Week 8

two techniques were learnt this week: pinning and colour correction.

pinning allows distortion of a layer. this is achieved by creating 'pins' or points on the layer and then moving these pins around, which distorts the areas of the layer that are 'pinned' down by that point.

to create a pinning demonstration i first added the walking footage from week 4 into a composition. i then added an elliptical mask by changing the shape button to ellipse and then double clicking the button (double clicking automatically adds a mask of that shape to the layer). i then feathered this mask to fade the edges of the video.

next i pressed ctrl + p, which selects the pin tool. now points can be added to the layer for pinning. i added points in an ellipse around the image. now if the select tool is used to move the points, the footage is distorted. i keyframed the positions of the pins to create a video.

in my first attempt i didnt keyframe the points and just distorted the footage once and then rendered the video.

the pin effect is a bit too strong, so i tried again, this time keyframing the distortion and also keeping the pins around the edge, so that mainly the walls were distorted.

colour correction effects include many different fixes and editing tools, including contrast, brightness, levels and colour change.

i used this flower picture to try out a few effects.

first i added the image to the composition and then drew a mask around the edge of the flower. this allowed me to draw attention to the flower by fading the rest of the image using feather.

i added a colour change effect to the layer, and set the tolerance to 17%. this means that only the blue flower should be affected, as i chose the blue using the colour picker. using colour change the brightness, saturation and hue of a colour can be changed. below i have changed the saturation and brightness up and down respectively.

i then added a curves effect to the layer. this affects the tone of an image, includng colour and brightness. below i have edited the curve to give a vibrant colour change.

in my final render i decided to leave out curves and just use the colour change, as this was easy to key frame, and therefore to animate. i added key frames for the saturation and lightness parameters.

i then used colour correction to edit a photograph. i used this image:

i chose this as it is a dull image without much saturation.

i started by adding an adjustment layer on top of the image, and then adding a hue/saturation effect to it. changing the saturation changes the intensity of the colours in the image, so i turned this up to 85.

i then used a curves effect to brighten up the whole image, but especially the sky. finally i added a levels effect to correct the contrast, by lowering the black arrow, which darkens the shadows, and then increasing the white arrow, which adds more brightness to the lights.

to change the sky to a blue colour i used a blue solid layer, which i then laid over the sky area roughly. i then added a mask and feathered the layer, and also turned the opacity down slightly. the final touch was to change the layer mode to multiply, so the layer beneath shows through.

here is the outcome:

Week 7

In this weeks lesson we played about with the particle effects within after effects.

to start i added a solid to the composition. i then added the particle playground effect, and set the shape of particles to faded sphere.

i used the velocity parameter to make the particles shoot upwards, and turned the gravity to zero. i then used Gaussian blur to create a smoky effect.

the last effect i added to the layer was a ripple. this creates waves in the layer, and when used on the particle cloud it created a wave effect in the smoke. i then key framed the gravity up and down to make the particles rise and fall.

the second technique we learnt was the pick whip. this can be used to parent layers and objects together.

we used the pick whip to create an expression for us, which would normally have needed some scripting. i used two null objects to control the animation of some text. firstly the text layer was created and then two null objects added.

i then rolled down the layers so i could see the transform options. alt clicking on the clock icon for a parameter creates and expression. i then used the pick whip to connect the text layers scale to one null objects position, by dragging from the pick whip icon in the text layer to the position in the null layer.

i then did the same for the rotation of the text, and connected it to the scale of the second null layer.

this image shows the expression panel open. the red text indicates an expression is being used. the box to the right is where expressions can be typed.

i then keyframed the null objects position and scale and created the animation.

Week 6

This week i practised another technique that i want to use in my 90 second video: drops of water on the camera lens.

i used the lighter footage from week 4 as a base, so first i imported this in. i then added the mr mercury effect to the footage.

to complete the effect another layer of the footage must be added underneath this layer. the black areas in the video above are transparent so the second layer is visible.

i changed the effects parameters around, including the point light, which i placed on the flame so that the light looks to be coming from the flame.

Week 5

This week i came up with an idea for my 90 second video. the video will be a music video. i will use my friends album as he has authorised this. my friends band is Thomas Rumbold and the Catwalkers : http://www.myspace.com/thomasrumbold

The album is called Grace Notes. I decided to use small clips of each song on the album, as the video has a limit of 90 seconds, which is too short for a whole song. so the video will therefore be aimed at promoting the music by showing small sections of each song.

I started learning some interesting techniques which i wanted to be able to use in the video. i havent got a solid idea of the video content yet, at the moment i am just playing with effects.

the first effect i learnt was how to display the timecode in the video. i thought this would give a nice effect if used sparingly. i used this tutorial to help me: http://www.3dfiggins.com/tuts/tc/timecode.html

i started by creating a text layer with text that moves along the screen using keyframes on the position variable.

