Help - Fading in a timeline with a masked clip

Hi. I've got a simple project of a talking head shot on a white BG. There are some bits along the edges of the camera shot that need to be masked out.

So, I dropped a white Custom Solid Generator on the Primary Storyline. Then I added the camera clips as Connected clips. Then I masked them (and colour corrected them). All was fine. Now I just need to add a simple 20 frame fade up/down from 2 second black slates at the top and tail of the piece.

I approached this as i would in FCP7 (or AE) - I dropped a black Custom Solid Generator as an attached clip on top of the white BG and the camera clip. Then I tried to add a dissolve to it to fade in from black.

But when I do that, the mask that I placed on the camera clip becomes visible midway through the dissolve. That seems wrong to me. I'm sure there are other ways to do this (and I'd be happy to hear suggestions).

Here is how the timeline looks:


Here is what the camera clip looks like when masked without the white BG underneath:


Here is what the shot looks like in the middle of that dissolve:

I just tried making a compound clip of the two layers (the white BG and the edited camera clips) and dissolving from a gap clip and that didn't work either - still can see that mask.

Ctrl + V the compound clip and use the Opacity handles to create the fades.

Jimmyfinn wrote: Ctrl + V the compound clip and use the Opacity handles to create the fades.

I just tried that - thanks for your input. It does not work. The mask is visible in the middle of the opacity ramp-up.

Are both the whites in the talking head and the generator of similar luminance values?

Jimmyfinn wrote: Are both the whites in the talking head and the generator of similar luminance values?

I've used an eyedropper tool across the entire clip and all of the samples I took of the white (both from the BG and the colour corrected camera clip) are at RBC 255/255/255.

Here is a grab of the final masked/ corrected shot:

Make the generator and camera clips into a compound clip and use the opacity fade handle to fade it in.

plysat wrote: Make the generator and camera clips into a compound clip and use the opacity fade handle to fade it in.

See my post 3 up from yours. I tried dropping the whole mess into a compound clip and ramping up the opacity. It didn't work.

smg669 wrote:

plysat wrote: Make the generator and camera clips into a compound clip and use the opacity fade handle to fade it in.

See my post 3 up from yours. I tried dropping the whole mess into a compound clip and ramping up the opacity. It didn't work.

Oops. :oops:

Not really and ideal solution, but often when i get things like this i usually render that complete clip out with the bg, then import it back in and replace the original clip. You shouldn't get any problems that way.

You are fading the compound clip in the project, and not the clips within the compound right ?

There should be ZERO opacity changes within the compound clip itself.

To make sure of this, reset all the opacity stuff on the clips themselves within the compound clip.

I've seen this before and it's always been a problem with effects applied on the clips.

Add a luma key to the talent clip instead of masking it.

matthewcarlin wrote: Not really and ideal solution, but often when i get things like this i usually render that complete clip out with the bg, then import it back in and replace the original clip. You shouldn't get any problems that way.

Yeah, I've thought of this. And I know that this will work. I'm avoiding doing it because it's just wrong. I shouldn't have to do that with a modern editing application. Because, in my opinion, what's happening here is a bug. Logically that mask should not be showing up.

Dave_EP wrote: You are fading the compound clip in the project, and not the clips within the compound right ?

There should be ZERO opacity changes within the compound clip itself.

To make sure of this, reset all the opacity stuff on the clips themselves within the compound clip.

I've seen this before and it's always been a problem with effects applied on the clips.

Yes, there are no opacity or dissolves happening inside the compound clip. The only thing that's in there is the mask and the colour correction.

anickt wrote: Add a luma key to the talent clip instead of masking it.

There's garbage along the edges of the camera shots - the white backdrop does not go edge to edge. So, even if I did a luma key I would still have to do a garbage matte.

I've recreated the scenario you are describing and can't get same result.
Opacity fades on a compound clip work as does the Fade out of a generator.
It sounds lame but it may be worth trashing the Preference files for X and see if that has any effect. Also what filter are you using to mask the talking head?

Could it have anything to do,with the colour values? Is 255 showing as 100 on the waveform monitor or is it appearing as superwhite? Just thinking maybe FCP X is clamping the level of the Generator when doing the transition as its a graphic.

Out of interest instead of using the generator try sampling a bit of the same shot with the crop tool then blow it up to fill the frame and try that.

Still not having luck. I was using the "Mask" effect from the "Keying" section of effects. I also tried it with the "crop" tool in the video inspector. Same results.

If anyone is interested in trying it out themselves, I have zipped up a sample clip in an event/project. Please feel free to download it and figure out where (if) I went wrong:

we.tl/seqs57sQ45

Thanks for any assistance.

S

I did this with a luma key over a white background and used crop for the garbage