Page 1 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS ® ® Help and tutorials...
Page 2: What's New
What's New...
Page 3 New 32-bit effects Updated CycoreFX HD plug-ins Pro Import AE plug-in ARRIRAW import MXF OP1a video codec support Improved Adobe Dynamic Link Aerender and watch folder in non-royalty bearing mode Scripting changes Miscellaneous changes To the top After Effects CS6 overview...
Page 4 Video tutorial: Learn by Video, 3D camera tracker To the top 3D enhancements Ray-traced 3D renderer A new Ray-traced 3D renderer allows for enhanced 3D capability. You can render compositions in a separate environment from the existing Advanced 3D composition renderer (now called Classic 3D). Many of the existing capabilities of the Classic 3D renderer are available in the new Ray-traced 3D renderer.
Page 5 To the top Mask Feather tool Mask Feather is a new tool for controlling feathering along defined points of a mask. Previously, the width of the feather was the same around the entire closed mask. The Mask Feather tool is available from the Pen tool. Press G to toggle between the Pen tool and the Mask Feather tool.
Page 6 Supported export formats To the top Improved Adobe Dynamic Link Improved Dynamic Link, including performance enhancements, and removal of the limitation of Dynamic Link to only work within a suite (for example, Dynamic Link now works between CS6 applications purchased as individual products).
Page 7: Miscellaneous Changes
Resources: Scripts Blog: Scripting changes in After Effects CS6, plus new scripting guide To the top Miscellaneous changes Miscellaneous changes in After Effects CS6 are described in Help documentation, and are compiled on the After Effects Region of Interest blog. Resources: Video tutorial: New features workshop: Miscellaneous New and Changed Features Video tutorial: New features workshop: Removed Features, with Suggestions for New Workflows...
Page 8 What’s new in After Effects CS5.5 Top new features in After Effects CS5.5 For a complete list of what’s new and changed in Adobe After Effects CS5.5, see this post on the After Effects Region of Interest blog. this series on the video2brain website for video training about every new and changed feature in After Effects CS5.5.
Page 9 See this post on the Premiere Pro Work Area blog for information about what’s new and changed in Adobe Media Encoder CS5. For details of new and changed features in After Effects CS4, see the After Effects CS4 Help document.
Page 10 Removed ability to import AAF, OMF, PCX, Pixar, and Filmstrip files: Supported import formats Removed ability to import Premiere 6.5 projects. After Effects CS5 can import Premiere Pro projects: Import an Adobe Premiere Pro project Removed ability to import and export FLV files with video encoded using the Sorenson Spark codec. After Effects CS5 can import and export...
Page 11 corner of each view (such as Top or Right) to indicate which view is associated with which camera perspective. To hide these labels, choose Show 3D Labels from the Composition panel menu: Choose a 3D view When you click the Current Time control in the upper-left corner of the Timeline panel, you can now enter a time directly in the box instead of opening the Go To Time dialog box: Move the current-time indicator (CTI) When you click the Time Navigator in the Timeline panel, the Info panel shows the times of the beginning and end of the Time Navigator...
Page 12 Details dialog box for observation of RAM usage, and improved performance of Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing: Memory & Multiprocessing preferences After Effects now shares a memory pool with Premiere Pro, Adobe Media Encoder, and Encore: Memory pool shared between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore, and Adobe Media Encoder The time that After Effects takes to start is reduced.
Page 13 Removed some fractional audio sample rates and ability to set audio sample rate to an arbitrary, custom value in output module settings. If you need to save audio with a sample rate other than those offered in After Effects, you can reprocess the audio in Adobe Audition: Output module settings Removed Edit >...
Page 14 Changed some user interface strings to make their meaning and function more clear. In Help menu, changed Community Help And Support to After Effects Support Center: After Effects Support Center on the Adobe website In Composition panel, changed Show Last Snapshot to Show Snapshot: Snapshots...
Page 15 After Effects getting started tutorials To learn more, view these recommended resources online. After Effects CS6: what's new and changed (Apr. 12, 2012) After Effects CS6 video tutorials video-tutorial (Aug. 14, 2012) Video tutorials for After Effects CS6 After Effects CS6: New Features Workshop video-tutorial (Apr.
Page 16 Getting Started: What is After Effects? (video 3:19) General workflow in After Effects (HTML) Basic Workflow and Terminology Overview (video 6:31) Adobe After Effects Frequently Asked Questions: Zip Past Common Hurdles (video 45:00) Tutorials Getting Started (GS) tutorials, Learn After Effects CS5 show (video series)
Page 17 Plug-ins (HTML) Scripts (HTML) Rendering, exporting, and encoding Rendering and exporting overview (HTML) Exporting with Adobe Media Encoder (video 8:06) Stereoscopic 3D Stereoscopic 3D in After Effects CS5.5 (HTML) All tutorials on Adobe.com Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.
Page 18: Planning And Setup
Often, it’s best to prepare footage before importing it into After Effects. For example, if you want an image to fill your composition frame, configure the image in Adobe Photoshop so that the image size and pixel aspect ratio match the composition size and pixel aspect ratio.
Page 19 You can create a set of After Effects compositions tailored for a selected set of devices by using the File > New Document In > After Effects command in Adobe Device Central. (See Create compositions for playback on mobile devices.)
Page 20 Consider using cuts and other fast transitions instead of zooming in and out or using fades and dissolves. Fast cuts also make compression easier. After you’ve rendered your movie, you can view it exactly as it will appear on any of a large variety of mobile devices, using Adobe Device Central. To the top Cross-platform project considerations After Effects project files are compatible with Mac OS and Windows operating systems, but some factors—mostly regarding the locations and...
Page 22: Setup And Installation
The trial version of After Effects CS5.5 and later includes all of the codecs that are included with the full version of After Effects CS5.5 and later. This means that you can import and export to all of the supported file formats using the trial version. The free trial version of Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and later software does not include some features that depend upon software licensed from parties other than Adobe.
Page 23 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 24 Overview of general workflow in After Effects Whether you use Adobe After Effects to animate a simple title, create complex motion graphics, or composite realistic visual effects, you generally follow the same basic workflow, though you may repeat or skip some steps. For example, you may repeat the cycle of modifying layer properties, animating, and previewing until everything looks right.
Page 25 Online resources for general workflow in After Effects This video from the “After Effects CS5: Learn by Video” series provides an introduction to the basic terminology, workflow, concepts, and user interface items in After Effects. See this page on the After Effects Region of Interest blog for a collection of resources for getting started with After Effects.
Page 26 You can import the movie that you’ve created and preview it in After Effects, or you can navigate to the movie and play it using a movie player such as QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, or Adobe Bridge. More Help topics...
Page 27 Workspace and workflow...
Page 28 The trial version of After Effects CS5.5 and later includes all of the codecs that are included with the full version of After Effects CS5.5 and later. This means that you can import and export to all of the supported file formats using the trial version. The free trial version of Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and later software does not include some features that depend upon software licensed from parties other than Adobe.
Page 29 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 30 Overview of general workflow in After Effects Whether you use Adobe After Effects to animate a simple title, create complex motion graphics, or composite realistic visual effects, you generally follow the same basic workflow, though you may repeat or skip some steps. For example, you may repeat the cycle of modifying layer properties, animating, and previewing until everything looks right.
Page 31 Online resources for general workflow in After Effects This video from the “After Effects CS5: Learn by Video” series provides an introduction to the basic terminology, workflow, concepts, and user interface items in After Effects. See this page on the After Effects Region of Interest blog for a collection of resources for getting started with After Effects.
Page 32 You can import the movie that you’ve created and preview it in After Effects, or you can navigate to the movie and play it using a movie player such as QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, or Adobe Bridge. More Help topics...
Page 33 Often, it’s best to prepare footage before importing it into After Effects. For example, if you want an image to fill your composition frame, configure the image in Adobe Photoshop so that the image size and pixel aspect ratio match the composition size and pixel aspect ratio.
Page 34 You can create a set of After Effects compositions tailored for a selected set of devices by using the File > New Document In > After Effects command in Adobe Device Central. (See Create compositions for playback on mobile devices.)
Page 35 Consider using cuts and other fast transitions instead of zooming in and out or using fades and dissolves. Fast cuts also make compression easier. After you’ve rendered your movie, you can view it exactly as it will appear on any of a large variety of mobile devices, using Adobe Device Central. To the top Cross-platform project considerations After Effects project files are compatible with Mac OS and Windows operating systems, but some factors—mostly regarding the locations and...
Page 37: Working With After Effects And Other Applications
Working with Adobe Bridge and After Effects Adobe Bridge is the control center for Adobe Creative Suite software. Use Adobe Bridge to browse for project templates and animation presets; run cross-product workflow automation scripts; view and manage files and folders; organize your files by assigning keywords, labels, and ratings to them;...
Page 38 Working with Flash and After Effects If you use Adobe® Flash® to create video or animation, you can use After Effects to edit and refine the video. For example, from Flash you can export animations and applications as QuickTime movies or Flash Video (FLV) files. You can then use After Effects to edit and refine the video.
Page 39 Importing Flash SWF files into After Effects Flash has a unique set of vector art tools that make it useful for a variety of drawing tasks not possible in After Effects or Adobe® Illustrator®. You can import SWF files into After Effects to composite them with other video or render them as video with additional creative effects. Interactive content and scripted animation are not retained.
Page 40: Working With Adobe Premiere Pro And After Effects
Working with Adobe Encore and After Effects You can use After Effects to quickly create buttons and button layers for use in Adobe Encore. Adobe Encore uses a naming standard to define a button and the role of individual layers as subpicture highlights and video thumbnails. When you select a group of layers in After Effects to use as an Adobe Encore button, After Effects precomposes the layers and names the precomposition according to the naming standards for buttons.
Page 41 Edit in Adobe Audition command to start Adobe Audition from within After Effects. If you edit an audio-only file (for example, a WAV file) in Adobe Audition, you change the original file. If you edit a layer that contains both audio and video (for example, an AVI file), you edit a copy of the source audio file.
Page 42 Importing from Adobe After Effects Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 43: Dynamic Link And After Effects
After Effects, choose Composition > Composition Settings. Click the Basic tab, and specify a new value for Duration. Link to an existing composition For best results, match composition settings (such as dimensions, pixel aspect ratio, and frame rate) to the settings in the Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore project. Do one of the following: In Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore, choose File >...
Page 44 A linked clip can refer to a complex source composition. Actions you perform on the complex source composition require additional processing time. After Effects takes time to apply the actions and make the final data available to Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore. In some cases, the additional processing time delays preview or playback.
Page 45 take the linked composition offline disable a linked clip to temporarily stop referencing a composition render the composition and replace the dynamically linked composition with the rendered file If you commonly work with complex source compositions, try adding RAM or a faster processor. Note: A linked After Effects composition will not support Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing.
Page 46: Workspaces, Panels, And Viewers
To the top Workspaces and panels Adobe video and audio applications provide a consistent, customizable user interface. Although each application has its own set of panels, you move and group panels in the same way in each application. The main window of a program is the application window. Panels are organized in this window in an arrangement called a workspace.
Page 47 Choose a workspace from the Workspace menu in the Tools panel. If the workspace has a keyboard shortcut assigned, press Shift+F10, Shift+F11, or Shift+F12. To assign a keyboard shortcut to the current workspace, choose Window > Assign Shortcut To [Workspace Name] Workspace. Save, reset, or delete workspaces Save a custom workspace As you customize a workspace, the application tracks your changes, storing the most recent layout.
Page 48 Dragging panel (A) onto grouping zone (B) to group it with existing panels (C) Dock or group panels 1. If the panel you want to dock or group is not visible, choose it from the Window menu. 2. Do one of the following: To move an individual panel, drag the gripper area in the upper-left corner of a panel’s tab onto the desired drop zone.
Page 49 When you undock a panel in a floating window, you can add panels to the window and modify it similarly to the application window. You can use floating windows to use a secondary monitor, or to create workspaces like the workspaces in earlier versions of Adobe applications.
Page 50 Scroll bar for showing tabs of other panels To the top Viewers A viewer is a panel that can contain multiple compositions, layers, or footage items, or multiple views of one such item. The Composition, Layer, Footage, Flowchart, and Effect Controls panels are viewers. Locking a viewer prevents the currently displayed item from being replaced when you open or select a new item.
Page 51: General User Interface Items
General user interface items Activate a tool Open panel, viewer, and context menus Columns Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels Scroll or zoom with the mouse wheel Undo changes After Effects user interface tips To the top Activate a tool The Tools panel can be displayed as a toolbar across the top of the application window or as a normal, dockable panel.
Page 52 To the top Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels The Project, Timeline, and Effects & Presets panels each contain search fields that you can use to filter items in the panel. To place the insertion point in a search field, click in the search field. To place the insertion point in the search field for the active panel, choose File >...
Page 53: Undo Changes
To zoom into the center of the panel, or into the feature region when tracking, roll the mouse wheel forward. To zoom out of the center of the panel, or out of the feature region when tracking, roll the mouse wheel backward. To zoom into the area under the pointer, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you roll the mouse wheel forward.
Page 54: General (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Keyboard shortcuts reference General (keyboard shortcuts) Projects (keyboard shortcuts) Preferences (keyboard shortcuts) Panels, viewers, workspaces, and windows (keyboard shortcuts) Activating tools (keyboard shortcuts) Compositions and the work area (keyboard shortcuts) Time navigation (keyboard shortcuts) Previews (keyboard shortcuts) Views (keyboard shortcuts) Footage (keyboard shortcuts) Effects and animation presets (keyboard shortcuts) Layers (keyboard shortcuts)
Page 55: Projects (Keyboard Shortcuts)
compositions Quit Ctrl+Q Command+Q Undo Ctrl+Z Command+Z Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z Command+Shift+Z Purge all Ctrl+Alt+/ (on numeric keypad) Command+Option+/ (on numeric keypad) Interrupt running a script To the top Projects (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS New project Ctrl+Alt+N Command+Option+N Open project Ctrl+O Command+O Open most recent project...
Page 56: Activating Tools (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Open or close Effects & Presets panel Ctrl+5 Command+5 Open or close Character panel Ctrl+6 Command+6 Open or close Paragraph panel Ctrl+7 Command+7 Open or close Paint panel Ctrl+8 Command+8 Open or close Brushes panel Ctrl+9 Command+9 Open or close Effect Controls panel for F3 or Ctrl+Shift+T F3 or Command+Shift+T selected layer...
Page 57: Compositions And The Work Area (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Cycle through tools Alt-click tool button in Tools panel Option-click tool button in Tools panel Activate Selection tool Activate Hand tool Temporarily activate Hand tool Hold down spacebar or the middle mouse Hold down spacebar or the middle mouse button. button.
Page 58: Time Navigation (Keyboard Shortcuts)
current time Set work area to duration of selected Ctrl+Alt+B Command+Option+B layers or, if no layers are selected, set work area to composition duration Open Composition Mini-Flowchart for Tap Shift Tap Shift active composition Note: If you tap Shift several times without any intervening keystrokes, you may invoke a feature of your operating system’s StickyKeys or Sticky Keys...
Page 59: Views (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Result Windows Mac OS Start or stop standard preview spacebar spacebar RAM preview 0 on numeric keypad* 0 on numeric keypad* or Control+0 (zero) on main keyboard RAM preview with alternate settings Shift+0 on numeric keypad* Shift+0 on numeric keypad* or Shift+Control+0 (zero) on main keyboard Save RAM preview Ctrl-click RAM Preview button or press...
Page 60: Footage (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Show alpha overlay (colored overlay on Alt+6 Option+6 transparent regions) in Layer panel Reset view in the Composition panel to Double-click Hand tool Double-click Hand tool 100% and center composition in the panel Zoom in in Composition, Layer, or Footage .
Page 61: Effects And Animation Presets (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Open movie in an After Effects Footage Alt-double-click Option-double-click panel Add selected items to most recently Ctrl+/ (on main keyboard) Command+/ (on main keyboard) activated composition Replace selected source footage for Ctrl+Alt+/ (on main keyboard) Command+Option+/ (on main keyboard) selected layers with footage item selected in Project panel Replace source for a selected layer Alt-drag footage item from Project panel...
Page 62 Select previous layer in stacking order Ctrl+Up Arrow Command+Up Arrow Extend selection to next layer in stacking Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow Command+Shift+Down Arrow order Extend selection to previous layer in Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow Command+Shift+Up Arrow stacking order Deselect all layers Ctrl+Shift+A Command+Shift+A Scroll topmost selected layer to top of Timeline panel Show or hide Parent column Shift+F4...
Page 63: Showing Properties And Groups In The Timeline Panel (Keyboard Shortcuts)
of composition Lock selected layers Ctrl+L Command+L Unlock all layers Ctrl+Shift+L Command+Shift+L Set Quality to Best, Draft, or Wireframe for Ctrl+U, Ctrl+Shift+U, or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+U Command+U, Command+Shift+U, selected layers Command+Option+Shift+U Cycle forward or backward through Shift+ - (hyphen) or Shift+= (equal sign) Shift+ - (hyphen) or Shift+= (equal sign) blending modes for selected layers on the main keyboard...
Page 64: Showing Properties In The Effect Controls Panel (Keyboard Shortcuts)
strokes, and Puppet pins Show only audio waveform Show only properties with keyframes or expressions Show only selected properties and groups Hide property or group Alt+Shift-click property or group name Option+Shift-click property or group name Add or remove property or group from set Shift+property or group shortcut Shift+property or group shortcut that is shown...
Page 65 Move selected layers 10 frames earlier or Alt+Shift+Page Up or Alt+Shift+Page Option+Shift+Page Up or later Down Option+Shift+Page Down Increase or decrease Rotation (Z + (plus) or - (minus) on numeric keypad + (plus) or - (minus) on numeric keypad Rotation) of selected layers by 1° Increase or decrease Rotation (Z Shift++ (plus) or Shift+- (minus) on Shift++ (plus) or Shift+- (minus) on...
Page 66: Keyframes And The Graph Editor (Keyboard Shortcuts)
New light Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L Command+Option+Shift+L New camera Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C Command+Option+Shift+C Move the camera and its point of interest Ctrl+Alt+Shift+\ Command+Option+Shift+\ to look at selected 3D layers With a camera tool selected, move the camera and its point of interest to look at selected 3D layers With a camera tool selected, move the Ctrl+Shift+F...
Page 67: Text (Keyboard Shortcuts)
To the top Text (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS New text layer Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T Command+Option+Shift+T Align selected horizontal text left, center, Ctrl+Shift+L, Ctrl+Shift+C, or Ctrl+Shift+R Command+Shift+L, Command+Shift+C, or or right Command+Shift+R Align selected vertical text top, center, or Ctrl+Shift+L, Ctrl+Shift+C, or Ctrl+Shift+R Command+Shift+L, Command+Shift+C, or bottom Command+Shift+R...
Page 68: Masks (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Set vertical scale to 100% for selected Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X Command+Option+Shift+X text Auto leading for selected text Ctrl+Alt+Shift+A Command+Option+Shift+A Reset tracking to 0 for selected text Ctrl+Shift+Q Command+Shift+Control+Q Justify paragraph; left align last line Ctrl+Shift+J Command+Shift+J Justify paragraph; right align last line Ctrl+Alt+Shift+J Command+Option+Shift+J Justify paragraph;...
Page 69: Paint Tools (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Invert selected mask Ctrl+Shift+I Command+Shift+I Open Mask Feather dialog box for Ctrl+Shift+F Command+Shift+F selected mask Open Mask Shape dialog box for selected Ctrl+Shift+M Command+Shift+M mask To the top Paint tools (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS Swap paint background color and foreground colors Set paint foreground color to black and background color to white...
Page 70: Shape Layers (Keyboard Shortcuts)
To the top Shape layers (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS Group selected shapes Ctrl+G Command+G Ungroup selected shapes Ctrl+Shift+G Command+Shift+G Enter free-transform path editing mode Select Path property in Timeline panel and Select Path property in Timeline panel and press Ctrl+T press Command+T Increase star inner roundness...
Page 71: Saving, Exporting, And Rendering (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Result Windows Mac OS Move feature region, search region, and arrow key arrow key attach point 1 pixel at current magnification Move feature region, search region, and Shift+arrow key Shift+arrow key attach point 10 pixels at current magnification Move feature region and search region 1 Alt+arrow key Option+arrow key pixel at current magnification...
Page 72 Modify keyboard shortcuts To modify keyboard shortcuts, use the KeyEd Up script from Jeff Almasol, which is available on the Adobe After Effects Exchange website. Sebastien Perier provides instructions on his website for assigning keyboard shortcuts to scripts so that you can run a script with a single keystroke.
Page 73: General Preferences
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the OK button. Preferences, including keyboard shortcuts and workspaces, are stored in files in the following locations: (Mac OS) <drive>/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/10.0 (Windows) <drive>\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\10.0 In After Effects CS6, preferences can be revealed without searching your hard drive for them. To reveal preferences, choose Edit > Preferences >...
Page 74: Display Preferences
Drag Import Multiple Items As: Import footage items by dragging Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and later contains a dropdown menu to choose drop-frame or non-drop-frame timecode for Indeterminate Media NTSC, which applies to imports like still image sequences in which timecode values are not present or are unknown.
Page 75 To the top Labels preferences Color labels for layers, compositions, and footage items To the top Media & Disk Cache preferences Enable Disk Cache and Maximum Disk Cache Size: Caches: RAM cache, disk cache, and media cache Conformed Media Cache and Clean Database & Cache: Media cache Create Layer Markers From Footage XMP Metadata and Write XMP IDs To Files On Import: XMP metadata in After Effects To the top Video Preview preferences...
Page 76: Projects And Compositions
Projects and compositions...
Page 77: About Projects
After Effects. You can even write scripts that modify project information in XML project files as part of an automated workflow. For a video tutorial about the XML project file format, go to the Adobe website. Elements of a project that you can modify in an XML project file:...
Page 78 Jeff Almasol provides a script on his redefinery website that creates and saves a new project for each selected composition in the current project. Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website that gives you the ability to specify a project or template project that After Effects opens each time that After Effects starts.
Page 79 Note: In After Effects CS6, the File > Browse Template Projects command has been removed. To open a template project, choose File > Open Project. On Windows, choose Adobe After Effects Project Template from the Files Of Type menu.
Page 80 Timecode and time display units Change time-display units in After Effects CS5 Change time-display units in After Effects CS5.5 and later Options for time-display units in After Effects CS5 Options for time-display units in After Effects CS5.5 and later Source timecode (CS5.5 and later) Online resources about timecode Many quantities in After Effects are either points in time or spans of time, including the current time, layer In and Out points, and durations of layers, footage items, and compositions.
Page 81 fps NTSC, but it also applies to 23.976 fps (which After Effects treats as non-drop-frame timecode) and 59.94 fps. Timecode for 59.94 fps compositions and footage items matches that in Premiere Pro: When the timecode base is 30 fps, each timecode value repeats twice.
Page 82: Composition Basics
Composition basics About compositions Create a composition Create compositions for playback on mobile devices Timeline panel Composition settings Composition thumbnail images For more information about creating compositions, see this video by Andrew Devis on the Creative Cow website. To the top About compositions A composition is the framework for a movie.
Page 83 Create compositions for playback on mobile devices Screen dimensions and video frame rates vary from one mobile device to another. Adobe Device Central contains a database of device profiles that provide information about these characteristics. Using this information, you can create movies that play correctly and look as you intend on the mobile devices that you choose.
Page 84: Timeline Panel
A Preview composition is also created. The Preview composition consists of a grid of device-specific compositions so that you can preview your master composition in the context of several mobile devices simultaneously. After you render and export the compositions, you can preview and test the resulting movies on the simulated devices within Adobe Device Central.
Page 85 Select a composition in the Project panel or activate the Timeline or Composition panel for a composition, and choose Composition > Composition Settings, or press Ctrl+K (Windows) or Command+K (Mac OS). Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a composition in the Project panel or Composition panel (not on a layer), and choose Composition Settings from the context menu.
Page 86 (Mac OS) and select Disable Thumbnails In Project Panel. Flowchart panel Basics of rendering and exporting About precomposing and nesting Test content in Adobe Device Central Show and hide layers in the Timeline panel Layer switches and columns in the Timeline panel The Graph Editor Columns Twitter™...
Page 87: Precomposing, Nesting, And Pre-Rendering
You can navigate within a composition network using the Composition Navigator and Mini-Flowchart. (See Opening and navigating nested compositions.) Precompositions in After Effects are similar to Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop. Uses for precomposing and nesting Precomposing and nesting are useful for managing and organizing complex compositions. By precomposing and nesting, you can do the following:...
Page 88 Changing the current time in one panel updates the current time in other panels associated with that composition. By default, the current time is also updated for all compositions related to the current composition by nesting. To prevent compositions related by nesting from updating their current times when you change the current time in one composition, deselect the Synchronize Time Of All Related Items preference (Edit >...
Page 89 A. Active (current) composition B. Arrow for opening Composition Mini-Flowchart C. Panel menu button D. Ellipsis Arrows between the composition names indicate the direction in which pixel information flows for this flow path. The default is to show compositions in the Composition Navigator bar with downstream compositions on the left and upstream compositions on the right. This default is indicated by the Flow Right To Left option in the Composition panel menu.
Page 90 not expect to work on further, you can save time during each rendering operation by pre-rendering the nested composition into a movie and replacing the composition with the rendered movie. You can still modify the original nested composition, because it remains in the Project panel. If you make a significant change to the original nested composition, render it again.
Page 91 Online resources This video from the “After Effects CS5: Learn by Video” series provides a detailed visual demonstration of the render order and how to work with (and around) it. Chris and Trish Meyer explain collapsing transformations and continuous rasterization in this article on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 92: Importing Footage
Importing footage...
Page 93: Importing And Interpreting Video And Audio
Importing and interpreting video and audio Interlaced video and separating fields Remove 3:2 or 24Pa pulldown from video Import assets in Panasonic P2 format To the top Interlaced video and separating fields Interlacing is a technique developed for transmitting television signals using limited bandwidth. In an interlaced system, only half the number of horizontal lines for each frame of video are transmitted at a time.
Page 94 After Effects creates field-separated footage from a single formerly interlaced frame by splitting it into two independent frames. Each new frame has only half the information of the original frame, so some frames may appear to have a lower resolution than others when viewed at Draft quality. When you render the final composition, After Effects reproduces high-quality interlaced frames for output.
Page 95 video overview of fields and interlacing on the Lynda.com website To the top Remove 3:2 or 24Pa pulldown from video When you transfer 24-fps film to 29.97-fps video, you use a process called 3:2 pulldown, in which the film frames are distributed across video fields in a repeating 3:2 pattern.
Page 96 1. (Optional) Copy the entire contents of the P2 card to a hard disk. Though it is possible to import assets into Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects directly from a P2 card, it is usually more efficient to copy the contents of the P2 card to a hard disk before importing.
Page 97 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 98: Working With Footage Items
Working with footage items Organize, view, manage, and trim footage items Edit footage in its original application Remove items from a project Placeholders and proxies Loop a footage item To the top Organize, view, manage, and trim footage items Compositions and footage items are listed in the Project panel. Unlike items in the Timeline panel and Effect Controls panel, the order of items in the Project panel has no influence on the appearance of the movies that you create.
Page 99 Reveal Layer Source In Project. To reveal the location of a footage item in Adobe Bridge, Windows Explorer, or the Finder, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the footage item in the Project panel and choose Reveal In Bridge, Reveal In Windows Explorer, or Reveal In Finder.
Page 100 into the composition that refers to it. Then deselect the Audio and Video switches for the composition that you added. The SaveCompAsProject script from Sebastian Perier on the AEScripts website saves selected compositions as individual projects. To the top Placeholders and proxies When you want to temporarily use a substitute for a footage item, use either a placeholder or a proxy.
Page 101 When you render your composition as a movie, you may choose to use either all the actual high-resolution footage items or their proxies. You may want to use the proxies for a rendered movie if, for example, you simply want to test motion using a rough movie that renders quickly. For best results, set a proxy so that it has the same frame aspect ratio as the actual footage item.
Page 103: Importing From After Effects And Adobe Premiere Pro
When you import an Adobe Premiere Pro project, After Effects imports it into the Project panel as both a new composition containing each Adobe Premiere Pro clip as a layer, and as a folder containing each clip as an individual footage item. If your Adobe Premiere Pro project contains bins, After Effects converts them to folders within the Adobe Premiere Pro project folder.
Page 104 To import only one sequence, choose a sequence from the menu. To import audio, select Import Audio. To add a single item from a track in an Adobe Premiere Pro project, copy the item in Adobe Premiere Pro, and choose Edit > Paste in After Effects.
Page 105 Copy from Adobe Premiere Pro to After Effects You can copy a video or audio asset from an Adobe Premiere Pro sequence and paste it into an After Effects composition. After Effects converts assets to layers and copies the source footage items into its Project panel. If the asset contains an effect that is also used by After Effects, After Effects converts the effect and all of its settings and keyframes.
Page 106 Adobe Premiere Pro project as a composition. Speed property Time Stretch property Speed and time stretch have an inverse relationship. For example, 50% speed in Adobe Premiere Pro is converted to 200% stretch in After Effects. Time Remapping effect...
Page 107: Importing And Interpreting Footage Items
After Effects. The import and export of some formats are not supported in the trial version: AVC-Intra, AVCHD, HDV, MPEG-2, MPEG-2 DVD, MPEG-2 Blu-ray, and XDCAM. The trial version for Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and later includes all codecs that are in the full version.
Page 108 Importing and using some files requires the installation of additional import plug-ins. (See Plug-ins.) Adobe Premiere Pro can capture and import many formats that After Effects can’t import natively. You can bring data from Adobe Premiere Pro into After Effects in many ways. (See Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.)
Page 109 Note: CinemaDNG is a subset of CameraRAW. A subset of CameraRAW settings can be accessed via More Options in the Interpret Footage dialog box. Color management for CinemaDNG includes the same color spaces as After Effects existing CameraRAW: Adobe RGB, sRGB IEC619662.1, ColorMatch RGB, and ProPhoto RGB.
Page 110 Adobe After Effects 6.0 and later binary projects in After Effects CS5 (AEP, AET) Adobe After Effects 6.5 and later binary projects in After Effects CS5.5 and later (AEP, AET) Adobe After Effects CS4 and later XML projects (AEPX) In After Effects CS5.5, and earlier, you can use the...
Page 111 Locations of the interpretation rules file in After Effects CS5: (Windows) C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS5\Support Files (Mac OS) Applications/Adobe After Effects CS5 Locations of the interpretation rules file in After Effects CS5.5 (note that the file is located in the Preferences folder).
Page 112 Apple QuickTime Player. Often, the choice of whether to use images with straight or premultiplied channels has been made before you receive the assets to edit and composite. Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects recognize both straight and premultiplied channels, but only the first alpha channel they encounter in a file containing multiple alpha channels.
Page 113: Frame Rate
Ignore Disregards transparency information contained in the alpha channel. Straight - Unmatted Interprets the channels as straight. Premultiplied - Matted With Color Interprets channels as premultiplied. Use the eyedropper or color picker to specify the color of the background with which the channels were premultiplied. Set the default alpha channel preferences 1.
Page 114 Trish and Chris Meyer provide links to technical reference materials about frame rates and other details of digital video on the ProVideo Coalition website. John Dickinson provides a video tutorial on the Motionworks website that shows how and why to double the frame rate of a composition so that you can work with individual fields when animating and rotoscoping with interlaced source footage.
Page 115 After Effects CS4 New Creative Techniques series on the Lynda.com website. Todd Kopriva summarizes information about the corrected pixel aspect ratios in a post on the Adobe website. Pixel aspect ratio values in After Effects CS4 and later have been corrected as follows:...
Page 116 D1/DV PAL 1.09 1.07 D1/DV PAL Widescreen 1.46 1.42 This discrepancy is limited to these older, standard-definition formats for which clean aperture differs from production aperture. This discrepancy doesn’t exist in newer formats. New projects and compositions created in After Effects CS4 and later use the correct pixel aspect ratio values by default. Projects and compositions created in After Effects CS3 or earlier are upgraded to use the correct pixel aspect ratios when these projects are opened in After Effects CS4 and later.
Page 117 D1/DV NTSC Widescreen 1.21 Footage has a 720x486 or 720x480 frame size, and the desired result is a 16:9 frame aspect ratio. D1/DV PAL 1.09 Footage has a 720x576 frame size, and the desired result is a 4:3 frame aspect ratio.
Page 118: Preparing And Importing 3D Image Files
Importing 3D images from Photoshop Extended and Illustrator 3D object layers in PSD files Adobe Photoshop Extended can import and manipulate 3D models (3D objects) in several popular formats. Photoshop can also create 3D objects in basic, primitive shapes. After Effects CS5.5, and earlier can import these 3D object layers in PSD files and render them using the active camera in a composition. (See 3D object layers from Photoshop.)
Page 119 Online resources about importing and using 3D files from other applications Lutz Albrecht provides a two-part document on the Adobe website about integrating 3D applications with After Effects. These articles cover the creation of UV maps, mattes, and channels from various 3D applications, including Maxon Cinema 4D, NewTek Lightwave, and Luxology modo.
Page 120 After Effects imports camera data from Maya project files. Before importing Maya camera information, you need to bake it. Baking camera data makes animating with keyframes easier later in your project. Baking places a keyframe at each frame of the animation. You can have 0, 1, or a fixed number of keyframes for each camera or transform property.
Page 121: Preparing And Importing Still Images
Preparing and importing still images Preparing still-image files for importing Import a single still image or a still-image sequence Preparing and importing Photoshop files Preparing and importing Illustrator files Importing camera raw files with Camera Raw Cineon and DPX footage items To the top Preparing still-image files for importing You can import individual still images into After Effects or import a series of still images as a sequence.
Page 122 After Effects uses settings of the first image in the sequence to determine how to interpret the images in the sequence. If the image files in a sequence are of a layered file type—such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator documents—then you can choose to import the sequence as a standard footage item, or as a composition in which each layer in each file is imported as a separate sequence and appears as a separate layer in the Timeline panel.
Page 123 For example, background layers that must be converted to RGB may not be imported correctly if they are locked. A convenient command within After Effects is Layer > New > Adobe Photoshop File, which adds a layer to a composition and then opens the source of that layer in Photoshop for you to begin creating a visual element, such as a background layer for your movie.
Page 124 Masks and alpha channels Adobe Photoshop supports a transparent area and one optional layer mask (alpha channel) for each layer in a file. You can use these layer masks to specify how different areas within a layer are hidden or revealed. If you import one layer, After Effects combines the layer mask (if present) with the transparent area and imports the layer mask as a straight alpha channel.
Page 125 After Effects using the Stroke effect. Richard Harrington and Ian Robinson provide a free sample chapter from their “Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques” book on the Peachpit Press website. This chapter shows how to prepare Illustrator and Photoshop files.
Page 126 Todd Kopriva provides links to free excerpts from books about Camera Raw by Conrad Chavez, Bruce Fraser, Jeff Schewe, Ben Willmore, and Dan Ablan on blog. For more information about Camera Raw, see Camera Raw Help in the Creative Suite 5 component Help document. To the top Cineon and DPX footage items A common part of the motion-picture film production workflow is scanning the film and encoding the frames into the Cineon or DPX file format.
Page 127 Load video actions Content-aware scaling Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning Release items to separate layers Camera Raw Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 128: Layers And Properties
Layers and properties...
Page 129: Creating Layers
Some compositions contain thousands of layers, whereas some compositions contain only one layer. Layers in After Effects are similar to tracks in Adobe Premiere Pro. The primary difference is that each After Effects layer can have no more than one footage item as its source, whereas a Premiere Pro track typically contains multiple clips.
Page 130 Layer. To open the source composition of a precomposition layer in the Composition panel, double-click the layer, or select the layer and choose Layer > Open Composition. To open the source footage item of a layer, Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) the layer, or select the layer and choose Layer >...
Page 131 other layers. Newly created split layers are moved later in time so that their In points are at the same time as the Out point of the inserted layer. Replace layer sources with references to another footage item 1. Select one or more layers in the Timeline panel 2.
Page 132 After Effects. To create a Photoshop footage item and use it as the source for a new layer in the current composition, choose Layer > New > Adobe Photoshop File. The Photoshop layer is added as the top layer in your composition.
Page 133: Selecting And Arranging Layers
Selecting and arranging layers Select layers Change the stacking order for selected layers Coordinate systems: composition space and layer space Move layers in space Separate dimensions of Position to animate components individually Align or distribute layers in 2D space Trim, extend, or slip-edit a layer Remove part of the duration of a layer Place or move a layer in time Arrange layers in time sequentially...
Page 134 Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website with which you can tag layers and then select, shy, and solo layers according to their tags. The tags are appended to comments in the Comments field in the Timeline panel. To the top Change the stacking order for selected layers The vertical arrangement of layers in the Timeline panel is the layer stacking order, which is directly related to the render order.
Page 135 For a video tutorial about using the Separate Dimensions command, go to the Adobe website. To decompose selected Position properties into individual X Position, Y Position, and (for 3D layers) Z Position properties, do one of the following: Choose Animation >...
Page 136 To move selected layers so that their anchor points are at the center in the current view, choose Layer > Transform > Center In View or press Ctrl+Home (Windows) or Command+Home (Mac OS). Charles Bordenave (nab) provides a script on the After Effects Scripts website, with which you can distribute layers in 3D space.
Page 137 Trim or extend a layer in the Layer panel Open the layer in the Layer panel and drag either end of the layer duration bar. Move the current-time indicator in the Layer panel to the time at which you want the footage to begin or end, and then click the In or Out button to set the In or Out point to the current time.
Page 138 in the composition. To the top Arrange layers in time sequentially Use the Sequence Layers keyframe assistant to automatically arrange layers in a sequence. When you apply the keyframe assistant, the first layer you select remains at its initial time, and the other selected layers move to new times in the Timeline panel based on the order in which you selected them.
Page 139 originals before you paste. To duplicate selected layers, choose Edit > Duplicate or press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Mac OS). To the top Split a layer In the Timeline panel, you can split a layer at any time, creating two independent layers. Splitting a layer is a time-saving alternative to duplicating and trimming the layer—something you might do when you want to change the stacking-order position of the layer in the middle of the composition.
Page 141: Managing Layers
Managing layers View and change layer information Layer switches and columns in the Timeline panel Toggle visibility or influence of a layer or property group Solo a layer Lock or unlock a layer Color labels for layers, compositions, and footage items Show and hide layers in the Timeline panel Layer image quality and subpixel positioning Continuously rasterize a layer containing vector graphics...
Page 142 Collapses transformations if the layer is a precomposition; continuously rasterizes if the layer is a shape layer, text layer, or layer with a vector graphics file (such as an Adobe Illustrator file) as the source footage. Selecting this switch for a vector layer causes After Effects to rerasterize the layer for each frame, which improves image quality, but also increases the time required for previewing and rendering.
Page 143 categories you choose. Rename label groups to help you to organize and categorize layers and footage items. To see label names in the Label column, widen the column to greater than the default width. To select all layers with the same label color, select a layer with that label color and choose Edit > Label > Select Label Group. To change the color of a label for one layer, click the label in the Timeline panel and choose a color.
Page 144 If the pixels of a layer aren't positioned directly on the pixel boundaries of the composition, a small amount of blur occurs—very similar to anti- aliasing. This blur is not a problem for an object in motion, because objects in motion have motion blur, but it can soften fine details in a static image.
Page 145: Layer Properties
Layer properties Layer properties in the Timeline panel Set a property value Layer anchor points Scale or flip a layer Rotate a 2D layer Adjust audio volume levels Parent and child layers Null object layers Guide layers Use Brainstorm to experiment and explore settings To the top Layer properties in the Timeline panel Each layer has properties, many of which you can modify and animate.
Page 146 Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels. Select a property or property group in the Timeline panel To select a property or property group—including all values, keyframes, and expressions—click the name in the layer outline in the Timeline panel. Anchor Point property selected Copy or duplicate a property or property group in the Timeline panel To copy properties from one layer or property group to another, select the layer, property, or property group, press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac OS), select the target layer, property, or property group, and press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac OS).
Page 147 The LockProperties script, available from the After Effects Scripts website, locks only specified properties so that you can prevent accidental changes. To the top Layer anchor points Transformations, such as rotation and scale, occur around the anchor point (sometimes called transformation point or transformation center) of the layer.
Page 148 Adobe Photoshop provides fine control over resampling methods used for scaling of images. For fine control of resampling, you can export frames to Photoshop to change the image size and then import the frames back into After Effects.
Page 149 Apprentice: Real-World Skills for the Aspiring Motion Graphics Artist. Guy Chen provides a simple project on the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website that demonstrates the animation of several 3D layers arranged as a cube, controlled by a parent null layer.
Page 150: Guide Layers
Guy Chen provides a simple project on the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website that demonstrates the animation of several 3D layers arranged as a cube, controlled by a parent null layer. Angie Taylor provides an extensive discussion and explanation of animation using parenting, expressions, and null object layers in a PDF excerpt...
Page 151 Brainstorm dialog box in Randomness mode A. Original composition (original in center tile when using Brainstorm on single numeric value) B. Maximize Tile C. Save As New Composition D. Apply To Composition E. Use In Next Brainstorm F. Randomness control (Spread control when using Brainstorm on single numeric value) G.
Page 152 2. Select one or more properties or property groups in the Timeline panel, and click the Brainstorm button at the top of the Timeline panel. The variant compositions all play in the Brainstorm dialog box simultaneously. Controls for each variant are only visible when the pointer is over it.
Page 153: Blending Modes And Layer Styles
Blending modes for layers control how each layer blends with or interacts with layers beneath it. Blending modes for layers in After Effects (formerly referred to as layer modes and sometimes called transfer modes) are identical to blending modes in Adobe Photoshop.
Page 154 matte for all underlying layers. The stencil and silhouette blending modes use either the alpha channel or luma values of a layer to affect the alpha channel of all layers beneath the layer. Using these blending modes differs from using a track matte, which affects only one layer. Stencil modes cut through all layers, so that you can, for example, show multiple layers through the alpha channel of the stencil layer.
