Joey Foreman
Forum Replies Created
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Wow, you want an entire film production and visual fx course in one post response? Without watching the video – i’ve seen a creed video before – i can say that they hire a professional D.P. who is an expert in lighting for film and video. They probably have an FX Supervisor, and the production company probably hires a post house with a small team of animators and compositors. Someone else usually edits.
You don’t generally composite in a 3d program. You export the animation in a series of “passes” containing color, highlights, shadows, etc., as well as z depth information, normals mapping, and other good stuff. Then a compositor puts it together in a program like AE or Shake.
Something like a sandstorm could be done in many ways. One way would be a particle system in either a 3d or 2.5d program like AE.
And attaining the level of skill to pull off this kind of work generally takes years of study and practical experience.
Hope that helps.Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
Your best bet would probably be a Luma Key. There is a Luma Key already included in AE as an effect, and you can try it first, but you’ll have more control if you do the following.
Duplicate the ink-drop layer. In the comp window, look at the individual channels. Make a note of the one with the highest contrast. Then apply the Shift Channels effect. Leave Alpha alone, but shift the other channels to the one with the highest contrast. You want the drops on the layer to be pure black and the background to be pure white. If not, add a Levels effect and push the left and right triangles in towards each other until you’ve achieved the highest contrast possible.
Then back in the timeline, on your bottom layer turn on the Luma Inverted track matte (TrkMat – L.Inv).
And there you have it.
Sometimes you’ll need to tweak the levels command, particularly if you have a lot of edge detail you’re trying to preserve. And sometimes I find that in the shift Channels effect, it works better to shift all the color channels to Luminance. And of course some footage will require garbage mattes as well if you have extraneous elements.Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
Lens Flare simulates the effect of light reflected back onto a camera lens when the beams of a light source enter it directly. You know – a lens flare. You see it in movies all the time.
Give CC Light Rays a try. You can position its point of origin, and I usually just apply it to a one or two frame adjustment layer. Tweak its defaults, give it a blue tint, etc.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
Oh well. So much for having three different AE Forums.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
Jeremy, you went way beyond what the poster was asking. He was asking how to move a mask on a layer.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
How do you ride a slow motorcycle fast if it’s slow?
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
It depends on your final delivery format. First of all, though, you don’t export from AE, you render. I would use the Animation codec, highest quality. That will keep any text or effects at their maximum quality, and would be the best option to prepare for conversion to other formats using Compressor. H.264 is generally for mobile devices and not suitable for DVD or going back to tape. If you are going back to tape you could render to your exact tape specifications. If you want web video, you should still render with Animation, then use Compressor or Flash Encoder to compress down. In any case, Animation will give you a full rez, uncompressed master.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
The course that I linked to above is taught by the author of Studio Techniques, Mark Christiansen.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
If I had the cash, I’d totally be giving it to these guys.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA -
Wrong program. You need After Affects.
But seriously, you’re linking to three full length music videos that we’re supposed to sit through and guess which parts have the effects you’re talking about? Sorry but I couldn’t make it through ten seconds of the first one.
You need to supply or describe more specific examples if you want help.
Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA