i have just posted on here about spectramatte and it worked wonders, but now i am having a problem that i have experienced a lot in the past and it drives me crazy!!

Basically i have greenscreened a guy coming out of a photocopier, to finish it off i need to make him all black n white and copy like, However when i apply my colour effect to my top video it applies it to everything so i end up with a black and white photocopier too.

i can't see a way out of this one. If anyone can help that would be brilliant. Thanks

Are you stepping inside the Spectramatte effect and nesting the colour effect or boris halftone effect ( I think that effect gives a sort of b/w copier feel) ?

I know what you mean that sometimes the b/w can alter everything below it - damn annoying, but its usually sorted by re-ordering the nested effect.

not in front of my machine to experiment so may have got it all wrong!

But i agree the spectra keying is fantastic compared to the RGB or (terrible) chroma keyer !!

Best of luck.

Tom, here is a trick I often do:  On the layer above (your spectramatte),do an "add edit" of the exact duration of your spectramatte... at the beginning and at the end of the spectramatte.  You will end up with a filler with of the exact duration.  Add the B&W effect to the newly-created segment, remember it is exactly the same length as your spectramatte and is just above it.... Right ?  When you have this done, use the red segment tool to select both the spectramatte clip and the B&W effect above it... then (you'll need to find the "collapse layers" icon in the Composer Command Menu) collapse the two layers of video.  Et voila.  The timeline will display an upside down triangle indicating a "submaster" clip and you will have to "step into it" to see the indiviual clips for further adjustments.

Hope this helps

Michel

Thanks for that. i tried it, however i am still having the same problem. my spectramatte has to go on the top for obvious reasons, so when i apply my colourize effect, it effects everything underneith it. i don't suppose there is a way of locking Video Track1 so it can not be affected?

This seems like it should be really simple to do, but for the life of me i cant manage it. I looked within the spectramatte effect to see if there was a colour option, but there was nothing that stood out to me.

TomRB, try to copy/paste/move  your spectramatte (with its background) at the end of your timeline... where there's only filler.  Do you effects there, (no B&W fx) render as needed, then export a high-quality QT of your effect onto a drive somewhere.  Re-import the QT into Avid, insert into your timeline where needed, then apply the B&W fx as needed.  I know it's a pain to work like that, but it's all I can think of this early in the morning !

HTH

Michel

Hi,

TomRB:

i tried it, however i am still having the same problem

You tried which?  Stepping in like flashavid suggested, or adding it above and collapsing it down?  It's hard to know how to guide you when we don't know what method you're using.  Personally, I'd step in, but everyone has the way they like to work.

good luck,
Carl