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help needed distorting section of image using lens or some other effect??
I have created some bubbles with images inside in photoshop which I have imported into after effects and intend to animate along a motion path.
Can anyone advise me on a way to apply some kind of lens effect to the background layer underneath the bubble to give the distorted effect one might expect when looking at the world through a bubble?
Is it possible to create some kind of mask that is parented to each bubble so that as they move the background behind each one is distorted.
I am very new to after effects so I am perhaps naively hoping it will have an easy solution.
Many many many thanks!
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4 Replies
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Here’s one way to do it:
i) Create a new adjustment layer, and drag it over the background but below your bubble layer.
ii) Apply the effect Distort > Bulge and adjust the bulge to fit your bubble.
iii) Alt-click on the Center to add an expression to that value.
iv) Use the pickwhip on the timeline to link Bulge Center to the bubble’s position.
And that should do it. If you have multiple bubbles, you can create multiple instance of the bulge to the same adjustment layer, but parent each effect to a separate bubble.
Hope that makes sense,
BenCurious Turtle Professional Video
Training | Editing |Support -
1. Create a black layer and use the CC Bubbles filter on it. Set the bubbles so you like them then turn off this layer.
2. Add the image (or video) you want to distort to the comp.
3. Apply the displacement filter to the image you intend to distort and use the nested bubbles comp as the Displacement Map Layer pull down. This creates the distorion.
To “see” the bubbles:
4. Add the caustics layer to a duplicate comp (renamed) of the bubble comp. But keep this comp turned on.
5. Use the duplicate bubbles comp in the Water Surface pull down in the caustics effect.
6. Adjust settics to desired effect and play with Modes properties option in time line.
Remember if you change the bubble parameters in one bubble comp you need to change them in the other so they match.
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Just wanted to say thanks ever so much, worked perfectly, much appreciated! 🙂
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Is it possible to do the same thing with scale, so the bubble starts of small then gets bigger and the distortion bulge changes size to match? I have tried using the pick wick tool to link the bulge horizontal and vertical radius to the scale of the bubble and it works and changes size as the bubble does but for some reason the bulge is always smaller than the bubble.
I think it has something to do with the fact that the bubble scale starts off at 100% and in order to resize the bulge to fit the bubble it scales up to 170% which works fine if the size of the bubble stays the same but if I want it to grow larger and try linking the bubble to the bulge radius, the percentage of the bulge radius automatically matches that of the bubble and goes down from 170% to 100% which is nearly half the size of the bubble.
Sorry, does any of that even make any sense, I am confusing myself. I feel like I am missing something that should be simple to fix? Thanks very much for any help! 🙂
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