Composite Brush
  • It would be great if it worked with Adobe Premiere Pro.
  • It would be great if it worked with Adobe Premiere Pro.
    It's an eventual possibility. The plan for the immediate future is to respond to user feedback for After Effects, but if enough users request it for Premiere we'll strongly consider it.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
  • Looks cool. So this basically replaces Keylight etc. Is there a way to move the edge of the key and feather it?
  • Looks cool. So this basically replaces Keylight etc. Is there a way to move the edge of the key and feather it?
    Yes, there is a minimax and blur built into the plugin. That being said, right now those controls are locked to integers. So you can blur 1 pixel, 2 pixels, 3 pixels, but not 1.5, 1.6, etc... We hope to implement that soon depending on the complexity. As a workaround, you could use the "Stencil Alpha" mode, which returns an alpha channel to the layer, and use the After Effects built in blur and choke controls.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
  • Looks cool. So this basically replaces Keylight etc. Is there a way to move the edge of the key and feather it?
    Yes, there is a minimax and blur built into the plugin. That being said, right now those controls are locked to integers. So you can blur 1 pixel, 2 pixels, 3 pixels, but not 1.5, 1.6, etc... We hope to implement that soon depending on the complexity. As a workaround, you could use the "Stencil Alpha" mode, which returns an alpha channel to the layer, and use the After Effects built in blur and choke controls.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
    Cool! Hopefully you'll find a way to go beyond integers. Is there anything this tool is missing compared to Primatte key or any other keying software. Obviously they might have different options etc, but I mean is this all you basically need to do a key? Obviously you can utilize other tools with this, but I'm figuring out where this stands.
  • Looks cool. So this basically replaces Keylight etc. Is there a way to move the edge of the key and feather it?
    Yes, there is a minimax and blur built into the plugin. That being said, right now those controls are locked to integers. So you can blur 1 pixel, 2 pixels, 3 pixels, but not 1.5, 1.6, etc... We hope to implement that soon depending on the complexity. As a workaround, you could use the "Stencil Alpha" mode, which returns an alpha channel to the layer, and use the After Effects built in blur and choke controls.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
    Cool! Hopefully you'll find a way to go beyond integers. Is there anything this tool is missing compared to Primatte key or any other keying software. Obviously they might have different options etc, but I mean is this all you basically need to do a key? Obviously you can utilize other tools with this, but I'm figuring out where this stands.
    You can definitely pull a key with Composite Brush. So I'd say that Primatte and Keylight are biased towards removing green or blue, and to be fair they do a great job in a lot of cases. They can very quickly, in one click, sample a color and create a setup that's predicts which colors should be designated as transparent or opaque. Composite Brush has no biases, which means you may need to do a bit more brushing to let the software know which colors you're trying to target, but at the same time it may be more precise too because you can give it an essentially unlimited amount of brush color input to calculate a key/selection.
    Keylight and Primatte also have pretty good predictive spill suppression, guessing which color objects should be if they have a hint of background green or blue in them. Composite Brush is more about precisely selecting the exact colors you want to suppress, and exactly what color the suppression should be. Composite Brush behaves very differently from what currently exists. So I can't say Composite Brush is "better" than other keying packages, but it certainly may have advantages with precision.
  • I'm trying to key a green screen, so I pick the color that I want and the color that I don't want everything looks fine in HSV mode - the green screen is red and everything else is fine, but when I switch to stencil alpha the key eats almost everything and most of the things that wasn't red are also removed. Any idea why? I'm using Arri Alexa ProRes 444 (32-bit project with Rec709 gamma 2.4, linear workflow, arri footage is set to Universal Camera Film...)
  • I'm trying to key a green screen, so I pick the color that I want and the color that I don't want everything looks fine in HSV mode - the green screen is red and everything else is fine, but when I switch to stencil alpha the key eats almost everything and most of the things that wasn't red are also removed. Any idea why? I'm using Arri Alexa ProRes 444 (32-bit project with Rec709 gamma 2.4, linear workflow, arri footage is set to Universal Camera Film...)
    Would it be possible to send me a small sample of footage, (just a couple of frames) and a project file? If this is a bug we can likely fix it. It's much easier and faster if we give our developers a project file and sample which have the bug. You can upload through a help ticket here: 
    My guess is the problem is an After Effects Color Profile setting we're ignoring. Most of our footage was 8bit in testing, even if our projects were varying between 8-bit and 32-bit.

