January 23, 2009
How to Loop Footage in Adobe After Effects - Stereo Video Too!
Often times you just want to do something simple in Adobe After Effects but it seems very difficult. I wanted to create a 10 second movie that loops a stereo pair of photos. This is known as a "wiggle" stereo video.
To do this I rendered out my two frame video. (I had to make it at least 4 frames so I copied and pasted the first two.) Then I went to the AE manual for advice:
To loop footage
If you intend to loop visual footage continuously in your project, you need to create only one cycle of the footage in After Effects. In the Project panel, select the footage you want to loop. Choose File > Interpret Footage > Main. Type an integer value for Loop and click OK.
Want to loop other things? Check out these helpful links:
Animating a Walk-Cycle Using Loop Expressions : Adobe After Effects Tutorial
How can I loop backgrounds in After Effects seamlessly? Help please. - kirupaForum
Posted by kwillis at 12:44 PM
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August 10, 2007
Creating a Heart Monitor in After Effects
This is a good starting point for creating a heart monitor quickly, using the Vegas effect in After Effects. It does need some tweaking or perhaps a different approach to control the bunching of light at the corners of the mask. Download this podcast to see what I'm talking about.
"In this tutorial, Creative Cow leader Aharon Rabinowitz shows you how to build your own EKG Machine in the Comfort of Your Own Home (or Office). (Flatline not included)"
Podcast link:
COWmunications feedback - COW Tutorials: After Effects Creating a Heart Monitor in AE
Posted by kwillis at 02:20 PM
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December 10, 2006
Film Burn After Effects Animation Preset from Stu Maschwitz
This is a handy animation preset for quickly creating overexposed transitions between cuts.
filmBurn.ffx is an After Effects 7.0 Animation Preset that automatically creates the overexposed "roll-out" effect, where the tail (and the head if you want) of a clip flickers into overexposure. It's aware of the in- and out-points of your footage layers in the After Effects timeline, so you can experiment with different effects just by trimming your layers differently.
Posted by kwillis at 11:42 PM
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May 26, 2006
After Effects Scripts, Courtesy of Christopher R Green
crgreen.com after effects scripts:
After Effects Scripts, Courtesy of CRG
In the After Effects 201 fxphd class that I'm taking Henry Birdseye mentioned that he got a cool order-by-z-depth script from Mr. Green. That was very handy. I'm curious about what other useful things he had created.
Posted by kwillis at 12:26 AM
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May 22, 2006
What is the Rich Pixel Format ( RPF )?
I just joined fxphd.com and it the overview podcast for Autodesk 3ds Max for Compositors I heard the mention of RPF. I'd never heard of that so I thought. I did some searching and found this explaination: "RPF (Rich Pixel Format) is a video file format that can hold the alpha channel, z depht, texture, uv map etc. informations inside it." I wasn't surprised that fxguide.com had this in depth discussion and background of it: fxguide - flame:shake:fusion - Combustion: Using RLA or PRF files
In lesson 9 of the Autodesk 3ds Max for Compositors goes into it further so I'll have to update this entry when I learn even more.
Lesson 9 - Rendering Part 3 – The RPF File Format
G-Buffers explained, 3ds Max UI locations of RPF hooks, RPF file rendering, advanced uses for RPF within Combustion.
Posted by kwillis at 06:34 PM
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VFXWorld - Cracking Da Vinci Code’s Crafty VFX
I can't wait to see this film. I loved the book. The effects look very good. They seem to be using a lot of green screen where you wouldn't necessarily expect like inside churchs. They are hard if not impossible to shot it as it is because of the low light levels. Here is a good article on the films effects:
..... >> VFXWorld / Feature Articles << .....
Cracking Da Vinci Code’s Crafty VFX
Tara DiLullo goes behind the scenes at Rainmaker UK and MPC to decipher the subtle CG work in The Da Vinci Code.
Posted by kwillis at 05:22 PM
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May 19, 2006
VFXWorld Article - Breaking Into VFX
..... >> VFXWorld / Feature Articles << Breaking Into VFX
Steven Mirkin gets a few helpful hints from vfx houses about what they’re looking for in new hires.
