User Guide Cancel

Matte effects

Search
After Effects

After Effects

Open app
  1. After Effects User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. After Effects Beta Home
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with After Effects
    2. What's new in After Effects 
    3. Release Notes | After Effects
    4. After Effects system requirements
    5. Keyboard shortcuts in After Effects
    6. Supported File formats | After Effects
    7. Hardware recommendations
    8. After Effects for Apple silicon
    9. Planning and setup
  4. Workspaces
    1. General user interface items
    2. Get to know After Effects interface
    3. Workflows
    4. Workspaces, panels, and viewers
    5. Improved UI language support
  5. Projects and compositions
    1. Projects
    2. Composition basics
    3. Precomposing, nesting, and pre-rendering
    4. View detailed performance information with the Composition Profiler
    5. CINEMA 4D Composition Renderer
  6. Importing footage
    1. Preparing and importing still images
    2. Importing from After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro
    3. Importing and interpreting video and audio
    4. Preparing and importing 3D image files
    5. Importing and interpreting footage items
    6. Working with footage items
    7. Detect edit points using Scene Edit Detection
    8. XMP metadata
  7. Text and Graphics
    1. Text
      1. Formatting characters and the Character panel
      2. Text effects
      3. Creating and editing text layers
      4. Formatting paragraphs and the Paragraph panel
      5. Extruding text and shape layers
      6. Animating text
      7. Examples and resources for text animation
      8. Live Text Templates
    2. Motion Graphics
      1. Work with Motion Graphics templates in After Effects
      2. Use expressions to create drop-down lists in Motion Graphics templates
      3. Work with Essential Properties to create Motion Graphics templates
      4. Replace images and videos in Motion Graphics templates and Essential Properties
      5. Animate faster and easier using the Properties panel
  8. Drawing, Painting, and Paths
    1. Overview of shape layers, paths, and vector graphics
    2. Paint tools: Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser
    3. Taper shape strokes
    4. Shape attributes, paint operations, and path operations for shape layers
    5. Use Offset Paths shape effect to alter shapes
    6. Creating shapes
    7. Create masks
    8. Remove objects from your videos with the Content-Aware Fill panel
    9. Roto Brush and Refine Matte
    10. Create Nulls for Positional Properties and Paths
  9. Layers, Markers, and Camera
    1. Selecting and arranging layers
    2. Blending modes and layer styles
    3. 3D layers
    4. Layer properties
    5. Creating layers
    6. Managing layers
    7. Layer markers and composition markers
    8. Cameras, lights, and points of interest
  10. Animation, Keyframes, Motion Tracking, and Keying
    1. Animation
      1. Animation basics
      2. Animating with Puppet tools
      3. Managing and animating shape paths and masks
      4. Animating Sketch and Capture shapes using After Effects
      5. Assorted animation tools
      6. Work with Data-driven animation
    2. Keyframe
      1. Keyframe interpolation
      2. Setting, selecting, and deleting keyframes
      3. Editing, moving, and copying keyframes
    3. Motion tracking
      1. Tracking and stabilizing motion
      2. Face Tracking
      3. Mask Tracking
      4. Mask Reference
      5. Speed
      6. Time-stretching and time-remapping
      7. Timecode and time display units
    4. Keying
      1. Keying
      2. Keying effects
  11. Transparency and Compositing
    1. Compositing and transparency overview and resources
    2. Alpha channels and masks
    3. Track Mattes and Traveling Mattes
  12. Adjusting color
    1. Color basics
    2. Color management
    3. Color Correction effects
    4. OpenColorIO and ACES color management
    5. Enhanced HDR support
    6. HDR import and export 
  13. Effects and Animation Presets
    1. Effects and animation presets overview
    2. Effect list
    3. Effect Manager
    4. Simulation effects
    5. Stylize effects
    6. Audio effects
    7. Distort effects
    8. Perspective effects
    9. Channel effects
    10. Generate effects
    11. Time effects
    12. Transition effects
    13. The Rolling Shutter Repair effect
    14. Blur and Sharpen effects
    15. 3D Channel effects
    16. Utility effects
    17. Matte effects
    18. Noise and Grain effects
    19. Detail-preserving Upscale effect
    20. Obsolete effects
    21. Cycore plugins
  14. Expressions and Automation
    1. Expressions
      1. Expression basics
      2. Understanding the expression language
      3. Using expression controls
      4. Syntax differences between the JavaScript and Legacy ExtendScript expression engines
      5. Editing expressions
      6. Expression errors
      7. Using the Expressions editor
      8. Use expressions to edit and access text properties
      9. Expression language reference
      10. Expression examples
    2. Automation
      1. Automation
      2. Scripts
  15. Immersive video, VR, and 3D
    1. Construct VR environments in After Effects
    2. Apply immersive video effects
    3. Compositing tools for VR/360 videos
    4. Advanced 3D Renderer
    5. Import and add 3D models to your composition
    6. Import 3D models from Creative Cloud Libraries
    7. Image-Based Lighting
    8. Animated Environment Lights
    9. Enable lights to cast shadows
    10. Extract and animate lights and cameras from 3D models
    11. Tracking 3D camera movement
    12. Cast and accept shadows
    13. Embedded 3D model animations
    14. Shadow Catcher
    15. 3D depth data extraction
    16. Modify materials properties of a 3D layer
    17. Work in 3D Design Space
    18. 3D Transform Gizmos
    19. Do more with 3D animation
    20. Preview changes to 3D designs real time with the Mercury 3D engine
    21. Add responsive design to your graphics 
  16. Views and Previews
    1. Previewing
    2. Video preview with Mercury Transmit
    3. Modifying and using views
  17. Rendering and Exporting
    1. Basics of rendering and exporting
    2. H.264 Encoding in After Effects
    3. Export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project
    4. Converting movies
    5. Multi-frame rendering
    6. Automated rendering and network rendering
    7. Rendering and exporting still images and still-image sequences
    8. Using the GoPro CineForm codec in After Effects
  18. Working with other applications
    1. Dynamic Link and After Effects
    2. Working with After Effects and other applications
      1. Export After Effects project as Premiere Pro project
    3. Sync Settings in After Effects
    4. Creative Cloud Libraries in After Effects
    5. Plug-ins
    6. Cinema 4D and Cineware
  19. Collaboration: Frame.io, and Team Projects
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro and After Effects
    2. Frame.io
      1. Install and activate Frame.io
      2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
      3. Frequently asked questions
    3. Team Projects
      1. Get Started with Team Projects
      2. Create a Team Project
      3. Collaborate with Team Projects
  20. Memory, storage, performance
    1. Memory and storage
    2. How After Effects handles low memory issues while previewing    
    3. Improve performance
    4. Preferences
    5. GPU and GPU driver requirements for After Effects
  21. Knowledge Base
    1. Known issues
    2. Fixed issues
    3. Frequently asked questions
    4. After Effects and macOS Ventura
    5. How After Effects handles low memory issues while previewing
Note:

