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Keying in After Effects CS3

  • Article is provided courtesy of Adobe Press.
  • Date: Nov 12, 2008.

Contents

  1. About Keying
  2. Getting Started
  3. Changing the Background Color
  4. Adding the Foreground Subject
  5. Creating a Garbage Mask
  6. Applying the Color Difference Key Effect
  7. Choking the Matte
  8. Removing Spill
  9. Keying Out a Background with the Keylight Effect
  10. Adjusting Contrast
  11. Adding the Background Animation
  12. Adding the Title
  13. Adding the Animated Logo
  14. Copying Effects Across Two Layers

Article Description

Does the idea of keying conjure up images of a meteorologist on the evening news, or a shooting technique used in motion pictures? With After Effects, even the simplest, least-expensive project can take advantage of keying. The Adobe Creative Team takes us through a step-by-step example of this technique.

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Adding the Background Animation

With a clean key, you're ready to add the background to the composition.

  1. Press the Home key to make sure that the current-time indicator is at the beginning of the time ruler.
  2. Click the Project tab, and drag the L7BG.mov item from the Project panel to the Timeline panel, placing it at the bottom of the layer stack (see Figure 23).
    Figure 23

    Figure 23

    Let's see how the keyed actor looks against the animated background.

  3. Press the 0 key on the numeric keypad to watch a RAM Preview of the composition. If you have a sharp eye, you may still notice a few aliasing artifacts here and there around the actor. Remember, you're working with footage that originated in MiniDV, so some aliasing is going to occur. Also, keep in mind that the computer monitor has a better resolution than a television set. To judge the results of your key accurately, you need to connect your system to a video monitor and view the results there.
  4. When you're done watching the RAM Preview, press the spacebar to stop playback.
  5. Choose File > Save to save your work.
12. Adding the Title | Next Section Previous Section

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