Posted by kwillis at 11:15 PM
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Visual Effects (VFX) Industry Advice from Weta Digital
On Weta Digital's site they have an informative advise page for those interested in joining the visual effects industry.
Weta Digital - VFX Industry Advice
Topics include:
- What kind of education will I need?
- What does a VFX company like Weta Digital look for?
- Overview to job hunting
There is also a tools section that mentions some of the tools they use:
- Applications: Renderman, Maya, Shake, Nuke, Silhouette Roto, Photoshop, Massive, Boujou, 3D-Equalizer
- Programming Languages: C, C++, MEL, Perl and Python
- Operating Systems: Linux, Windows, Mac OSX and Irix
If I were to check off some that I have experience with they'd be:
- Applications: Renderman, Maya, Photoshop
- Programming Languages: MEL
- Operating Systems: Windows and Mac OSX
Posted by kwillis at 10:57 PM
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fxphd - Free Tips: After Effects Time Remapping
fxphd is in the midst of teasing us with some clear, well throught out, high quality (more than 800x600 quicktimes!)tips. Here's one on time remapping in After Effects.
fxphd - Quick Tip: After Effects Time Remapping
In this week's free Quick Tip, Professor Henry Birdseye walks you through Time Remapping in After Effects Version 7. Its an incredibly important feature, making easy timing adjustments in the application. Birdseye will be teaching the first term course "AFX201 - After Effects for Compositors."
Posted by kwillis at 10:03 PM
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May 15, 2006
fxguide - flame:shake:fusion - Comp 101
fxguide - flame:shake:fusion - Comp 101
Peter Webb provides a basic introduction to the principles of compositing. A step guide of what happens and what to do on set to improve your results
Posted by kwillis at 05:07 PM
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May 11, 2006
ProLost - The blog of Stu Maschwitz - After Effects Guru
ProLost is the blog of 'Stu Maschwitz, filmmaker and accidental technologist. He helped create The Orphanage, Magic Bullet, and eLin.
Posted by kwillis at 12:01 PM
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May 10, 2006
HYDRAULX Studios
I heard about Hydraulx through the fxguide podcast. Jeff Heusser freelance Compositor / Supervisor at Hydraulx is also a member of fxguide and fxphd. Hydraulx seems like a cool place to work...
Posted by kwillis at 01:36 PM
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May 09, 2006
VideoCopilot.net - After Effects Camera Shake Tutorial
Learn how to use the wiggler and motion tile to create camera shake. Andrew Kramer's tutorial uses a baseball player hitting a homerun as source material.
VideoCopilot.net - After Effects Camera Shake Tutorial
Posted by kwillis at 02:19 PM
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May 05, 2006
Designer Today: Managing Camera Properties - After Effects Tutorial
Here is a decent -- although not a pretty -- webpage tutorial on Managing Camera Properties in Adobe After Effects.
Posted by kwillis at 12:16 PM
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May 04, 2006
fxguide - Double Negative Breaks Down Batman Begins
fxguide - flame:shake:fusion - Double Negative Breaks Down Batman Begins
Posted by kwillis at 08:40 PM
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May 03, 2006
Creative Cow Article by Chris Zwar: Fractal Noise - A New Look at an Old Friend
Fractal Noise - A New Look at an Old Friend
Article Focus:
When Adobe released After Effects version 7, the attention turned to major new features such as the user interface, 32bit HDR support and the graph editor. However there's another small update which is very significant for some users- the ''Fractal Noise'' effect is no longer confined to the Professional bundle, it's now included with the Standard edition. So for anyone who's never used the Professional version, or anyone who has never used Fractal Noise, Chris Zwar lifts the hood on this immensely powerful feature.
Posted by kwillis at 04:27 PM
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May 01, 2006
fxguide - visual effects training - Art of Tracking - Part 1: History of Tracking
This is a really good history of tracking for feature film.
fxguide - visual effects training - Art of Tracking - Part 1: History of Tracking
Posted by kwillis at 06:12 PM
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FXGUIDE.com: A history of Rotoscoping
fxguide - flame:shake:fusion - Art of Roto
Matt Silverman of Phoenix Editorial provides a history of Roto and summary of Roto tools, terms and available programs.
