte Key' is the effect to use, but when I try using this:

1. The scaling of the matte is completely off
2. When I move my 'shine' image, the matte moves with it! I don't want the matte to move at all. The matte only moves with the logo. (I haven't yet found a way to select multiple objects to scale and transform them all at once?)

By the way, I am very sorry for all the threads I've made over the last few days. I am genuinely trying to learn Premiere but I am constantly coming up against problems. Sorry guys and thank you for your patience with me.

[poisondeathray]

I'm probably not quite understanding your description, but what exactly is the "shine" image ? Is it an effect based layer, or is it a rasterized actual image format like PNG, BMP etc... ?

It's probably easier to create the logo and "shine" with alpha channel embedded (RGBA) , instead of RGB

[Gameshow Host]

what exactly is the "shine" image ?

It's just a rasterised image on a transparent background (Photoshop file format). I'd be happy to use anything, but the problem is getting a mask to work!

[poisondeathray]

I'm missing something from your description. Or not quite understanding your problem because it seems simple to do

How large is the logo? Is it the "background"? or is there another "backround"? Is it static ?

Why do you need a mask for the "shine" layer ? If there is a transparent background, there is no need for a matte or mask - it's already a "cutout". Or do you only want to display certain areas of the shine ? Or is the mask animated ?

Or maybe some screenshots would help me understand what the problem is ?

[racer-x]

I don't use Premiere, it's been at least 12 years since I've had. Animating a track mask is a very basic operation that I'm quite sure Premiere can handle. I suggest you search for "Track Mask Animation in Premiere" on YouTube or something. It can't be too difficult. I'm pretty sure Premiere can import PSD files, so that should be a good option to save your images with transparency in.

[Gameshow Host]

OK poisondeathray, let me try to explain more clearly...

Firstly I have a video playing in the background. Nothing special about that.

On top of that, I have a graphical title/logo which sits over the video. I made it in Photoshop.

Now certain parts of that logo are metallic silver, and I want to make those parts shine (but nothing else).

I make them shine by moving some white streaks across the screen, and masking those streaks so that you can only see them on the silver parts of the logo.

It's a little infuriating because this is such a basic thing to do in Photoshop: in Photoshop everything has a mask and each mask can be edited, moved, linked and unlinked. This kind of animation can be done in seconds with Photoshop, but after putting together all my videos in Photoshop for years, I decided to move over to 'proper' video editing software! (To be fair, Premiere is so much better than Photoshop in so many ways, but when it comes to handling images it seems very lacking.)

[poisondeathray]

It's easier to do in AE. It's basically photoshop for video to an extent. You're feel more at home there doing this type of thing if you're comfortable with photoshop

But in PP, I would do this by setting up a separate sequence for the logo / streaks /shine animation. That you nest back into your main sequence (i.e over the main video). That's one way to scale and alter everything at once. The white streaks, if pure white can be used as the track matte in PP. That's actually how you would organize things in AE as well (except in a "composition", not a "sequence", but it's the same idea ) because it gives you lots of flexibility to do many more advanced things. In AE, masks are more like photoshop masks, but you also have the ability to use mattes as well that work like "track mattes" in PP

[budwzr]

"By "Streaks" do you mean Glint?

A lot of the stuff you want to do is basic, but your terminology is not standard. If you want to "roll glint" across a still, then that's pretty understandable.

[Gameshow Host]

It's easier to do in AE. It's basically photoshop for video to an extent. You're feel more at home there doing this type of thing if you're comfortable with photoshop

But in PP, I would do this by setting up a separate sequence for the logo / streaks /shine animation. That you nest back into your main sequence (i.e over the main video). That's one way to scale and alter everything at once. The white streaks, if pure white can be used as the track matte in PP. That's actually how you would organize things in AE as well (except in a "composition", not a "sequence", but it's the same idea ) because it gives you lots of flexibility to do many more advanced things. In AE, masks are more like photoshop masks, but you also have the ability to use mattes as well that work like "track mattes" in PP

Thanks poison.

I'd thought about nesting, but if I set up my logo to look perfect in its own sequence and import that sequence, I would still have the same problem of needing to set up a matte, since an imported sequence presumably cannot have transparency?

I think I would like AE. What always put me off AE was that I expect a steep learning curve. I know there's a lot of scripting involved, and I haven't felt ready to take that on, but I do like scripting so maybe I should delve in

"By "Streaks" do you mean Glint?

A lot of the stuff you want to do is basic, but your terminology is not standard. If you want to "roll glint" across a still, then that's pretty understandable.

No, I don't think glint is what I meant. Glint is a flashing point of light. I am talking about a standard metallic pattern of diagonal white streaks which steadily move across something so as to make it look shiny. I come from an illustration background and I've been doing it for decades, though rarely spoken about it.

[poisondeathray]

I'd thought about nesting, but if I set up my logo to look perfect in its own sequence and import that sequence, I would still have the same problem of needing to set up a matte, since an imported sequence presumably cannot have transparency?

Yes it does have transparency (the alpha channel from the 2nd sequence is valid in the main sequence). Setting it up this way gives you many more options and flexibility to make alterations, adjustments, more fancy stuff later on as well. (it's analogous to "precomping" in AE, basically you divide up the project into subparts which are combined in one or more main compositions)

I think I would like AE. What always put me off AE was that I expect a steep learning curve. I know there's a lot of scripting involved, and I haven't felt ready to take that on, but I do like scripting so maybe I should delve in

The scripting language in AE is called "expressions" . You won't need to use any of that for this type of thing. You're already half way there if you know photoshop. Just understanding layers , layer order , and masks is a large part of the basics and you know that already from PS and AI




If you get stuck or need a hint in the right direction , just ask. There are plenty of Adobe users around, including this forum

[racer-x]

I assume you want to do something like this? I made this quick example using two 32-bit PNG images. One normal and one bright. I then animated a soft mask to reveille the bright shine from the bright image.

[SameSelf]

I assume you want to do something like this? I made this quick example using two 32-bit PNG images. One normal and one bright. I then animated a soft mask to reveille the bright shine from the bright image.

Wow! What a great little tip! I was thinking about doing the same thing myself just a few weeks ago when I popped in a professionally produced DVD of one of my kids' Christmas concerts (that was way over-priced, I might add) and just about barfed at the menu that popped up. This was despite the DVD label proudly displaying some garbage about 29 years of experience and 6 Telly Awards. My thought was: how hard can this actually be?

I used AE (I stink at even the most basic tasks in PS) to quickly type some text into a comp then Ctrl-D a few times with a white version of the text and several animated masks resembling spotlights from below.

[racer-x]

Yes that's the general idea. You can also add some Gaussian blur to the shine layer if you want the text to glow when the light beam hit's them. I did mine using 100% free tools. Paint.NET to make the gold logo and Aviutl to make and animate the mask. It's the same idea in most NLE's however......

[budwzr]

I assume you want to do something like this?

Nice example! This is what I was thinking too.