Digital juice Compositor's Toolkit trouble

DSW wrote on 11/17/2008, 8:47 AM
For those who have the compositors toolkit working great, could you please share your workflow? I have called DJ and they are looing into the problem. The problem is that I can not get rid of the black background in the effects. I have rendered it out in AVI and QT then once it is in Vegas I select Properties/Strait (unmatted). The black background still does not go away. what am I missing? Thank you for your help.

David

Comments

SCS PBC wrote on 11/17/2008, 9:00 AM
Try setting the compositing mode of the track containing your visual effect to Add.
DSW wrote on 11/17/2008, 9:43 AM
I tried it and it does not work well. I can see the video from the second track but I can also see the video in parts of the effect that I should not. It makes the whole efect a littel transparent. Any other ideas?
Xander wrote on 11/17/2008, 10:44 AM
Will try once I get home, but I believe on the effects where there is transparency, on the physical Toolkit DVD, you will find two associated mov files. The one contains the effect and the other contains the matte file. Which effect are you having trouble with in particular?
daryl wrote on 11/17/2008, 11:05 AM
Xander's reply sounds logical, that's the way DJ set up their double-alpha Swipes as well. I don't have the Toolkit yet, but I bet that's going to be the solution. I'll be watching to see.
DSW wrote on 11/17/2008, 12:20 PM
I have tried a couple different ones, but how about Disc 28 #0018 Destructive elements. I looked on the DVD and only found one clip per effect (if that is what you were asking?) I noticed in the juicer an option to render the alpha chanel sepreate- is that what I need to do?
Xander wrote on 11/17/2008, 2:43 PM
I see that Destructive element number 18 does not include a track matte. There is also no indication of one in the Juicer 3 (Little M on bottom right of Thumbnail). You have to composite these by either creating your own matte mask or by changing the compositing mode, e.g. multiply, add, etc. Destructive Elements 1 through 10 do include a track matte that you can easily create a Alpha for - see if you can get those to work for you initially.

[Edit] Most appear to be semi-transparent anyway. Let me know if you have trouble working with the track mattes. I always use the files straight off the disc.
Rory Cooper wrote on 11/17/2008, 9:35 PM
you are looking for an alpha matte which you create from the matte clip

You get 2 fx in each instance the matte for masking and compositing and the original track for colour saturation and colour fx
Matte tracks don’t necessarily have an alpha channel so you create the transparency by adding mask generator “ from Vegas fx “which it does from the solid matte
Now you have an alpha matte with the gradients

So your alpha matte is on top “parent multiply mode” and your colour original underneath “child “

Instead of running 3 tracks for this I sometimes run 2 and a white panel full length of the clip if its premultiplied you can add a transition between these two for extra effect or black depending which compositing mode you are in

“If you have Boris you can generate by using alpha matte filter” to get an alpha clip

I hope this helps you

DSW wrote on 11/18/2008, 12:23 PM
Thank you all for your help. I now understand that some have an alpha channel and some do not. Why did they do that? And why are they all a little transparent? Can that be fixed? Thank you xfx for your tips. I found the mask generator and followed your advice, however I ran into another problem. When I apply the luminance mask it also masks out the dark areas on the effect (vol 28 #0018). So some of the bricks are now see-through where it should be dark or shaded. Can you try it with that effect and see if you get the same results?

Thank you,
David
Rory Cooper wrote on 11/18/2008, 9:58 PM
Hi David

I will run some clips and get back to you

I am mentally trying to see what the problem is [my clips are in my studio and I am editing on the chain gang right now]. I suspect that the light source on the bricks is washing out, so try compensate with the hi and low sliders. [ that = black and white in or out]

Don’t forget as you are making a mask so you can apply the brightness contrast fx first to get a solid black and white clip before you apply the luminance fx then visually adjust both until you are happy with the mask this will bang out the gradient which is giving you a problem

Rory
Rory Cooper wrote on 11/19/2008, 9:00 PM
Hi David

Some of the clips are ‘’underexposed’’ and that’s what you need for effect

These clips are probably filmed and not 3d app generated [ 3d app will also render an alpha matte]
So because of this it is very difficult to get a solid contrast matte from the clip even in Boris

So it depends on what you want to do, is how you would use the clip


Rory
Rory Cooper wrote on 11/20/2008, 8:48 PM
Here is the clip www.vimeo.com\2303432

Top alpha matte masking 2 and 3
Level 2 displacement mask warping image from the same clip

Except that i moved the image to make it look as if the logo was getting impacted off the brick

On top layer your black in slider bumps up the color in mask generator
so the under exposed clip works well almost reversing the black

I placed a pic of the work layout at end

Rory