Posted by kwillis at 05:48 PM
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fxguide: Effects Stock Effects Stock Footage - Comparing Artbeats and FinaLight
Here is a helpful comparison between Artbeats and FinaLight stock footage for effects. There are some video walk throughs to see how to work with the collections in Shake.
fxguide - tips and training - Effects Stock Footage
Effects Stock Footage
Posted on Apr 20, 2006
One of Artbeat's classic fx clips
The promise is definitely appealing, - for a fraction of the price you would spend to make it, or film it yourself - you can get big budget effects in your project by buying royalty free visual effects footage. The reality of how viable it is to use that footage in production is the basis of this week's story. We test-drive material from two of the most interesting suppliers Artbeats and Finalight, one amazingly established, the other relatively new.
Posted by kwillis at 05:42 PM
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April 23, 2006
Remember After Effects 5.5? Now Try Some Morphing
I have always used an old win 98 program to do any morphing but here is a great tutorial from the Creative Cow about how to do morphing in Adobe After Effects.
Morphing is a distinctive effect that is best known from the movie "Terminator 2" as well as the Michael Jackson music video "Black and White". In this tutorial, Chris Zwar demonstrates simple morphs with the Reshape filter in Adobe After Effects 5.5 -- which is a Production Bundle only effect found under the "Distort" menu. (Intermediate to Advanced)
Posted by kwillis at 01:20 AM
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Don't be an Amateur: Check out the Amateur Movie Portal for some Great After Effects links
Amateur Movie Portal
Posted by kwillis at 12:05 AM
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April 20, 2006
Adobe After Effects Karaoke Scripts
This is an interesting thread regarding creating Karoke text effects with Adobe After Effects. Thanks to Paul Tuersley for the post dated Tuesday, July 26, 2005 10:29 am.
AE ENHANCERS :: View topic - SSA Subtitle Importer
This script will import .ssa or .ass files from subtitling apps such as Substation Alpha.
http://www.paul.tuersley.btinternet.co.uk/scripts/SSA_Import_1.3.zip
How to use it:
1. Create a new text layer with your chosen text style. Make sure it's centered text if that's what you want and make it paragraph text (by click-dragging when creating the text layer) if you want long lines to word wrap.
2. With the text layer selected, run this script and choose a .ssa/.ass file to import. A new text layer is created for each line of text and keyframes are added to control word/syllable highlighting if there is any karaoke data.
Keep reading to the latest posted in this thread to follow the development of this script.
Posted by kwillis at 12:15 PM
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April 18, 2006
Creative Cow Articles by Peter Wiggins: Final Cut Pro and Motion
This clever brit was featured twice on the Creative Cow Podcast with Franklin McMahon. Here are some product reviews, tradeshow reports, and tutorials posts he has written for the cow. His focus is on Final Cut Pro and Motion.
Posted by kwillis at 02:39 PM
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Andrew Kramer's Slideshows in After Effects Video Tutorial
Creative Cow Article: Slideshows
In this video tutorial, Creative Cow Leader Andrew Kramer shows you how create a slideshow with some cool effects and timesaving methods.
Posted by kwillis at 02:28 PM
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April 13, 2006
Sound Keys: After Effects Automatic Keyframing Based on Audio
I recently had a client want a very quick turn around on a karaoke like music video with only a logo and text to go with. Given enough time, I would have been able to carefully animate each down beat on a frame by frame basis. But I didn't have that kind of time. I decided to go in the direction of Sound Keys from Trapecode to automatically generate keyframes for the logo. For more on Sound Keys watch this walk through or check out this article on www.digitalpostproduction.com:
Trapcode Shine, 3D Stroke and Sound Keys
"Sound Keys is a little bit more unusual because it is basically a keyframe generator based on sound. Interestingly, it has a visually oriented interface that lets you select a range in the 32-band adjustable audio spectrum for keyframe generation. It is perfect for making complex animations driven by audio, without having to manually set hundreds of keyframes..."