Matte Choker effect

The Matte Choker effect repeats a sequence of choking and spreading the matte to fill undesired holes (transparent areas) in opaque regions. The repetition is necessary because the entire matte must be choked and spread; the spreading fills the hole, but the edges of the matte must be choked back to preserve the matte shape.

The process of choking and spreading occurs in two stages, each with its own set of identical controls. Typically, stage two does the opposite of stage one. After a specified number of back-and-forth adjustments (which Matte Choker handles automatically), the hole is filled.

This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.

Matte Choker effect: Shows areas of unwanted transparency after using Color Key that are removed with Matte Choker
Original (upper-left) shows areas of unwanted transparency after using Color Key (lower-left) that are removed with Matte Choker (lower-right).

Note:

You can use the Matte Choker effect to only blur the alpha channel. To use this effect as an alpha-channel blur, set Gray Level Softness to 100%.

Close a hole in a matte

  1. Select the layer, and choose Effect > Matte > Matte Choker.
  2. Set stage-one controls (the first three properties) to spread the matte as far as possible without altering its shape, as follows:

    Geometric Softness

    Specifies (in pixels) the largest spread or choke.

    Choke

    Sets the amount of choke. Negative values spread the matte; positive values choke it.

    Gray Level Softness

    Specifies how soft to make the edges of the matte. At 0%, the matte edges contain only fully opaque and fully transparent values. At 100%, the matte edges have a full range of gray values but may appear blurred.

  3. Set stage-two controls (the next three properties) to choke the matte by the same amount as the amount by which you spread it in stage one.
  4. (Optional) Use the Iterations property to specify how many times After Effects repeats the spread-and-choke sequence. You may need to try a few different settings so that the sequence is repeated as many times as necessary to close any unwanted holes.

Refine Soft Matte

The Refine Soft Matte effect allows you to fine-tune mattes, especially when dealing with keyed footage (like green screen), where edge quality is crucial. It's commonly applied after keying effects like Keylight to enhance the edges of the matte and eliminate unwanted edge artifacts like color spill or noise.

Calculate Edge Details

Enable automatic detection of soft edges. This helps preserve motion blur or hair details in the matte.

Additional Edge Radius

Determine how far beyond the original edge the software analyzes. Higher values expand the area being refined, helping to capture finer edge motion or hair details.

View Edge Region

Enable it to show the area being analyzed and refined. 

Smooth

Soften the edges of the matte to reduce jaggedness.

Feather

Blur the edge of the matte, creating a more natural blend with the background.

Contrast

Increase the edge contrast, making the matte edge harder or more defined.

Shift Edge

Move the edge inward or outward. Positive values expand the matte, negative values contract it.

Chatter Reduction

Reduces noise in the matte edge over time. This is helpful when the matte flickers frame to frame.

More Motion Blur

Enable it to enhance motion blur around soft edges. It is useful for fast-moving subjects.

Decontaminate Edge Colors

Remove background color fringing from the edges of the matte. It is helpful in green or blue screen work where spills can affect hair or transparent areas.

Decontamination

Adjust the following settings to fine-tune the edge color decontamination:

  • Amount: Control how strongly the edge colors are replaced with nearby foreground colors.
  • Extend Where Smoothed: Extend the decontamination into smoothed areas.
  • Increase Radius: Expand the area for decontamination beyond the immediate edge, capturing more spill if needed.
  • View Map: Display the decontamination map visually, helping you see what’s being adjusted.

Simple Choker effect

The Simple Choker effect shrinks or expands the edges of a matte in small increments to create a cleaner matte. The Final Output view displays the image with the effect applied, and the Matte view provides a black-and-white view of the image with black areas indicating transparency and white areas indicating opacity. Choke Matte sets the amount of choke. Negative values spread the matte; positive values choke it.

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

Simple Choker effect: Contains unwanted edges after keying that are removed with Simple Choker
Original (upper-left) contains unwanted edges after keying (lower-left) that are removed with Simple Choker (lower-right).

More like this

Get help faster and easier

New user?

Quick links

View all your plans Manage your plans
View quick links
Hide quick links

Legal Notices    |    Online Privacy Policy