Dan Fredley
2
After Effects Coins
5
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
-
You can apply one of these effects:
- Echo
- CC Time Blend
- CC Time Blend FX
- CC Wide Time
There might be more, but that’ll get you started. If the shot is moving and you want to isolate the person/object, you’ll have to do some rotoscoping before you apply the effect.
Dan Fredley
-
NullAdder Script:
I use this script to add a null object to the current composition and organize each new null into a “Nulls” folder inside the “Solids” folder–to keep things tidy.
I set it up as a keyboard shortcut (“Ctrl-N” on my mac) using the instructions found here:
https://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-assign-keyboard-shortcuts-to-scripts/
NullCopier Script:
This script is probably more what you’re looking for. It creates one null to use throughout the entire project. Each time you invoke the script, the null is “copied” to your active composition while keeping only one null in the project window. You can set it up as a keyboard shortcut as well.
Dan Fredley
-
What you are looking for are “Difference Mattes.”
See this article for the realities of working with them:
https://www.adobepress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1278847&seqNum=2
You can try if you have a clean plate–meaning that you have the locked off shot with nothing in it. But it usually doesn’t work out the way you expect–subtle color changes between frames and the moving people probably have similar colors compared to the background so they won’t key out perfectly.
Play around with the Difference mode.
Dan Fredley
-
If I understood correctly:
You can set the animated layer above the text layer and set the text layer’s track matte to “alpha matte”.
Dan Fredley
-
I don’t know how Automatic Duck works exactly, but are you importing it from the same computer? Is the footage all on a network drive or an external drive?
I don’t know if you’ve tried to use the “Replace file” command for one of the files–usually the rest update accordingly.
Here’s a script that may help you replace paths if they got messed up somehow:
https://aescripts.com/batch-search-n-replace-paths/
You might want to try this script to import the FCP XML instead of Automatic Duck–it’s worked well for me:
https://www.popcornisland.com/2009/03/final-cut-2-after-effects/
Dan Fredley
-
-
Is the null in the spot you would like the text? If so, parent the text to the null and then type in zero for all position, rotation and orientation values. Then adjust the scale of the text as necessary.
Dan Fredley
-
This is possible via scripting. You can create a script that adds an effect you use a lot:
https://motionscript.com/ae-scripting/table-of-contents.html
And then set a keyboard shortcut for it via the “Keyed Up” script.
https://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-assign-keyboard-shortcuts-to-scripts/
Or you can use the ft-Toolbar script to create buttons for your oft-used effects:
https://aescripts.com/ft-toolbar/
Dan Fredley
-
You can paint on the original layer then after you are done just turn it into an adjustment layer by clicking the box under the half-black/half-white circle in the timeline.
Dan Fredley
-
I always try to track something else in the shot even if it is on a different plane until the object comes on screen. After I get the initial track of the object I move my tracking spline to another object that stays on screen and track it backwards or forwards frame by frame. This usually does the trick because you just want the basic motion of the camera while the object is coming/going offscreen.
You can also just parent the tracking null to another null then manually keyframe the position of this “FIX” null for the few frames that it comes and goes. But I do this less often because it’s hard to get the motion just right.
Dan Fredley