photoshop layer and echo in after effects

[Kevin Camp]

to get the echo effect to work, you’ll need to precompose, but you’ll need to move the attributes that echo will be affecting (like position, rotation, scale, etc).

obviously you can’t pick and chose which attributes to include when precomping, i just wanted you to be aware that any attributes that you didn’t want to be affected by echo would need to be removed prior to precomping and reapplied to the precomp in the main comp…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Richard Altman]

thanks kevin,

would it be possible for you to break down how i should do that in this scenario, i seem to not completely understand how one pre composes. this is what i do:

in this case i have 57 layers of photoshop files.
layer 23 i would like to apply the echo to, i highlight layer 23, then go to the layer menu, pick pre compose, select the default option, i then select the echo effect and apply it to layer 23 which is now precomposed? what am i getting wrong here? do i have to take the layer out of the photoshop comp that i’m working in with the other 57? then pre compose it like that and bring it back in like that, then apply echo? excuse my ignorance, I always do,

Dwight

[Kevin Camp]

[Dwight Spitz] “do i have to take the layer out of the photoshop comp that i’m working in with the other 57? then pre compose it like that and bring it back in like that, then apply echo?”

it’s kind of like that…

the simplest way i can think to describe the process would be like this:

select layer 23 and choose layer>pre-compose. choose to move all attributes and deselect the option to open the comp (this is for simplicity of explanation… i just don’t want you to be working in that precomp for the next step).

so now you should be in the original comp and the layer 23 precomp should be selected. apply the echo effect and increase the number of echoes and make the other adjustments. as long as you’re not on the first or last frame you should start seeing some of the echo effect working.

if it is still not working, then you may not have layer 23 animating in the precomp… for echo to work, it will need some sort of animation occurring in the precomp. when applied to (not within) the precomp, it then takes that animation and composites frames (or stages) of the animation on top of the current frame of that precomp….

say layer 23 moves across the screen from left to right over 2 seconds. if you precomp that and apply echo to the precomp (not to layer 23 within the precomp) and set the number of echoes to 5, you should see 5 instances of layer 23 trail behind it as it moves across the screen.

the only other pitfall i can see is if layer 23 is black (or very dark in color). since the default operator is ‘add’ you may not see any change for dark layers. try setting to ‘minimum’ or if has transparency, you could try composite in back or in front.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Richard Altman]

Kevin,

thank you. i got it to work, it seems one rule in after effects is along the lines that, pre composing is never a bad thing when it comes to getting effects to work.

your explanation was perfectly basic, which for me, is like exquisite minutiae.

thank you very very much.

i will post a link to this thing when i finish it for saturday everning.

i still may have some questions between now and then though, so.

alright,

Dwight

[Kevin Camp]

glad things are working out.

knowing when to pre-compose and when to move all attributes or leave them can be a little tricky. whenever using a time effect (echo, wide time, time blend, timewarp…) on a layer that is not footage, you’ll want to move all attributes. that way the layer gets treated like footage. also, when using a compound effect (any effect that can use a 2nd layer to effect the layer that the effect is on, like displacement map), if the 2nd layer has an effect on it (like fractal noise) then you’ll need to precomp that 2nd layer and move all attributes, so that the effect is ‘rendered’ prior to the compound effect using that 2nd layer’s data…

[Dwight Spitz] “i still may have some questions between now and then though, so. “

no problem. but if you have new questions, just make sure you start a new post… adding onto previous posts will usually decrease the number of people who will see/read your question…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW