Participant

Answered

Track Matte Key applied to video not equal to sequence settings

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
December 10, 2019
6 replies
7569 views

I have an unusual problem that I can't figure out. We're putting together a show where we need to edit vertical versions of a 16x9 timeline.

My timeline is 1080x1920 (Vertical video) - we want to have multiple "windows" in the 9x16 version.

I've made a track matte with alpha in Photoshop that I'd like to apply to a video layer, so that I can scale up and down the original video to fit the vertical frame (essentially creating a split screen)

However, no matter how many ways I try, the track matte changes shapes and the original video scales in unusual ways.

This works perfectly fine with the same assets in After Effects, but will not work in any version of Premiere with any video.

The reason this appears to happen is because the original video needs to be the same size as the sequence in order for the track matte to work (it works if we nest the sequence, but this defeats the purpose since we're already cropping and downscaling the source video)

Has anyone working with digital media encountered this problem? Its very specific but it's also counter intuitive to the way I think Track Matte's should work.

Tried in both Premiere Pro 2019/2020 and on different systems. It's a software problem, not a hardware one. (I've also turned off METAL and OPEN CL to do just Software rendering with the same issue.

Error or problem

Correct answer Lance31852078dpgc

JUST NEST THE VIDEO SOURCE. A bit inconvenient, but if it was easy, we'd call it Final Cut.

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williamb76094871

Participant

There is an amazing quick hack that removes the problem with seemingly 0 consequences. For some reason, adding a Turbulant Displace with an intensity of 0 right after the Track Matte removes the issue. It makes no sense, but it's that needed black magic we were looking for.

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1XnJmUfI_M&ab_channel=CreatorBrew-Experimenting%26Sharing

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RoyceJennings

Participating Frequently

Just in case anyone is here looking for the solution and skimmed over Steve Griffiths's answer, adding a Transform effect *before* the track matte key effect will allow you to chance scale independently - But if you want to change position, as I did (for like a pan-behind ability) you'll instead want to add an Offset effect before the track matte key effect, and change the Shift Center To property. (and if you want to change both scale and position you'll need both effects) No nesting required for these.

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videomc74

Inspiring

2025 here. Chiming in since ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI seem to be pulling their solutions by calling out this technique. This "Transform and Offset effects before the Track matte key" workflow still does not work for many people. It works when scaling up the matted footage but when scaling below 100%, it scales the track matte down for some reason. So if you're doing a podcast and want to lay your subjects in a split screen view, you're likely going to want to scale them down, which scales down the matte layer as well. Still unable to get a proper workflow that just works like After Effects, without having to nest the footage.

L

Lance31852078dpgcCorrect answer

Participant

JUST NEST THE VIDEO SOURCE. A bit inconvenient, but if it was easy, we'd call it Final Cut.

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vadimsharapov1

Participant

I don't know who you are and where you are, but I will find you and thank you 😂😂😂! You are the savior. I literally spent 2 hours trying to figure out why it was not working; I still don't know why it is not working, but nesting helped get expected result. At some point, I even thought of making that in FCPX. Thanks again 🙂

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Byron Cortez

Community Expert

And for you to avoid all these steps, how about doing it in After Effects? Because I was also replicating but it is clear that Premiere Pro works that way. If for some reason you need that clip in Premiere Pro then use Dynamic Link between Ae and Pr.

Byron.

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ShaDaudAuthor

Participant

We’re making quite a lot of these videos and need to be able to playback the results in real-time to clients.

DrTc

Inspiring

Still in 2022 same crazy behavior. Track mattes are supposed to act as clipping masks on a video track. But Pr still resizes the matte whenever a clip is resized...

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Steve Griffiths

Inspiring

As you have discovered the Premiere Pro Track Matte does not function the way you would expect based on how it works in AE.

Move the image in PP and the track matte moves with it. I'm sure there is a 'use case' for this behaviour but I am yet to find it 🙂

Nesting the video and adjusting framing and position in the nest works but is a pain as you can't see the results without jumping between the precomp and your sequence.

I've wanted to solve this for a long time.

Your post prompted me to find a solution.

First thought was to place a 'transform' effect above the track matte on the video layer. This allows you to scale the image but if you try changing the position parameters on the transform ... again the track matte follows the movement.

But now add the 'offset' effect, also above the track matte effect. This will give the ability to move the image within the track matte by using the 'shift centre to' controls.

If you happen to have any third party transform effects you may find these work better. I have Boris Continuum and 'BCC DVE' works within this scenario and it provides both position and scale of your video layer within a single effect.

S

ShaDaudAuthor

Participant

Interesting solution - the Offset pretty much gets me there, but I don't have scale control.

S

Steve Griffiths

Inspiring

I added 'offset' after adding 'transform'. Transform gives you scale and offset gives you position. You have to use both. Not elegant but it works.

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Byron Cortez

Community Expert

What I see is that you have a .png (alpha channel) file smaller than the sequence and its video, if you scale that .png the video is also scaled in an unusual way? Upload a video please to see what exactly is happening.

Byron.

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ShaDaudAuthor

Participant

I've uploaded an explanation of what I'm doing to Youtube to view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMrFnWTv9as&feature=youtu.be

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