..."Unlike Motion Math, Wiggler and Motion Sketch, which come with the production bundle version of After Effects, Sound Keys is applied as a regular effect and can generate keyframes that may be linked with expressions to input parameters on other layers. This allows Sound Keys, for example, to animate the intensity of light in Shine based on a song's beat. An added advantage of the filter approach is that all settings are saved with the project and may be altered at any time.
To use Sound Keys you first import a music file into After Effects and use it as a layer. Create a new solid layer and chose the Sound Keys effect. A spectrum analyzer window will appear, giving you a visual representation of the sound at any given frame so that you can set the plug-in parameters. Once you have adjusted the settings to your liking, click the Apply button and the keyframes will be automatically generated. Turn visibility off for this layer. Select the layer that you wish to affect and a parameter such as rotation, then add an expression from After Effects' Animation menu. Link the expression to the desired output channel in the Sound Keys layer and you are set. The same set of keyframes may be applied to any keyframable parameter on a layer. Therefore, even controls from other effects may be driven by Sound Keys."
Posted by kwillis at 11:33 AM
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Trapcode - 3D Stroke
If you want to create those path effects quickly with repeatability and in 3D, then you should check out Trapecode's 3D Stroke.
3D Stroke uses paths from one or more masks to render volumetric strokes that can be rotated and moved freely in 3D space. It has a built-in camera for AE41 and Combustion 3 users and can also use AE5's comp camera. Path reveals in 3D are easily made using the keyframable sliders for start and end.
Watch the Trapecode 3D Stroke walkthrough [flash]
Price: USD 99
Posted by kwillis at 02:00 AM
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Trapcode - Echospace
From the makers of Shine, Trapecode brings us Echospace together with Belief. This idea of animating one thing and then have similiar elements follow suit sounds like a time saver.
Echospace is used to duplicate, manage and animate layers in a convenient manner. It works similair to an echo effect, but instead of creating 2D echoes, it creates new instances of a layer in 3D space.
Price: USD 49
See a walk through here: http://www.trapcode.com/in_action/echospace_intro.html
After watching this I can tell that this would be great for some kaliedoscopic text or solids effects.
Posted by kwillis at 01:29 AM
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April 10, 2006
How to Become a Feature Film Compositor
How to Become a Feature Film Compositor
Have you ever wanted to contribute to building a twenty thousand man army in “Troy”, make a mouse fly a plane in “Stuart Little 2”, or launch a doomed luxury liner in “Titanic?” You can achieve visual feats you never dreamed possible and accomplish them all through the magic of compositing. Read this article written by John Lafauce Jr., and see... How to become a feature film compositor.
Posted by kwillis at 07:22 PM
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April 09, 2006
Computer Arts Tutorials: Easy Rotoscoping in After Effects
Computer Arts - Easy rotoscoping
"Utilise After Effects’ Auto-trace tool and rotoscoping your video footage is easier than you think. JJ Johnstone reveals the best way to import your layered Illustrator files to composite eye-catching 3D visuals without a 3D app"
Posted by kwillis at 09:13 PM
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March 28, 2006
MotionScript.com - After Effects Scripting
Dan Ebberts has created this resource for After Effects scripting. Scripting is an area of After Effects -- like my early flash work -- that I haven't looked at too closely. Incidentaly, I believe since the marriage of Adobe and Macromedia that Flash will gain alot of what After Effects has in terms of Animation and false 3D. That 3D camera featured in After Effects is coming to Flash I just know it.
"What I've tried to provide here is a repository of information designed to help those that wish to understand expressions and scripting for After Effects. Please enjoy your visit!" ~ Dan Ebberts
Posted by kwillis at 07:52 PM
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Using a 3D camera in After Effects
Another good tutorial teaching you how to use the 3D camera in After Effects.
VideoCopilot.net
Posted by kwillis at 01:22 AM
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After Effects Tutorial on Blemish Removal
You'll need flash for this camtasia create tutorial. Well done tutorial with a little humor to boot... Really fast way of cleaning a lot of frames quickly.
Posted by kwillis at 01:04 AM
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March 27, 2006
VideoCopilot
Aharon Rabinowitz referred to this in his tutorial on the film flash effect (cool idea by the way). Andrew Kramer founded this company and has put up some tutorials for After Effects.
