graphics process blog // chelsea college of art & design: Adobe After Effects/Motion Graphics

Adobe After Effects/Motion Graphics

bloody omaha (how 3 graphic designers recreated the normandy landings for bbc timewatch)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0

video co-pilot website - many students have told me they have used this one

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/all/

adobe layers magazine tutorials: after effects:
http://www.layersmagazine.com/category/aftereffects/

after effects creative cow video tutorials via itunes (useful!)
http://cowcast.creativecow.net/after_effects/index.html

official after effects online help site
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7ece.html

more after effects how to’s..
http://toolfarm.com/tuts/directory/1.html

search creative cow tutorials..
http://library.creativecow.net/

Blending modes in after effects:

First click the switches and modes button at the bottom of the screen to reveal the blending mode option for each layer, have 2 layers with different content on top of each other and experiment with changing the mode on the top layer. Heres the official Adobe explanation of Each mode..

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7d0ca.html

Reordering frames to import into After Effects using iPhoto (or lightroom/aperture):

http://vimeo.com/53023992

Sequencing stills in After Effects and reframing them:

http://vimeo.com/53024213

then you can speed them up or slow then down by applying time-strech to the composition by selecting it and going to layer>time>time stretch and pick a percentage or try using the time remapping option: layer>time>enable time remapping and on the comps own layer there are now option to vary the speed.

Making root masks with the pen tool, animating them and animating shapes as well:

http://vimeo.com/53023524

animating masks/garbage mattes in after effects from David Barnett on Vimeo.

roto splines and masking (not using the roto brush tool) from David Barnett on Vimeo.

roto brush from David Barnett on Vimeo.

How to prepare illustrator files for after effects..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Uwdr2M53M

key things - all layers must on the top level if you want them to be seen in after effects

Dont forget to use the continual rasterise * star button on each layer in after effects so its renders the illustrator elements well.

If you have a lot of elements in illustrator you need to break them down a bit and in some cases import complicated items as sections - so if had a car with wheels and each wheel had 20 layers it might be better to save the wheels and import them as separate items.

write on or stroke - animating handwriting.. effects / generate / write on or stroke (better)
http://layersmagazine.com/animated-handwriting-in-after-effects.html

after effects expressions guide
http://www.graymachine.com/tutorials/exp101.html

basic tracking in after effects for stabilising video footage and making one object follow a tracked path
http://www.dvpa.com/public/537.cfm

driving after effects animations with sound and expressions
http://www.gfx-help.com/showthread.php?t=110

after effects green screen
http://www.gfx-help.com/showthread.php?t=108

After effects cs6 great new guide to colour keying and 3d camera tracking

rotoscoping in after effects tutorial
http://www.gfx-help.com/showthread.php?t=97

motion tracking in after effects tutorial
http://www.gfx-help.com/showthread.php?t=98
what can be done with motion tracking (movie)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwo1u_loboskankonesongh264_creation

The newer rotobrush tool..

Newer Feature!! roto brush tool - helps with all that masking:

http://vimeo.com/53023367

Here's a cool movie showing what can be done with this feature..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Mo7gfp0Mk&feature=related

history of rotoscoping
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-roto-2011/

more roto in after effects
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/oconnell_pete/roto/video.php

‘doom island’ after effects compositing with full project files for you to download and video tutorial
http://www.artbeats.com/video_tutorials/11

motionworks after effects how to’s..
http://www.motionworks.com.au/tutorials/tutorials_01.htm

how to replace footage in after effects:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2297136_replace-footage-adobe-after-effects.html

alpha channels in after effects pdf
alpha channels can be from clips exported with transparency or more like from photoshop (masks),
1. in a photoshop file create a mask (selection) the save it (selection at the top and ...save selection)
2. go to channels in photoshop and you will see your alpha channel as a black and white icon.
3. save the psd ticking the choice to include the alpha channel as you do.
4. import as footage into after effects and use straight unmatted when asked what to do with the alpha channel.( ctrl click on any files in the project window and use interpret to play around with an alpha channel, invert it etc.)
5. bring your film footage to the timeline and bring your psd too but turn of the layer visibility for the psd.
6. click on the modes and switches button to bring up the track matte option, highlight for movie layer and click one of the track matte options taking the alpha channel from the name of the psd.
7. now you should have the video being masked by the alpha channel (psd should be on top level).

