



While this works great for explosions or fire elements, it does not really work for blood or dirt or debris. This will alter how the pixels of the layer are combined with the layers below and since both of these modes (in one form or another) incorporate the luminance (brightness) of the pixels to calculate the opacity, the black background will disappear entirely. If you are working with explosions or fire, a very simple way to remove the solid black background is to change the Blend Mode to ‘Screen’ or ‘Add’. Fortunately, removing the solid black background from your explosion or blood elements is really easy so let’s look at how you can do that! Remove Black Background using Blend ModesĮvery layer in your composition in Adobe After Effects has a Blend Mode that determines how this layer is composited onto the layers below it.īy default, the Blend Mode is set to ‘Normal’. However, since Action Essentials 2 is not free, you may simply prefer to use stock footage you can find on other sites online. Here is an explosion from Action Essentials imported into the same composition in Adobe After Effects: This means, that the solid black (or green or blue) background has already been removed and the video has a proper alpha channel that defines its transparency. Professional stock footage elements, such as the amazing Action Essentials 2 stock footage pack by Video Copilot, are usually pre-keyed. When you drag the clip into your composition in After Effects, it will probably look like this: Most stock footage you can download for free from the internet does not have a proper alpha channel set up. Downloaded some free explosion or blood stock footage from detonationfilms or footagecrate and don’t know how to get rid of the solid black background of the clip? This tutorial will show you how! What are Alpha Channels and Why Do I Care?
