Clint Fleckenstein
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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I’m new to Illustrator and this part of AE…but couldn’t you select a path in Illustrator, then paste it into AE as position keyframes for your brush in vector paint? That, or perhaps take the indirect route and paste a path onto a solid in your comp to create a mask, then select the Mask Shape and paste that as brush position keyframes?
Sorry, that’s more of a question than an answer 🙂
Clint
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I used to have the same beef with Photoshop when I worked in broadcast (this was LONG ago). Then we went non-linear and I feel in love with PS. I can’t imagine video without it. It’s not an unfair assumption, that if you have a $1100 program like AE, that you’ve got Photoshop (or elements) too.
Then I didn’t care to include Illustrator. But as my AE skills slowly improve, slightly faster than the growth rate of my fingernails, I’ve come around. I purchased Illustrator last night.
One other thing to consider (before you go buy Photoshop, please!) is that many of these tutorials were written prior to AE6. It’s changed a lot since version 5, most notably in the text tool. I’ve seen plenty of tutorials where you basically have to take your own liberties to skip steps that have become unnecessary with recent versions of After Effects.
Clint
(I heart Photoshop) -
I used to have the same beef with Photoshop when I worked in broadcast (this was LONG ago). Then we went non-linear and I feel in love with PS. I can’t imagine video without it. It’s not an unfair assumption, that if you have a $1100 program like AE, that you’ve got Photoshop (or elements) too.
Then I didn’t care to include Illustrator. But as my AE skills slowly improve, slightly faster than the growth rate of my fingernails, I’ve come around. I purchased Illustrator last night.
One other thing to consider (before you go buy Photoshop, please!) is that many of these tutorials were written prior to AE6. It’s changed a lot since version 5, most notably in the text tool. I’ve seen plenty of tutorials where you basically have to take your own liberties to skip steps that have become unnecessary with recent versions of After Effects.
Clint
(I heart Photoshop) -
I do this by merging all the layers (minus the background), then selecting the resulting merged layer, then create an alpha from selection (I have that macro’ed to F5). Then I make sure I have a background layer that is the same color as any soft edge, drop shadow, or outer glow. Then you can either flatten it and save as a TGA, or you can just Save A Copy and it’ll flatten for you.
I’ve gotten into the habit of doing that for my Velocity at home as well as Premiere machines of different sorts at work, because it helps me insure that the layer effects and stuff come across okay. I’m not on Premiere Pro anywhere tho, I don’t know if it maintains layer effects and styles.
Clint
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Well, assuming you want to remain legitimate, you can purchase older versions cheaper on eBay and then upgrade. Or you can purchase the academic version with a student ID, then upgrade the next step. But if you’re trying to buy After Effects for $300, you’re out of luck. Those places that sell it really cheap are pirating it. You don’t want to get burned.
Clint
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The way I’ve always done that sort of thing is to have the comp background the same color as the object you’re flying. Then you don’t have to worry about whether your alpha is prematted or not. It’s something I picked up with logos in Photoshop, saving to 32 bit TGA files. Make the RGB image the solid color(s) of the logo, let the alpha channel do the rest.
I know that’s not always a possibility, but that’s how I do it when I can.
Clint
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I just found the ability to create outlines from text directly in the AE timeline window this week. COOL! I don’t have Illustrator at home.
Clint
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I’m new to Illustrator but ran into this too. I solved it by putting each object/group on its own layer. Then the layers come in ok when imported as a composition.
Clint
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I’ve always liked these, each time he seems to come up with some cool added movement to make the same effect seem new. Of course, I don’t think I’ll be getting that kind of tracking result from DV. 🙂
Clint
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I’ve always liked these, each time he seems to come up with some cool added movement to make the same effect seem new. Of course, I don’t think I’ll be getting that kind of tracking result from DV. 🙂
Clint