Masking help needed

[feathermm]

Sorry --- I posted this in the Gold section at first. Should be in Producer ...

I purchased the tutorial disc for masking from a member on this forum and it has been helpful, but I still cannot repeat the results he gets.

I suspect the problem is in the masks themselves, which show no transparency. Would you please explain how to create a mask in Photoshop that can be imported into Producer?

Specifically, what I want to do is:

Have an image of building with a plain sky behind it, then have a bird or balloon pass between the building in the foreground and the sky behind it. I can get the image to float behind the building, but the sky is black, not blue, masked out entirely. When I invert the mask, the image fills the house in the foreground as it passes by.

I'm also not able to make gradients work. What I want to do is combine two images with a soft edge between them. I figured it would be a matter of making a white to black gradient mask, placing an image below and above the mask, but that didn't work.

Finally, I'd like to creat an effect of a gradient panning an image, casting a light ray across it as it pans. Is this possible in Producer? Seems like it ought to be, but so far, my efforts have failed.

Your help would be greatly appreciated as my mind has hit a Producer roadblock.

BTW -- in the tutorial, when he selects three image and drags them onto a slide in the timeline, all three go to the same slide. When I do that, Producer sends each image to a different slide. What's the trick? And when he does motion, a green line showing the path shows up. Mine doesn't do this. Again, what's the trick? Thanks. I have the latest version 3.2, the latest and greatest.

[rkligman Profile Private messageWebsite]

Carl, I'm the one who made the tutorials. Let's see what we can do.

>> I suspect the problem is in the masks themselves, which show no transparency

In this case you will need to use the Grayscale masking, not the Alpha. The difference is subtle if you just have a black and white mask between the two. Producer does just the opposite between the two. I.e., if Black reveals in the Alpha, then it hides in the Grayscale setting. I think the first grayscale tutorial made that point. (Sorry, at work now so I'm thinking off the top of my head).

In your case for the building, you want the mask to be either the sky or the building. It doesn't much matter because you can get your effect done either way. Tutorial 5 shows this being done. In this tutorial, you would make your building black and the sky white. Since you're using a Grayscale mask, the black in the mask (Layer 1) will hide the masked Image (Layer 2) so it appears that the balloon moves behind the building. Not sure what else to say since I can't see your images.

>> I'm also not able to make gradients work. What I want to do is combine two images with a soft edge between them. I figured it would be a matter of making a white to black gradient mask, placing an image below and above the mask, but that didn't work.

Anything above the Mask will hide everything after it. You have to look THROUGH the layers. If you have a full screen picture on Layer 1, you can't see any further because there are no holes. You want the Layers Mask, Masked Image, Image 2. Again, using Alpha or Grayscale will either hide or show different parts of the Images. Get that picture off Layer 1 though. That's your main issue.

>> Finally, I'd like to creat an effect of a gradient panning an image, casting a light ray across it as it pans. Is this possible in Producer?

I don't have time to think about that right now.

>> BTW -- in the tutorial, when he selects three image and drags them onto a slide in the timeline, all three go to the same slide

Hold down the Ctrl Key when you drag images to a slide. It will ADD them to the slide you are dropping them in.

>> And when he does motion, a green line showing the path shows up. Mine doesn't do this.

By default I believe Producer does this so you must have messed with the Preferences. In the Motion tab, right click on your image (you have to be working on a Slide). This brings up a bunch of menu choices. Show Motion Path needs to be checked.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Finally, I'd like to creat an effect of a gradient panning an image, casting a light ray across it as it pans. Is this possible in Producer?

Yes, not only is it possible, but it happens to be a version of what I'm working on right now. I have a mask that's a white circle fading off into black. The picture beneath it is a portrait, and when the mask is enlarged and panned, it makes it appear as if a flashlight is playing across the face, the brightest area focusing on the eyes.

Barbara

[feathermm]

Thanks for your replies. I'm starting to grasp the concept and played with it for several hours last night, trying to create different masking effects.

I'm finding that the issue of background color is often ignored in masking discussions with masking is applied to a single slde (such as making a beam of light cross the image). Once I changed the background to white, the effect worked, not spectacularly, but it is there.

I'm still trying to find a way to flash a brilliant beam of light onto a slide without having to create the flashing slide in Photoshop and alternate it with the normal slide. The image is of an engagement ring catching the sun's reflection. It seems like this should be easily done with masking, but the effect is dull when done that way.

I'd also like to simulate the passing of a cloud in the sky with a shadow on the landscape and the effect of a sunrise crossing a landscape. It seemed like having a lighter version of the slide on the background and moving a mask across the darker version would work, but it doesn't in my configuration.

I'll keep experimenting. Thanks.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Though I understand the general idea you're going for with the strong lightbeam, I can't possibly know precisely the result you want, but have you played with Effects for the underlaying layer? By manipulating white/black points, contrast, etc., you might find that flashing effect you're looking for.

Barbara