Here's the official info .....
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7cf9a.html

exporting alpha channels and masks in quicktime movies (ae):
Render a quicktime movie using the Animation codec set to best quality, rgb+alpha, millions of colours+, with a straight (not premultiplied) alpha channel. This mask information can be used in final cut or after effects.

keying in after effects:
http://aftereffects.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=348427

slow motion effects for video and stills, with some planning this can look great..

using the twixtor plugin for slowmotion..

Notes from the second year class on After Effects/Photoshop with reference to Max Hattler's project..

Yesterday we looked at reordering and importing then reframing images in after effects, blending modes, transparency/alpha channels, creating masks and shapes that move and rotoscoping in after effects. As promised I have some notes and have screen recorded some of these workflows for you (they are silent).. also if you are on exchange and want to go over the basics of key framing in after effects I will be happy to do so..

The settings for Max Hattler's project are 12.5 frames per second 1280 by 720 (720p), square pixels -1 min long.

Blending modes in after effects:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7d0ca.html

Reordering frames to import into After Effects using iPhoto (or lightroom/aperture):

http://vimeo.com/53023992

Sequencing stills in After Effects and reframing them:

http://vimeo.com/53024213

Making root masks with the pen tool, animating them and animating shapes as well:

http://vimeo.com/53023524

or try this..

Newer Feature!! roto brush tool - helps with all that masking:

http://vimeo.com/53023367

Here's a cool movie showing what can be done with this feature..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Mo7gfp0Mk&feature=related

Exporting transparency for use in other applications or to be brought back into After Effects:

If you have transparency you want to keep (masked areas) when you export then add to render queue in the normal way and use the quicktime export option and animation as the codec (that's the default anyway). Instead of using RGB use RGB + Alpha which adds the mask into the movie. You can't see it in quicktime but you can use it in Premiere or Final Cut.

Setting up Photoshop to create animation ready to be exported to After Effects:

http://vimeo.com/51512070

You can also just open a movie straight in Photoshop and draw over it, however the above movie has video background layers added.

From an MA workshop on Creating stills into animation in After Effects...

steps to create animated stills in after effects

Overview: what we are trying to do

extract elements from a still image or from several images in photoshop
put these on layers
bring this file into after effects as a composition
turn these layers into 3d
move through them with a camera in 3d or animate them in 2d
change focus if needed

Lets break these steps down further..

Find a digital image
open in photoshop and start extracting the elements you want to separate
to do the extraction you may need a combination of quick mask mode, magic wand, here’s an extract from http://graphicsprocess.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/adobe-photoshop.html ...

Extraction then and now,

a. traditional method with ultimate control using quick mask and alpha channels.

(all other selection tools can be used with this method)

basic guide:http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/photoshop/articles/phs8qmask.html

b. pro tip for using channels to create alpha mattes for hair extraction:

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/select-hair-by-using-channels.html

c. manipulating selections:http://www.lanoie.com/classes/Photoshop/Selections/lectures/lecture7.html

d. the new quick selection tool – first in cs3/4 and now in 5.5 has the option to refine the selection but theres no absolute replacement for quick mask http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0agvgNeXYA

save the photoshop file with each part of the image on a different layer and fill in the holes in the back ground using the clone stamp tool or the new content aware fill (select an area then edit/fill and choose content aware like this.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTvxlfBW96k
import into after effects and use ‘composition’ as a method when prompted
At this point you can choose to either move and keyframe for scale and position the layers you have in 2d or go ro 3d..
turn on the 3d cube icon for each layer
layer new camera to add a camera
use the orbit camera tool from the menu bar to to rotate and see through the camera
each layer has a position x y and now in 3d a z figure - see how by changing the z figure you can move elements towards and away from the camera
you may need to make the background bigger to fit it on
now using the camera experiment with a starting position in space and and end position and keyframe the camera.
to go further look at focussing by either blurring some layers or change the focal length and depth of field of the camera to produce actual focussing results.
render results