Requiring a track matte to be right above the layer it modifies seems like an archaic convention at best. Get rid of that requirement and make them like parent layers which can be anywhere and used by many layers.
Catie Bass • Adobe Employee, Oct 18, 2022Oct 18, 2022
We are pleased to announce that Selectable Track Mattes are now available in After Effects 23.0. Thank you for your feedback and insight during the public beta period!
Rfred, it won't solve everything, but if you're just doing simple transforms, you can apply the Transform effect and then force Set Matte—in Take Matte From Layer—to use Effects & Masks instead of Source from the second dropdown menu. That way you can alter things without needing to precomp.
If you select a layer, it would be nice to highlight other layers that a referenced by it. be it by this new track matte idea, that i like, or by any other filter, like displacement map or camera blur.
I like After Effects way of Compositing Layers. Can we Make Set Matte work more like track mattes? the Precomping, and or Transform options get a bit tiring, and makes the work flow take longer.
Either this or update the set matte effect. This is the problem -> I have a layer with animation on it that needs to be used as a matte. So I duplicate it, go into key properties (often with parametric shape layers) and use the expression pick whip to connect them via expressions. Then I duplicate this layer a couple times for different uses in mattes and already I have project with tons of expressions. Precomp this layer you say? Yes, that would work, but only sometimes depending on the project. Just update set matte or make it so you can alpha matte with the pick whip like you can with parenting.
Updating the Set Matte effect will not do the trick. Due to the render order, effects are rendered after the transform which will lead to issues when making a comp continuously rasterized. Picking the alpha layer like parenting would be the better solution.
Saying this feature is needed, is an understatement. The fact that this feature exists for years, but is pretty much useless for not supporting continuous rasterization. It should be THE replacement to alpha mattes, not a deprecated effect.
I was so happy i could finally achieve the visuals I wanted only to realize that pre-comping and enable CR, breaks everything. In a project with literally just shape layers.
Given 4 years have passed since the original post, I sense this, along with many other essencial features will be simply ignored as per tradition with adobe. Or wait for another live saving plugin that becomes yet another dependency on 3rd parties..
It’s really amazing how many solutions to one problem are created in the aescripts marketplace? Can someone explain, why this is such a difficult task to create this feature in AE? https://aescripts.com/search/?q=Set+matte+
I don’t get it. We are dreaming of a solution since ever.
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rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.>Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
why not just add a pickwip next to the track matte controls? sounds like the easy solution.
Set matte is great, but it's backwards at times. If joining multiple alpha together, the Set Matte effects need to be inverted so the alpha will add to each other rather than matte out the one before in the effects stack, then the alpha of the entire set matte effect stack needs inverting so AE will use it properly. it also ignores position, scale and rotational parameters, so it will always source the target at it's default PSR values.
Thank you! Works great in Beta version. Would it be possible to link alpha/luma source to a layer in another composition though? The way position, scale, etc. can be linked via expression.
OMG this is one of the most amazing updates ever!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! WE will NEVER have to use the ridiculously unpredictable "Set Matte" effect ever again!
I love this... Can I ask one thing - I just tried to select multiple layers and assign a matte. Only the one layer changed. I think I'd expect to be able to set all selected layers.
We're very excited to announce that Selectable Track Mattes are now available in the public beta builds! Selectable Track Mattes work just like parenting, allowing you to pick any layer in your composition, no matter where it sits in the layer stack, as a Track Matte source for any other layer.
We are pleased to announce that Selectable Track Mattes are now available in After Effects 23.0. Thank you for your feedback and insight during the public beta period!
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