Masking issue

[mathewl36022163]

My main priority is simply getting the video effect (asteroid) into the still picture (house). But Im having trouble getting the moving asteroid mask into the still house picture. Can someone help?

V1 shows the keyframe of the mask around the beginnings of the asteroid.

Here I snatched up everything that was original and could be in the still house photo (I.E. fire, debris, smoke, etc)

Here is my still photo. My goal is to take that asteroid and slowly come in and destroy the house. I know I have my work cut out for me in the subtleties, but Im already struggling to even get the asteroid into the picture!

[Katie Houghton]

You are showing a picture of Premiere. You want to composite this in After Effects. After Effects has better masking tools and keyframing controls. Are you trying to do this in Premiere?

[mathewl36022163]

I was attempting this in Premiere, yes. Do you think it's doable in after effects?

[Rick Gerard]

Compositing like this is all about layers, masking and color corrections. Getting the house to blow up only really works if you have something to put behind the house after it blows up. That's a layer. Your Astroid is another layer. The explosion is also a layer. Lighting effects, particles from the house shattering, shadows, reflections of the blast in other windows and highlights that you would see on trees and other buildings from the flash are also other layers.

AE is perfect for this but it's a lot more work than dropping a layer in the timeline and adding an effect. A very minimalist approach if you have video of an astroid coming into frame and exploding is 3 layers, the background behind the house on the bottom, the house with something like Shatter applied and the astroid with explosion footage. If your set up is this simple it will look cartoonish but the astroid will enter the frame and blow up and the house will disappear. if the shot was in one of the movies I work on there would probably be about 10 or 20 layers.

[mathewl36022163]

Great response, thank you.

[Katie Houghton]

Yes, I agree, do it After Effects. AE will provide the tools for compositing but you still need the knowledge to create it. Video Copilot has a lot of great tutorials for Explosions in After Effects.

Try: VIDEO COPILOT | After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professional...