    Now without actually seeing the problem, it sounds like the Color Transfer modes ARE working. So maybe you could use a handful of effects to modify the color and get a key going for now until we fix the bug. 
    Use "Fill" first to make your image white. 
    "Composite Brush" next, get a key, then set the transfer mode to Normal. Make the Transfer mode Color Black.
    Use "Shift Channels" with "Take Alpha From Luminance" to get a matte from the black and white image.
    Then use "CC Composite" "Composite Original: Copy" to restore the colors.

    Sorry for the inconvenience, if possible let's please continue this discussion on a help ticket!

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
    effect workaround.png
    2154 x 1394 - 1M
  • Hi,

    I get the demo to do some test and it seem that the "matte type" medium and soft doesnt work.They select all the color even if I click one pixel, but the hard matte work fine. I've tested it on multiple footage; Prores, Jpeg sequence, and project setting 8, 16, 32 bit.

    Macosx: el captain 10.11.6
    AE: 15.1.2
  • phil less said:
    Hi,

    I get the demo to do some test and it seem that the "matte type" medium and soft doesnt work.They select all the color even if I click one pixel, but the hard matte work fine. I've tested it on multiple footage; Prores, Jpeg sequence, and project setting 8, 16, 32 bit.

    Macosx: el captain 10.11.6
    AE: 15.1.2
    Actually, this is expected behavior, although I can see how it's confusing. So when you click, that "assigns colors". And when you alt-click, it "unassigns" colors. The matte types "Medium" and "Soft" require to you both "assign" and "unassign" colors to generate an intermediate selection between the two. If you have just one, it only has a single data set to reach from, and it designates everything as is in that one data set. So please alt click over other colors in the image you don't want to select, and it should work just fine.
    In retrospect, I can see how this behavior isn't intuitive, and perhaps we can amend it so the selection is restricted to start. Please let me know if this makes sense and works as expected now.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager

  • Hi Chris,

    Yes it work as expected!

    Thanks

  • Is there anyway to "animate" or set key frames on selections so you can adjust the color selections over time? I've got an interesting Green screen that changes over time with lighting and camera position.
  • Is there anyway to "animate" or set key frames on selections so you can adjust the color selections over time? I've got an interesting Green screen that changes over time with lighting and camera position.
    There is not currently. The easiest way to go about that may be to have two separate layers of your footage. Use a fill to make them both black, then place composite brush after with a "normal" transfer mode, and a white color. Each separate layer will now be a black and white image. Then you can fade one into the other, and use the resulting comp as a luminance matte.

    Your request is something we'll consider, although it sounds like no small task.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
    Paint & Stick Product Manager
  • I am trying to change the color of a model's sweater that is orange. When I make the selections I either get an orange line around the sweater that isn't selected or the selection chooses the flesh color and fills that too. Any suggestion on how to get this to work?
    Thanks Rich
  • I am trying to change the color of a model's sweater that is orange. When I make the selections I either get an orange line around the sweater that isn't selected or the selection chooses the flesh color and fills that too. Any suggestion on how to get this to work?
    Thanks Rich
    Try setting the precision to 100, I believe it defaults to 96. Then alt-click specifically on that line you don't want to select. Also, double check with "Stencil Alpha" that the selection is as it appears, because the HSV transfer mode doesn't have much of an effect on de-saturated colors.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • I am trying to change the color of a model's sweater that is orange. When I make the selections I either get an orange line around the sweater that isn't selected or the selection chooses the flesh color and fills that too. Any suggestion on how to get this to work?
    Thanks Rich
    Also, feel free to open a support ticket if you want to submit the shot and I can take a look at it. I'm interested in seeing any shots which cause problems, they help us figure out how to adapt the Plug-in for more situations.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • I sent a shot on a support ticket.

    Thanks,
  • Hello! I am looking forward to purchasing it, it looks amazing! What should we expect from future updates?
  • We have a few new features that are already done and ready to go, just not released yet:

    1) New transfer mode called "Previous Effects". It'll be easier to explain with video, but it lets you use Composite Brush as a matte for any other Color Correction effect in After Effects on the same layer. The way it works is the effect (So maybe Lumetri) goes before it, and color corrects the whole layer. Then Composite Brush makes a selection, and composites the original image over the unselected part, the end result being that you're matting in all previous Color effects.

    2) A new transfer mode called "Replace Alpha". This transfer mode simply replaces the alpha value. This is so if the lighting changes in a shot, you can blend the effect on at the correct time, replacing and using a new alpha channel. This will let you adjust your keys over time. (Using two instances of the effect isn't the "best" way to do it, but it's a quick and easy fix since users have requested it.) You can also use different keys in different parts of the shot using the built in compositing options.

    3) We've been experimenting with a simple Matte Choker. It won't work exactly the same as the effect in After Effects, but very similarly. I'll give it about a 90% chance we're successful at creating this feature. I don't want to make any promises on anything we haven't actually completed.