Page 155: Layer Styles
Overlay Multiplies or screens the input color channel values, depending on whether or not the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray. The result preserves highlights and shadows in the underlying layer. Soft Light Darkens or lightens the color channel values of the underlying layer, depending on the source color. The result is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the underlying layer.
Page 156 preserve these layer styles when importing Photoshop layers. You can also apply layer styles in After Effects and animate their properties. You can copy and paste any layer style within After Effects, including layer styles imported into After Effects in PSD files. Richard Harrington provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to bring a library of layer styles from Photoshop into After Effects so that...
Page 157 want to animate the position of the light for all of them. Blending options for layer styles Each layer style has its own blending mode, which determines how it interacts with underlying layers. The underlying layer in this context may or may not include the layer to which the layer style is applied.
Page 158 3D layers 3D layers overview and resources Convert 3D layers Show or hide 3D axes and layer controls Move a 3D layer Rotate or orient a 3D layer Axis modes 3D layer interactions, render order, and collapsed transformations 3D object layers from Photoshop (CS5.5, and earlier) To the top 3D layers overview and resources The basic objects that you manipulate in After Effects are flat, two-dimensional (2D) layers.
Page 159 Chris and Trish Meyer provide a demonstration of importing and using extruded 3D objects from Photoshop, including those created using the Repoussé feature in Photoshop. See “Repoussé in After Effects CS5” on the Lynda.com website. (See 3D object layers from Photoshop.) Paul Tuersley provides a pair of scripts on the AE Enhancers forum...
Page 160 press Ctrl+Home (Windows) or Command+Home (Mac OS). Chris and Trish Meyer provide a video tutorial on the ProVideo Coalition website that demonstrates the use of the 3D axis layer controls. To the top Rotate or orient a 3D layer You can turn a 3D layer by changing its Orientation or Rotation values. In both cases, the layer turns around its anchor point. The Orientation and Rotation properties differ in how the layer moves when you animate them.
Page 161 Repoussé feature in Photoshop. See “Repoussé in After Effects CS5” on the Lynda.com website. Adobe Photoshop Extended can import and manipulate 3D models (3D objects) in several popular formats, including the following: .3ds (3ds Max) .dae (Digital Asset Exchange, COLLADA) .kmz (compressed Keyhole Markup Language format, Google Earth)
Page 162 You can bring these 3D object layers in PSD files from Photoshop into After Effects for compositing and animation. When you import a PSD file into After Effects as a composition and that PSD file contains a 3D object layer, you can choose to make the layer a live Photoshop 3D layer.
Page 163: Cameras, Lights, And Points Of Interest
Cameras, lights, and points of interest Create a camera layer and change camera settings Create a light and change light settings Adjust a 3D view or move a camera, light, or point of interest Material Options properties Specify resolution to use for rendering shadows Stereoscopic 3D To the top Create a camera layer and change camera settings...
Page 164 Change camera settings You can change camera settings at any time. Double-click the camera layer in the Timeline panel, or select the layer and then choose Layer > Camera Settings. Note: By default, the Preview option in the Camera Settings dialog box is selected. This option shows the changes in the composition as you make them in the Camera Settings dialog box.
Page 165 Online resources about cameras For a video tutorial that shows how to create and modify a camera and use the Camera tools, see the Adobe website. Dale Bradshaw provides a script and sample project for automating the rigging of a camera on the Creative Workflow Hacks website.
Page 166 Falloff (After Effects CS5.5 and later) The type of falloff for a parallel, spot or point light. Falloff describes how a light’s intensity is lessened over distance. For details, tutorials, and resources about light falloff, see this article on the Adobe website. Falloff types include the following: None Illumination does not decrease as the distance between the layer and the light increases.
Page 167 To make a light ignore its point of interest, select an option other than Orient Towards Point Of Interest in the light’s Auto-Orientation options. (See Auto-Orientation options.) Note: As with all properties, you can also modify a camera or light’s properties directly in the Timeline panel. Move a camera, light, or point of interest with the Selection and Rotation tools 1.
Page 168 Trish and Chris Meyer show you how to use the Create Orbit Null camera command in this video tutorial on Adobe TV. This page includes resources for the new camera features in After Effects CS5.5, including the automatic creation of camera rigs using the Create Orbit Null command.
Page 169 To the top Stereoscopic 3D Stereoscopic 3D video can be created with Adobe After Effects CS5, and there are new workflows and tools available for it in After Effects CS5.5 and later. For tutorials, details, and resources about stereoscopic 3D in After Effects CS5.5, see this article on the Adobe website.
Page 170 television manufacturer recommends. Stereoscopic footage or a 3D composition. Once you have gathered these items, do the following: 1. Connect the 3D TV to your computer with an HDMI cable (DVI is acceptable if HDMI is not available). 2. Create a 3D composition in After Effects. Make sure that the composition size matches the current resolution of your output monitor. 3.
Page 171: Views And Previews
Views and previews...
Page 172 Previewing Preview video and audio Use RAM preview to play video and audio RAM preview a specified number of frames Save a RAM preview as a movie Loop options for previews Preview only audio Use standard preview to play video Manually preview (scrub) video and audio Audio panel options Additional tips and options for previewing...
Page 173 can change the panel background color using the Brightness control in the Appearance preferences. 2. Do one of the following: To preview using RAM Preview Options, click the RAM Preview button in the Preview panel or press 0 (zero) on the numeric keypad. To preview using Shift+RAM Preview Options, Shift-click the RAM Preview button in the Preview panel or press Shift+0 (zero) on the numeric keypad.
Page 174 To see your composition as it will appear on a mobile device—such as a mobile phone—first render your composition to final output, and then use Adobe Device Central to view the movie. If you create compositions for mobile devices using Device Central, you can preview the compositions within After Effects with guides and settings...
Page 175 that simulate some aspects of the target mobile devices. (See Create compositions for playback on mobile devices.) If color management is enabled, you can preview a composition, layer, or footage item as it will appear in the output color space. (See Simulate how colors will appear on a different output device.)
Page 176 Note: When you click the Time Navigator in the Timeline panel, the Info panel shows the times of the beginning and end of the Time Navigator duration. To zoom out to show the entire composition duration, press Shift+; (semicolon) with the Composition panel or Timeline panel active. Press Shift+;...
Page 177 when necessary to maintain speed of updating of images during interactions. To prevent After Effects from updating images in the Footage, Layer, and Composition panels, press Caps Lock. When you make a change that would otherwise appear in a panel, After Effects adds a red bar at the bottom of the panel with a text reminder that image refresh is disabled. After Effects continues to update panel controls such as motion paths, anchor points, and mask outlines as you move them.
Page 178: Region Of Interest (Roi)
Fast Draft Ctrl+Alt+4 (Windows) / Cmd+Option+4 (Mac OS) Wireframe Ctrl+Alt+5 (Windows) / Cmd+Option+5 (Mac OS) In this video tutorial by Todd Kopriva and video2brain, learn how to use the Fast Previews menu. Look at a complex scene and see how different settings affect your ability to manipulate elements.
Page 179 Dragging center of work area bar to move work area To expand the work area to the size of the composition, double-click the center of the work area bar. To show the duration of the work and the times of its beginning and end in the Info panel, click the work area bar. To the top Snapshots When you want to compare one view to another in a Composition, Layer, or Footage panel, take a snapshot.
Page 180 color space of the video preview device. For more information, see Choose a working color space and enable color management. Note: When you are using OpenGL to render previews, the preview shown on the video monitor doesn’t update as you interact with elements of your composition until you have released the mouse at the end of an interaction.
Page 181: Modifying And Using Views
Modifying and using views Choose a view layout and share view settings Choose a 3D view Show or hide layer controls in the Composition panel Zoom an image for preview Resolution View a color channel or alpha channel Adjust exposure for previews Safe zones, grids, guides, and rulers Additional resources for viewing and previewing To the top...
Page 182 To the top Zoom an image for preview Note: For information on scaling a layer, not just zooming in or out of the preview image, see Scale or flip a layer. The Magnification Ratio control in the lower-left corner of a Composition, Layer, or Footage panel shows and controls the current magnification. By default, the magnification is set to fit the current size of the panel.
Page 183 You can view red, green, blue, and alpha channels—together or separately—in a Footage, Layer, or Composition panel by clicking the Show Channel button at the bottom of the panel and choosing from the menu. When you view a single color channel, the image appears as a grayscale image, with the color value of each pixel mapped to a scale from black (0 value for the color) to white (maximum value for the color).
Page 184 Dragging the zero-point crosshair About title-safe and action-safe zones Television sets enlarge a video image and allow some portion of its outer edges to be cut off by the edge of the screen. This kind of cropping is known as overscan. The amount of overscan is not consistent between television sets, so you should keep important parts of a video image within certain margins, in areas known as safe zones.
Page 185: Animation And Keyframes
Animation and Keyframes...
Page 186: Animation Basics
Animation basics About animation, keyframes, and expressions The Graph Editor To the top About animation, keyframes, and expressions Animation is change over time. You animate a layer or an effect on a layer by making one or more of its properties change over time. For example, you can animate the Opacity property of a layer from 0% at time zero to 100% at time 1 second to make the layer fade in.
Page 187 “How Does Computer Animation Work?” and “What is interpolation?” For a video tutorial on animating using keyframes and using the Timeline panel, go to the Adobe website. Shaun Freeman's website provides links to information about the theory and practice of animation, especially character animation.
Page 188 property name, when the stopwatch is active—that is, when the property has keyframes or expressions. Note: Aharon Rabinowitz provides tips for using this control and showing the audio waveform for a deselected layer on the Creative COW website. Graph options in the Graph Editor Click the Graph Type And Options button at the bottom of the Graph Editor to select from the following options: Auto-Select Graph Type Automatically selects the appropriate graph type for a property: speed graphs for spatial properties (such as Position),...
Page 189: Setting, Selecting, And Deleting Keyframes
Setting, selecting, and deleting keyframes Set or add keyframes Move the current-time indicator (CTI) to a keyframe Select keyframes Keyframe menu commands Delete or disable keyframes To the top Set or add keyframes When the stopwatch is active for a specific property, After Effects automatically adds or changes a keyframe for the property at the current time whenever you change the property value.
Page 190 To move to the next or previous visible item in the time ruler (keyframe, marker, or work area end), press K or J. For instructions for moving the current-time indicator to other elements and times, see Move the current-time indicator (CTI). To the top Select keyframes In layer bar mode, selected keyframes are yellow.
Page 191 very simple expression to the Opacity property to set it to 100%: 100. Click the Enable Expression button to toggle the expression on and off, which toggles the keyframes off and on as a side effect. If you accidentally delete keyframes, choose Edit > Undo. Jeff Almasol provides a script on his redefinery website that automatically removes keyframes based on specified criteria—for example, all...
Page 192: Editing, Moving, And Copying Keyframes
Editing, moving, and copying keyframes View or edit a keyframe value Copy and paste keyframes Edit keyframe values using a spreadsheet or text editor Move keyframes in time Move a layer duration bar but not its keyframes Change multiple keyframe values at once Move or change keyframes in the Graph Editor To the top View or edit a keyframe value...
Page 193 You can copy and paste most properties, including the Transform properties (such as Position and Opacity), Material Options properties, and motion trackers. You can use the motion tracking tools to track the motion of an object in a layer, and then paste the tracker data into a spreadsheet to perform numerical analysis on the data.
Page 194 4. Move or stretch the layer duration bar to its new In and Out points. 5. Move the current-time indicator to the composition marker at the time at which the first keyframe appeared before you cut the keyframes. 6. Choose Edit > Paste. To the top Change multiple keyframe values at once You can change the values of multiple keyframes on multiple layers at one time;...
Page 195 box in a speed graph moves the selected keyframes in time only. When you select multiple keyframes in the Graph Editor, a free-transform bounding box appears. 1. Switch to the Graph Editor view and display the keyframes you want to adjust. 2.
Page 196: Assorted Animation Tools
Assorted animation tools Motion paths Motion blur Smooth motion and velocity by removing extra keyframes Add randomness to a property with the Wiggler Convert audio to keyframes To the top Motion paths When you animate spatial properties—including Position, Anchor Point, and effect control point properties—the motion is shown as a motion path. A motion path appears as a sequence of dots, where each dot marks the position of the layer at each frame.
Page 197 Drag a keyframe in the Composition panel to move one Position keyframe. You can move multiple keyframes at one time by selecting them in the Timeline panel before you drag them in the Composition panel or Layer panel. To move the entire motion path, select all keyframes by clicking the property name in the Timeline panel before dragging a keyframe in the Composition panel.
Page 198: Motion Blur
John Dickinson provides a demonstration of Motion Sketch in a video tutorial on his Motionworks website. 1. In the Composition or Timeline panel, select the layer for which you want to sketch a motion path. 2. In the Timeline panel, set the work-area markers to the duration in which you want to sketch motion. 3.
Page 199 finished result. To enable motion blur for a layer, do one of the following: Click the Motion Blur layer switch for the layer in the Timeline panel. Select the layer and choose Layer > Switches > Motion Blur. The number of samples that After Effects uses to calculate motion blur adapts for each layer, depending on the motion of that layer. This adaptivity provides high-quality motion blur without unnecessarily sampling the motion of a slow-moving layer as frequently as the motion of a fast- moving layer.
Page 200 unexpected changes to the curve. Note: To avoid the need to use the Smoother on a path generated by Motion Sketch, set the Smoothing option in the Motion Sketch panel before sketching the motion path. When you apply the Smoother to properties that change spatially (such as Position), you can smooth only the spatial curve (the curve defined by the motion).
Page 201 an expression to link the audio keyframes to the Scale property of a layer to make the layer grow and shrink as the amplitude increases and decreases. Online resources for converting audio to keyframes Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to link the audio amplitude keyframes to other properties—in this case the properties of the Wave Warp effect, to synchronize animation with sound.
Page 202: Keyframe Interpolation
Keyframe interpolation About spatial and temporal keyframe interpolation Keyframe interpolation methods Apply and change keyframe interpolation methods Modify Bezier direction handles in the Graph Editor To the top About spatial and temporal keyframe interpolation Interpolation is the process of filling in the unknown data between two known values. You set keyframes to specify a property’s values at certain key times.
Page 203 Online resources about keyframe interpolation Aharon Rabinowitz provides some video tutorials—including “How Does Computer Animation Work?” and “What is interpolation?”—that introduce animation as part of the Multimedia 101 series. Aharon Rabinowitz provides a pair of video tutorials on the Creative COW website that describe the issue and solution for the boomerang motion problem that arises from unintentionally having Auto Bezier spatial interpolation set for keyframes of equal value: Part 1 Part 2...
Page 204 either side of the keyframe. Unlike Auto Bezier or Continuous Bezier, the two direction handles on a Bezier keyframe operate independently in both the value graph and motion path. If you apply Bezier interpolation to all keyframes of a layer property, After Effects creates a smooth transition between keyframes. The initial position of the direction handles is calculated using the same method used in Auto Bezier interpolation.
Page 205 2. Choose Animation > Keyframe Interpolation. 3. For Temporal Interpolation, choose one of the following options: Current Settings Preserves the interpolation values already applied to the selected keyframes. Choose this option when multiple or manually adjusted keyframes are selected and you do not want to change the existing settings. Linear, Bezier, Continuous Bezier, Auto Bezier, and Hold Apply a temporal interpolation method using default values.
Page 206 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 207 Speed Controlling speed between keyframes Smooth motion with roving keyframes Use Exponential Scale to change the speed of scaling To the top Controlling speed between keyframes When you animate a property in the Graph Editor, you can view and adjust the rate of change (speed) of the property in the speed graph. You can also adjust speed for spatial properties in the motion path in the Composition or Layer panel.
Page 208 Linear interpolation (top) causes sharp changes; Bezier interpolation (bottom) creates smoother changes. Control speed between keyframes without using the speed graph In the Composition or Layer panel, adjust the spatial distance between two keyframes on the motion path. Increase speed by moving one keyframe position farther away from the other, or decrease speed by moving one keyframe position closer to the other.
Page 209 keyframe. About the speed graph You can fine-tune changes over time using the speed graph in the Graph Editor. The speed graph provides information about and control of the value and rate of change for all spatial and temporal values at any frame in a composition. In the speed graph, changes in the graph height indicate changes in speed.
Page 210 Create a bounce or peak Use direction handles to simulate the type of acceleration seen in a bouncing ball. When you create this type of result, the speed graph appears to rise quickly and peak. 1. In the Timeline panel, expand the outline for the keyframe you want to adjust. 2.
Page 211 1. In the Timeline panel, expand the outline for the keyframe you want to adjust. 2. Click the Graph Editor button and display the speed graph for the property. 3. Using the Selection tool, click a keyframe and drag the direction handle left or right. Change speed numerically You may want to specify speed more precisely than you can by dragging keyframes in the speed graph.
Page 212 3. Do one of the following: For every keyframe in the range (except the beginning and ending keyframes), select Rove Across Time in the keyframe menu Select the keyframes you want to rove and choose Animation > Keyframe Interpolation. Then choose Rove Across Time from the Roving menu.
Page 213: Tracking And Stabilizing Motion
The free trial version of Adobe After Effects software does not include some features that depend upon software licensed from parties other than Adobe. For example, mocha for After Effects, some effect plug-ins are available only with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.
Page 214 more information, see Tracking 3D camera movement (CS6). Note: In After Effects CS5.5, and later, you can stabilize shaky footage a lot easier using the Warp Stabilizer. For more information, see Stabilize motion with the Warp Stabilizer effect (CS5.5 and later).
Page 215 Layer panels, which makes the tracked feature easier to find and enables subpixel processing and positioning. After Effects uses one track point to track position, two track points to track scale and rotation, and four points to perform tracking using corner pinning.
Page 216 Add the appropriate number of track points When you choose a mode from the Track Type menu in the Tracker panel, After Effects places the appropriate number of track points in the Layer panel for that mode. You can add more track points to track additional features with one tracker. Select features to track, and place feature regions Before you begin tracking, view the entire duration of the shot to determine the best features to track.
Page 217 longer matches the original feature. If the change is too great, After Effects may not be able to track the feature, and the track point will wander or drift. When the analysis begins to fail, return to the frame where tracking was still accurate and repeat steps 5 and 6: adjust and analyze. Apply tracking data If you’re using any Track Type setting other than Raw, you apply tracking data by clicking Apply, after making sure that the correct target is shown for Motion Target.
Page 218 X And Y (default) allows motion along both axes. X Only restricts the motion target to horizontal movement. Y Only restricts the motion target to vertical movement. To bypass the Motion Tracker Apply Options dialog box and use the previous setting, hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you click Apply.
Page 219 Apply Sends the tracking data (in the form of keyframes) to the target layer or effect control point. Motion tracking options These settings apply to a tracker, a group of track points that is generated in one tracking session. You can modify these settings by clicking Options in the Tracker panel.
Page 220 Search Offset Position of the center of the search region relative to the center of the feature region. Search Size Width and height of the search region. Confidence Property through which After Effects reports the amount of certainty regarding the match made for each frame. In general, Confidence is not a property that you modify.
Page 221 Apply tracking data to a new target After you’ve tracked a motion source layer, you can apply the tracking data stored on that layer to any number of other target layers and effect control points. For example, you can apply the track to the position of a light bulb and to the effect control point of the Lens Flare effect. 1.
Page 222 For video tutorials, details, and resources about the Warp Stabilizer effect, see this article on the Adobe website. Stabilize with the Warp Stabilizer effect To stabilize motion using the Warp Stabilizer effect, do the following: 1.
Page 223 Cancel Cancels an analysis in progress. During analysis, status information appears next to the Cancel button. Stabilization Stabilization settings allow for adjusting the stabilization process. Result Controls the intended result for the footage (Smooth or No Motion). Smooth motion (default): Retains the original camera movement but makes it smoother. When selected, Smoothness is enabled to control how smooth the camera movement becomes.
Page 224 the default. Use Enhanced Reduction if the footage contains larger ripples. To use either method, set the Method to Subspace Warp or Perspective. Crop Less <-> Smooth More When cropping, controls the trade-off between smoothness and scaling of the cropping rectangle as it moves over the stabilized image.
Page 225 Tracking 3D Camera Movement (CS6) 3D camera tracker effect Analyzing footage and extracting camera motion Attaching content into a scene containing a solved camera Moving the target to attach content to different location Resizing a target Selecting and deselecting track points Deleting unwanted track points Creating a "shadow catcher"...
Page 226 Moving the target to attach content to different location To move the target so that you can attach content to a different location, do the following: 1. When above the center of the target, the "move" cursor appears for repositioning the target. 2.
Page 227 Show Track Points Identifies detected features as 3D points with perspective hinting (3D Solved) or 2D points captured by the feature track (2D Source). Render Track Points Controls if the track points are rendered as part of the effect. Note: When the effect is selected, track points are always shown, even if Render Track Points is not selected.
Page 228: Animating With Puppet Tools
Animating with Puppet tools Puppet tools overview and resources Manually animate an image with the Puppet tools Record animation by sketching motion with the Puppet Pin tool How the Puppet effect creates outlines Work with Puppet pins and the distortion mesh Puppet Overlap controls Puppet Starch controls To the top...
