Video tutorials

[Darko Atlagic]

Thanks for reply! Sure I already know the basics, I’m already using AE together with DUIK to rig a character imported from Adobe Illustrator. As my current project require knowing those techniques, I have to learn using them.

[Darko Atlagic]

Ok, thanks!

Is there anybody else who can put links regarding those topics from personal experience?

Also, additional question: is it possible to create highlights and shadows OVER my characters using mask? I’m not talking about shadows behind, but shadows OVER my character.

Thanks!

[Kris Sheehan]

I’m going to second what Dave said. Lynda.com is the place to go for AE training. It’s actually where I first learned how to use Duik. they have a really great (7 hour long) course that walks you through every function of it.

[Steve Bentley]

The hilights etc have to be baked into the layers that you use the puppet tool on (Duik or not – You can do everything Duik is doing without it – he has just made an elegant interface and pipeline that codes the expressions for you and links dependent layers – so it’s not doing anything magical – its a great script but doesn’t change the puppet tool one bit)
Puppet tool makes a mesh of the pixels and if the hilight or shadow is not part of those pixels they will not move in concert with how the puppet tool bends the underlying image.
If you want an edge light I would recommend an inside glow after the puppet tool. You can animate the direction the light is coming from to keep up with the deforming object. Same goes for the shadow (just a dark inside glow).