Week 9 Notes

Multiple Films under the same cookie cutter
Blending Mode > Stencil Alpha
With Track Matte it is looking at the bottom layer.
But with Stencil it looks at all the layers.

Silhouette is the inverse


Color the paint trackmattes
Invert it
Add a colored solid on top
Blending mode > Add

 Preserve Transparency
If you click the Preserve Transparency button (the box next to normal)
If there are layers with alpha channel  bellow.

To get the box you have to right click in the bar above the layers (like where it says Mode or Layer Name) then toggle to colomns and make sure Modes is checked.

This checkered box button toggles the transparency.



Copying a shape from Illustrator:
Making a Mask in Illustrator
In Illustrator make a line with the pen tool.
Change the line so that it looks like it was made with a brush.
Object > expand appearance
Ctrl+C Copy

In AE
Make a new solid and Ctrl+V
the line on top of the solid.
If the thing you pasted is jagged there will be a ton of masks.
You will have to go through the layers (the masks) to find the main object and delete most of them.

Growing Line
After you import the line from Illustrator
Effect> Generate > Write-On
You have to copy the mask path : the object>mask>mask path
  Ctrl+c copy
Next, Ctrl+V on
  Effects> Write-on > Brush Postion


If you have a very organic/painterly line
or if you have text like and 'e' where you get 2 masks.
After you paste it you can select all the masks and set the Mask Expansion from negative to positive and it will look like it grows.

 To select multiple masks and make them appear:
When you paste the line and go to the masks in the layer they will all be selected.
Make a keyframe for mask expansion (they will be at 0, and each layer will receive a keyframe because they are all selected).
Then drag one of the keyframes over in the timeline.
Then make the mask expansion negative (but not more than -4).

History Channel Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-e9TxECB8U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BjmGfsgZEI

Week 8, Think Different HW Notes

Project Notes

Scale up the Clip
since the final is 720x480
and the original is smaller


Interpret footage:
Change the frame rate
Loop the jumpback background footage

Week 8 Notes

Setting up Folders

Looping
Making a Jumpback
1. Composition>trim comp to work area

2. Duplicate the length of the composition
    If the length of your composition is 2.22, then your final will be 4.44 (AE will round this number)

3. Duplicate the clip so you have 2 of them in the timeline

4. Stretch
     You got to get to stretch.
     You may have to right click in the timeline area right after the cube icon.
     Or right click after trackmatte.

 Stretch > change to -100

4. Drag the one of the clips right after the other.
     So now the 2 clips are seamless and loop.

 
Automatic way to Line Everything Up
Select all the layers
Right click on the layers
Keyframe Assistant > Sequence

Week 7 Homework Think Different

The one-minute commercial featured black and white video footage of significant historical people of the past, including (in order) Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), R. Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The commercial ends with an image of a young girl, Shaan Sahota, opening her closed eyes, as if to see the possibilities before her

Albert Einstein, smoking a pipe
Bob Dylan, moving to his harmonica
Martin Luther King, at the end of his Washington speech
Richard Branson, shaking champagne
John Lennon and Yoko Ono singing
Buckminster Fuller demonstrating the Bucky Ball
Thomas Edison thinking
Mohammed Ali dancing for the press
Ted Turner boxing the air with a smile
Maria Callas blowing a kiss
Mahatma Gandhi smiling
Amelia Earhart arriving
Alfred Hitchcock speaking
Martha Graham dancing
Jim Henson puppeteering
Frank Lloyd Wright walking by his home
Picasso painting

Week 7 Notes

 Masks
Select the layer  -then- select the rectangle tool.
The box should have yellow lines and in the layer say mask.
If not then you have probably created a shape layer, which is wrong.

 - Where the mask is present, that part is visible.
 - You can have any number of masks per layer.
 - You can animate the mask path frame by frame.

Mask Expansion
1. Layer > New Solid
2. Then put a mask on top
The area that is effected by the mask expands or contracts based on Mask Expansion numbers.


Custom Mask
1. Use the pen tool to create your mask shape.
2. When you close the mask it makes the background out.
3. Make the background show: Double click the layer to be in layer view, so you can adjust the mask by clicking render check box.

4.  At the very end, you can feather the mask or use a negative mask expansion to get a better mask.


Frame by Frame
To go from frame to frame:
Ctrl+right arrow
Ctrl+left arrow
PageUp
PageDown

To Clip the video
Double click the video in the time line
Slide the { } buttons to where you want to clip it.
The video is not destroyed, you can get the cut off footage back if you want.

Trim clip to work area
You have to slide the timeline yellow thing to the left. 
 (The grey bar with the yellow bars at the end, under the numbers in the timeline.)
Then you can right click the grey bar at the top of the timeline to trim the clip.

