Fix the TRACK MATTE effect with a "Motion Settings Affect Matte" Checkbox!
The Track Matte effect in Premiere Pro almost never works the way we editors need it to, and it's high time this essential effect gets fixed!
When creating a Track Matte, changing the Motion parameters of the clip the effect is applied to also changes the resulting matte. For example, if I zoom my clip to 120%, the clip zooms 120% but so does the matte. This makes it impossible to move a clip within a matte's 'window' without nesting.
The current way to get around this is to nest the clip, apply the Track Matte effect to the nest rather than the clip itself, and then edit the clip's Motion settings/keyframes within the nest. Unfortunately this is a HORRIBLE workflow, since it forces editors to edit their clip's motion settings and keyframes out of context of the master sequence. It also involves the extra steps of nesting.
After Effects handles masking the way it should work: making any changes to a clip doesn't affect the resulting matted effect. This is the way it should also work in Premiere Pro!!!!!!!!!!
A simple way to fix this problem, that would serve the needs of everyone, would be to simply add a "Motion Settings Affect Matte" checkbox to the Track Matte effect, and leave it unchecked by default. This way, the 0.0001% of users who want track mattes to work the way they currently work in Premiere could continue with the current workflow, just by clicking the checkbox, and the 99.9999% of users who want PP's matting to work the way it does in AE could finally have AE's far superior matting workflow inside Premiere!
The AE team gets it. Why can't the PP team understand how track matting should work???
Adobe, Track Matte is one of those effects that pro editors use all of the time! We would really, truly, greatly appreciate it if you could finally make time in your busy schedule to fix this essential tool before resuming attention to other features that are used by far fewer people.
Thank you!!!!!
Pierre Louis Beranek
shared this idea
28 comments
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Robert Voogt
commented
Yes, I tried that first, but it didn't work for me. The mask stayed relative to the layer it was applied on.
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
If you look down the comments thread Robert, you'll see a couple of other workarounds I came up with that might help. The comment starts with the text "WORKAROUND TIPS!"
Adobe reps might barely ever participate on uservoice and for the most part simply ignore our requests, but that doesn't stop us users from helping each other with our workarounds in the comments section! ;)
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Robert Voogt
commented
Oh, didn't see that. But yeah it's far from a great solution. However, I simply first make sure everything is in their correct place and only then I nest it. It saves time for now.
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
I pointed out that work around in my original post Robert, but it's a horrible option since any Motion adjustments made to the nested clip are made out of context of all other visual elements in the main timeline. The bottom line is that Adobe should make their software FUNCTIONAL. The fact masking works properly in AE but still to this day never worked properly in Pr is clear evidence that the Pr team is composed of individuals who know don't understand the basics of video editing and/or they simply don't care about us users.
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Robert Voogt
commented
My best solution, nest the layer(s) you want the track matte to work on. (right mouse click, Nest)
A nested layer is of course back in the center again and therefor aligns with your mask layer. -
Lara Pretorius
commented
For goodness sake, please.
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Oscar Ancliffe
commented
Yeah, this needs to be fixed and ASAP. I can move the matte anywhere over the footage like a James Bond intro but moving the clip underneath moves everything. Completely mental.
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Mike Greenberg
commented
This needs to happen! The order of operations are inverted to every other app.
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Mike Abbott
commented
Please fix this...
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
@Leonardo, I ask myself the same question sometimes. I do know of at least 1 real editor that beta tests Pr... myself. ;) But I'm just 1 person, just like every other person who voted here. That's why it's so important to collectively participate with our comments and votes in an effort to be heard.
I created a Facebook group to help us get heard: https://www.facebook.com/groups/premiereprofeaturerequests.
There are workarounds as I posted in my previous comment, but ideally this issue should be fixed once and for all.
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Leonardo Feria
commented
Are real editors or designers beta-testing Adobe products?
I doing think so, otherwise this issue shouldn't have happened.
This is so basic! -
Daniel Phillips
commented
PLEASE. This infuriates me so much.
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
WORKAROUND TIPS!
Until Adobe fixes this, there are a couple of easy workarounds:
1. Add the Transform and Crop effects to your clip (in that order, otherwise it won't work). Crop your clip to the dimensions of the PIP/window you want. Now adjust your clip's Scale, Position and Rotation using the Transform effect. Bingo, it works! You can now change the motion properties of your clip without changing the size/position/rotation of the 'window' itself! To apply both effects at the same time in the future, select them both in the ECP with your preferred settings (or before changing any settings at all), right click on the name of one of them and select 'Save Preset...' (see illustration).
2. Even easier, just add the Transform effect to your clip. Now mask your clip using the Opacity effect's masking tools in the ECP. You can create a rectangle, circle or any other shape you want. Now change the motion properties of your clip using the Transform effect. It works as well!
Hope this info helps!
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Ryan Black
commented
This. Absolutely. I'm astounded at how many essential requests users make that Adobe just ignores. Obviously this would preclude some of us having to pay for After Effects, this is probably why they won't fix it.
However, Adobe...anyone doing work intensive enough to need AE will purchase it, the others will simply find workarounds. I have the full CC suite so I can use AE but c'mon, seriously, I'm sick of throwing my footage back and forth.
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
Does anyone know of a third-party plugin that provides proper track matting in Premiere Pro (i.e. the way AE does it, without resorting to AE or nesting)? Years later, Adobe still doesn't seem to care about fixing essential things like this that would make a world of difference to editors. :(
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ilhan palayret
commented
I spent hours nesting clips because of this
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
Here's an illustration to bring more attention to this issue:
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Pierre Louis Beranek
commented
It's a real shame this hasn't been fixed yet! Keep voting and commenting to get Adobe's attention on this matter!
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Spike Allibone
commented
well - I had no fun at all learning about this 'anomaly' - I'm doing the work around as you suggested Pierre, but it's not ideal and I'm certain that Adobe are about to fix this... since it's been two years since your post!
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Jacob Chinn
commented
This issue was posted two years ago and still no fix. It is an incredibly aggrivating problem that should be easy to fix. This is terrible. I thought the subscription licensing was supposed to allow Adobe to fix issues like this on a regular basis, guess not.
