Premiere Pro Mask is Horrible

[josiahm29169243]

I'm using the 2019 Premiere Pro CC.

I tried to put a mask on the opacity property of an layer, but when I go to alter the mask, it creates new points on the mask.

When I try to select one point to move, it moves the entire mask.

The cursor also transforms into the hand tool when I am altering my mask, which is really clunky.

I have no idea why the mask options don't work like they do in After Effects. I would work in After Effects, but the render would be too long.

[Ann Bens]

When animating a mask use the same amount of nodes through out the animation.

For moving a point use the magnifying option or go full screen.

The hand tool is indeed a bit clunky.

[Byron Cortez]

Read this carefully please, what is happening is not a mistake of Premiere Pro is lack of knowledge of how to use the masks.

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/masking-tracking.html#MaskinginPremierePro

[Hunter_PackHealth]

I dissagree. Even the tutorial you provide shows how much effort goes into making a Premiere 2020 mask that Premiere 1995 could produce in two steps. It needs rethinking from the bttom up.

[Hunter_PackHealth]

It's garbage. It is the epitome of a project that developers didn't want but users needed so it exists in the absolute minimum functional state that could be maked "done". It's the saddest part of the entire Adobe suite IMHO.

[Jeff Bellune]

Do you have something you need help with?

If you are attempting to help the OP, please note this topic is more than 2 years old and they have probably moved on.

[Hunter_PackHealth]

No. I use Ae for anything other than CC - Titles, layering, motion graphics, absolutely anything other than straight scaling. I dropped into Pr's mask tool hoping it had been updated. Found it was as broken as the last time I used it in 2019 and left it where it was. Completed the task with Ae and happier for it. Appreciate the follow up.

[Jeff Bellune]

No problem. I spend a

lot of time in Ae, too. 

Audition for audio. After Effects for FX, Premiere Pro for assembly and export. 

As my father-in-law says, a job goes better when you use the proper tool. 

[Evan5FE1]

Hunter_PackHealth I 100% agree with you.  Premeire Pro's masks are an ABSLOLUTE sloggy nightmare to use.  They are so broken in fact, that if you try do do basic "shift+drag" techniques to get your mask to scale evenly on an axis, they will DELIBERATELY JUMP up and down and all over the @#%* place, but NEVER in a straight line in either direction! 

... And yet, we seem to always have a never-ending rollout of "adobe experts" who pop into these community posts and  constnantly try to blame the customer by claiming it's "operator error" or something like that.  Adobe, you're infuriating.  Fix your software.

[R Neil Haugen]

Masking in most any of these apps is ... "unique" ... to be polite. I use both Premiere and Resolve. Well, and Ae also. Different processes in each.

And different but similar frustration on all three app's forums.

And that's very frustrating.

Jeff and I, and most other users helping here, are simply being practical. We don't blame the user, just try to help people get the job out the door now, as the apps work.

That isn't defending "Adobe". It just practical help. As SO many things in these apps have rather obscure details.

In Premiere's masking processes, if you have done anything, then changed the anchor point, all Hades happens with any further changes to the mask.

And you may not even be aware you touched the anchor point!

At that point, the only fix is to delete the mask (or shape ... ) and start over. Which drives me nuts, but whatever.

I've complained to the devs about this at NAB. They mostly seem to understand the frustration, but then embark on a detailed explanation of why this allows more control.

But I still tell people to avoid moving or touching anchor points unless you must. And if you do, the order of mask points or shape size/location and touch anchor point matters.

That's only one "detail" that trips up a few thousand users a day ...

[Evan5FE1]

Hey Neil,

  I was referring more to Byron Cortez's response to Ann Bens' post.  I should have remained professional, regardless, so I apologize for that portion of my rant.  
  As far as the masking issue goes, I am failing to see how adjusting the anchor point causes this issue, as the issue I am referring to is birthed just from creating a mask.  What I mean is, as soon as I start creating a mask... like, just a square or rectangle mask with 90 degree angles... when I grab any two points (say the two right-sided points) to scale the mask left or right on the x-axis, the points absolutely will NOT scale uniformly.  The movement of the points immediately skews and both edges are no longer moving along a straight axis.  Sometimes I get lucky and the "shift+left mouse button" drag technique works (rarely) but most of the time, it's just a sloppy, clunky process.  

[R Neil Haugen]

Totally understand. And yea, the arcanities of how/why this masking in Premiere works as it does ... ain't fun.

It's like the differences in the Cut, Edit, Color, and Fusion pages in Resolve. Each has minor to major differences in application of masking and I don't do enough to get a practical basis for simply getting it done.

I know Premiere's better, but ... it still does things I don't understand also.

Ann actually has a better, near encyclopedic knowledge of how these things work. She tends to give very short answers though. So at times, we all need a few more details.

But she's saved my bacon I don't know how many times.

Neil

[RobShultz]

You're saying that the render would be too long makes me wonder if you're familiar with dynamic link. You could right click on the clip in Premiere, select replace with After Effects Composition, save the AE project and do your masking. When you save in AE it should update in Premiere. 

[R Neil Haugen]

All these apps have their own unique process for masking ... even changing the names, like Resolve's "power windows" ... yea, whatever It's a MASK.

And in each app, you have to figure out how they set that tool to work. For some people, one app is 'intuitive' while another is totally opaque. For a different user, it's reversed.

Everyone's mileage always varies.

And as I work in both Pr & Resolve daily, and do some stuff in Ae & Au ... yea, it's a pain to remember the different ways things are done. But each has their usefulness. They're tools, that's all.

Neil