I've searched this Forum but drawn a blank.

I'm greatly enjoying getting up to speed with Premier Pro (CS5.5 Production Premium) on my Mac Pro over the last few days.

One of the things I often find useful and VERY quick for masking work in Vegas 9E is the so called Cookie Cutter filter, often used with a bit of edge feathering, then re-positioning that small section over the original video as a mask. Likewise, I've often used Cropping in FCP6, again with some edge feathering to do this, again very quick to do. The Vegas filter is brilliant as you can quickly choose the shape of the section you are selecting (from a variety of options), set the edge feathering and you're all set to put it where you want it. Takes 5 seconds max.

I've found the Cropping filter in CS5.5 as well as the Feathered Edge filter. However, the latter only acts on one edge of the total frame, the top, not all 4 (unless I've missed a setting somewhere?). The Blur filter does not always give me what I want (unless there is a way to edge blur only - but this would still not be as good as all edges feathering).

I know I can take a screen grab, then in Photoshop do all this, then import that back into the Prod Prem timeline etc...... but that seems both slow and will be limiting for shots with motion. A multi-point Garbage Matte seems too complicated for what should be a simple fast task like this (or so it seems from my perspective, i.e. someone still learning the ins and outs of Premier Pro, After Effects etc!).

So, is there a very rapid, simple way to chop out a section of a frame (and edge feather it on all sides if needed) so that I can then re-position that chunk as an overlay over the original video for my masking work? I guess what I'm asking is there a Cookie Cutter equivalent in CS5.5?

Sorry for the Noob question! This is the first thing I've stumbled on after a truly painless (and otherwise very fast) transition to this excellent NLE! FCP6 seems so slow and clunky now!

Are you talking about just masking out a certain portion of one video and then placing it over another clip?

If I didn't misunderstand your question you should just be able to put a mask over the first video with the mask on subtract with edge feathering and all that jazz and just place it on top of the other clip in the timeline in the position that you need. It seems like a mask would be the easiest way to do this, you can make it any shape and feather it as much as you want.

Hope this helps!

If I totally missed your question I'm sorry.

-Lando

Thank you Landan. Just been playing around some more while you posted and the Circle filter (for example) enables me to do what I was wanting. Example screen shot of the effect and some setting options below - just in case anybody finds this thread in the future and is wondering about options to do this! Doh!, I knew there must be a REALLY simple and fast way!

Thanks again!

The circle effect will only give a circle mask. Wonder why its called the circle ;-)
But what if you want a different shape?
Place clip in track 1 and 2, superimposed.
Draw your shape in the Titler with e.g. the Pentool and make it pure white. Set it to Filled Bezier.
Drop this title superimposed over the top clip.
Add Fast/Gaussian Blur to it for feather. The Edge Feather only does the edges of a whole frame.
Add Track Matte effect to track 2 and set it to track 3.
Add desired effect to track 2.
Done

If you want an animated mask, AE is the best place, but one could add a Garbage Matte to a white color Matte.

Please fill out this feature request.
A option to feather we need desperately.
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Agreed that title editor is great for drawing shapes with feathered edges and using them as masks. If feathering isn't needed you can use the garbage matte effects. Finally, don't forget that Premiere and Photoshop are integrated very well so almost anything you can do to a picture can now be done to a video in Photoshop. GL

Thank you so much for the speedy and informative posts everyone. It's much appreciated. With this kind of help I'll be flying through edits with CS5.5 in no time - just like the "old days" with Final Cut Pro - only it's much better/even faster than I'd dared hope! Wish I'd made the switch 8 months ago now!