Creative Dojo shows how an Ae beta feature, selectable track mattes, will make working in Ae much easier.

One of the new features in the After Effects beta is the ability to use a track matte that exists anywhere in the layer timeline. Ever since Ae’s inception of track mattes, you could only choose the layer above to matte the layer below, which made layers in complex composition downright unruly with lots of duplications.

Check out this latest video from VinhSon Nguyen (Creative Dojo) that shows how much better the concept of traveling mattes in After Effects will become by creating mattes from anywhere in the stack.

“Now we have the flexibility and power to select one reference matte for all our layers without having to duplicate, re-arrange layer stacks, and clutter our timelines.”