Page 229 You can use expressions to link the positions of Deform pins to motion tracking data, audio amplitude keyframes, or any other properties. Online resources for the Puppet tools For a video tutorial on using the Puppet tools, go to the Adobe website. Trish and Chris Meyer give tips for using the Puppet tools on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 230 If your composition contains audio, you can sketch motion in time with the audio. Before you begin recording motion, you may want to configure settings for recording. To open the Puppet Record Options dialog box, click Record Options in the Tools panel. Speed The ratio of the speed of the recorded motion to speed of playback.
Page 231 Outline for union of two shape paths, indicated by yellow highlight, visible because Puppet tool pointer is within area defined by outline To the top Work with Puppet pins and the distortion mesh To show the mesh for the Puppet effect, select Show in the options section of the Tools panel. To select or move a pin, click or drag it with the Move tool .
Page 232 Overlap pin with negative In Front value (top), and Overlap pin with positive In Front value (bottom) Each Overlap pin has the following properties: In Front The apparent proximity to the viewer. The influence of Overlap pins is cumulative, meaning that the In Front values are added together for places on the mesh where extents overlap.
Page 233 If you notice image tearing near a Deform pin, use a Starch pin with a very small Amount value (less than 0.1) near the Deform pin. Small Amount values are good for maintaining image integrity without introducing much rigidity. Extent How far from the Starch pin its influence extends. The influence ends abruptly; it does not decrease gradually with distance from the pin. Extent is indicated visually by a pale fill in the affected parts of the mesh.
Page 234: Time-Stretching And Time-Remapping
Time-stretching and time-remapping Time-stretch a layer Reverse the playback direction of a layer Reverse keyframes without reversing layer playback Time-remapping Frame blending Time-stretching, time-remapping, and the Timewarp effect are all useful for creating slow motion, fast motion, freeze frame, or other retiming results.
Page 235 column. To stretch the Out point to the current time, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you click the Out time for the layer in the Out column. Time-stretch a layer but not its keyframes When you time-stretch a layer, the positions of its keyframes stretch with it by default. You can circumvent this behavior by cutting and pasting keyframes.
Page 236 Time-remapping distorts time for a range of frames within a layer. When you apply time-remapping to a layer containing audio and video, the audio and video remain synchronized. You can remap audio files to gradually decrease or increase the pitch, play audio backward, or create a warbled or scratchy sound. Still-image layers cannot be time-remapped. You can remap time in either the Layer panel or the Graph Editor.
Page 237 By setting additional Time Remap keyframes, you can create complex motion results. Each time you add a Time Remap keyframe, you create another point at which you can change the speed or direction of playback. As you move the keyframe up or down in the value graph, you adjust which frame of the video is set to play at the current time.
Page 238 2. Choose Layer > Time > Enable Time Remapping. 3. In the Timeline panel, click the name of the Time Remap property to select it. 4. Move the current-time indicator to the time at which to add a keyframe, and click the keyframe button in the keyframe navigator to add a keyframe.
Page 239 6. Move the remap-time marker on the upper time ruler to the frame you want to display at the time indicated on the lower time ruler: To move the preceding portion of the layer forward, set the remap-time marker to a later time than the current-time indicator. To move the preceding portion of the layer backward, set the remap-time marker to an earlier time than the current-time indicator.
Page 240 The Quality setting you select also affects frame blending. When the layer is set to Best quality, frame blending results in smoother motion but may take longer to render than when set to Draft quality. Note: When working with a frame-blended layer in Draft mode, After Effects always uses Frame Mix interpolation to increase rendering speed. You can also enable frame blending for all compositions when you render a movie.
Page 241 Color...
Page 242: Color Basics
Color basics Color depth and high dynamic range color Select a color or edit a gradient Color correction, color grading, and color adjustment Resources for Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse Color models and color spaces Gamma and tone response Charles Poynton provides an excellent set of resources on his website regarding color technology and color terminology.
Page 243 Adobe Color Picker, you can also activate the eyedropper from the Adobe Color Picker dialog box. If you click a gradient swatch for a stroke or fill in a shape layer, or click Edit Gradient in the Timeline panel, the Adobe Color Picker opens as the Gradient Editor, with additional controls for editing gradients included at the top of the dialog box.
Page 244 Use System Color Picker setting. Use this script when you prefer to use the Adobe Color Picker for certain tasks, but the operating system color picker for others, and want a quick way to change this setting. This script works especially well in conjunction with the LaunchPad panel, with which running the PickerSwitcher script is as easy as clicking a button.
Page 245 To remove a stop, drag it away from the gradient bar, or select the stop and click Delete. To edit the value of a stop, select it and adjust the Opacity value or use the Adobe Color Picker controls beneath the gradient editor controls.
Page 246 Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse 3. (See Resources for Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse.) Additional resources for color correction and adjustment This article on the Adobe website collects several video tutorials and other resources for color correction and color grading in After Effects and Premiere Pro.
Page 247 For example, within the RGB color model are several color spaces, including—in decreasing order of gamut size— ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB, sRGB IEC61966-2.1, and Apple RGB. Although each of these color spaces defines color using the same three axes (R, G, and B), their gamuts and tone response curves are different.
Page 248 Project Settings). The Compensate For Scene-referred Profiles feature also exists in Adobe Photoshop CS4 and later, but this feature does not exist in other applications. To match the colors in other applications—including After Effects CS3 and earlier—disable this automatic conversion. When you open a project created in After Effects CS3 or earlier, the Compensate For Scene-referred Profiles option is deselected.
Page 249 You should create new projects without this option selected. For information on issues related to QuickTime Player and gamma adjustments, go to the Adobe website. Trish and Chris Meyer provide tips for dealing with gamma issues with QuickTime and H.264 on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 250: Color Management
Color management Color management and color profiles Calibrate and profile your monitor Choose a working color space and enable color management Linearize working space and enable linear blending Interpret a footage item by assigning an input color profile Assign an output color profile Enable or disable display color management Simulate how colors will appear on a different output device Broadcast-safe colors...
Page 251 Windows: Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Profiles You can create a custom ICC profile using Adobe Photoshop. In Photoshop, choose Edit > Color Settings. The RGB and CMYK menus in the Working Spaces area of the Photoshop Color Settings dialog box include options for saving and loading ICC profiles and defining custom profiles.
Page 252 16 bpc or 32 bpc, at least for rendering for final output. The working color space should match the output color space that has the largest gamut. For example, if you plan to output to Adobe RGB and sRGB, then use Adobe RGB as your working color space, because Adobe RGB has a larger gamut and can therefore represent more saturated colors.
Page 253 If you have enabled color management (by specifying a working color space), you can perform all color operations in linear light by linearizing the working color space. A linearized color space uses the same primaries and white point as the nonlinear version; the tone response curve for the linearized color space is just a straight line.
Page 254 You control color management for each output item using the Output Module Settings dialog box. Important: When you export to SWF format, you use the Export menu, not the Render Queue panel, so the output module settings are not available for this output type. If color management is enabled for the project, After Effects automatically converts colors from the working color space of the project to the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color space when exporting to SWF.
Page 255 Often, you need to preview how a movie will appear on a device other than your computer monitor. One purpose of color management is to ensure that colors look the same on every device, but color management in After Effects can’t overcome scenarios like the following: An output device for which you’re creating your movie has a smaller gamut than the working color space of your project, so the device is unable to represent some colors.
Page 256 To preview how a movie will look if you output the movie to one device and view it on another device, use different values for Output Profile and Simulation Profile, and select Preserve RGB. You can choose an output simulation preset for each view. Custom output simulation settings are shared between all views. To toggle between no output simulation and the most recently used output simulation, click the Show Channel And Color Management Settings button at the bottom of the viewer and choose Simulate Output.
Page 257 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 258: Drawing, Painting, And Paths
Drawing, painting, and paths...
Page 259: Paint Tools: Brush, Clone Stamp, And Eraser
For some painting, drawing, cloning, and retouching tasks, you may want to take advantage of the sophisticated paint tools provided by Adobe Photoshop. See Working with Photoshop and After Effects.
Page 260 Common paint tool settings in the Paint panel To use the Paint panel, first select a paint tool from the Tools panel. Opacity For Brush and Clone strokes, the maximum amount of paint applied. For Eraser strokes, the maximum amount of paint and layer color removed.
Page 261 Brush strokes using 100% roundness (left) and varying percentages (right) Hardness Controls the transition of a brush stroke from 100% opaque at the center to 100% transparent at the edges. Even with high Hardness settings, only the center is fully opaque. Hardness settings at 100% (left) and 0% hardness (right) Spacing The distance between the brush marks in a stroke, measured as a percentage of the brush diameter.
Page 262 3. In the Layer panel, drag with the Brush tool to paint on the layer. Each time you release the mouse button, you stop drawing a stroke. When you drag again, you create a new stroke. Shift-drag to resume drawing the previous stroke. Paint on individual frames with the Brush tool You can paint on individual frames over a series of frames to create an animation or to obscure unwanted details in your footage.
Page 263 Displaying the clone source overlay while cloning between two different layers A. Clone source overlay B. Current stroke point C. Current sample point Important: To specify settings for a paint stroke before you apply it, use the Paint and Brushes panels. To change and animate properties for a paint stroke after you’ve applied it, work with the properties of the stroke in the Timeline panel.
Page 264: Eraser Tool
Each clone stroke includes properties in the Timeline panel that are unique to the Clone Stamp tool and correspond to settings made in the Paint panel before the clone stroke is created: Clone Source The sampled layer. Clone Position The (x, y) location of the sample point within the source layer. Clone Time The composition time at which the source layer is sampled.
Page 265 Note: After Effects also includes a Write-on effect. (See Write-on effect.) 1. Select a paint tool in the Tools panel. 2. In the Paint panel, choose Write On from the Duration menu. 3. Drag in the Layer panel to apply a paint stroke to the layer. As you paint, your movements are recorded in real time and determine the rate at which the resulting stroke is drawn to the screen for output.
Page 266: Overview Of Shape Layers, Paths, And Vector Graphics
A path consists of segments and vertices. Segments are the lines or curves that connect vertices. Vertices define where each segment of a path starts and ends. Some Adobe applications use the terms anchor point and path point to refer to a vertex.
Page 267 Bezier shape paths, motion paths, and paths from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Adobe Fireworks. (See Creating shapes and masks.) For shape paths, you can use the Merge Paths path operation (similar to the Pathfinder effects in Adobe Illustrator) to combine multiple paths into one path. (See Merge Paths options.) When you want text or an effect to follow a path, the path must be a mask path.
Page 268 You can download additional animation presets that take advantage of per-character 3D text animation from the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website. Chris Zwar provides an animation preset on his website that creates a target cross-hair using a single shape layer, with a wide variety of custom properties that make controlling and modifying the cross-hair animation easy and obvious.
Page 269 A. Two shapes in a group B. Two paths in a compound shape C. Circle path with Wiggle Paths applied D. One stroke applied to all paths above it E. Star path in a group by itself F. One fill applied to all paths above it G. One path with two strokes Render order for shapes within a shape layer The rules for rendering a shape layer are similar to the rules for rendering a composition that contains nested compositions: Within a group, the shape at the bottom of the Timeline panel stacking order is rendered first.
Page 270 Introducing an additional Transform property group for a single path is useful, for example, for creating complex motion—such as spinning about one anchor point while also revolving along an orbit. The transformations of a group affect all shapes within the group; this behavior is the same as the behavior of layer parenting.
Page 271: Creating Shapes And Masks
Trace color or alpha channel values to create a mask using the Auto-trace command. (See Create a mask from a channel with Auto-trace.) Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks.) Convert a text layer to one or more editable masks on a solid-color layer by using the Create Masks From Text command.
Page 272 To the top Create a rectangular or elliptical mask numerically 1. Select a layer in the Composition panel, or display a layer in the Layer panel. 2. Choose Layer > Mask > New Mask. A new mask appears in the Composition or Layer panel with its handles at the outer edges of the frame.
Page 273 Convert a motion path to a shape path. (See Create a mask or shape from a motion path.) Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks.) Create a new, empty shape layer by choosing Layer >...
Page 274 To reposition a shape or mask as you are drawing, hold the spacebar or the middle mouse button while dragging. To scale a circle, ellipse, square, rounded square, rectangle, or rounded rectangle around its center while drawing, hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) key after you begin dragging.
Page 275 2. Click where you want to place the next vertex. To create a curved segment, drag the direction line handle to create the curve that you want. To reposition a vertex after you’ve clicked to place it but before you’ve released the mouse button, hold the spacebar while dragging. The last vertex that you add appears as a solid square, indicating that it is selected.
Page 276 To create an S-shaped curve, drag in the same direction as the previous direction line, and then release the mouse button. Drawing an S curve A. Starting to drag B. Dragging in same direction as previous direction line, creating an S curve C. Result after releasing mouse button 4.
Page 277 Path drawn in Adobe Illustrator (left) and pasted into After Effects as a mask (right) 1. In Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks, select an entire path, and then choose Edit > Copy. 2. In After Effects, do one of the following to define a target for the paste operation: To create a new mask, select a layer.
Page 278 Note: When copying between a mask path to a motion path, keep in mind that the mask path’s values are expressed in the coordinate system of the layer (layer space), whereas the motion path’s values are expressed in the coordinate system of the composition (composition space). This difference may cause the pasted path to be offset, requiring you to reposition the path after pasting it.
Page 279: Managing And Animating Shape Paths And Masks
Managing and animating shape paths and masks Rotoscoping introduction and resources View mask paths and shapes Select shape paths, shapes, and shape groups Select masks, segments, and vertices Lock or unlock masks Move vertices in free-transform mode Convert a path between manual Bezier and RotoBezier Modify a Bezier mask path or shape path Change a mask path numerically Designate the first vertex for a Bezier path...
Page 280 color-correct an actor's face. Scott Squires provides a pair of movies on his Effects Corner website that show how to rotoscope, both painting and masking: Rotoscoping - Part 1 Rotoscoping - Part 2 Chris and Trish Meyer provide some tips on animating masks, including using Smart Mask Interpolation, on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 281 For information on selecting masks, see Select masks, segments, and vertices. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS) with a shape vertex selected to select all vertices on that path. Press again to select all shapes. Press again to select all layers. Select a shape layer Click the layer name or layer duration bar in the Timeline panel.
Page 282 To deselect a mask, click anywhere other than on the mask. To remove a vertex or segment from a selection, Shift-click the vertex or segment. To use the Selection tool when the Pen tool is selected, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS). Select masks in the Timeline panel 1.
Page 283 The conversion of a RotoBezier path to a manual Bezier path does not change the shape of the path. 1. Select a mask in the Layer, Composition, or Timeline panel, or select a shape path in the Composition or Timeline panel. 2.
Page 284 ascending order from the first vertex. After Effects then assigns the same numbers to the corresponding vertices at all successive keyframes. After Effects interpolates the movement of each vertex from its initial position at one keyframe to the position of the correspondingly numbered vertex at the next keyframe.
Page 285 Interpolation works best when the mask paths have dense sets of vertices. Also, a vertex on the first mask path cannot match the middle of a curve or straight-line segment on the second mask path, so sometimes you must add vertices before matching to produce the desired result.
Page 286 Move a mask 1. Select the mask or masks you want to move. 2. In the Composition panel, drag the mask or masks to a new location. To constrain the movement of the mask or masks to horizontal or vertical, hold down Shift after you start dragging. Pan a layer behind its mask 1.
Page 287: Shape Attributes, Paint Operations, And Path Operations For Shape Layers
Shape attributes, paint operations, and path operations for shape layers Adding attributes to shape layers Strokes and fills for shapes Alter shapes with path operations To the top Adding attributes to shape layers After a shape layer has been created, you can add attributes—paths, paint operations, and path operations—by using the Add menu in the Tools panel or in the Timeline panel.
Page 288 The colors of strokes and fills for shape layers are not rendered as high-dynamic range colors. Color values under 0.0 or over 1.0 are clipped to fall within the range of 0.0 to 1.0. Choose stroke or fill type and blending options To choose a fill type or stroke type for new shapes, or set the blending mode or opacity for a fill or stroke for new shapes, click the underlined Fill or Stroke text control in the Tools panel.
Page 289 Butt Cap The stroke ends at the end of the path. Round Cap The stroke extends beyond the end of the path for a number of pixels equal to the stroke width in pixels. The cap is a semicircle. Projecting Cap The stroke extends beyond the end of the path for a number of pixels equal to the stroke width in pixels.
Page 290 Pucker & Bloat Pulls the vertices of a path outward while curving the segments inward (Pucker), or pulls the vertices inward while curving the segments outward (Bloat). Repeater Creates multiple copies of a shape, applying a specified transformation to each copy. (See Using the Repeater to replicate shapes.) Round Corners...
Page 291 Merge Paths options A. Add for all shapes B. Subtract for squares C. Intersect for squares D. Exclude Intersections for squares Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to combine multiple paths into a single compound shape using the Merge Paths path operation.
Page 292 modify the horizontal values, and another instance to modify vertical values. The Offset property value is used to offset the transformations by a specific number of copies. For example, if the Copies value is 10 and the Offset value is 3, then the original shape is transformed by 3 times the amount specified in the Transform property group, and the last copy is transformed by 12 times the amount specified in the Transform property group.
Page 293 Text...
Page 294: Creating And Editing Text Layers
Vertical and horizontal point text (left), and paragraph text in a bounding box (right) You can copy text from other applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, or any text editor, and paste it into a text layer in After Effects. Because After Effects also supports Unicode characters, you can copy and paste these characters between After Effects and any other application that also supports Unicode (which includes all Adobe applications).
Page 295 You can either create one text layer from all of the text, or you can create one layer for each line in the text file. The script also provides options for leading and other spacing. Todd Kopriva provides an example script on the Adobe website that demonstrates the text formatting features available through the scripting interface.
Page 296 When you enter point text, it is created using the properties currently set in the Character panel. You can change these properties later by selecting the text and modifying settings in the Character panel. 1. Do one of the following to create a text layer: Choose Layer >...
Page 297 To select all text in a text layer and activate the most recently used type tool, double-click the text layer in the Timeline panel. Online resources for selecting and editing text in text layers Jeff Almasol provides a script on his redefinery website for editing the source text of text layers.
Page 298 Note: You can’t convert text in text-editing mode. 2. Using a type tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) anywhere in the Composition panel, and choose Horizontal or Vertical. To the top Convert text from Photoshop to editable text Text layers from Photoshop retain their style and remain editable in After Effects. If you imported the Photoshop document as merged layers, then you must first select the layer and choose Layer >...
Page 299: Formatting Characters And The Character Panel
Mac OS Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts If you install a Type 1, TrueType, OpenType, or CID font into the local Fonts folder, the font appears in Adobe applications only. If the formatting for a character specifies a font that is unavailable on your computer system, another font will be substituted, and the missing font name will appear in brackets.
Page 300 or click in the Font Family menu box, and press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow. Click the arrow to the right of the Font Family menu box, and press the key for the first letter of the font family name. Press the key again to advance through the font families with names that begin with that letter.
Page 301 To specify tracking, set a numeric value for Tracking in the Character panel. To the top Text fills and strokes For text, a fill is applied to the area inside the shape of an individual character; a stroke is applied to the outline of the character. After Effects applies a stroke to a character by centering the stroke on the character’s path;...
Page 302 2. Choose a blending mode from the Inter-Character Blending menu. Note: To blend a text layer with the layers beneath it, specify a blending mode from the Modes column in the Timeline panel. Inter-character blending is not available for text layers with per-character 3D properties. To the top Text scale and baseline shift Horizontal scale and vertical scale specify the proportion between the height and width of the text.
Page 303 Original layer (left) and after tate-chuu-yoko is applied (right) 1. Select the characters that you want to rotate. 2. Choose Tate-Chuu-Yoko from the Character panel menu. (A check mark indicates that the option is turned on. To turn off the option, choose Tate-Chuu-Yoko again.) Note: You open the panel menu by clicking the panel menu button in the upper-right tab of the panel.
Page 304: Formatting Paragraphs And The Paragraph Panel
Formatting paragraphs and the Paragraph panel Align and justify text Indent and space paragraphs Hanging punctuation for Roman fonts Text composition methods A paragraph is any range of text with a carriage return at the end. Use the Paragraph panel to set options that apply to entire paragraphs, such as the alignment, indentation, and leading (line spacing).
Page 305 Adobe Single-line Composer Offers a traditional approach to composing text one line at a time. This option is useful if you prefer to have manual control over how lines break. If spacing must be adjusted, the Single-line Composer first tries to compress, rather than expand text.
Page 306: Animating Text
Browse and apply text animation presets as you would any other animation presets. You can browse and apply animation presets in After Effects using the Effects & Presets panel or Adobe Bridge. To open the Presets folder in Adobe Bridge, choose Browse Presets from the Effects &...
Page 307 Chris and Trish Meyer provide an in-depth look at animation presets—including behaviors and text animation presets—in a PDF excerpt from their book Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects on their website. To the top Animate text with text animators Animating text with animators and selectors consists of three basic steps: Add an animator to specify which properties to animate.
Page 308 Animating the opacity of a text layer using the Opacity animator and the End property You can create elaborate animations using several animators and several selectors, each of which adds its influence to the text animation. To the top Text animator properties Animator properties work much like other layer properties, except that their values only influence the characters that are selected by the selectors for the animator group.
