Make me see through......

[LonelyPlanetWanderer]

ok so this is the plan of action...i got two footages one on top of each other in two seperate video tracks...what i want to see is the bottom track in the background thru the top track...so i do this...use Transparency>Chroma and take out the part i rather not have from the top track (example, everything except a person's figure) so as to enable the bottom track to come through...unfortunately the effect is grungy...not smooth despite the various tweaking options...so i wonder...is there a software/fx which makes me physically (using a brush/eraser) erase out the part 'smoothly' out of the top track so the bottom track stands out 'crisply'...i would greatly appreciate any advice/suggestions...cheers!

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Nevermind my pulse, just lemme be a dialtone.

[sn-films]

I may be missing some critical detail in your original question, but it sounds like you may want to use a blue/green screen for the shot you're talking about. There are all kinds of poducts on the market that will help you accomplish this. Personally, I use Ulead's Media Studio Pro, but I think I stand alone on that one. With most of the software products on the market, they'll let you "key" out one color, and from there you can adjust the transparency of shot. If logistics prevent using blue/green screen stuff, I have a couple of work arounds that you can use.

Using similar software packages, you can film the scene once with one character, and then once with the semi-transparent character (make sure they don't overlap!). Crop the height/width of the overlay clip and tweak the transparency.

If you don't have software to support this, you could always use the P.T. Barnum trick. Let me know if you need to go this route and I'll put together a quick summary of how to use the glass door from your parent's stereo cabinet to achieve a semitransparent overlay.


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