Question about masks (Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere)

[tazey.livejournal.com]

Hi,

I'm trying to come up with what I think of as a gradient mask. See an attempt here done in Photoshop. What I mostly want to get is a mask with an edge on one side or more that gradually dissolves from black to white (or vice-versa) following a precise and detailed form.

The gradient tool in Photoshop is good but only for preprogrammed shapes or, as I did in the example, by repeating the process on different layers and then multiplying them (3 layers in the example) but it's still not quite it unless I use many more layers and I don't know Photoshop well enough to know how else to proceed. I'm pretty sure there's a simpler way to get the gradient to mould itself to a particular shape.

After Effects can be a default solution by using the feather parameter on the mask but the gradient aspect isn't as good, it's more of a blur.

I haven't seen anything in Premiere's title tool that could do the trick.

Knowing that those are the programs at my disposal, if anyone has ideas and/or solutions, that'd be sweet of you to share. :)

Comments

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

You can feather a selection in Photoshop, try that.

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

When I need a precise shape and not just a linear or radial gradient, I use the pen tool rather than the gradient tool. I draw the precise shape (using a screencap layer as reference), fill it with white, place it on a black layer and then do a gaussian blur to whatever degree I need on that shape to create a dissolve. I don't know that what I'm describing will work for an edge-to-edge dissolve, but you might be able to combine a softened pen tool layer with a gradient layer to get what you need.

[tazey.livejournal.com]

Yes, however the feather will apply to the entire perimeter of the selection. I went around that in After Effects by feathering a mask that was purposely drawn out of the resolution area for the sides where I didn't want the feather to appear on screen.

[tazey.livejournal.com]

The Gaussian blur isn't making anything different, I must be doing something wrong. Do you apply it on the white or the black layer? (I did try both)

[chasarumba.livejournal.com]

I apply it to the white pen tool shape layer. Photoshop should give you a "must rasterize" warning when you try to apply the blur filter.