Page 309 Rotation, X Rotation, Y Rotation, Z Rotation If per-character 3D properties are enabled, you can set the rotation about each axis individually. Otherwise, only Rotation (which is the same as Z Rotation) is available. All Transform Properties All of the Transform properties are added at once to the animator group. Line Anchor The alignment for the tracking in each line of text.
Page 310 characters. At 50%, half of each property value affects the characters. This option is useful for animating the result of animator properties over time. Using an expression selector, you can use expressions to dynamically set this option. Units and Based On The units for Start, End, and Offset.
Page 311 Correlation Correlation between variations for each character. At 100%, all characters wiggle by the same amount at the same time, and at 0%, all characters wiggle independently. Temporal and Spatial Phase (revolutions + degrees) The variation of wiggle, based on the phase of your animation in time (temporal) or per character (spatial).
Page 312 Original text, then rotated and with Grouping Alignment set to Character, Word, and Line 1. Expand the text layer in the Timeline panel, and expand the More Options property group. 2. Do any of the following: Choose how to group the character anchor points from the Anchor Point Grouping menu. Lower the Grouping Alignment values to move each anchor point up and to the left.
Page 313 Adobe website. Trish and Chris Meyer introduce per-character 3D text animation in n a video on the ProVideo Coalition website. Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that demonstrates how to use per-character 3D text animation to animate text along a path in the shape of a 3D tornado.
Page 315 See this page on the Adobe website for a full list of qualified video cards that are capable of rendering a Ray-traced 3D composition. Depending on your hardware and complexity of your composition, objects within Ray-traced 3D compositions can be difficult to manipulate. If you are having a difficult time manipulating objects in the Ray-traced 3D composition, you can use Fast Previews.
Page 316 Layer styles Masks and effects on continuously rasterized layers, including text and shape layers Masks and effects on 3D precomposition layers with collapsed transformations Preserve Underlying Transparency To the top Additional features of a Ray-traced 3D composition Features of a Ray-traced 3D composition also include: Bending footage and composition layers Additional material options (reflection, index of refraction, transparency) Environment layer support...
Page 317 These new 3D objects are based on the geometry of swept surfaces, which is a radical departure from the pixel-based text and shapes in the Classic 3D renderer. As such, masking, effects, and track mattes don't make sense when applied to geometry. The geometrical properties of text and shapes are preserved, so character styles like kerning, font size, and subscript are supported.
Page 318 curved object if looking directly at it). Index of Refraction: Controls how light bends through 3D layers, and hence how objects behind a semitransparent layer appear. For a list of indexes, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices. These properties are applied to all surfaces of a 3D text or 3D shape layer, but you can override them with text animators or shape operators.
Page 319 environment layer to be used as a backdrop and source of reflections in 3D scenes. Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons. Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 320: Examples And Resources For Text Animation
Example: Animate text with multiple selectors Example: Animate text position with expressions Example: Animate text as a timecode display For a video tutorial on animating text, go to the Adobe website at Adobe website. Chris and Trish Meyer provide a video tutorial on the ProVideo Coalition website about entering, editing, formatting, and typesetting text.
Page 321 3. Choose Animation > Animate Text > Enable Per-character 3D. 4. Choose Animation > Animate Text > Position. 5. Choose Animation > Animate Text > Rotation. 6. In the Timeline panel, in the Animator group, set the X Rotation property to 45, and set the Position value to (0.0, 0.0, -100.0). 7.
Page 322 Animating the color and position of the characters in the word Galaxy 1. Create a new composition. 2. Create a new text layer with the word Galaxy and set the color to blue in the Character panel. 3. Choose Animation > Animate Text > Position. 4.
Page 323 To the top Example: Use selectors to animate specific words This example shows how to use selectors to limit an animation to a specific word. Animating the skew values in the characters in the word Speeding 1. Create a new composition. 2.
Page 324 9. Expand the Amount property to reveal the expression. The following expression appears by default: selectorValue * textIndex/textTotal 10. Replace the default expression text with the following expression: r_val=selectorValue[0]; if(r_val < 50)r_val=0; if(r_val > 50)r_val=100; r_val 11. Set the opacity to 0%, and preview the composition. To the top Example: Animate text position with expressions This example uses the textIndex and textTotal attributes with the wiggle expression to animate a line of text.
Page 325 Transparency and compositing...
Page 326: Compositing Overview
Adobe Photoshop is an excellent application for performing many compositing tasks, including defining areas of transparency using its selection and painting tools. You can use Adobe Photoshop together with After Effects for optimum efficiency and best results when doing compositing work.
Page 327 To the top Compositing fog, smoke, and clouds Mark Christiansen provides tips and detailed techniques for creating and compositing fog, smoke, mist, rain, and snow in the “Climate: Air, Water, Smoke, Clouds in After Effects” chapter of After Effects Studio Techniques on the Peachpit Press website.
Page 328: Alpha Channels, Masks, And Mattes
QuickTime (saved at a bit depth of Millions Of Colors+), can also contain alpha channels, depending upon the codec (encoder) used to generate the images stored in these containers. For Adobe Illustrator EPS and PDF files, After Effects automatically converts empty areas to an alpha channel.
Page 329: About Masks
arbitrary. Some formats may use other channels for transparency information, and other formats may use the fourth channel for something other than transparency information. The Knoll Unmult plug-in can be used to create an alpha channel from the dark areas of a layer. This works well for a layer with a light effect (such as a lens flare or fire) that you want to composite on top of another layer.
Page 330 Note: When working with a mask path—rather than the entire mask, including its other properties—select the Mask Path property. This is especially important when transferring mask paths to shape paths, motion paths, and so on. To copy or cut selected masks to the clipboard, choose Edit > Copy or Edit > Cut. To duplicate selected masks, choose Edit >...
Page 331 1. In the Timeline panel, expand the Mask properties of the layer you want to adjust. 2. Drag the underlined value for Mask Expansion. Todd Kopriva provides a visual aid and further explanation regarding mask expansion—and why it creates rounded corners—on his blog on the Adobe website. To the top Soften (feather) the edges of a mask Feathering softens the edges of a mask by fading it from more transparent to less transparent over a user-defined distance.
Page 332 Results for different Mask Feather values A. Masked layer with 5-pixel feather B. Masked layer with 40-pixel feather C. Result with 5-pixel feather D. Result with 40-pixel feather You can also extend or contract the mask edges using the Mask Expansion property to control where the mask feathering appears. (See Expand or contract the edges of a mask.)
Page 333 Contribute your expertise to Adobe Community Help Tips for variable-width mask feathering (Mask Feather tool) Temporarily switch between Pen and Mask Feather tools by holding down the 'G' shortcut. You can turn this behavior off in Edit > Preferences > General (Windows), or After Effects > Preferences > General (Mac OS).
Page 334 Hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (MacOS) key when hovering over a tangent handle to switch to the Convert Vertex tool. To the top Track mattes and traveling mattes When you want one layer to show through holes defined by another layer, set up a track matte. For example, you can use a text layer as a track matte for a video layer to allow the video to only show through the shapes defined by the text characters.
Page 335 The free trial version of Adobe After Effects software does not include some features that depend upon software licensed from parties other than Adobe. For example, mocha shape for After Effects, and some effect plug-ins are available only with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.
Page 336 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 337 Some keying effects—such as the Color Key effect and the Luma Key effect—have been superseded by more modern effects like Keylight. For a video tutorial on keying with Keylight, go to the Adobe website. Mark Christiansen provides tips and techniques for using Keylight in an excerpt from his book...
Page 338 Keying footage that was not acquired correctly is much more difficult than is keying footage that was acquired with keying in mind. For best results, use Adobe OnLocation™ to monitor color and lighting as you acquire footage for color keying.
Page 339 2. Apply one or more keying effects to mask out the remainder of the background. 3. Apply Matte effects as necessary to fine-tune the matte. Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to create a super-tight garbage matte using Auto-trace. To the top Use a hold-out matte Use a hold-out matte (also known as a hold-back matte) to patch a scene to which a keying effect has been applied.
Page 340 Online resources for the Roto Brush tool and Refine Matte effect For a collection of video tutorials and resources about the Roto Brush tool, see this article on the Adobe website. For a video that demonstrates the use of the Roto Brush tool to quickly create a matte for selective color correction, see the Adobe website.
Page 341 Try for a segmentation boundary that is within a couple of pixels of your desired edge. You can modify properties in the Roto Brush effect, such as Smooth, to refine the initial segmentation further. (See Roto Brush effect and Refine Matte effect reference.) You can resize the Roto Brush tool’s tip to make finer strokes.
Page 342 To manually change a span duration, drag either end of a span. To delete a span, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a span and choose Remove Span. To delete all spans, delete the instance of the Roto Brush effect. When you move to a frame within a span, After Effects must calculate how the stroke information from the other frames in the span affects the frame to which you've moved.
Page 343 Favor Predicted Edges. Use Alternate Color Estimation Subtly changes the process by which the Roto Brush effect determines what is foreground and what is background. Sometimes checking it helps with segmentation; sometimes it doesn't. Invert Foreground/Background Inverts which strokes are considered foreground strokes and which strokes are considered background strokes in the segmentation phase of the Roto Brush effect.
Page 344 or Option+5). Note: Alpha Boundary view mode is turned off when the View menu in the Layer panel is changed to anything other than Roto Brush. Alpha Overlay Shows source layer with foreground unchanged and background overlaid with a solid color (Alt+6 or Option+6). Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 345: Effects And Animation Presets
Effects and animation presets...
Page 346: Effects And Animation Presets Overview
You can browse and apply animation presets in After Effects using the Effects & Presets panel or Adobe Bridge. To open the Presets folder in Adobe Bridge, choose Browse Presets from the Effects & Presets panel menu or from the Animation menu.
Page 347 Many effect plug-ins are written in C/C++; increasingly, many image-manipulation effect plug-ins are written in the Adobe Pixel Bender language. Because effects are implemented as plug-ins, you can install and use additional effects that parties other than Adobe provide, including effects that you create yourself.
Page 348 Imagineer mocha shape, fnord ProEXR, and Cycore FX (CC) (CS5.5, and earlier), CycoreFX HD (CC)(CS6) plug-ins. These plug-ins are installed by default with the full version of Adobe After Effects software. Some of these plug-ins are not included with the trial version of Adobe After Effects.
Page 349 Alan Shisko provides a video tutorial on the ProVideo Coalition website that demonstrates the use of the CC RepeTile effect. Bob Donlon provides a pair of tutorials about the CC Particle Systems II effect on the Adobe website: simulating fire simulating fireworks...
Page 350 more convenient controls for many kinds of properties, such as sliders, effect control point buttons, and histograms. The Effect Controls panel is a viewer, which means that you can have Effect Controls panels for multiple layers open at once and can use the viewer menu in the tab of the panel to select layers.
Page 351 Command+Option+Shift+E (Mac OS). To apply an animation preset to one or more layers using Adobe Bridge, select the layers, choose Animation > Browse Presets, navigate to the animation preset, and then double-click it. To apply the effect settings from an animation preset to the current instance of an effect, choose the animation preset name from the Animation Presets menu for the effect in the Effect Controls panel.
Page 352 This section provides a list of animation presets included with the full version of After Effects CS5, and later. Note: Animation presets marked with an asterisk (*) are included in the package of additional animation presets provided by Adobe on the...
Page 353 Apparition Blocks Cinders Circuit Cosmic Power Creepy Curtain Deep Tissue Fog Lights Germs Green Crystals Indigestion Infection Lightning Bend Magma Pixels Racing Rectangles Red Speed River Rose Light Silk Smoke Rising Sweeping Curves Behaviors Autoscroll - horizontal Autoscroll - vertical Drift Over Time Fade In Over Layer Below Fade In+Out - frames...
Page 354 Image - Creative Bloom - brights+darks Bloom - brights Bloom - crystallize Colorize - blue wash Colorize - gold dip Colorize - infrared Colorize - moonshadows Colorize - red hand tint Colorize - royal purple Colorize - sepia Colorize - sky blue Colorize - sky orange Colorize - sunset gradient Contrast - luminance...
Page 355 Crop Edges Flip + Flop Flip Flop Invert Alpha Keying - blue blur Keying - green blur Levels - computer to video Levels - video to computer Reduce DV blockiness Sample Image Expression Shapes Backgrounds Box Swarm Kaleidoscopic Nerve Net - Circular Nerve Net - Linear Nerve Net - Penta Backgrounds 2*...
Page 356 Kaleidorganic* Kaleidoscopic Seaweed* Light Bulb Sign* Mandathorns* Neon Flower* Protection* Pulsing Snake* Radar Stopwatch* Spiral Magic* Swoop* Tunnel Drain* Woven Celtic* Woven Springs* Lower Thirds* LT_blue double slant+anim* LT_blue double-still* LT_dashed underscore-still* LT_double bubble-still* LT_fade bar-still* LT_neutral gradient+anim* LT_neutral gradient-still* LT_red skew glow+anim* LT_slant underscore-still* LT_underhook-still*...
Page 357 Crosshair - brackets Crosshair - round Crosshair - square Fan Blades Flower Power Gear Holy Light Indian Sun Mandala RayStar-4 RayStar-8 Rounded Bracket - beveled Rounded Bracket - double Seaside Daisy Tri Cog Sprites - Still 2* Spiral* Sunflower - still* Symbol Families* Braille* (numbers, letters, punctuation, contractions, and fragments) I Ching* (hexagrams and trigrams)
Page 358 Text 3D Text 3D Basic Position Z Cascade 3D Basic Position Z Typeon 3D Basic Rotate X Cascade 3D Basic Rotate Y Cascade 3D Bouncing In Centered 3D Fall Back Scale & Skew 3D Fall Back Scramble & Blur 3D Flip In Rotate X 3D Flip Out Rotate X 3D Flip Up Reflection 3D Flutter In From Left...
Page 359 3D Tumble X and Turn* 3D Twisty Ribbons* 3D Unsteady Swing* 3D Words Jump in XYZ* 3D Words Wiggles in XYZ* Animate In Center Spiral Characters Shuffle In Decoder Fade In Drop In By Character Espresso Eye Chart Fade Up And Flip Fade Up Characters Fade Up Lines Fade Up Words...
Page 360 Stretch Out Each Line Stretch Out Each Word Twirl Off Each Line Twirl Off Each Word Blurs Blur By Word Bullet Train Evaporate Foggy Jiggy Transporter Curves and Spins Bloom Flower Clockwise Entry Counter Rotate Dust Devil Lasso Tumble Lasso Musical Chairs Newton Pinwheel...
Page 361 Flicker Color - scale Flicker Color Flicker Green Inflammation Pulse Blue Pulse Orange Pulsing Strokes Rotate Hue Sliding Color Flicker Stroke Ease Down Wiggly Stroke Width By Line Wiggly Stroke Width Graphical Bars Blinky Bars Lime Blue Note Cut Shapes Exchange Green Dots Hazard...
Page 362 Algorithm Loop Algorithm Automation Bad Reception Doppler Electro Magnet Helicopter Insert Text Kinematic Mechanical Pistons Rack & Pinion Roadtrip Scale Bounce Screen Roll Stairstep Submarine Underscore Warp 9.8 Miscellaneous Angle Fly-In Back Flip Blow Away Bounce In Bungee Chaotic Clay Pigeons Dot.Com Elbow Room Explosion...
Page 363 Twisty Ribbons Vanishing Point Wiggly Lines Yo-Yo Multi-Line Alphabet Soup Contract - Expand Currents Data Packet Data Stream Dealer Encryption Fly In By Characters Fly In By Words Front - Back Frontside - Backside Ideas Incoming Jetstream 2 Jetstream Multi-Line Flip Outgoing - Incoming Pneumatic Production...
Page 364 Insects Labrador Leapfrog Loose Line Ocean Tide Quiver Ripple Rubber Floor Rubber Sea-Sick Shuffle Simmer Slice And Dice Sprouts Tag Team Wheatfield Wind Current Wobble Paths 360 Loop Antelope Ants Back Stage Balance Balloon Man Balloon Bouncing Bubble Pop Bump And Slide On Centipede Circuit Board Conveyor Belt...
Page 365 Raquetball Rat Nest Reel To Reel Rope Bridge Serpent Slippery Slope Spiral Long Spiral Springy Squirmy Stairwell Symmetry Tchotchke Walk Of Stars Zig-Zag Rotation Drip Down Flip Up Full Rotation Loopy Loop Random Rotation Rotate Chars Rotate Per Word Spin In Swirly Rotation Whirlwind Scale...
Page 366 Transform Separate XYZ Position See Separate dimensions of Position to animate components individually. Transitions Transitions - Dissolves Block Dissolve - digital Block Dissolve - random Block Dissolve - scanlines Boxes - concentric NTSC Boxes - concentric PAL Boxes - random NTSC Boxes - random PAL Boxes - stroked NTSC Boxes - stroked PAL...
Page 367 Stretch Over - vertical Zoom - 2D spin Zoom - 3D tumble Zoom - bubble Zoom - spiral Zoom - wobbling Transitions - Wipes Band Wipe - build NTSC Band Wipe - build PAL Band Wipe - crossing NTSC Band Wipe - crossing PAL Band Wipe - zigzag NTSC Band Wipe - zigzag PAL Barn Doors...
Page 368: Effect List
Obsolete effects Note: Effects marked as third-party effects are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. However, After Effects CS5.5 and later does include the Keylight effect in the trial version. For information about these effects, see Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects.
Page 369 Sharpen effect Smart Blur effect Unsharp Mask effect Third-party effects: CC Cross Blur effect (CS6) CC Radial Blur effect CC Radial Fast Blur effect CC Vector Blur effect To the top Channel effects Arithmetic effect Blend effect Calculations effect Channel Combiner effect Compound Arithmetic effect Invert effect Minimax effect...
Page 370 Leave Color effect Levels effect Levels (Individual Controls) effect Photo Filter effect PS Arbitrary Map effect Selective Color effect Shadow/Highlight effect Tint effect Tritone effect Vibrance effect Third-party effects: CC Color Neutralizer effect (CS6) CC Color Offset effect CC Kernel effect (CS6) CC Toner effect To the top Distort effects...
Page 371 CC Lens effect CC Page Turn effect CC Power Pin effect CC Ripple Pulse effect CC Slant effect CC Smear effect CC Split effect CC Split 2 effect CC Tiler effect To the top Expression Controls effects See Expression Controls effects. Angle Control effect Checkbox Control effect Color Control effect...
Page 372 CC Light Rays effect CC Light Sweep effect CC Threads effect (CS6) To the top Keying effects Color Difference Key effect Color Key effect Color Range effect Difference Matte effect Extract effect Inner/Outer Key effect Linear Color Key effect Luma Key effect Spill Suppressor effect Third-party effects: CC Simple Wire Removal effect...
Page 373 CC Cylinder effect CC Environment effect (CS6) CC Sphere effect CC Spotlight effect To the top Simulation effects Card Dance effect Caustics effect Foam effect Particle Playground effect Shatter effect Wave World effect Third-party effects: CC Ball Action effect CC Bubbles effect CC Drizzle effect CC Hair effect CC Mr.
Page 374 CC Glass effect CC Kaleida effect CC Mr. Smoothie effect CC Plastic effect (CS6) CC RepeTile effect CC Threshold effect CC Threshold RGB effect To the top Text effects Numbers effect Timecode effect To the top Time effects Echo effect Posterize Time effect Time Difference effect Time Displacement effect...
Page 375 To the top Utility effects Apply Color LUT effect Cineon Converter effect Color Profile Converter effect Grow Bounds effect HDR Compander effect HDR Highlight Compression effect Third-party effects: CC Overbrights effect (CS6) To the top Obsolete effects Effects in the Obsolete category are retained for compatibility with projects created with previous versions of After Effects. When updating projects or creating new projects, you should use alternative effects and techniques rather than effects in the Obsolete category.
Page 376: D Channel Effects
Composition panel or Layer panel using the Selection tool. Lutz Albrecht provides a two-part document on the Adobe website about integrating 3D applications with After Effects. These articles cover the creation of UV maps, mattes, and channels from various 3D applications, including Maxon Cinema 4D, NewTek Lightwave, and Luxology modo.
Page 377 Original (left), with 3D Channel Extract applied using Texture UV (right) Much of the following information is based on information provided by Lutz Albrecht, who also provides a two-part document on the Adobe website about integrating 3D applications with After Effects: White Point, Black Point The value that is mapped to white or black.
Page 378 Original (upper-left), with effect applied (lower-left), and with effect applied and Invert Alpha selected (lower-right) Depth The z-axis value at which to slice the image. Everything with a depth value less than this Depth value is matted out. To determine the depth of an object, click it in the Composition panel or Layer panel using the Selection tool while the effect is selected. Feather The amount of feather along the edges of the matte.
Page 379 kind rendered out of a 3D application. For general information on 3D Channel effects, see About 3D Channel effects, including ProEXR effects. For information about simulating fog in After Effects, see Compositing fog, smoke, and clouds. Original (upper-left), Gradient Layer (lower-left), and with Fog 3D applied (lower-right) Fog Start Depth Where along the z axis the diffuse scattering begins.