The timecode setting is in the video effects menu effects>video>timecode, however i found in my version of after effects (cs5) that the path was effects>text>timecode. this effect is used on a solid layer, which is placed underneath the text layer. the tutorial says to invert the layer channel but there is no need to do this, its just for effect. with the timecode effect you can change the text colour, size and position, and also the format of timecode. i used the general HH:MM:SS:FF format.

another technique to have the timecode on top of the video layer without the solid blocking it out, is to use the blending options for the solid layer. i set the option to difference and this showed the text layer even though it was below the solid.

next i experimented with a few effects on the timecode layer.

first i used a blur channel effect, and then blurred the red channel (as the text is red). i varied the blur along the timeline using keyframes.

next i used a bulge effect, and dragged the radius of the bulge along the timecode as the time went on, setting keyframes at the beginning and end points. the bulge effect the travels along the timecode display.

the last effect i used was twirl. this spins the layer around a specified point. the radius of effect can be increased as well as the pivot point. i set the pivot point so that the text was off screen at first and then twirled round to the corner.

The second technique i practised was using the text tracking variable. tracking makes the text squash into the x axis, and if it goes past the x axis the text is flipped horizontally i.e it is back to front.

i used the control inside text>animate>tracking to add keyframes along a path which i created in the transform position variable. the text travels along the path and also changes tracking value to create a flipping effect.

to add extra effect i used a Gaussian blur filter effect on the layer. i then used the liquify effect to make the text continually warp into strange shapes along the path, and then back to readable text. the liquify tool works as a paintbrush, where the text is warped by dragging the brush over the text in the desired direction.

Week 4

This week we learnt how to create a sequence of jpegs, edit them and then import the sequence back to after effects as footage.

the motion tracking video was used as a start point. to export jpegs the render function is used. then custom is selected under the lossless heading and the time frame you want is chosen. the format must be set to jpeg. now when render is pressed the jpeg sequence is created.

all the jpegs were opened in photoshop for editing. i added a filter to create a cartoon look. to quickly add the filter to each image the Ctrl + F shortcut was used.

i then used an action to save each file as a jpeg quickly. to use an action in photoshop first it must be created. the action panel is next to the history panel. make a new action and then click record. everything that is done from that point will be recorded and added to the action queue. i selected flatten image, and then save as jpeg, and then the location. then press stop to complete the action.

to use the action for saving file>automate>batch is used. this can use the action on all open files.

when the files were saved they just needed to be imported back to after effects. file>import>multiple files and then select all the jpegs, and import as footage. now the sequence is combined to create a movie in after effects.

Week 3

In week 3 we looked at motion tracking. this is a technique used to superimpose an image ontop of some footage and then make the image follow the movement of a point in the footage.

we used video cameras to film a person walking towards the camera with their hand held out. we then used a green screen as a backdrop to film a lighter flame. the green screen was used to allow keying of the background (which removes the background colour).

the idea of the end product was to have the person in the footage carrying a flame in their hand.

the first step was to import the footage into after effects. file>import>multiple files.

the walking scene was added to a new composition and then a motion tracker set up. this is achieved by clicking track motion in the motiong tracking panel. a track point appears, which can be moved to the necessary position. the hand was chosen. the point should have a contrast in colour or brightness to the surroundings, therefore a point on the wrist where the colour was dark was used.

when analyse is pressed the program creates a motion path for the footage. the target is then set to the other image layer. this assigns the layer to the path.

the second layer was then added to the composition and keying used to remove the background. using the colour picker the background colour was selected and then the tolerance changed to remove as much as possible. a second method of background removal was chosen over keying however. we decided to use a mask to cover the area which we did not want to see.

a mask is created by using the pen tool to draw around the desired area. when the area is closed by clicking on the start point of the path, the mask is active. the points can be manoeuvred to change the mask coverage.

now when the composition is played the flame follows the footage and sticks to the hand.

the motion tracking works quite well, however there are a few points where the flame jumps from the hand as the hand has not got many standout areas of colour or light/darkness. a good idea would be to have a small dark object in my hand to contrast with the light skin colour.

Week 2

In week 2 we looked further into text editing. we used techniques such as keying to remove the background colour and the text animate tools for quicker animating than using keyframes.

to edit the text position we used the option under text>animate>position>range selector, and then changed the start time to create a movement when a keyframe was added.

next we learnt how to use the paint function in after effects, and then animate some painted lines. we used keying to remove the background, which allowed multiple layers to be seen at the same time. another technique for keying is to use the 'paint on transparent' option under the paint collapse menu.

to create the animation, first the line was painted on by selecting the paint workspace, and then using the paintbrush tool to draw a line. then using the drop down menu, effects>paint>stroke options, change the start value to 100% and set a keyframe. now change the value back to 0% and the line should move.

a second layer was added with a transparent background, and the same process was done on this layer. now the two lines are animated together.

the last technique we looked at was the shatter effect. this breaks an image or video up into small pieces and gives them a force and direction etc. which can be set.

to do this first a picture was imported into after effects, then dragged to the composition. on the right hand side there is an effects section. in this there is a shatter effect. drag this on to the picture. now the settings for the effect can be changed to suit.

Week 1

In the first week we learnt how to animate text using simple keyframe animation techniques.

here is a screenshot of one frame of the animation.

Each letter is on a separate layer, and then animated separately to give the movement. rotation, scale and position are all changed for a dynamic display.