Once you have you clip....
To Mask out the Person
1. Use the pen tool to create a mask on you clip.
2. Make a dummy keyframe for the Mask Path

Homework:

1 character from the think different apple movie
15 secs
rotoscope commercial for History Channel

Week 7
1. Rotoscope one character from the “Think Different” movie (4 POINTS)
2. Research your character and gather more images that you can use in the ad.(2 POINTS)
3. Find a jumpback the coordinates with these colors and use blending modes to integrate the pictures and movies. (2 POINTS)

Week 8 create steps 1-6
1. Loop your footage by reversing one clip in another composition. (2 POINTS)
2. Extend the length of your looped footage to 15 seconds (2 POINTS)
3. Create a final composition in which you reuse the footage created before (2 POINTS)
4. Use the History channel logo, use the history channel colors (2 POINTS)
5. Create an ad for an upcoming show on the History channel that revolves around your character (Exp. If you chose Gandhi, you can create a fictional show about the peace movement in the 60’s) (2 POINTS)
6. Indicate the time and title of the show using animated text presets (2 POINTS)

Week 6 Notes

Trackmattes
are like masks but not made with the pen tool


Lumatrackmattes
It looks at the photoshop file and looks at the luminosity
It takes the shape and cuts another into that shape, like a cookie cutter.
The trackmat is the cookie cutter, and the ae layer is what you are cutting.

Alpha Trackmatte
Based on the photoshop alpha channel.
In channel view in Photoshop you will see the alpha channel.
When you just look at the alpha channel in PS you will see that it is like a black and white cookie cutter. You have to manually make the alpha channel if you want to use it as an Alpha track matte.

Illustrator files automatically have alpha channels.

The white part is kept and the black part invisible.
(you can invert the trackmatte to reverse the effect)

When you place the trackmatte in the project you have to define the relationship of that object.
In the blending modes.

Steps to make the trackmatte
1. Import a film or something you want to cut out.
2. Import the trackmatte
3. The trackmatte needs to be above the video you want to cut out.
4. Toggle the swiches/modes button at the very very bottom of the timeline.
5. The layer you are cutting out you must toggle down to say if its an Alpha or Luma trackmatte.
     (you are not setting the trackmatte layer, you are changing the layer underneath the trackmatte)

You can use movies as trackmattes.

---
Brainstorm
Animation > Browse Presets > Backgrounds
Select one of the backgrounds and add it to the composition.
Once its on there hit F3 to change the settings of that layer. F3 opens the effects window for that layers.
To get Brainstorm
Click the icon that looks like a thought bubble with a light bulb.

Create a solid - Layer > New Solid
Browse presets
Backgrounds - we have to edit these backgrounds so they are not recognizable and they match the project.


 U
* A shortcut to get the animation stuff
This gives you all the yellow diamonds for the animation preset, so you don't have to toggle down all the effects in the layer. You can then drag all the diamonds to your specifications.

F3
gets you the expression tab

To change colors
F3
Tritone

Homework Example

Week 4
week_six



Examples

Week 5 - Notes

Manually Preview Audio
To scrub with audio Command+Option Drag
http://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/previewing.html

To Scrub Audio and Video
Command Drag

Week 4 Notes

Animated Background - Jumpbacks
looped background

Loop
-Select your jumpaback (the thing you want to loop)
-Click the first icon (Interpret Footage) // You can also right click the imported file to get interpret footage.
-In Interpret Footage you can change the frame rate and the select the alpha channel if that is an option on the piece you are importing.
-In Interpret Footage>Other Options (at the bottom) you can select to loop 

Blending Modes
In the time line area you right click place where it says Normal. (under the icon of the guy)

The Sun switch / looks un-pixelated
Everything must be RGB
From Illustrator if you scale up an Illustrator file it looks like crap unless you click that little sun/star icon next.
-Import the ai file
-Drag it into the time line
-Click the little sun icon next to the / (slash) icon


Scaling vs Zooming
If you zoom in it looks like crap but if you scale it will be normal.
It doesn't matter if you're at 400% and it looks like crap, it matters what it looks like at 100%.

Animated Text
Animation > Browse Presets
double the one you want
the text may disappear because now it will be animated


Making a Sequence in Photoshop
You can make a PS file with a bunch of layers and have them played sequential in photoshop.
1. Make a PS file with a bunch of layers. The top layer will be animated first ( played first).
    So if you want a line to grow the top layer has nothing and the subsequent layers add more to the
    line.
2. In PS File>Scripts>Export Layers to File
    Make sure you select that it is a PSD or PNG, whatever.
     Make a new folder for all the files to be stored.
3. In AE Import the file > when you import only select the first file.
    At the bottom check off: 
    +Save PS Sequence
    + Force Alphabetical Sequence
4. Once you have it all imported you select Interpret Footage and you can change the rate at which
   layers are played.