Page 380 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 381: Audio Effects
Audio effects Backwards effect Bass & Treble effect Delay effect Flange & Chorus effect High-Low Pass effect Modulator effect Parametric EQ effect Reverb effect Stereo Mixer effect Tone effect Trish and Chris Meyer provide tips about audio effects on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 382: Reverb Effect
Dry Out, Wet Out The amounts of the original (dry) sound and delayed (wet) sound in the final output. Values of 50% are commonly used. To the top High-Low Pass effect The High-Low Pass effect sets a limit above or below which frequencies can pass. High Pass allows frequencies above the limit and blocks frequencies below.
Page 383 Stereo Mixer effect The Stereo Mixer effect mixes the left and right channels of audio and pans the entire signal from one channel to the other. Invert Phase Inverts the phase of both channels of the stereo signal. Use this control to prevent two sounds at the same frequency from canceling each other out.
Page 384: Blur And Sharpen Effects
Bilateral Blur effect. The result is a softer, dreamier look than that achieved by the Smart Blur effect with equivalent settings. The result of the Bilateral Blur effect is very similar to the result of the Surface Blur filter in Adobe Photoshop.
Page 385 For details, tutorials, and resources about the Camera Lens Blur effect, camera depth-of-field settings, and camera commands new in After Effects CS5.5 and later, see this article on the Adobe website. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.
Page 386 Effects CS5 or earlier using the Lens Blur effect retains that effect when opened in After Effects CS5.5 and later. However, you cannot directly apply the Lens Blur effect in After Effects CS5.5 or later. To the top Channel Blur effect The Channel Blur effect individually blurs the red, green, blue, or alpha channels of a layer.
Page 387 When layer quality is set to Best, Fast Blur is a close approximation of Gaussian Blur. Stu Maschwitz compares the Box Blur, Fast Blur, and Gaussian Blur effects in a post on his ProLost blog. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. Original (left), and with effect applied (right) To the top Gaussian Blur effect...
Page 388 Iris Rotation The rotation of the iris. Iris Radius The size of the iris. Increase this value for greater blur. Specular Threshold All pixels with a brightness value greater than Specular Threshold are treated as specular highlights. Specular Brightness Brightness of specular highlights. Noise controls Film grain and noise are removed when you blur an image.
Page 389 Original (left), and with effect applied (right) This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. Radius How far the filter searches for dissimilar pixels to blur. Threshold How different the values of pixels should be before they are eliminated. Mode What parts of the image receive the blur. Normal specifies that the blur be applied to the entire selection, whereas Edge Only and Overlay Edge specify that the blur be applied only to the edges of color transitions.
Page 390: Channel Effects
Channel effects Additional resources about Channel effects Arithmetic effect Blend effect Calculations effect Channel Combiner effect Compound Arithmetic effect Invert effect Minimax effect Remove Color Matting effect Set Channels effect Set Matte effect Shift Channels effect Solid Composite effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: CC Composite effect See Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects.
Page 391 This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. John Dickinson explains the use of the Blend effect in an entry in the A-Z series on the Motionworks website. Blend With Layer The layer to blend with (the secondary or control layer). Note: To use a layer as a control layer for the Blend effect but not show the layer in the rest of the composition, deselect the control Video switch for the control layer.
Page 392 combined with 0% saturation, which then gives the hue no influence. When you select Saturation Only, the applied saturation values are combined with 0% hue and 50% lightness. Invert Inverts (subtracts from 1.0) the output channel values. Solid Alpha Makes the alpha channel value 1.0 (complete opacity) throughout the layer. To the top Compound Arithmetic effect The Compound Arithmetic effect mathematically combines the layer to which it is applied with a control layer.
Page 393 Remove Color Matting effect. Todd Kopriva provides a post on the Adobe website that describes the use of the Remove Color Matting and Shift Channels effects to remove black backgrounds from images.
Page 394 This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. Take Channel From The channel to use as a source. Todd Kopriva provides a post on the Adobe website that describes the use of the Remove Color Matting and Shift Channels effects to remove black backgrounds from images.
Page 395 The rolling shutter repair effect (CS6) A common problem for DSLR and other CMOS sensor-based cameras is that they typically have a lag time between scanning lines of video. Since not all parts of the video are recorded at the same time, this can cause Digital cameras with CMOS sensors often have a rolling shutter, which captures a frame of video one scan line at a time.
Page 396: Color Correction Effects
Color Correction effects Auto Color and Auto Contrast effects Auto Levels effect Black & White effect Brightness & Contrast effect Broadcast Colors effect Change Color effect Change To Color effect Channel Mixer effect Color Balance effect Color Balance (HLS) effect Color Link effect Color Stabilizer effect Colorama effect...
Page 397 Setting the clipping values too high reduces detail in the shadows or highlights. A value in the range from 0.0% to 1% is recommended. By default, shadow and highlight pixels are clipped by 0.1%—that is, the first 0.1% of either extreme is ignored when the darkest and lightest pixels in the image are identified.
Page 398 Broadcast Locale The broadcast standard for your intended output. NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) is the North American standard and is also used in Japan. PAL (Phase Alternating Line) is used in most of Western Europe and South America. How To Make Color Safe How to reduce signal amplitude: Reduce Luminance Reduces the brightness of a pixel by moving it toward black.
Page 399 After Effects that use the Color Balance (HLS) effect. For new projects, use the Hue/Saturation effect, which operates the same as the Hue/Saturation command in Adobe Photoshop. You can convert a movie to grayscale by setting the Saturation to –100.
Page 400 Guy Chen provides an example on the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website that uses the Fractal Noise effect to generate the base noise (in this case for the turbulent surface of the Sun) and then colorizes the noise with the Colorama effect.
Page 401 color, and slightly to the right for the start color. To duplicate a triangle, Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Mac OS) the triangle. To delete a triangle, drag it away from the wheel. To change the opacity, select a triangle on the color wheel and then drag the attached triangle above the opacity slider. Make sure that Modify Alpha is selected if you want the opacity information to affect your output.
Page 402 The Equalize effect alters the pixel values of an image to produce a more consistent brightness or color component distribution. The effect works similarly to the Equalize command in Adobe Photoshop. Pixels with 0 alpha (completely transparent) values aren’t considered, so masked layers are equalized based on the mask area.
Page 403 wheel. Adjusting the hue, or color, represents a move around the color wheel. Adjusting the saturation, or purity of the color, represents a move across its radius. Use the Colorize control to add color to a grayscale image converted to RGB, or to add color to an RGB image. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.
Page 404 The Levels effect remaps the range of input color or alpha channel levels onto a new range of output levels, with a distribution of values determined by the gamma value. This effect functions much the same as the Levels adjustment in Photoshop. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.
Page 405 Photo Filter effect The Photo Filter effect mimics the technique of putting a colored filter in front of the camera lens to adjust the color balance and color temperature of the light transmitted through the lens and exposing the film. You can choose a color preset to apply a hue adjustment to an image, or you can specify a custom color using the color picker or the eyedropper.
Page 406 Relative Changes the existing amount of cyan, magenta, yellow, or black by its percentage of the total. For example, if you start with a pixel that is 50% magenta and add 10%, 5% is added to the magenta (10% of 50% = 5%) for a total of 55% magenta. (This option cannot adjust pure specular white, which contains no color components.) Absolute Adjusts the color in absolute values.
Page 407 The Tint effect tints a layer by replacing the color values of each pixel with a value between the colors specified by Map Black To and Map White To. Pixels with luminance values between black and white are assigned intermediate values. Amount To Tint specifies the intensity of the effect. For more complex tinting, use the Colorama effect.
Page 408: Distort Effects
Distort effects Additional resources for Distort effects Resources for Digieffects FreeForm Bezier Warp effect Bulge effect Corner Pin effect Displacement Map effect Liquify effect Magnify effect Mesh Warp effect Mirror effect Offset effect Optics Compensation effect Polar Coordinates effect Reshape effect Ripple effect Smear effect Spherize effect...
Page 409 Toolfarm hosts a Digieffects forum on Toolfarm website, where expert users of FreeForm post tutorials and answer questions. Todd Kopriva provides links to additional resources for Digieffects FreeForm on the Adobe website. To the top Bezier Warp effect The Bezier Warp effect shapes an image using a closed Bezier curve along the boundary of a layer. The curve consists of four segments. Each segment has three points (a vertex and two tangents).
Page 410 Original (upper-left), and with variations of Bulge applied (lower-left and right) Horizontal Radius and Vertical Radius The width and height of the distorted area, in pixels. You can also set the radius values by dragging the selection handles in the layer. Bulge Height The apparent depth of the bulge.
Page 411 Original (upper-left), displacement map (lower-left), and displaced image (lower-right) The displacement is determined from the color values of the displacement map. The color values range from 0 to 255. Each value is converted into a scale ranging from -1 to 1. The displacement amount is calculated by multiplying the converted value by the maximum displacement amount you specify.
Page 412 Original (upper-left), and with variations of Liquify applied (lower-left and right) Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial on his Video Copilot website that demonstrates the use of the Liquify effect to distort (morph) a human face into the face of a demon. Mask properties Freeze Area Mask Determines the area of the image in which mask opacity and feather settings affect the distortion.
Page 413 1. Select the Reconstruction tool, and then choose a mode from the Reconstruction Mode pop-up menu: Revert Changes unfrozen areas back to their predistorted state. Displace Reconstructs unfrozen areas to match the displacement at the starting point for the reconstruction. You can use Displace to move all or part of the preview image to a different location.
Page 414 The Mesh Warp effect is commonly used to morph a pair of images to create a transition from one image to another. This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. Original (upper-left), with distortion mesh (lower-left), and with Mesh Warp applied (lower-right) To select multiple vertices, Shift-click the vertices.
Page 415 Reverse Lens Distortion. Selecting Reverse Lens Distortion enables the Resize control. FOV Orientation The axis on which the Field Of View value is based. This setting is useful when matching computer-generated elements to the rendered view angle. View Center Specifies an alternate center point of view. This setting is useful when using custom lenses that aren’t centered. However, in most cases, this control should be left untouched.
Page 416 mask, and the boundary mask (optional). Chris Zwar provides a tutorial on the Creative COW website that demonstrates the use of the Reshape effect to morph one face into another. This tutorial provides many useful tips regarding the use and editing of correspondence points. This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.
Page 417 To use Smear, first create or import two masks: the source mask and the boundary mask. You can create masks on the layer in After Effects or use masks created in Adobe Illustrator. To use a mask created in Illustrator, copy the mask and paste it into a layer in After Effects. Masks must be closed to work with Smear;...
Page 418 the Layer panel) and the offset position of the source mask are displayed in the Composition panel. A light red outline indicates the first position of the source mask; a dark outline indicates the new position. You can animate the position, size, and rotation of the source mask as it moves to its offset position. You can also animate the original position of the source mask in the Layer panel.
Page 419 Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on his All Bets Are Off website that shows how to use the Skew properties of the Transform effect to simulate perspective in the movement of a cloud layer based on a still image. To the top Turbulent Displace effect The Turbulent Displace effect uses fractal noise to create turbulent distortions in an image.
Page 420 To the top Warp effect Use Warp to distort or deform layers. The warp styles work much like the Warp effects in Adobe Illustrator and Warp Text in Adobe Photoshop. This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. Warping a layer To the top Warp Stabilizer effect (CS5.5 and later)
Page 421: Generate Effects
Generate effects 4-Color Gradient effect Advanced Lightning effect Audio Spectrum effect Audio Waveform effect Beam effect Cell Pattern effect Checkerboard effect Circle effect Ellipse effect Eyedropper Fill effect Fill effect Fractal effect Grid effect Lens Flare effect Paint Bucket effect Radio Waves effect Ramp effect Scribble effect...
Page 422 Direction point as the distance between Origin and Direction increases. Origin Specifies the point of origin for the lightning. Direction, Outer Radius This control changes depending on the Lightning Type: Not In Use The Direction or Outer Radius control is not available if Lightning Type is Vertical. Outer Radius Specifies the distance that the lightning travels from its origin.
Page 423 Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) Audio Layer The audio layer you want to use as input. Start Point, End Point Specifies the position at which the spectrum starts or ends if Path is set to None. Path The mask path along which to display the audio spectrum.
Page 424 Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) Audio Layer The audio layer you want to display as a waveform. Start Point, End Point The position at which the waveform starts and ends, if Path is set to None. Path If set to None, the audio waveform is displayed along the path of the layer.
Page 425 This effect works with 8-bpc color. Original image (left); the Cell Pattern effect creates a displacement map (center), which is used as a displacement map for the Displacement Map effect (right). Cell Pattern The cell pattern to use. HQ denotes high-quality patterns that render with more definition than their unmarked counterparts. Mixed Crystals is available only as a high-quality option.
Page 426 Color The color of the nontransparent rectangles. Opacity The opacity of the colored rectangles. Blending Mode The blending mode to use to composite the checkerboard pattern on top of the original layer. These blending modes work identically to the ones in the Timeline panel, except for the default None mode, which renders the checkerboard pattern only. To the top Circle effect The Circle effect creates a customizable solid disk or ring.
Page 427 This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. Spaceship layer (upper-left) composited over layer with Mandelbrot fractal with Lightness Gradient palette (lower-left) and Julia fractal (lower-right) Set Choice Specifies the set used. Mandelbrot is the typical Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot Inverse is the Mandelbrot set mathematically inverted. Julia always changes depending on the center point from the Mandelbrot set and can produce the set of all possible Julia sets.
Page 428 The Paint Bucket effect (formerly Basic Fill effect) is a nondestructive paint effect that fills an area with a solid color. It works much like the Paint Bucket tool in Adobe Photoshop. Use the Paint Bucket effect for colorizing cartoon-type outlined drawings or replacing areas of color in an image.
Page 429 Color & Alpha Specifies that the effect fills the RGB and alpha channels of the fill area with the new color. Straight Color Specifies that the effect fills only the RGB channels of the fill area with the new color. Transparency Specifies that the effect fills only the transparent areas near the fill point.
Page 430 Wave Type What to base the wave shape on. Polygon What kind of polygon to use for the wave shape. These controls are available if Polygon is chosen for Wave Type. Sides Three sides create a triangle, four create a square, and so on. Size values above 64 result in a smooth circle. You can also approximate a circle by setting Sides to 3, Curve Size to 1, and Curvyness to about 0.62.
Page 431 Ramp effect The Ramp effect creates a color gradient. You can create linear or radial ramps, and vary the position and colors of the ramp over time. Use the Start Of Ramp and End Of Ramp properties to specify the start and end positions. Use the Ramp Scatter control to disperse the ramp colors and eliminate banding.
Page 432 Spacing and Spacing Variation The number of pixels between lines and zigzags. Setting a value equal to the stroke width value makes the lines fall next to each other. Path Overlap Determines whether the scribble ends at the path, inside the path, or outside the path. Specify 0 to make it end at the path, negative values to make it end inside, and positive values to make it end outside.
Page 433 Channel The color attribute of the input layer used to define the contours. Threshold The percentage value at which everything below or above is mapped to either white or black. This property is important in determining the location of the edges that the effect strokes. Pre-Blur Smooths out the input layer before the threshold is sampled.
Page 434 Reveal Original Image The original image is revealed by the paint stroke. More Help topics Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 435: Keying Effects
Keying effects Color Difference Key effect Color Key effect Color Range effect Difference Matte effect Extract effect Inner/Outer Key effect Linear Color Key effect Luma Key effect Spill Suppressor effect After Effects includes several built-in keying effects, as well as the Academy Award–winning Keylight effect, which excels at professional-quality color keying.
Page 436 values in the thumbnail and the Composition panel are adjusted. To produce the best possible key, make the black and white areas as different as you can so that the image retains as many shades of gray as possible. 7. Select a matching accuracy from the Color Matching Accuracy menu. Choose Faster unless you use a screen that isn’t a primary color (red, blue, or yellow).
Page 437 Poorly lit greenscreen (upper-left) and background layer (lower-left) are combined using Color Range Key (lower-right). Use the Color Range effect 1. Select the layer that you want to make partially transparent, and choose Effect > Keying > Color Range. 2. Choose Lab, YUV, or RGB from the Color Space menu. If you have trouble isolating the subject using one color space, try using a different one.
Page 438 Note: The controls for this effect are similar to the controls of the Extract effect in Adobe Premiere Pro, but the purpose and results of the effect are different.
Page 439 To the top Inner/Outer Key effect Note: Though the color keying effects built into After Effects can be useful for some purposes, you should try keying with Keylight before attempting to use these built-in keying effects. Some keying effects have been superseded by more modern effects like Keylight. For information about keying in general, including links to tutorials and other resources, see Keying introduction and resources.
Page 440 the key color before they start becoming transparent. The matching softness controls the softness of edges between the image and the key color. You can also reapply this key to preserve a color that was made transparent by the first application of the key. For example, if you key out a medium-blue screen, you may lose some or all of a light-blue piece of clothing your subject is wearing.
Page 441 White background of original (upper-left and lower-left) is removed using Luma Key and composited over underlying layer (lower-right). Key out a luminance value with the Luma Key effect 1. Select the layer that you want to make partially transparent, and choose Effect > Keying > Luma Key. 2.
Page 442 3. From the Color Accuracy menu, choose Faster to suppress blue, green, or red. Choose Better to suppress other colors, because After Effects may need to analyze the colors more carefully to produce accurate transparency. The Better option may increase rendering time. 4.
Page 443: Matte Effects
Matte effects Matte Choker effect Simple Choker effect For information on the Refine Matte effect and the Roto Brush effect, see Roto Brush effect and Refine Matte effect reference. Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: mocha shape effect See Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects.
Page 444 the image with the effect applied, and the Matte view provides a black-and-white view of the image with black areas indicating transparency and white areas indicating opacity. Choke Matte sets the amount of choke. Negative values spread the matte; positive values choke it. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.
Page 445 Noise and Grain effects Work with Grain effects Work with noise samples in Grain effects Working with added or matched grain Add Grain effect Dust & Scratches effect Fractal Noise effect Match Grain effect Median effect Noise effect Noise Alpha effect Noise HLS effect and Noise HLS Auto effect Remove Grain effect Turbulent Noise effect...
Page 446 grain effects to portions of your image using the extensive Blend With Original features provided with each effect. 1. Select the layer, and choose Effect > Noise & Grain > [effect]. 2. Choose a viewing method from the Viewing Mode control in the Effect Controls panel: Preview Displays the current settings of the applied effect in a 200x200-pixel area.
Page 447 6. Adjust the Matching Softness controls to determine the width of the transition band between completely matched and completely unmatched pixels or how smoothly the affected areas blend with the original image. 7. Select Invert Match if you want to invert the matte so that the white areas become black and the black areas become white. (The matching color is black in the matte and is processed by the grain effect regardless of the Amount setting.
Page 448 re-enable the effect, and then click and hold down Show Snapshot to display the snapshot of the image without the effect. To the top Work with noise samples in Grain effects Noise sampling is the first and most important step in removing noise from an image or in matching the noise of one image in another image. Normally, this process is entirely automatic.
Page 449 Click the eyedropper, and click a color anywhere in the application window. To the top Working with added or matched grain The Add Grain effect creates new grain or noise in an image by building the grain from nothing or by basing the properties of the grain on presets. The Match Grain effect also creates new grain in an image but by matching the grain in a different image.
Page 450 noise may have either a positive or negative value. Add Combines the color values of the pixel in the source with the noise. However, the result isn’t always lighter than the original because the noise created by grain effects can have either a positive or negative value. Screen Multiplies the inverse brightness values of the noise and the source.
Page 451 To the top Dust & Scratches effect The Dust & Scratches effect reduces noise and defects by changing dissimilar pixels within a specified radius to be more like their neighboring pixels. To achieve a balance between sharpness of the image and hiding defects, try various combinations of Radius and Threshold settings. This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.
Page 452 gray with few areas of pure black or pure white. When used as a luma matte, the layer contains subtle areas of transparency. Wrap Back Remaps triangularly, so that values above 1.0 or below 0 fall back into the range. This option reveals subtle detail when Contrast is set above 100.
Page 453 Evolution keyframes. Determine the Cycle value by considering how much of this cycle you need to render before it repeats. Choose the shortest length appropriate for your project to save rendering time. Initially, the last frame of a cycle is identical to the first frame. To create a seamless loop, skip the last frame by setting the Out point of the layer one frame before the last frame of the cycle: 6.
Page 454 applying it to the destination. To use this control automatically, set the Compensate For Existing Noise slider to 100%. You can then view the noise samples in the destination layer by choosing Compensation Samples in the Viewing Mode menu. You can also reposition the samples in the destination image by setting Sampling Mode to Manual, which makes the Compensation Sample Points available for manual repositioning.
Page 455 Original Alpha How to apply the noise to the alpha channel: Add Produces equal amounts of noise in the transparent and opaque areas of the clip. Clamp Produces noise in the opaque areas only. Scale Increases the amount of noise proportionate to the level of opacity and produces no noise in 100% transparent areas. Edges Produces noise only in partially transparent areas, such as the edge of the alpha channel.
