I'm doing a project in FCP with multiple images dissolving across two layers and I'm looking for a wipe effect that is not a transition that will achieve the effect that I'm looking for.

I am currently trying to achieve this effect with a matte and one of the problems that I'm having is that when I dissolve to another shot with a matte effect, the new matte exposes parts of the prior shot that I had masked with the outgoing matte.

Is there a wipe effect that is not a transition that would achieve this goal? I'm looking for a left-right wipe that I can position and invert if necessary, and if possible, crop the top and bottom of the frame if necessary.

This is very simple in AVID but the methods that have been described to me so far on how to achieve this are ridiculously complicated considering the number of effects that I have in this project.

To be more clear, I have a music video performance bed on the V1 layer, and on the V2 layer, I have a series of images that dissolve in and out of the negative space in the performance footage. I am masking text and extraneous visuals in the upper layer and then moving the images to fit into the space of the lower layer. I am using the matte effect to composite the two images, and then dissolving between the matte/masked/repositioned images. During the dissolves, the incoming matte reveals details in the outgoing image, which I'm trying to avoid. I'm wondering if there is a wipe effect that can achieve this same goal, and whether I'm going to have the same problem when I dissolve from one wipe effect to another. So I'm also looking for wipe that is not a transition, but one that I can drag onto the shot, and then set the masking and feathering in the wipe.

It's still kind of hard to figure out what you are trying to achieve from your description, but if I'm on the right track, what you might be wanting is a keyframed crop. Just set a keyframe at the head of the clip in the 'crop' section of the motion tab to set the start state, then move to to place in the timeline where you want the layer to be fully removed, move the crop slider left to right or right to left or top to bottom or whatever combo of these you like to crop it, and that should be it. Probably best to add a mask feather to the mask itself.

The problem with cropping and edge feathering is that it feathers all the edges, not just the cropped edge. And it rounds the edges. Is there a way to change that, and just change one edge, or multiple edges? If I could do that I could get rid of the matte effect altogether.

Yes, sounds like you need this free crop plug-in that allows you to feather edges independently:
[alex4d.wordpress.com]

Martin
www.avid2fcp.com

If I dissolve between shots with this plug in will it create the same problems as with the matte effect dissolves?

Question answered. It did the exact same thing. This is a matte, so the edge is still there during the dissolve.

If there was a version of this plug in that was not a matte effect then it might work.

I've read the thread a couple of times now and I'm not clear what you've already tried or what the actual problem is. What do you mean by "matte effect" for instance?

Giving a breakdown of your tracks and what is applied to what, would be useful.

Martin
www.avid2fcp.com

On V1, there is a music video performance edit with dissolves.
On V2, there is concept footage with dissolves
I have comped the two layers by using a soft edge matte, along with the opacity in the Motion Tab and I've cropped and feathered the edges of the V2 layer with the matte so that it fits in the open space of the V1 layer, so in most cases you're seeing a superimposed image composed of two separate images, on V1 and V2
When the dissolve occurs between shots on the V2 layer, the mattes combine to expose masked areas of the outgoing shot.

This is a series of photos that illustrate the problem

The first image is the masking problem that occurs during the dissolve

To see the problem, go here:

[twitpic.com]


This is the image as it's supposed to be masked prior to the dissolve

[twitpic.com]

Instead of doing dissolves what I would do here is stagger the photos on layers 2 and 3 and use transparency to do your dissolves. This is also the way I would have done it on Avid as you get much more control over everything.

Sean Lander
AVID from 1992 - FCP from 1999

There are over 100 of these effects at least. Is there a wipe out there somewhere that would do the same thing as the matte, without the problem dissolving between the two of them, or would it be the same problem?

OK I give up. I'm layering.

Don't forget about "Paste Attributes" so you can lay up your checkerboarded tracks on 2 and 3 and then paste attributes: Opacity. Should be just about as fast as editing them all on to one track.

Hope that helps.

Sean Lander
AVID from 1992 - FCP from 1999

Don't forget about "Paste Attributes" so you can lay up your checkerboarded tracks on 2 and 3 and then paste attributes: Opacity. Should be just about as fast as editing them all on to one track.

Hope that helps.

Sean Lander
AVID from 1992 - FCP from 1999

Sorry Scott I'm still lost! What do you mean by "matte effect"? Are you using Composite Mode > Travel Matte? But then you'd need more than V1 and V2 which you've not mentioned. Post a screenshot of your timeline.

I just tried reconstructing what you're doing by using "Mask Shape" and "Mask Feather" filters on the V2 clips and that works completely fine with opacity changed on the clips and dissolves between them. You might want to give that a go.

[img.skitch.com]

Martin
www.avid2fcp.com

The matte works fine. It's when I try to dissolve to a different matte setup on the same track that there's a shift in the matte, revealing previously unexposed parts of the image. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens regularly when I reposition one of the shots in the Motion Tab. I've been using soft edge, but I'm using a custom matte right now. I've figured out a solution by layering some of the mattes/images, and I am going to use a variety of different mattes including the one you suggested, so thanks for the info.

I wonder if the edge is being exposed just because it's not fully rendered? Go to Sequence > Render > and make sure 'full' is ticked, then render all. Does this make a difference?