On this page, he is REALLY giving away hi res stock footage! http://www.videocopilot.net/resources.html
Video Copilot was founded in 2003 as a resource for visual effects artists and talented visionary's seeking all the benefits of digital post production. As a producer, director, editor, compositor and key grip, I know what it's like to be responsible for every aspect of production. I've been through the difficult process of deciding what one title to put on my business cards. Those days were not easy so that's why I founded Video Copilot. Tutorials that highlight real-world production issues and solutions that work. You'll also find that all of our products are at prices everyone can afford.
Stay tuned for the future.
Andrew Kramer
President / Founder
Posted by kwillis at 11:49 PM
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After Effects Podcast?
I don't know how I missed this one. I guess Ron and Franklin (from the Cow) never mentioned it on their main podcast. These seem short and sweet. I'll have to check them out. I like Aharon's low key approach in his segments on the main podcast. He gives confidence to the beginners without alienating the advanced user.
Creativecow.net's After Effects Podcast
The Creative Cow After Effects Tutorials Podcast is filled with tips, tricks, tutorials and workflow enhancements that will expand your knowledge of and creativity in Adobe After Effects. The podcast has some episodes which are audio-only and some which are pod-friendly video tutorials. If you wish to interact with the podcast, please visit the new After Effects Podcast forum at Creative Cow.
Posted by kwillis at 11:09 PM
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March 19, 2006
3D camera control tricks in Adobe After Effects
Here are some good tips for working with the 3D camera in After Effects...
Camera Control, Part 1
Basic 3D camera control tricks in Adobe After Effects.
"One of the most daunting obstacles for motion graphics artists transitioning from 2D to 3D is learning to animate the camera. In this month's column, we'll give a quick review of the two basic camera types you can animate in After Effects, plus reveal the easy-to-miss Auto-Orient Along Path option. Then we'll show you how to build a simple "camera rig" for performing perfect camera orbit and spiral moves. In the next column, we'll discuss approaches to building a more complex rig that allows you to animate each axis independently, and we'll show how it's much easier in After Effects 7.0 with a special Animation Preset plus the introduction of a new Graph Editor..."
Posted by kwillis at 05:00 PM
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February 05, 2006
Podcast for Digital Production Buzz
http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com/
Posted by kwillis at 02:35 PM
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January 27, 2006
Project Organization for After Effects
Aharon Rabinowitz' podcast entitled "Working better in After Effects" gave some good tips for file organization:
Create a folder for each client, subfolders for each project done for that client. Name the folder like so: After Effects projects, artwork, images, audio files, video files, 3D projects, and documents.
Here's Aharon's Creative Cow link: http://www.creativecow.net/.../rabinowitz_aharon.html
Posted by kwillis at 11:50 AM
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November 21, 2005
After Effects: Shine effect plugin
It's something you're probably seeing everywhere: the shine effect. "Shine Ultra-fast light ray effect for Adobe After Effects...Shine is a fast light effect plug-in. The effect looks very much like volumetric light, but is actually a 2D effect. There are special controls to make shimmering lights and numerous coloring modes. This is an effect that you see everyday on TV and in many movie titles. Before it was only possible to make using 3D apps (real volumetric lights) or using slower rendering 2D plug-ins."
http://www.trapcode.com/products_shine.html
A demo of how to use it in After Effects:
http://www.trapcode.com/in_action/shine_intro.html
Also here's a review of it by the Meyer's(I own a few of their great books):
http://www.dv.com/news/news_item.jhtml?LookupId=/xml/feature/2002/meyer0502
Posted by kwillis at 03:51 PM
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November 18, 2005
Motion 2 and Midi
"Make Motion Move" is a DV.com article by Chris Meyer that tells of Motion's new support for midi control of realtime animations. This allows the use of ..."third-party input devices to edit parameters-such as scale, opacity, rotation, or most effect parameters..."
This would be great for VJ's as well as artists who wanted to control visuals using a bio-feeback midi device.
Posted by kwillis at 12:35 PM
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