    We have a lot of other ideas too, but since a lot of them are in experimental phases I don't want to get people excited for things that may change as we do tests. 
    The previous 3 features were all based on requests from users and help tickets, so please be vocal if there are features you'd like to see!

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Hi there! Sometime, i'm trying to brush a frame, but when i touch a frame i just move the frame, not select any color. Why it could happen?
  • Hi there! Sometime, i'm trying to brush a frame, but when i touch a frame i just move the frame, not select any color. Why it could happen?
    Your UI controls have been turned off in After Effects, please take a look at this video:


    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • looks like it's not that good with keying hair? Or is it me?

    Can you make a tutorial about it?
  • looks like it's not that good with keying hair? Or is it me?

    Can you make a tutorial about it?
    Yes. If you have a specific piece of footage you'd like to send in, please do via a help ticket and I can take a look at it. Otherwise the best advice I can give you off the top of my head is to use Soft or Medium mode for the key, and try to do one click on the main hair color, and another on the background color.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Hi,

    Maybe an idea for futur improvement.

    I was wondering if it possible to add a "search region"(pixel range?) when you refine your selection.For exemple; when I try to refine my selection if the color that I im selecting is anywheresle in my shot, it get selected too.So if it possible to constraint the search to a defined number of pixel around the click/stroke position, it will be mindblowing! I know I can mask it etc...but you know...

    Thks
  • phil less said:
    Hi,

    Maybe an idea for futur improvement.

    I was wondering if it possible to add a "search region"(pixel range?) when you refine your selection.For exemple; when I try to refine my selection if the color that I im selecting is anywheresle in my shot, it get selected too.So if it possible to constraint the search to a defined number of pixel around the click/stroke position, it will be mindblowing! I know I can mask it etc...but you know...

    Thks
    Yeah, I've had similar feelings. We have a few simpler features on the way but we are strongly considering something like this. In terms of difficulty scope, I'd imagine that one feature would be harder than building all the currently existing features of the Plug-in combined. At least to do it really well so you can paint without thinking about it. You've certainly been heard, I can't say if we'll be able to deliver, but I totally understand your feedback.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Hi Chris,

    Thk for the reply. I know nothing about coding plugin but I understand that this is no easy task...

    Great plugin by the way!

    Cheers


  • it looking good for me, try DL the DEMO to try, less flick than KeyLight and more east to control. THANKS Chris Vranos, I will purchase it.
  • Really awesome plugin, I'm loving it so far and getting some pretty great results. I've noticed that there maybe a compatibility issue with other filters. If I put a refine hard matte effect after composite brush I start to loose my render view, like it will freeze up and no longer show me anything. i can still press buttons and do things but nothing shows up. (I just updated to cc2019 so that might be a problem with AE but it seems to only happen when I'm using composite brush and add the other filter)
  • Really awesome plugin, I'm loving it so far and getting some pretty great results. I've noticed that there maybe a compatibility issue with other filters. If I put a refine hard matte effect after composite brush I start to loose my render view, like it will freeze up and no longer show me anything. i can still press buttons and do things but nothing shows up. (I just updated to cc2019 so that might be a problem with AE but it seems to only happen when I'm using composite brush and add the other filter)
    As far as I understand, Composite Brush wouldn't "know" what effects came after it. It spits out a final image, and it's behavior doesn't change based on what's next in line. That being said, I'm not gonna say with 100% certainty Composite Brush has nothing to do with it, because I've seen some pretty crazy things before. If you'd like to, please send in a support ticket and preferably attach a collected project file, and I can try to reproduce it on my end. Maybe somehow Composite Brush creates some sort of invalid data, and it's only apparent when the Refine Hard Matte takes it in, but off the top of my head I can't even think of how to break After Effects that way even if I wanted to. I'd be glad to investigate further.

    https://aescripts.com/contact/?product_id=1331

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • looks like it's not that good with keying hair? Or is it me?

    Can you make a tutorial about it?
    You weren't the only one to mention either hair, glass, fire, smoke, shadows, etc... But you were the only one to mention it in these comments. Check out Composite Brush v1.3, and the tutorials, one of which is on hair selection. This new and improved Matte Type should solve your issues.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Thanks for this nightmare-keying-situation game changer Chris! 

    Where can I find the tutorial on comping phone screens that you mention at the end of the v1.3 tutorial?

    Cheers,
    K.
  • Thanks for this nightmare-keying-situation game changer Chris! 

    Where can I find the tutorial on comping phone screens that you mention at the end of the v1.3 tutorial?

