Posted by h on 07/30/06 17:51

<joe@aol.com> wrote in message
news:ea7oc25sei3m67097o2nkc84e04sj94eh1@4ax.com...
<snip>
> I simply wanted to take a picture of a lawn, as a background, jpg or
> what ever, and then apply a pre-keyed footage of a small explosion,
> to
> look like as if a fire cracker went off in the lawn.
>
> No problem, I got this far, and all worked well.
>
> However, after the explosion, the pre-keyed footage ends, and the
> lawn
> is flawless again.
>
> Not what I wanted. I need a hole in the ground after the explosion,
> or, at a minimum for the purpose of this question, just a black
> smudge.
>
> Now, in Photoshop, I could do this with ease. In Photoshop, I would
> simply go up to Layer, New, Layer, and wa-lah, I would have a new
> transparent Layer. I would then draw my little black smudge on this
> new layer, and then, using the Move Tool, move the smudge, or the
> layer as it were, to the exact location I needed it, and be done.

Cool - do that, then, hide the background layer so you just have a
smudge on a transparent background, and save the file. Import it into
AE, drag it onto the stage to where you want it, adjust the layer
handles in the timeline to taste and voila.

Using Photoshop to create the elements you want to animate or
composite is the most flexible route.

If you just want a black splodge quickly in AE:
Hit Ctrl-Y [create a new layer], make the layer black and hit the
"Make Comp Size" button, then hit OK
Choose the Ellipse mask tool (it's hidden on the same button as the
Rectangular mask tool on your toolbar) and draw a small ellipse in the
centre of the layer.
To smudge the edges, make sure the layer is still selected, and hit F
[reveals Mask Feather in the timeline] then wind the value up a bit.

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