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A
Anonymous
November 21, 2012
Answered

Track matte unavailable

  • November 21, 2012
  • 4 replies
  • 50790 views

I am sorry if I am asking a silly question but I am attempting to get better by following some guides and tutorials. One thing that has been confusing me for quite a bit is there is a certain source that I cannot apply a track matte to. I will explain everything that I am doing as thoroughly as I can.

I am busy creating a 3d wall that is currently only made up of 2 sources.

The first source is made up of many rectangles that fade in at random times until they are fully white. I did this by making a line of rectangles that do this first, then expanded it vertically, and then expanded it further to fill the whole composition.

The second source only has text in it.

The problem is that I want to apply a track matte to the first source but there is no drop-down menu.

I am following a guide that I found here: http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/motion-graphics/lear-to-make-a-custom-3d-wall-text-reveal/ and the step I am having problems with is step 48.

I am using after effects cs6 on windows 7 (64bit)

Any help will be much appreciated.

Correct answer Mylenium

A track matte is always a layer above the layer it is assigend to. You are having a severe misunderstanding here. The option will become avialable as soon as you add a third layer on top. Rather than jumping off with tutorials showing stuff that you may not understand, perhaps read the help about som basics?! Just sayin'...

Mylenium

4 replies

N
Ninow Graphics
Participant
August 13, 2019

To be fair, i've spent about 20 hours on Adobe learning the basics of AE tutorials and just ran into the same problem. While they sometimes do a good job of explaining what things actually do in AE, that is not always the case. At least the original poster is asking questions and not quitting or faking it bc they don't want to admit they don't know something!

    folkschool
    folkschool
    Participant
    March 4, 2016

    There is no Track Matte section at all in my program. How do I get this to show up?

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2016

    Go to the very top of the timeline.  Right-click on the Layer Name column to reveal column selections.  Pick Modes.

      rayankr
      rayankr
      Participant
      August 15, 2016

      That's exactly what I was looking for!

      M
      McJener
      Participant
      February 12, 2014

      If you can see the "Renderer:" from the composition panel, change it to Classic 3D.

        P
        Pola Lucas
        Participant
        January 10, 2016

        I love you for the rest of my life

        Trazaman
        Trazaman
        Participant
        November 21, 2012

        Look at the bottomo left of ur AE interface...there are 3 toggle on/off switches...they are responsible for the properties of each layer u see in the timeline. Click the one regarding the matte properties and there u go!

          A
          Anonymous
          November 21, 2012

          Thank you for your reply. I do understand how to apply track matte but there is no option to do it for that layer. Here is a picture that will maybe make it more clear what I mean:

          http://i.imgur.com/ommrc.jpg

          As you can see there is an option to add track matte to "element" but not for "fields big"

          Mylenium
          MyleniumCorrect answer
          Legend
          November 21, 2012

          A track matte is always a layer above the layer it is assigend to. You are having a severe misunderstanding here. The option will become avialable as soon as you add a third layer on top. Rather than jumping off with tutorials showing stuff that you may not understand, perhaps read the help about som basics?! Just sayin'...

          Mylenium

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