    Cheers,
    K.
    Glad you like it!

    I had the tutorial up for a short time, but a few friends pointed out it wasn't entirely clear how to do everything. I'm redoing it and will re-post ASAP. Sorry for the delay, but it'll be on the main page, and I'll comment back here too.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Thanks for this nightmare-keying-situation game changer Chris! 

    Where can I find the tutorial on comping phone screens that you mention at the end of the v1.3 tutorial?

    Cheers,
    K.

    It's up now!

  • Hey Chris,
    does composite brush work good best in 8bit with no linear color space? Because I've noticed that remove colormatting can produce some unwanted color fringe in some extreme motion blured areas (it turned skin into some kind of purple) when the project is set to 16bit and linear which is the setting I usually use.

    Best regards
  • Hey Chris,
    does composite brush work good best in 8bit with no linear color space? Because I've noticed that remove colormatting can produce some unwanted color fringe in some extreme motion blured areas (it turned skin into some kind of purple) when the project is set to 16bit and linear which is the setting I usually use.

    Best regards
    Hey Pascal, my best guess Remove Color Matting is built to expect a different gamma curve on the alpha channel than is created in a combination of Composite Brush, and those color settings. I'll ping you directly on our former thread.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Hi Chris,

    First off, great job on creating this tool!  I've only used it for one day but I can already see how powerful and useful a tool it is and anticipate it being one of my go-to effects.  That said,  I'd like to use it in conjunction with other effects and masks.  As of now, I'm only able to do one or the other.  If I use Composite Brush on a masked layer everything works as expected, but as soon a I add any additional effects to the layer, the mask is ignored.  I'm confident that I could precompose the layer as a workaround, but is this a bug or just the way Composite Brush functions?
  • Hi Chris,

    First off, great job on creating this tool!  I've only used it for one day but I can already see how powerful and useful a tool it is and anticipate it being one of my go-to effects.  That said,  I'd like to use it in conjunction with other effects and masks.  As of now, I'm only able to do one or the other.  If I use Composite Brush on a masked layer everything works as expected, but as soon a I add any additional effects to the layer, the mask is ignored.  I'm confident that I could precompose the layer as a workaround, but is this a bug or just the way Composite Brush functions?
    I have no idea what could be happening, I've used it with other effects, and masks many times, and never found any issues. Is it an effect mask? There's a bug in Ae 2019 (maybe other versions too) where the effect masks won't update until you purge the memory. But of course your issue could be something else entirely. Could you by any chance send in a screen recording, or a project file, and system information? You can attach files to a help ticket
  • Hi Chris,

    First off, great job on creating this tool!  I've only used it for one day but I can already see how powerful and useful a tool it is and anticipate it being one of my go-to effects.  That said,  I'd like to use it in conjunction with other effects and masks.  As of now, I'm only able to do one or the other.  If I use Composite Brush on a masked layer everything works as expected, but as soon a I add any additional effects to the layer, the mask is ignored.  I'm confident that I could precompose the layer as a workaround, but is this a bug or just the way Composite Brush functions?
    I have no idea what could be happening, I've used it with other effects, and masks many times, and never found any issues. Is it an effect mask? There's a bug in Ae 2019 (maybe other versions too) where the effect masks won't update until you purge the memory. But of course your issue could be something else entirely. Could you by any chance send in a screen recording, or a project file, and system information? You can attach files to a help ticket
    You're absolutely right.  Its an AE bug.  I tried Primatte and got the same issue, but unfortunately purging the memory doesn't fix the problem.  Thanks for you quick response Chris
  • Hi Chris,

    First off, great job on creating this tool!  I've only used it for one day but I can already see how powerful and useful a tool it is and anticipate it being one of my go-to effects.  That said,  I'd like to use it in conjunction with other effects and masks.  As of now, I'm only able to do one or the other.  If I use Composite Brush on a masked layer everything works as expected, but as soon a I add any additional effects to the layer, the mask is ignored.  I'm confident that I could precompose the layer as a workaround, but is this a bug or just the way Composite Brush functions?
    I have no idea what could be happening, I've used it with other effects, and masks many times, and never found any issues. Is it an effect mask? There's a bug in Ae 2019 (maybe other versions too) where the effect masks won't update until you purge the memory. But of course your issue could be something else entirely. Could you by any chance send in a screen recording, or a project file, and system information? You can attach files to a help ticket
    You're absolutely right.  Its an AE bug.  I tried Primatte and got the same issue, but unfortunately purging the memory doesn't fix the problem.  Thanks for you quick response Chris
    Hopefully they'll have a fix soon, it's pretty hard to work around it. I actually just checked my Creative Cloud and my After Effects isn't even up to date, so for all I know they've already patched it. Might be worth updating Ae just in case!

    Cheers,
    Chris
  • Hi Chris,

    First off, great job on creating this tool!  I've only used it for one day but I can already see how powerful and useful a tool it is and anticipate it being one of my go-to effects.  That said,  I'd like to use it in conjunction with other effects and masks.  As of now, I'm only able to do one or the other.  If I use Composite Brush on a masked layer everything works as expected, but as soon a I add any additional effects to the layer, the mask is ignored.  I'm confident that I could precompose the layer as a workaround, but is this a bug or just the way Composite Brush functions?
    I have no idea what could be happening, I've used it with other effects, and masks many times, and never found any issues. Is it an effect mask? There's a bug in Ae 2019 (maybe other versions too) where the effect masks won't update until you purge the memory. But of course your issue could be something else entirely. Could you by any chance send in a screen recording, or a project file, and system information? You can attach files to a help ticket
    You're absolutely right.  Its an AE bug.  I tried Primatte and got the same issue, but unfortunately purging the memory doesn't fix the problem.  Thanks for you quick response Chris
    Hopefully they'll have a fix soon, it's pretty hard to work around it. I actually just checked my Creative Cloud and my After Effects isn't even up to date, so for all I know they've already patched it. Might be worth updating Ae just in case!

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Yes I'm updating now!  Another strange behavior I've noticed with masks is that when I have Composite Brush on a masked layer, no matter what shape the mask is, AE treats the mask as if its rectangle.  When I mute Composite Brush the mask works as expected.  Currently I'm running the latest version of 2018 and am upgrading my cc2019 to the latest version to see if they've fixed it. 
  • Amazing plugin.. solved all my problems..

    But now I'm having some render problems. The results are perfect in the preview window but it the render the alpha channel is ignored
    Any help!?

    Deadline is looming
  • Amazing plugin.. solved all my problems..

    But now I'm having some render problems. The results are perfect in the preview window but it the render the alpha channel is ignored
    Any help!?

    Deadline is looming
    Please submit a help ticket: https://aescripts.com/contact/?product_id=1331

    Also, please include as many details as possible, including the format you're trying to render to. If you're trying to render with an alpha channel, let us know which application you're trying to import the rendered shot into.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Chris, this looks great. Do you have any plans to make an OFX version for DaVinci Resolve?
  • Chris, this looks great. Do you have any plans to make an OFX version for DaVinci Resolve?
    It's crossed my mind, but not in the short term. If all went to plan, I'd make it available for all the most popular video applications out there. Resolve, Nuke, Unreal, Premiere, etc... But we have a very small team, and need to perfect a few things inside After Effects before we're comfortable branching out. It's definitely a possibility, but sorry to say it won't be anytime soon.

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • What is the difference between render only and single user licenses?
  • What is the difference between render only and single user licenses?
    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; color: #535353; -webkit-text-stroke: #535353} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font-kerning: none; color: #f14907; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #f14907}

    Here's some info on the license types:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Single User License License is the normal user license. These licenses are not supported by the Floating Server License and are not intended to be moved.

    Floating Server License License is a floating license that can be used with our Floating License Server.

    Render Only License License is a license that can only be used for rendering on the command line, you must own at least one Single User or Floating license to use this license. This license is also supported by our Floating License Server.

    If you have any questions about these license options, please open a support ticket.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Cheers,
    Chris
    Composite Brush Creator
  • Hi, why using the composite brush preset uses Hair 1.3 not 1.4, and also any tips on blond hair on green screen? I tried following your tutorial with the dark hair but I'm not getting the same results :D
  • Hi, why using the composite brush preset uses Hair 1.3 not 1.4, and also any tips on blond hair on green screen? I tried following your tutorial with the dark hair but I'm not getting the same results :D
    Would it be possible to open a help ticket and send me a small sample of the clip? Even a still frame would do it. I'd be glad to try to find a good solve for you sometime tonight.
    Help ticket link:
    https://aescripts.com/contacts/index/index/direct/1/product_id/1331/
    Cheers,
    Chris
  • I just purchased but I can't seem to get the plugin to install correctly. I've tried doing it as recommended in the accompanying READ ME file and also with the aescripts installer. The files go to the correct locations and the UI window appears in AE, but when I hit the button to apply nothing appears in my Effects Control window. Is there a way I can download the previous version as a test? I see it was just updated. Running AE 2019 on Mojave. 
  • The latest Mac version 1.4.1 is downloading a Mac Alias file (CompositeBrush.plugin) instead of the actual file.