Page 456 process operates over time, it is called temporal filtering. Note: Good degraining depends on good noise sampling. The results of the automatic sampling depend on the image content and noise type. You can also change the number, size, and position of the samples to get the best results for a particular image. The Temporal Filtering controls of the Remove Grain effect use a statistical algorithm to blend the current frame with previous and next frames.
Page 457 To quickly reduce noise in a movie that has a lot of buzzing noise, set the Noise Reduction value to zero and the Temporal Filtering Amount to 100%, and render the movie. To speed up previews, apply temporal filtering to your layer after all the settings for a single frame have been adjusted. To retain effects on a layer and also apply temporal filtering to it, precompose the selected layer (choose Layer >...
Page 458 Sub Influence How much influence each successive layer has on the combined noise. At 100%, all iterations have the same amount of influence. At 50%, each iteration has half as much influence as the previous iteration. A value of 0% makes the effect appear exactly as if Complexity is 1.
Page 459: Obsolete Effects
Basic Text effect; otherwise, use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See Creating and editing text layers.) The Basic Text effect places text on an existing layer—unlike text created on text layers or imported text created in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, either of which becomes its own layer.
Page 460 The Path Text effect lets you animate text along a path. You can define a path as a straight line, a circle of any diameter, or a Bezier curve. You can also import a path created in another application, such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. The Path Text effect can work with nonsquare pixels, adjusting both character shape and path shape accordingly.
Page 461 Vertex 2 Specifies the ending vertex of a Bezier curve and the angle of a line. For circles or loops, Vertex 2 is ignored. Custom Path Specifies an arbitrary path. You can use a mask created in the Layer panel or in Adobe Illustrator.
Page 462 to be better spaced if the path passes through the centers of the characters. You can set Baseline Shift to a negative value so that the centers of characters lie on the path. Advanced controls Visible Characters The number of characters that appear at the current time. Animate Visible Characters to display one or more characters at a time to create the appearance of typing characters.
Page 463: Perspective Effects
Perspective effects 3D Glasses effect Bevel Alpha effect Bevel Edges effect Drop Shadow effect Radial Shadow effect CC Cylinder effect CC Environment effect (CS6) CC Sphere effect CC Spotlight effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: See Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects. To the top 3D Glasses effect The 3D Glasses effect creates a single 3D image by combining a left and right 3D view.
Page 464 elements appear, either in front of, or behind the screen. Any areas that are aligned (left and right views, for example) show the object in precisely the same spot on the screen. Anything in front of those areas in z space will protrude from the screen. Anything behind those areas will be visible behind the screen when looking at the scene though stereo glasses.
Page 465 Original (left), and with effect applied (right) To the top Bevel Edges effect The Bevel Edges effect gives a chiseled and lighted 3D appearance to the edges of an image. Edge locations are determined by the alpha channel of the source image. Unlike Bevel Alpha, the edges created with this effect are always rectangular, so images with nonrectangular alpha channels don’t produce the proper appearance.
Page 466 Original (left), and with effect applied (right) Shadow Color The color of the shadow. Note: The colors of the layer may override this option if you choose Glass Edges from the Render control menu. See the Render and Color Influence controls for more information. Opacity The opacity of the shadow.
Page 467: Simulation Effects
Simulation effects Common Lighting controls and Material controls Card Dance effect Caustics effect Foam effect Particle Playground effect Shatter effect Wave World effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: CC Ball Action effect CC Bubbles effect CC Drizzle effect CC Hair effect CC Mr.
Page 468 nonfiltered versions of the layer. Highlight Sharpness Controls shininess. Shiny surfaces produce small, tight reflections, whereas duller surfaces spread the highlight into a larger region. Specular highlights are the color of the incoming light. Because light is typically white or off-white, broad highlights can desaturate an image by adding white to the surface color.
Page 469 Rows, Columns, Layer, and Order controls Rows & Columns Specifies the interaction of the numbers of rows and columns. Independent makes both the Rows and Columns sliders active. Columns Follows Rows makes only the Rows slider active. If you choose this option, the number of columns is always the same as the number of rows.
Page 470 This effect works with 8-bpc color. Original (upper-left), and with Bottom set to the text layer (lower-left) and Water Surface set to the whirl layer with Surface Opacity set to 0% (lower-right) To get the most realistic results from Caustics, render the Bottom layer separately, with Render Caustics enabled and Surface Opacity at 0. Then precompose, and use the resulting layer as the Bottom layer for another Caustics effect with Render Caustics off.
Page 471 Repeat Mode Specifies how a scaled-down sky layer is tiled. Once uses only one tile, basically turning tiling off. Tiles uses the traditional tiling method of abutting the right edge of one layer tile to the left edge of another layer tile. This option works well if the layer contains a repeating pattern, like a logo, that needs to read a certain way.
Page 472 Size Variance Specifies the range of possible bubble sizes. This control uses the Size value as the average and creates smaller-than-average and larger-than average bubbles by using the range you specify here. For example, a default bubble Size of 0.5 and default Size Variance of 0.5 generate bubble sizes ranging from 0 to 1 (0.5 –.5 = 0 and 0.5 + 0.5 = 1).
Page 473 Bubble Orientation Determines the direction that the bubble rotates. Fixed releases the bubble from the producer right side up and keeps it that way. Use this control if the bubble has built-in highlights and shading, as all of the preset bubbles do. Physical Orientation buffets and spins bubbles around by the forces on them, creating a chaotic scene.
Page 474 an entire snowstorm from a single snowflake layer. You can also use text characters as particles. For example, you can shoot words across the screen, or you can create a sea of text in which a few letters change color, revealing a message. Use Cannon, Grid, Layer Exploder, and Particle Exploder controls to generate particles.
Page 475 Gravity, Repel, Wall, and Property Mapper settings. By default, the Force control of Gravity is on, so Grid particles fall toward the bottom of the frame. With the Grid, a new particle appears on every frame at each grid intersection. You can’t adjust this frequency, but if you want to turn off the Grid or make the Grid stop generating particles at specific times, set the Particle Radius/Font Size control to 0, or use keyframes to animate the value of the Particles Across and Particles Down controls.
Page 476 Time Offset Type Specifies how you want to use the frames of a multiframe layer. For example, if you are using a layer of a bird flapping its wings and you choose Relative for Time Offset Type with a Time Offset of 0, the flapping wings for all the instances of the bird are synchronized. While this may be realistic for a marching band, it is not realistic for a flock of birds.
Page 477 6. Click the Font Size value, type a value of 10 or greater, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). If you want to stop replacing default particles with text, delete all text from the box in the Edit Grid Text dialog box. Using Selection Text values to differently affect subsets of text You can differently affect only certain subsets of text particles by specifying Selection Text values.
Page 478 Wall controls Wall controls contain particles, limiting the area within which particles can move. A wall is a closed mask that you create by using a mask tool, such as the Pen tool. When a particle hits the wall, it bounces off at a velocity based on the force with which it hit. Boundary Specifies the mask to use as the wall.
Page 479 In both the Persistent and Ephemeral Property Mappers, you can use the alpha channel of a layer map to make more subtle changes to the value of a particle property. For example, particles over a layer-map pixel in which the alpha channel value is 255 are fully affected, while lower values affect particles less.
Page 480 Particle Playground can extract brightness values separately from the red, green, and blue channels in an image. If you want to create different layer maps for each channel, use a program that can edit individual color channels, such as Adobe Photoshop, and then paint or paste each layer map into its own channel.
Page 481 effect contains more than 10,000 particles, it can greatly slow rendering. If you notice performance problems, set Particles Per Second and/or Particles Down to relatively low values (in the range 1–100). The Grid and Layer Exploder generate particles on every frame, which may generate too many particles for the effect you’re creating and slow down rendering.
Page 482 rotate, and scale the shatter pattern. It’s handy to toggle between this view and the perspective view you use for the scene. Wireframe Displays the correct perspective of the scene, so you can quickly set up the camera the way you like it and fine-tune the Extrusion Depth.
Page 483 (or nearly white) areas on the gradient layer shatter. If it is set to 50%, all the pieces in the force sphere corresponding to white-to-50%-gray areas on the gradient layer shatter. If it is set to 100%, all pieces in the force sphere shatter. Because there are 256 shades of gray (including black and white), each percentage point represents approximately 2.5 shades of gray.
Page 484 select None, the layer to which you have applied Shatter, along with any effects that occur before Shatter, is used as the texture map, with no precomposing required. Camera System and Camera Position controls Camera System Whether to use the effect’s Camera Position properties, the effect’s Corner Pins properties, or the default composition camera and light positions to render 3D images.
Page 485 Wireframe view (upper-left), Height Map view (lower-left), and resulting image (lower-right). Result is used as Water Surface source for Caustics effect example. Wireframe view (left), Height Map view (center), and resulting image (right). Result is used as Input Phase for Colorama effect example. To understand how this effect works, consider the following information about the physics of waves: A wave consists of a peak and a trough.
Page 486 out the grays, and higher values create a wider range from black to white (until clipping occurs). Gamma Adjustment Controls the slope of the waves in relation to the Brightness. Results are visible only in Height Map view. Higher values result in rounder peaks and narrower valleys, while lower values result in smoother valleys and pointier peaks.
Page 487 Phase Specifies where in the wave phase the wave begins. For example, with the default setting of 0°, the first disturbance in the liquid is a convex wave (projecting upward from the surface of the water). With Phase set to 180°, the first disturbance in the liquid is a concave wave. More Help topics Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 488: Stylize Effects
Stylize effects Brush Strokes effect Cartoon effect Color Emboss effect Emboss effect Find Edges effect Glow effect Mosaic effect Motion Tile effect Posterize effect Roughen Edges effect Scatter effect Strobe Light effect Texturize effect Threshold effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: CC Block Load effect (CS6) CC Burn Film effect CC Glass effect...
Page 489 Consider that cartoons have much lower frame rates than live action footage. For a video tutorial about the Cartoon effect, go to the Adobe website. Chris Meyer provides a video tutorial about the Cartoon effect in the After Effects CS4 New Creative Techniques series on the Lynda.com website.
Page 490 Cartoon effect applied with Render set to Fill Cartoon effect applied with Render set to Edges Cartoon effect applied with Render set to Fill & Edges Cartoon effect properties Render Fill, Edges, or Fill & Edges. Determines which operations to perform and which results to display. Detail Radius The radius for the blurring operation that is used to smooth the image and remove details before the operation to find edges.
Page 491 Threshold value causes more fine details to be preserved. A higher Detail Threshold value causes a more simplistic cartoon-like result, with fewer details preserved. Fill The luminance values in the image are quantized (posterized) according to the settings of the Shading Steps and Shading Smoothness properties.
Page 492: Glow Effect
You can also use the Glow effect to create a gradient glow between two colors (A and B colors) and to create multicolor effects with looping. Rendering the Glow effect at Best quality can change the appearance of the layer. This change is especially true if you use Adobe Photoshop arbitrary maps to color the glows.
Page 493 Original (left), and with effect applied (right) Horizontal/Vertical Blocks The number of blocks in each row and column. Sharp Colors Gives each tile the color of the pixel in the center of the corresponding region in the original image. Otherwise, each tile is given the average color of the corresponding region in the original image.
Page 494 Edge Color The color to apply to the edge for Rusty Color or Roughen Color, or to the fill for Photocopy Color. Border How far, in pixels, the effect extends inward from the edge of the alpha channel. Edge Sharpness Low values create softer edges. High values create sharper edges. Fractal Influence The amount of roughening.
Page 495 top. The higher you set this value, the less the effect affects the layer. For example, if you set this value to 100%, the effect has no visible result on the layer; if you set this value to 0%, the original image doesn’t show through. Strobe Duration (secs) How long, in seconds, each strobe lasts.
Page 496 Effect applied with threshold settings of 44 (left), 70 (center), and 200 (right) Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 497: Text Effects
Text effects Numbers effect Timecode effect To the top Numbers effect The Numbers effect generates random or sequential numbers in different formats, such as decimal number, dates, and timecode—even the current date and time (at render time). You can use the Numbers effect to create counters of various kinds. The maximum offset for sequential numbers is 30,000.
Page 498 Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See Creating and editing text layers.) Apply the Current Time Format animation preset to a text layer to show the current time in the format corresponding to the time display setting for the project.
Page 499: Time Effects
Time effects Echo effect Posterize Time effect Time Difference effect Time Displacement effect Timewarp effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: CC Force Motion Blur effect CC Time Blend effect CC Time Blend FX effect CC Wide Time effect See Third-party plug-ins included with After Effects.
Page 500 To the top Posterize Time effect The Posterize Time effect locks a layer to a specific frame rate. It’s useful on its own as a special effect, but it also has more subtle uses. For example, 60-field-per-second video footage can be locked to 24 frames per second (and then field rendered at 60 fields per second) to give a filmlike look.
Page 501 To the top Time Displacement effect The Time Displacement effect distorts the image by shifting pixels across time, producing a wide variety of effects. For example, the traditional slit- scan technique, which captures different stages of a moving image across time, can be simulated using the Time Displacement effect. This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.
Page 502 2. Hide the displacement map layer by clicking the Video switch in the Timeline panel. 3. In the Composition panel, select the layer you want to distort. 4. Choose Effect > Time > Time Displacement. 5. Choose a displacement map from the Time Displacement Layer menu, which lists all layers in the composition. Grayscale maps are recommended.
Page 503 blending. Note: If you see edge tearing in the image, try increasing the Error Threshold for more blending. If the image has heavy grain, try decreasing the Error Threshold so the low-level motion of the grain is ignored. Block Size Adjusts the size of the blocks used to calculate the vectors. Weighting Controls the weighting of the red, green, and blue channels in calculations used to analyze the image.
Page 504: Transition Effects
Transition effects Online resources about transitions and Transition effects About Transition effects and the Transition Completion property Block Dissolve effect Card Wipe effect Gradient Wipe effect Iris Wipe effect Linear Wipe effect Radial Wipe effect Venetian Blinds effect Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects: CC Glass Wipe effect CC Grid Wipe effect CC Image Wipe effect...
Page 505 Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) To the top Card Wipe effect Note: For information on properties shared by the Card Wipe and Card Dance effects, see Common Lighting controls and Material controls. This effect simulates a group of cards displaying a picture and then flipping to display another picture. Card Wipe provides control over the number of rows and columns of cards, the flip direction, and the transition direction (including the ability to use a gradient to determine flip order).
Page 506 Gradient Layer The gradient layer to use for the Flip Order. You can use any layer in the composition. Timing Randomness Randomizes the timing of the transition. If this control is set to 0, the cards flip in order. The higher the value, the more random the order in which the cards flip.
Page 507 The gradient layer can be a still image or a moving image. The gradient layer must be in the same composition as the layer to which you apply Gradient Wipe. You can create gradient layers in many ways, such as using the Ramp effect or creating them in Photoshop or Illustrator. Transition Softness The degree to which the transition is gradual for each pixel.
Page 508 Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) In a video tutorial on the Artbeats website, Steve Holmes demonstrates the use of non-animated instances of the Linear Wipe effect to crop a layer from various angles with softly feathered edges. To the top Radial Wipe effect The Radial Wipe effect reveals an underlying layer using a wipe that circles around a specified point.
Page 509 Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) More Help topics Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 510: Utility Effects
Utility effects Apply Color LUT effect Cineon Converter effect Color Profile Converter effect Grow Bounds effect HDR Compander effect HDR Highlight Compression effect Third-party effects: CC Overbrights effect (CS6) To the top Apply Color LUT effect Apply the Apply Color LUT effect to a layer to transform the colors of the layer according to a color lookup table (LUT). LUTs are sometimes used to perform manual color correction or color management tasks.
Page 511 10 Bit White Point The white point (maximum density) for converting a 10-bpc logarithmic Cineon layer. Internal White Point The white point used for the layer in After Effects. Gamma Increase or decrease Gamma to lighten or darken midtones, respectively. Highlight Rolloff The rolloff value used to correct bright highlights.
Page 512 automatically compensate for layer size. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. Original (upper-left); the Wave Warp effect is constrained by dimensions of layer (lower-left); Grow Bounds effect fixes problem (lower-right). To the top HDR Compander effect The HDR Compander (compressor/expander) effect gives you a way to work with tools that don’t support high-dynamic-range color—such as 8- bpc and 16-bpc effects—without sacrificing the high dynamic range of footage.
Page 513 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 514 Markers...
Page 515 Markers can refer to a single point in time or to a duration. Composition markers in After Effects correspond to sequence markers in Adobe Premiere Pro. Layer markers in After Effects correspond to clip markers in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Page 516 Chapter field of the marker is not blank. Adobe Encore can read chapter references in After Effects layer markers when you export to the MPEG-2 file format or use Dynamic Link. To be compatible with DVD format, make sure that markers are at least 15 frames apart.
Page 517 Premiere Pro and After Effects. his blog on the Adobe website, Michael Coleman provides a demonstration of how to convert tracking data in After Effects into cue point data for use in Flash. More Help topics...
Page 519: Xmp Metadata
Speech Search and XMP metadata The Speech Search feature in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Soundbooth provides the ability to convert speech in a video or audio asset to text metadata. Each word is stored as a metadata element at the corresponding time in the timeline.
Page 520 XMP ID values are written to source files when they are imported into After Effects if the Write XMP IDs To Files On Import preference is selected in the Media & Cache preferences category. This preference setting affects other Adobe applications, too; see the helpful text in the Preferences dialog box for details.
Page 521 XMP metadata from the source files. For this reason, the option is off by default. In addition to storing XMP metadata in After Effects project (.aep, .aepx) files and source documents used by Adobe applications (for example, .psd), After Effects can write XMP metadata directly into the files for many container formats, including the following:...
Page 522 About file, clip, and project XMP metadata For the most part, Adobe video and audio applications deal with XMP metadata very similarly. Some small distinctions exist, however, reflecting the unique workflow stage that each application addresses. When using applications in tandem, an understanding of these slightly different approaches can help you get the most out of metadata.
Page 523 To the top Edit XMP metadata In Adobe video applications, similarly named properties are linked in the Metadata and Project panels. However, the Metadata panel provides more extensive properties and lets you edit them for multiple files simultaneously. Note: Instead of a Project panel, Soundbooth uses the Files panel.
Page 524 Memory, storage, performance...
Page 525 Memory (RAM) usage in 64-bit After Effects Advantages of a 64-bit application and 64-bit address space Memory & Multiprocessing preferences Memory pool shared between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore, and Adobe Media Encoder Memory & Multiprocessing Details dialog box Memory (RAM) requirements for rendering...
Page 526 Note: On many computer systems, After Effects CS5 can use the virtual (logical) processor cores created by hyperthreading for various forms of multiprocessing, including Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing. After Effects CS4 and earlier could only use the physical cores for Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing.
Page 527 The priority has three settings: low, normal, and highest. Highest is currently reserved for After Effects and Premiere Pro, when it is the active application. Normal is for After Effects in the background or Adobe Media Encoder in the foreground. Low is for background servers of Premiere Pro or Adobe Media Encoder in the background.
Page 528 Online resources about memory and multiprocessing For a video that demonstrates some of the advantages of a 64-bit After Effects application and how to allocate memory to After Effects and other applications, see the Adobe website. To the top Storage requirements for output files...
Page 529 To the top Caches: RAM cache, disk cache, and media cache As you work on a composition, After Effects temporarily stores some rendered frames and source images in RAM, so that previewing and editing can occur more quickly. After Effects does not cache frames that require little time to render. Frames remain uncompressed in the image cache. After Effects also caches at the footage and layer levels for faster previews;...
Page 530 A database retains links to each of the cached media files. This media cache database is shared with Adobe Media Encoder, Premiere Pro, Encore, Soundbooth, so each of these applications can each read from and write to the same set of cached media files (Note: Adobe Audition CS5.5 does not share the media cache database).
Page 531: Improve Performance
Stop or pause resource-intensive operations in other applications, such as video previews in Adobe Bridge. Make sure that your system includes a display card that supports OpenGL 2.0 or later. Though After Effects can function without it, OpenGL accelerates various types of rendering, including rendering to the screen for previews.
Page 532 See Memory & Multiprocessing preferences. Todd Kopriva provides more information about optimum memory and processor settings on the Adobe website. To the top Improve performance using Global Performance Cache (CS6) Import projects from After Effects CS5.5 and earlier into After Effects CS6 to take advantage of the Global Performance Cache. For details, see Disk Cache.
Page 533 Lower the display quality of a layer to Draft. See Layer image quality and subpixel positioning. Select Draft 3D in the Timeline panel menu, which disables all lights and shadows that fall on 3D layers. It also disables the depth-of-field blur for a camera.
Page 534 Engagement for digital video products at Adobe. Contribute your expertise to Adobe Community Help To the top Setting preferences for OpenGL, and the GPU In After Effects CS6, OpenGL supports the drawing of interface items, such as, composition, footage, and layer panels. Other drawing functions like grids, guides, rulers, and bounding boxes are now operated by OpenGL, as well.
Page 535 Includes Level 1 & 2 features (for machines with attached monitors). This level requires a supported NVIDIA GPU and 512 MB, or greater, of texture memory. For a current list of supported GPUs, see the Adobe website. Install GPU drivers...
