How To Remove Black Background From Stock Footage in After Effects

Want to know how to remove the black background for your stock footage elements? I show you a number of different ways - all easy - for how you can achieve that in Adobe After Effects.

You can either set the blend mode to 'Screen' or 'Add', but this will only work for fire or explosions. For smoke, blood or darker elements that technique will simply not work as it will make the element look very transparent.

Another technique is to use the Linear Color Key effect in After Effects to remove the black background. You can use the Matching Tolerance and Matching Softness properties to control how much of the background colour is removed.

Finally, if the stock footage element has been shot against a green or blue screen you can use the Keylight effect in Adobe After Effects to remove it cleanly.

WANT TO FOLLOW ALONG?

You can download the footage for this tutorial here:
bit.ly/1AtQI1O

FREE STOCK FOOTAGE:

detonationfilms.com/free_stuff.htm
- Click on the big 'Detonation Films' icon at the bottom of the page
- Click the 'I want this!' link
- Enter your email address and $0 for the price, the click on 'Get'
- Click the 'download' button to start download

There is a second page of free elements here:
detonationfilms.com/free_stuff_page_2.htm
- Do exactly the same as for page 1

footagecrate.com/
- Click on 'Royalty Free Video VFX'

EXPLOSION VFX TUTORIAL:

Click this link if you want to watch my explosion VFX tutorial:
youtube.com/watch?v=vOPT5TGcBWg

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