Week 4 Home Work Criteria_w6

Week 3 Notes

Animation gets cut off
When you place an animation inside the composition and the animation looks like its geting cut off at the edges. You go into Composition Settings and make the width of the original animation larger.

Shy Layer 
(looks like a guy peeking over the fence) Which ever layers you check the "hat" and then click the guy you will only see those layers. This is so the timeline doesn't get so cluttered.

Solo Layer
Makes just that layer appear


"Rigging"
Use the pan behind tool (2 left of the pen)
to move the rotation point

Rendering
(in the render queue the yellow text)
Render Settings - Resoultion > half
Output Module - Quicktime
                         - Format Options > H264


Rendering Faster in the Preview
Hit Capslock and it is faster

Make Object Rotate Automatically
Right click the layer (inside the timeline)
>Orient on path
(AS6 Transform> Auto-Orient)

Clipping Movies
In the preview area above the timeline you click and drag that timeline. You click the button that looks like { to cut the clip.
This doesn't change anything permanently.

Slice
Go to the point you want to slice.
Command+Shift+D
Edit > Split Layer

Stretch the Clip - so it spans a longer time distance
right click on the layer in the blank area to the right of the cube
Columns>Stretch

Reverse
Drag the clip to right away from 0 on the timeline (or else it jumps to negative numbers and you cant grab it)
Layer>Time>Time Stretch
Click stretch number (100% or whatever) then make it negative -100%

Frame Blending
Click the thing that looks like a bunch of pieces of film on top of each other.
Then click the box on the layer (it will have a dotted slashed line to it on)
This blends the frame

Control Blur
Composition Setting > Advanced Tab > Motion Blur Setting

Parenting
One the layer where it says none you toggle down to say what you are parent.
So you can animate a left wing and parent the right ring so you don't have to animate it.
Make sure you do it at the right keyframe or else it doesn't look right.

[Speed things up]
Collapsing layers into 1 comp
 Select the layers you want to collapse
Layer>Precompose "move all attributes" to 1 composition

Collapse all the extra tabs in the layer area


---------------------
Midterm Examples

Bolt
Everything is constantly moving so it feels dynamic.
Not so good ending
Good timing with music

Anchor Man
You don't need have the characters, it sort of gives away the movie.
-------------------
Setting up midterm

Photoshop
Photoshop set up with preset for Film &  Video
720x480
RGB
pixel aspect ratio d1/dv ntsc
(make sure to respect the title safe area)
Folders will convert to compositions

Illustrator
Document profile - Video & Film
NTSC DV
rgb
dpi 72
You have to create layers

Title Safe
You can turn the title safe area on in After Effects by clicking the Dotted Square icon above the timeline.

---------------------
Scripting Links
http://motionscript.com/expressions-lab-ae65/table-of-contents.html

Week 3 Notes

Week Three

Week 2 Notes

week 2

Keyframes
Click the diamond to get a still "dummy" frame.

Rendering
To render you have to have the timeline area all selected to get Composition>Add to Render

For Homework
For the homework bring the resolution down to half in Render Settings.
Format > Do not choose AVI for homework, choose Quicktime - change Video Codec to H264
   For the midterm do Motion jpeg


You have to Check the Audio Output box to get audio.

Motion Blur
You click the motion blur box on the layer.
First you click the motion blur button on the top (above the layers area) then you click the actual layer/object that will have the motion blur.
*Shutter angel is the amount of motion blur

The green line
has something to do with the ram and the memory


Select all the key frames
Select them all and hold ALT it moves them in a "scale" way

----------------------
Easing
The dots on the motion path (the line that is created when you move the object), they represent the imbetween time. Since the spacing is even, the movement is even. But if you wanted to EASE it, like in Flash, then the dots would be space further apart towards the end of the motion path.

Graph Editor
Slecet Keyframes
  Go to Animation>Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease In, Easy Ease Out, etc
 In the graph editor you see the curve that represents that easing movement.


To remove the easing you Control Click on the dots so they turn back into diamonds.


--------------
Importing Layered PSD
Import As- Composition Retain Layers

Change Background Color
Composition Settings

Duplicating
Make a new composition call it final.
 Drag your other compositions (your other original animations) and drag it into your new Final composition. For example make a composition called Bee where the bee flies around. Drag Bee multiple times into Final. Then stagger each of the Bees that are inside Final, you staggger their time line. You can make changes to all these bee, for example you can mirror them.

Homework

Storyboard for Midterm

Bug project

Tutorials
http://www.videocopilot.net/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/adobe-after-effect-tutorials-beginners-intermediate-advanced-users/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/ 
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