Have you ever looked in the Adobe After Effects Effects menu and wondered what some effects are used for?
This time: Alpha Levels

Here are two presets knocking out black OR white from a layer based on the luminance to set it as transparent/alpha.

Stylish and modern lower third. It features an ample area for secondary information where you can add not just text, but also images or video.

This plugin will use a "UV pass" (or ST map) rendered from your 3D package to directly re-texture your objects in After Effects.

YY_Ramp+ provides a clone of the ramp effect, with more parameters, like opacity and blend modes.

YY_MagicKey is a very powerful keying plugin, minus the complicated settings. It was designed specifically with the keying-out of premultiplied stock elements (explosions, blood, muzzle flares, etc) in mind, and never takes a long time to set up.

This a great project showing particles for a real world scenario. [A resurrected project from trapcode-people.net]

Ever wanted to fly around a "CC Sphered" Layer? Linking CC Sphere to a Light and Camera is the way to do it.

This video effect uses the Echo effect in After Effects to create lasting echo trails on an alpha channel to simulate a "painting" effect.

Have you ever looked in the Adobe After Effects Effects menu and wondered what some effects are used for?
This time: Auto Color, Auto Contrast and Auto Levels