alon amit

Here's the scenario: I'd like to export a movie that ONLY has a "lens
flare" effect, say, with all the rest being fully transparent.

I create a new composition, new layer, solid black, render a lens
flare, animate it a bit. This gives a nice flare but I do have the
solid black object there which I don't want; I'd like to turn it into a
transparent color. On the other hand, if I don't create that solid
black - for instance, if I use a null object only - then I don't get
the lens flare at all. I suppose the effect needs something to "work
on"; fine, but I would like to be able to separate the effect from the
object it's applied to, and cannot figure out how.

One possible technique would be to color-pick all the black pixels and
make them transparent. This is far from ideal though, since the effect
itself may contain some "truly" black pixels which I DON'T want to
change. Anyway I'm also curios to know how to do that, I can do it in
Photoshop but I'd like to do it inside AE.

I tried playing with the blending modes but this didn't help.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

AA

2z

OK I may have a solution for you
After you animate your lens flare, hilight the effect and Ctrl-C it.
Then create an adjustment layer and Ctrl-V it.
Now your animated flare will be attached to the adjustment layer. An
adjustment layer being as such will show the animated lens flare over any
layer you place below it.
Now you have an animated flare that can be applied to anything below it as
well as have the ability to turn the adjustment layer on and off
I hope this helps

Mike

honion

Do the effect to an adjustment layer, not a solid black layer. Or
import the footage you want to put a lens flare on.

alon amit

2z, honion: thanks!

AA