In this quick Adobe After Effects Tutorial, you will learn how to remove the background of a video without the use of a greenscreen. This is done in After Effects by using the Rotobrush tool, a very powerful tool that Adobe has given to After Effects.

By using the rotobrush tool, you can remove the background of almost any video and composite your subject on a different background or video. This essentially removes the need for a greenscreen, but be warned, using the rotobrush is taxing on your computer when working with longer videos.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How can I remove the background of a video without a greenscreen

If you need to remove the background of a video, and keying it is not an option because the video wasn’t on a green screen. A great option you have is to use the Rotobrush tool in Adobe After Effects.

The rotobrush tool tracks the movement of a selected subject frame by frame and can remove everything else that is not your subject.

Where can I find the Rotobrush tool in After Effects?

The Rotobrush can be found near the top toolbar in Adobe After Effects. The hotkey of the rotobush tool is Option+W on Mac and Alt+W on Windows.

How do I make a selection with the Rotobrush?

Once you have the Rotobrush tool selected in After Effects, switch to the layer window instead of the composition window. In the layer window, draw a selection around your subject using the rotobrush tool. You want to ensure that only the subject you want to separate from the background is selected.

How do I remove parts of my Rotobrush Selection?

To remove instead of adding to your selection, hold Option on Mac or Alt on Windows. This will switch your rotobrush cursor from add mode to remove mode.

What does After Effects mean when it says “Rotobrush Propagating?”

This phrase appears when you’ve made a selection using the rotobrush tool to try and seperate your subject, but After Effects has to calculate where your subject is moving to. “Rotobrush Propagating” appears when you try to move backwards or forwards in the timeline. Adobe After Effects has to propagate or load each frame of the selection between your current and past timeline position.

Once the rotobrush has propagated, it won’t have to do it again. So it’s a matter of waiting for the calculation to finish.

How long does the Rotobrush take to work?

Selecting your subject initially usually only takes a matter of minutes. When After Effects tries to process the selection takes much, much longer. Depending on how long your video is, this could take hours. After Effects has to track your subject frame by frame, and that is taxing on computer resources.

This means a good strategy for using the rotobrush is to separate only what you need. Excess use of the rotobrush will slow down your computer and take much more time.

See this Blog by Upskillist for foundational After Effects knowledge