Now in Beta: New Masking Tools

[Francis-Crossman]

We’re excited to push an early development preview of new masking workflows to Premiere Pro (beta).  Whether you are color grading, applying effects, or cutting objects out from the background, these new masking tools are built to help editors work faster, smarter, and more creatively without needing to go to After Effects for simple tasks.

Note: This beta is an early look at upcoming Premiere Pro workflows and is not intended to reflect general availability performance or polish. Please contact us with bugs, feedback, and feature requests to improve these features.

• Object Mask – Automatically identify objects and people in your footage using AI and isolate them with a single click. Plus mask refinement tools and fast tracking throughout clips.
• Redesigned Shape Masks – the traditional shape mask tools (ellipse, rectangle, pen) have been rebuilt from the ground up with many performance and UI improvements.
• Faster Shape Mask Tracking – the tracking algorithm has been completely rebuilt too.  It’s significantly faster than before, more accurate, and offers more precise control for correction.
• Compositing tools – blend any combination of Object and Shape Masks to create complex masks with new blend modes: add, subtract, intersect

Quick Start guide

Follow these steps to get started with New Masking.

1. Make sure you have enabled New Masking (see above).
2. Select a clip on the timeline.
3. Find the new Mask Tool group in the toolbar. Long-press to see all the masking options. Choose the Object Mask tool.
   Tools
4. Hover the mouse over the program monitor, watch as objects are identified, and click. This will draw a static mask around the object or person.
5. Track the motion. Find the new “Object Mask” in the “Unassigned Masks” section of the Effect Controls Panel. Click on the forward and back button.
   
   Tip: the Effects panel is a different panel from the Effect Controls Panel. Find it in the Window menu.

6. Add an effect. Find the Gaussian blur effect in the Effect Panel. Drop it on the clip in the timeline. The mask will automatically be applied to the effect.

7. Congratulations, you just used Object Mask to blur an object!
8. Now, try to use the other tools in the group in a similar manner.
   

Visit here for the complete documentation. https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/object-masking.html

We want to know what you think.  Join the conversation below.

[narisan]

Since the update, the behavior has become strange when resizing an elliptical mask directly with the mouse in the Program Monitor. Even when I grab and drag the blue outline to expand it, I can no longer adjust it smoothly. Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?

[Francis-Crossman]

@narisan can you provide some more information?  When you say you can't adjust an elliptical mask smoothly, what do you mean by that? Is the UI stuttering or reacting slowly, or something else?

[narisan]

When I pull the blue bounding box, it suddenly shoots out in the opposite direction, and no matter which handle (top, bottom, left, or right) I grab, it scales in an unintended direction. This doesn’t happen on all layers — it only occurs on certain masks.

[jessicas34159505]

Hi,

Is it possible to add manual mask points after applying the object mask tool?

It would be great to have more frame by frame control.

If it doesn't exist, is it in the works?

Thank you!!

Jessica

[Arnold Nitin]

@jessicas34159505 Can you please explain more on what kind of control you are expecting in frame by frame? It will help us to understand what gap we want to address. 

[Ryval_OW]

I want to point out that you typed "Make sure you have enabled New Masking (see above)." and your above paragraphs contain nothing about instructing users on how to enable the new masking.