PE: Transparency/Track Matte Key Effect Revisited

INTRODUCTION

Although its Quick workspace availability has changed in recent versions (11 to 2019), Track Matte key is one of transparency tools that has survived the evolution of Premiere Elements Windows from at least version 4 to the present 2019. For Adobe Help information on the transparency/superimposing  topic, for a start, refer to

Transparency and superimposing
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/superimposing-transparency.html
"Last Published Date" December 14, 2018

Effects reference
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/effects-reference.html#track_matte_key
"Last Published Date" October 17, 2017

In Premiere Elements 11 through 2019 Windows, the Track Matte key is found in the Expert workspace under fx Effects/Video/Keying, but is not available in the Quick workspace. In contrast, Track Matte Key is available in the Sceneline workspace (Quick workspace counterpart) as well as Timeline workspace (Expert workspace counterpart) in at least Premiere Elements Windows 4 through 10.

ISSUE

• A Guided workspace with an assortment of lessons was introduced in Premiere Elements 12/12.1 and continued in the versions that followed. 

• The Guided lesson for putting a video within a title was introduced in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 and continued in the versions that followed. This lesson requires the use of the Track Matte Key.

• This Guided lesson and/or its principles only work in the Expert workspace (versions 11 to 2019) since there is no Track Matte Key in fx effects in Quick workspace which does not have available to it all the fx effects that the Expert workspace has.

• Although Premiere Elements 10 and earlier do no have the Guided lessons feature, the principles for the Guided lesson on putting video in title do work in Premiere Elements 10 and earlier in both the Timeline workspace (Expert counterpart) and the Sceneline workspace (Quick counterpart) where both workspaces have an available Track Matte Key.
  

Using Premiere Elements 2018 Windows as an example, Premiere Elements 2018 Windows Guided lesson for putting a video within a title can be accessed by clicking on Expert, then Guided or Quick, then Guided. If Quick Guided is selected, this lesson opens in the Quick workspace, but gives the message "Switch to Expert mode" and "This Guided Edit only works in 'Expert' mode." Whether this lesson is done with or without the dialogs of Adobe Guided lesson , there is no Track Matte key available in the Quick workspace fx effects (versions 11 through 2019). So, if putting video into title in Premiere Elements 11 to 2019, it's Expert workspace with its tracks only. If putting video into title in Premiere Elements 10 and earlier, either the Sceneline workspace filmstrip and scene spaces (Quick counterpart) or the Timeline with its tracks based workspace (Expert counterpart) can be used since each of these workspaces has available Track Matte Key.

Irregardless of the task, my preferred Premiere Elements workspace has always been the Timeline workspace (in Premiere Elements 4 through 10) and its counterpart Expert workspace (in Premiere Elements 11 through 2019). But curiosity got the best of me, and, based on video editing principles involved,  I decided to explore putting video in title in the Sceneline workspace of Premiere Elements 10 Windows. The following details the exploration.

HOW TO

Figure 1 displays the Sceneline workspace in Premiere Elements 10 Windows that was used for task of putting video in title.

Figure 1. Premiere Elements 10 Windows Sceneline Workspace - Putting Video In Title.

The filmstrip in Figure 1 was exported as the wmv video which can be viewed below.

The How To for this task is detailed in the following steps.

STEP 1
Sceneline workspace was selected in Premiere Elements 10 Windows....
Under Project header, I selected Get Media/Files and Folders, navigated to and selected a saved video via Add Media dialog.  After video selection, I pressed Add Media dialog's Open button, and dragged the video from Project Media to the first scene space in the Filmstrip of the Sceneline workspace.

STEP 2
Title Menu/New Title/Default Still was used to create title with text Playtime using Cooper Black Regular font, font size about 482, and positioned text. When finished, I pressed Done in the Titler area.
Note: When the duration of the title generated was less than the duration of the video, I clicked/dragged  on the gray metallic looking clip at the end of the purple title bar until the duration of the title matched the duration of the aqua colored video bar. See Figure 1 and the red arrow pointing to that title bar's gray metallic like clip.

STEP 3
Next I selected the video. To do that, I right clicked a spot in the video in the monitor, selected  Select,  and, from the drop down menu, selected the name of the video being used. Then, I used Edit header, fx Effects, Video Effects, Keying, Track Matte Key, and dragged the Track Matte Key from fx Effects into the video in the monitor.

STEP 4
To set the Track Matte Key settings, I clicked on Edit Effects button at the bottom of the fx Effects area. In the opened Track Matte Key panel, I set Matte: Video 2,  Composite Using: Matte Alpha, Reverse with no check mark. 

COMMENTARY

The above has pointed specifically to putting video into title with a Track Matte Key workflow and the workspace limitations considerations involved. If the wanted task does not work, it is not always clear if the setback is due to the program design or the user. In such instances, the user is encouraged to explore and consider.

My short answer to the subject matter in this blog post would be to consider strongly working from the track based workspaces -- the Expert workspace (11 to 2019) or its counterpart Timeline workspace (10 and earlier) for the task explored above and others.

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