Page 536 Memory (RAM) usage in 64-bit After Effects Advantages of a 64-bit application and 64-bit address space Memory & Multiprocessing preferences Memory pool shared between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore, and Adobe Media Encoder Memory & Multiprocessing Details dialog box Memory (RAM) requirements for rendering...
Page 537 After Effects can start additional processes of the After Effects application to run in the background to assist the main foreground application with the rendering of frames for RAM previews or final output. These background processes have the name AfterFX.exe (Windows) or aeselflink (Mac OS).
Page 538 The priority has three settings: low, normal, and highest. Highest is currently reserved for After Effects and Premiere Pro, when it is the active application. Normal is for After Effects in the background or Adobe Media Encoder in the foreground. Low is for background servers of Premiere Pro or Adobe Media Encoder in the background.
Page 539 Online resources about memory and multiprocessing For a video that demonstrates some of the advantages of a 64-bit After Effects application and how to allocate memory to After Effects and other applications, see the Adobe website. To the top Storage requirements for output files...
Page 540 D1/DV PAL (720x576) frame in an 8-bpc project: 1.6 MB HDTV (1920x1080) frame in a 16-bpc project: 16 MB 4K digital cinema (4096x2304) frame in a 32-bpc project: 144 MB Because video is typically compressed during encoding when you render to final output, you can’t just multiply the amount of memory required for a single frame by the frame rate and composition duration to determine the amount of disk space required to store your final output movie.
Page 541 Cached frames are restored after an undo/redo. Cached frames are restored when a composition or layer is returned to a previous state, such as turning a layer's visibility off then back on. Reusable frames are recognized anywhere on the timeline (e.g., when using loop expressions, time remapping, or copy/paste of keyframes), not just adjacent frames.
Page 542 A database retains links to each of the cached media files. This media cache database is shared with Adobe Media Encoder, Premiere Pro, Encore, Soundbooth, so each of these applications can each read from and write to the same set of cached media files (Note: Adobe Audition CS5.5 does not share the media cache database).
Page 543 connected, the associated files in the media cache will be removed. This removal results in the need to reconform or re-index the footage when you attempt to use the footage later. Cleaning the database and cache with the Clean Database & Cache button does not remove files that are associated with footage items for which the source files are still available.
Page 544 Expressions and automation...
Page 545 After Effects comes with several third-party plug-ins. These plug-ins are installed by default with the full version of Adobe After Effects software. Some of these plug-ins are not included with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For details of the free 30-day trial version of After Effects CS5.5 and later, see...
Page 546 Pixel Bender effect plug-ins and the Pixel Bender Toolkit Increasingly, many effect plug-ins for After Effects are written in the Adobe Pixel Bender language. Pixel Bender is designed to improve the performance of image-processing operations by taking advantage of multiple processor cores; multiprocessing for Pixel Bender effect plug-ins does not rely on the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously option being selected.
Page 547 Where to find additional useful scripts A script is a series of commands that tells an application to perform a series of operations. You can use scripts in most Adobe applications to automate repetitive tasks, perform complex calculations, and even use some functionality not directly exposed through the graphical user interface.
Page 548 Where to find additional useful scripts To exchange scripts, projects, and other useful items with other After Effects users, go to the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website. Dan Ebberts provides scripting tutorials and useful scripts in the scripting section of his MotionScript website.
Page 549 You can automate animation and image processing within After Effects with expressions, scripts, and plug-ins. You can automate rendering with aerender, network rendering, and post-render actions. You can also automate some tasks using workflow automation scripts in Adobe Bridge. Because you can exchange data easily between Photoshop and After Effects, you can use macros, actions, droplets, and scripts in Photoshop to automate the processing of images for use in After Effects.
Page 550: Expression Basics
Expression basics About expressions Add, edit, and remove expressions Example: Use the expression language reference to write an expression Show expressions and the expression graph Writing expressions for source text Add comments to an expression Save and reuse expressions Expression Controls effects Convert an expression to keyframes The expression language Expression errors...
Page 551 You can do all of your work with expressions in the Timeline panel, though it is sometimes more convenient to drag the pick whip to a property in the Effect Controls panel. You enter and edit expressions in the expression field, a resizable text field in the time graph. The expression field appears alongside the property in layer bar mode;...
Page 552 Jeff Almasol provides a script that automatically processes expressions, making specified changes. For example, the script can be used to automatically remove or enable disabled expressions. For more information, see Jeff Almasol’s redefinery website. Add, disable, or remove an expression To add an expression to a property, select the property in the Timeline panel and choose Animation >...
Page 553 composition, then the targeted layer’s name changes. The new layer name is the old layer name with a numeral at the end. This change is necessary to ensure that the expression unambiguously refers to a single layer in the composition. Edit an expression manually 1.
Page 554 To toggle between layer bar mode and Graph Editor mode, press Shift+F3. To show only properties with expressions, select one or more layers, and then press EE. To show the expression field in the Graph Editor, choose Show Expression Editor from the Choose Graph Type And Options menu at the bottom of the Graph Editor.
Page 555 Type /* at the beginning of the comment and */ at the end of the comment. Any text between /* and */ is ignored. For example: This is a multiline comment. */ For examples of this type of comment, see Save and reuse expressions. To the top Save and reuse expressions Once you have written an expression, you can save it for future use by copying and pasting it into a text-editing application or by saving it in an...
Page 556: The Expression Language
You can apply Expression Controls effects to any layer; however, it is useful to apply them to a null layer, which you can simply use as a controlling layer. You then add expressions to properties on other layers to take input from that control. For example, you can add the Slider Control effect to a null layer (Null 1), and then apply this expression to the Position properties of multiple layers: position+[0,10*(index-1)*thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider")] In this example, as you drag the slider, each layer with this expression moves.
Page 557 Accessing attributes and methods You use the expression language to access attributes and methods of layer properties. To access a value, use a chain of object references separated by the period (.) operator. To chain object references past the layer level (for example, to refer to effect properties, masks, or text animators), you can also use parentheses.
Page 558 Color [red, green, blue, alpha] You can access the individual elements of an Array object by using brackets and an index number to indicate which element you want. The elements in an Array object are indexed starting from 0. Using the previous example, myArray[0] is 10 and myArray[1] is 23. The following two expressions are equivalent: [myArray[0], 5] [10, 5]...
Page 559: Expression Errors
Indices and labels Indexing for Layer, Effect, and Mask elements in After Effects starts from 1. For example, the first layer in the Timeline panel is layer(1). Generally, it is best to use the name of a layer, effect, or a mask instead of a number to avoid confusion and errors if the layer, effect, or mask is moved, or if the arguments are changed during product updates and upgrades.
Page 560 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 561: Expression Language Reference
Expression language reference Global objects, attributes, and methods (expression reference) Time conversion methods (expression reference) Vector Math methods (expression reference) Random Numbers methods (expression reference) Interpolation methods (expression reference) Color Conversion methods (expression reference) Other Math methods (expression reference) Comp attributes and methods (expression reference) Footage attributes and methods (expression reference) Layer Sub-objects attributes and methods (expression reference) Layer General attributes and methods (expression reference)
Page 562 posterizeTime(framesPerSecond) Return type: Number. Argument type: framesPerSecond is a Number. The framesPerSecond value becomes the frame rate from which the rest of the expression operates. This expression allows you to set the frame rate for a property to be lower than the frame rate of the composition. For example, the following expression updates the property value with a random value once per second: posterizeTime(1);...
Page 563 Chris and Trish Meyer provide additional information about vector math methods and arrays in an article on the ProVideo Coalition website. add(vec1, vec2) Return type: Array. Argument type: vec1 and vec2 are Arrays. Adds two vectors. sub(vec1, vec2) Return type: Array. Argument type: vec1 and vec2 are Arrays.
Page 564 other than 0 to create a different random sequence. Use true for the timeless argument to not use the current time as input to the random seed. Using true for the timeless argument allows you to generate a random number that doesn’t vary depending on the time of evaluation. The offset value, but not the timeless value, is also used to control the initial value of the wiggle function.
Page 565 Ian Haigh provides a script on After Effects Scripts website that you can use to easily apply advanced interpolation method expressions—such as bounces—to properties. Andrew Devis provides a pair of video tutorials on the Creative COW website that show in detail how to use the linear expression method along with the Convert Audio To Keyframes command.
Page 566 To the top Other Math methods (expression reference) Chris and Trish Meyer provide additional information about these methods in an article on the ProVideo Coalition website. degreesToRadians(degrees) Return type: Number. Argument type: degrees is a Number. Converts degrees to radians. radiansToDegrees(radians) Return type: Number.
Page 567 numLayers Return type: Number. Returns the number of layers in the composition. activeCamera Return type: Camera. Returns the Camera object for the camera through which the composition is rendered at the current frame. This camera is not necessarily the camera through which you are looking in the Composition panel. width Return type: Number.
Page 568 Space Transforms" have been arranged into a "Layer" submenu. source Return type: Comp or Footage. Returns the source Comp or source Footage object for the layer. Default time is adjusted to the time in the source. Example: source.layer(1).position sourceTime(t = time) Return type: Number. Returns the layer source corresponding to time t.
Page 569 Returns true if the layer has video, or false if it doesn’t. hasAudio Return type: Boolean. Returns true if the layer has audio or false if it doesn’t. active Return type: Boolean. Returns true if the Video switch is on for the layer and the current time is in the range from the In point of the layer to the Out point of the layer; false otherwise.
Page 570 Returns the MarkerKey object of the layer marker with the specified name. The name value is the name of the marker, as typed in the comment field in the marker dialog box, for example, marker.key("ch1"). If more than one marker on the layer has the same name, this method returns the marker that occurs first in time (in layer time).
Page 571 Use layer space transform methods to transform values from one space to another, such as from layer space to world space. The “from” methods transform values from layer space to the named space (composition or world). The “to” methods transform values from the named space (composition or world) to layer space.
Page 572 Projects a point located in composition space to a point on the surface of the layer (zero z-value) at the location where it appears when viewed from the active camera. This method is useful for setting effect control points. Use with 3D layers only. To the top Camera attributes and methods (expression reference) Camera objects have the same attributes and methods as Layer objects, except for source, effect, mask, width, height, anchorPoint, scale,...
Page 573 param(name) Return type: Property. Argument type: name is a String. Returns a property within an effect. Effect control points are always in layer space. Example: effect("Bulge").param("Bulge Height") param(index) Return type: Property. Argument type: index is a Number. Returns a property within an effect. Effect control points are always in layer space. For example, effect("Bulge").param(4) returns the Bulge Height property.
Page 574 amp_mult is the amount that amp is multiplied by for each octave. This value controls how fast the harmonics drop off. The default is 0.5; make it closer to 1 to have the harmonics added at the same amplitude as the base frequency, or closer to 0 to add in less detail. t is the base start time.
Page 575 100%, the layer continues to scale from 100% to the Out point, instead of looping directly back to the Out point. This type does not accept a keyframes or duration argument. Todd Kopriva provides an example project on his blog that demonstrates the use of the loopIn and loopOut methods, and all of the loop types.
Page 576 Values of propertyGroup relative to Position property of a brush stroke A. propertyGroup(4) B. propertyGroup(3) C. propertyGroup(2) D. propertyGroup(1) E. Position propertyIndex value is 2; Rotation propertyIndex value is 4. In this example, the propertyGroup method for each brush stroke targets the Brush property group because that group is two property groups up from the Rotation property.
Page 577 and markers also have time and index attributes. The index attribute is not the number (name) of the marker; it is the keyframe index number, representing the order of the marker in the time ruler. Expressions have access to all of the values for a marker that you can set in the Composition Marker or Layer Marker dialog box. This expression on the Source Text property of a text layer displays the time, duration, index, comment (name), chapter, URL, frame target, and cue point name for the layer marker nearest the current time, and whether the marker is for an event cue point: m = thisLayer.marker.nearestKey(time);...
Page 578: Expression Examples
Expression examples Online resources for expression examples Expression example: Make a layer revolve in a circle Expression example: Rotate the hands of a clock Expression example: Position one layer between two others Expression example: Create a trail of images Expression example: Create a bulge between two layers Expression example: Fade opacity of a 3D layer based on distance from camera Expression example: Make a 3D layer invisible if facing away from camera Expression example: Flip layer horizontally if facing away from camera...
Page 579 Guy Chen provides a simple project on the After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website that takes this idea further, connecting the rotation of the minute hand and hour hand of a clock to the rotation of the second hand.
Page 580 You can also use other effects, such as Ripple, with this expression. 1. Start with two layers. Make one layer a magnifying glass or similar object with a hole in the middle and name it Magnifier. (See Creating layers.) 2. Animate the position of the magnifying glass layer. (See Motion paths.) 3.
Page 581 [value[0] * scaleFact, value[1] / scaleFact]; To the top Expression example: Start or stop wiggle at specific time You can use any expression in place of the wiggle expression used here, to begin and end the influence of any expression at a specific time. Apply the following expression to a property to wiggle it beginning at time 2 seconds: timeToStart = 2;...
Page 582: Rendering And Exporting
Rendering and Exporting...
Page 583: Basics Of Rendering And Exporting
Note: Some kinds of exporting don’t involve rendering and are for intermediate stages in a workflow, not for final output. For example, you can export a project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project by choosing File > Export > Adobe Premiere Pro Project. The project information is saved without rendering.
Page 584: Supported Output Formats
For more information on the limitations of the trial version, see the Adobe website. You can add the ability to export other kinds of data by installing plug-ins or scripts provided by parties other than Adobe. For example, Paul Tuersley provides a script on the AE Enhancers forum with which you export After Effects composition data as Cinema 4D project data.
Page 585 Adobe Premiere Pro project (PRPROJ) XFL for Flash Professional (XFL) Still-image formats Adobe Photoshop (PSD; 8, 16, and 32 bpc) Bitmap (BMP, RLE) Cineon (CIN, DPX; 16 bpc and 32 bpc converted to 10 bpc) Maya IFF (IFF; 16 bpc)
Page 586 convention, and then choose a location; or click the text next to the Output To heading to enter any name. (See Specify filenames and locations for rendered output.) 3. Click the triangle to the right of the Render Settings heading to choose a render settings template, or click the underlined text to the right of the Render Settings heading to customize the settings.
Page 587 (Windows) Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS5\Support Files (Mac OS) Applications/Adobe After Effects CS5/Adobe After Effects CS5/Contents/Resources Control-click the Adobe After Effects CS5 application package and choose Show Contents to open the Adobe After Effects CS5 application package and show the Contents directory.
Page 588 COW website that shows how to organize, consolidate, and archive project files and footage. 1. Choose File > Collect Files. 2. In the Collect Files dialog box, choose an appropriate option for Collect Source Files. All Collects all footage files, including unused footage and proxies. For All Comps Collects all footage files and proxies used in any composition in the project.
Page 589: Render Settings
Click the triangle to open the Output To menu, or click the underlined text to enter a destination. Specify the filename and location for a single render item To manually enter a filename and destination folder, click the underlined text next to the Output To heading. To name a file using a file naming template, click the triangle next to the Output To heading, and choose a template from the menu.
Page 590 DV Settings Similar to Best Settings, but with Field Rendering turned on, set to Lower Field First. Multi-Machine Settings Similar to Best Settings, but with Skip Existing Files selected to enable multi-machine rendering. Note: The default render settings template is assigned to a render item when it is created. To change which render settings template is the default, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you choose a render settings template from the menu.
Page 591 To the top Output modules and output module settings Output module settings apply to each render item and determine how the rendered movie is processed for final output. Use output module settings to specify file format, output color profile, compression options, and other encoding options for final output. You can also use output module settings to crop, stretch, or shrink a rendered movie;...
Page 592: Encoding And Compression Options For Movies
Include Project Link Specifies whether to include information in the output file that links to the source After Effects project. When you open the output file in another application, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, you can use the Edit Original command to edit the source project in After Effects.
Page 593 Render Queue panel, the embedded version of the Adobe Media Encoder is called automatically. The Adobe Media Encoder appears only in the form of the export settings dialog boxes with which you specify some encoding and output settings.
Page 594 For Quadro 4000 drivers and CUDA drivers for MacOS, see this blog post. For a full list of supported display cards for After Effects CS6, and their feature support levels, see the Adobe website. For information regarding specific OpenGL hardware, go to the After Effects section of the Adobe website.
Page 595 After Effects > Preferences > Previews (Mac OS), and click OpenGL Info. In After Effects CS5.5, and earlier, to modify the amount of texture memory, choose Edit > Preferences > Previews (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Previews (Mac OS), click OpenGL Info, and enter a value for Texture Memory of no more than 80% of the installed video RAM (VRAM) on your video card.
Page 596: Rendering And Exporting For Flash Professional And Flash Player
Render and export a composition as an FLV or F4V file You can render and export movies from After Effects as movies that can play in Adobe Flash Player. SWF files play natively in Flash Player, whereas an FLV or F4V file must be contained in (or linked to from) a SWF file to play in Flash Player. You can also export compositions to Flash Professional as XFL files.
Page 597 If you make a change to the format options that you would like to undo, click the Reset To Defaults button in the Adobe Flash Professional (XFL) Settings dialog box.
Page 598 To prevent the long load times related to sequences with a large number of PNG files, consider pre-rendering layers based on PNG sequences to FLV format. After Effects relies on the embedded version of the Adobe Media Encoder to create FLV files. The Adobe Media Encoder can’t create FLV files with pixel dimensions greater than 1920x1080.
Page 599 IEC61966-2.1 color space for output. This output color space is appropriate for movies shown in a web browser. (See Color management.) 1. Select the composition you want to export, and then choose File > Export > Adobe Flash Player (SWF).
Page 600 Kush Amerasinghe provides an overview of H.264 and F4V in “H.264 for the rest of us“ on the Adobe Developer Connection website. Robert Reinhardt provides information about video for Flash Player in some sample chapters from his book Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Studio Techniques on the Peachpit website. In the "Compression primer"...
Page 601 Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy...
Page 602: Rendering And Exporting Still Images And Still-Image Sequences
Render and export a single frame of a composition You can export a single frame from a composition, either as an Adobe Photoshop (PSD) file with layers intact or as a rendered image. This is useful for editing files in Adobe Photoshop, preparing files for Adobe Encore, creating a proxy, or exporting an image from a movie for posters or storyboards.
Page 604: Automated Rendering And Network Rendering
The executable file aerender (aerender.exe on Windows) is a program with a command-line interface with which you can automate rendering. The executable file is located in the same folder as the primary After Effects application. The default locations: Windows: \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS5\Support Files Mac OS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects CS5 You can use the aerender application to perform rendering operations on multiple computers as part of a render farm, or you can use the aerender application on a single computer as part of a batch operation.
Page 605 –mem_usage image_cache_percentmax_mem_percent image_cache_percent specifies the maximum percentage of memory used to cache already rendered images and footage. max_mem_percent specifies the total percentage of memory that After Effects can use. For both values, if installed RAM is less than a given amount (n gigabytes), the value is a percentage of the installed RAM, and is otherwise a percentage of n.
Page 606 After Effects called render engines. You install render engines in the same manner as the full version of the application. You run the render engine using the Adobe After Effects Render Engine shortcut in the Adobe After Effects CS5 folder. (See Setup and installation.) After Effects CS5.5 had to be serialized on render-only machines (e.g., in a render farm) due to licensing issues.
Page 607 When possible, identify folders using absolute file paths so that the paths are correctly identified for all render engines. Identifying folders using absolute file paths may mean mapping network drives to a particular drive letter on all computers (for example, H:\renders\watch\). Avoid using relative paths (for example, \\renders\watch).
Page 608 You can detect network slowdown by observing the time spent in the Compressing & Writing stage in the Current Render section of the Render Queue panel. Note: Adobe does not provide technical support for general network configuration; consult your network administrator. Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the...
Page 609 9. You can stop and start any computer at any time. However, if you stop a computer without starting it again, the frame that it was rendering may not be finished. If one or more computers stop during rendering, starting any one computer ensures that all frames in the sequence get rendered.
Page 610: Converting Movies
Converting movies Convert footage items between video formats Convert DV footage from PAL to NTSC using pulldown Scaling a movie down Scaling a movie up Create a composition and render source footage items simultaneously Introduce 3:2 pulldown Test field-rendering order To the top Convert footage items between video formats You can use After Effects to convert one kind of video to another.
Page 611 Frame Rate box. 5. Choose Composition > Add To Render Queue. 6. Choose Custom from the Render Settings menu. 7. In the Render Settings pane, enable Field Rendering (choose the field order required by your output type), select any option from the 3:2 Pulldown menu, and then click OK.
Page 612 Adobe Photoshop provides fine control over resampling methods used for scaling of images. For fine control of resampling, you can export frames to Photoshop to change the image size and then import the frames back into After Effects.
Page 613 8. Render the composition again, choosing Lower Field First from the Field Render menu in the Render Settings dialog box. 9. Record both movies to the same device. 10. Play both movies. One movie will look distorted and have jumpy horizontal motion or shape distortion during vertical motion. The other movie will play back smoothly, with sharply defined edges.
Page 614 Note: After Effects projects saved as Adobe Premiere Pro projects cannot be opened by all versions of Adobe Premiere Pro. When you export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project, Adobe Premiere Pro uses the settings from the first composition in the After Effects project for all subsequent sequences.

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