AfterEffects track matte Resolume Arena workflow questions!

[groovmuffn]

Hello all knowing forum. Just looking for possibly easier solutions to what I am trying to achieve here. Basically mapping a small scene on a physical piece. I have three pieces of the same scene I'd like to map separately. The building; the sky (above horizon line) and the floor (below horizon line).

I have all of these as separate entities in after effects and I could render out three different video files with alpha channel, then bring them in to arena.

But surely there is a way in arena to to take the video file (rendered out as one flattened file) and isolate these different parts if I have some sort of mask/path/matte that I can work from right? The functionality i guess I am talking about is track mattes. I would like to mask out the parts I need but not have black as the negative space, rather an alpha channel. Is this doable? I'm rendering lossless so I want to try and avoid the extended render times and render a single time.

Then I am going to play them simultaneously in resolume and record the output with black magic. That way I have a single mapped file that will play on the physical piece fully mapped.

If you have any tips or information on how I can do this in a more efficient way....I would be so thankful.

Cheers

[Zoltán]

I would render as three files,
in the time you spend on creating three masks for the flattened file, your computer will probably batch render the files, and you can do other things instead (having lunch or go to sleep

if you want to use a single file in resolume as 3 sources. you can make masks for each region as a png which you can drag on the clips(or layers). eg in photoshop using a single frame of the full source video.

- place your file 3 times in different layers in the same column,
- apply the masks.
- then in advanced output input selection create 3 slices, set the slice input sources to the layers,
and map the output of each slice.

with simple shapes in the video, you could try mask effects from the effect list to mask out unneeded sections.(keystone crop, keystone mask)

[Oaktown]

Hey Groovmuffn,

I am +1 with Ravensc as far as the rendering of the three files with alpa,but your post is a little confusing to me!

How many projectors are you using?
Are you projecting on 2D scenery or 3D objects?
Are the bushes and the tree on the right side part of the image? If they are part of your image, there is no easy way to mask these organic shapes and make it look good!
And what about recording the output with blackmagic as a single file? Are you trying to play this back without using Resolume afterwards?

[groovmuffn]

Hello everyone. Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it.
Ok, well I had been moving forward with the three renders so seems like I'm on the right track. My initial thought was because the files are so complicated and animation heavy, I wanted to render out a single file and just manipulate in resolume. But I already have pngs in the shape that I would need them in order to do the alternative method.

The setup: this is being projected with one elevated projector on a 3d object- basically a back wall at 90 degrees, a floor that is perpendicular to the wall and a more complicated, multi surfaced foreground object on that floor- this is the building. Basically, we recreate the scene in the image attachment above. The shrubs are just part of the background, not the floor, and do not need to be cut out. the horizon line is below the shrubs.

We are recording with black magic because yes, we can't use resolume in the final setup unfortunately. I am wondering now of it's possible or wise to import some sort of map or template from resolume (of the mapping) into after effects and I can render out of after effects. Probably too late now but just curious. Thanks a bunch for the help!