Hi,

I am new here and totally new to video editing.

I saw a video on Youtube of how to create a video, the guy says it was easy but he was using 6.5 after effects and i am using CS3.

What i have done is got 2 videos of me playing cards, one of me sat on the right and one of me on the left. I have imported those into After effects, i then created a new composite with the two videos. What i would like to do now is mask the video so i can get the one of me playing cards on the left to show up on the video, so it looks like i am playing cards with myself.

But for some reason when i try to do this it wont work like it does in the youtube video.

Here is a link to the video so you can see what i am trying to do.

YouTube - YouTube Video Tutorial #5 - Clone yourself and Levitation!

Now when the guy does the mask you can see the video underneath, when i try this i dont see this.

(See attached pictures)

So its almost like i am working blind if you like, and when i try to render the movie i only end up with one side of me playing cards.

I am sorry i am new but can anyone give me an idea of what i am doing wrong, I am so frustrated

Attached Images

	Capture2.JPG (216.7 KB, 6 views)
	Capture1.JPG (201.4 KB, 5 views)

I did a similar effect in Premiere a few months ago but I used the crop tool instead rather than masks. I selected the crop tool from the effects folder, dragged and dropped it onto the top video layer and then pulled the handles back to reveal the bottom video layer.

__________________
Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

Well I did manage it but now when I export the movie to AVI it is too dark, more darker than the original i imported, Is there a way I can change the brightness?, there are some options on the right under effects and presets but i dont know how to activate them, and also when i select render it says i have to have a render item selected first *Head in hands* not sure what i am doing wrong here.

simple, you have the wrong footage selected when you drag your mask. masks are herarchical and show under or over footage... but say your on selection is lower level footage and you do a normal; mask it wont show the upper level... itll show zero.

So select the higher level of video... then do mask... by nigher level we mean the one that happens to exist on the list of footages higher up that list... the higher it is the nearer to the top - like a deck of cards.... lower down the list then lower down the deck.

So with higher one selected then select mask and draw one on, youll see through now.

Are you based in Swindon.

Windows moviemaker is so lame and the effects processing quality is very bad too. Its ok if you just want cut and shunt assemble editing. However outputting can be frustrating and crashy and if you can get your hands on ANYTHING other than Windows Movie Maker your life will be much better. Ulead or Pinnacle do cheap editing packages but Premiere 6.5 is a good way in... and Premiere Pro 1.5 as sweet as your going to get! Plus these packages dont downgrade the quality of your footage and the effects are designed to be "lossless" - or so much so that your eye cant tell that the effect is there.

If you can afford Premiere Pro your learning an indystry standard tool and can get work from that... so learning new skills wont be wasted. Plus Prem Pro is almost like a cutdown of After Effects and operates quite similarly to it... and you can take your premiere project into after effects for certaiun sections that need the full whiz bang.. but you may never need it.... Prem Pro is so good. Realtime effects where possible too... Slurp slurp. Youll never go back to anything else. It does require a little bit of reading opr watching tutorials to get into because its not a toy... its not 5 buttons and a GO symbol... theres loads you can do but as long as you are straight forward and approach it in the right way you could be editing the same day you get it.