Page 1 Using CS 4 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS ® ®...
Page 2 This user guide is licensed for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License. This License allows users to copy, distribute, and transmit the user guide for noncommercial purposes only so long as (1) proper attribution to Adobe is given as the owner of the user guide; and (2) any reuse or distribution of the user guide contains a notice that use of the user guide is governed by these terms.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
..................80 Importing from After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro .
Page 4 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Contents 3D layers ......................179 Cameras, lights, and points of interest .
Page 5 ............713 Exporting project information to other Adobe applications .
Page 6 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Contents Compositions and the work area (keyboard shortcuts) ..............742 Time navigation (keyboard shortcuts) .
Page 7: Chapter 1: Getting Started
After Effects render engines to assist with network rendering. You install render engines in the same manner as the full version of the application, but you do not activate them. You run the render engine using the Adobe After Effects Render Engine shortcut in the Adobe After Effects CS4 folder.
Page 8: Adobe Product Improvement Program
Adobe Product Improvement Program After you have used your Adobe software a certain number of times, a dialog box appears, asking whether you want to participate in the Adobe Product Improvement Program. If you choose to participate, data about your use of Adobe software is sent to Adobe. No personal information is recorded or sent.
Page 9 From the Connections panel menu , select Offline Options. Select Keep Me Offline and click OK. Note: When you disable web services from the Connections panel, all other web services (such as Adobe Kuler and Adobe ConnectNow) are also disabled. Printed resources Printed versions of the complete on-line product Help are available for the cost of shipping and handling at www.adobe.com/go/store.
Page 10 Adobe creative online services Many Adobe Creative Suite® 4 applications include online features that bring the power of the Web to your computer to help you connect to community, collaborate, and get more from your Adobe software. Some services offer full or partial functionality when you’re offline, too.
Page 11 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Getting started Note: Video tutorials on Adobe TV were created for After Effects CS4. Video tutorials on Video Workshop were created for After Effects CS3. Because most features don’t change substantially from one version to the next, most materials created for After Effects CS3 are still valid and useful for After Effects CS4.
Page 12 • Working with Premiere Pro, Encore, and After Effects: • Using Dynamic Link (Video Workshop) • Optimizing the video workflow between After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro (Video Workshop) • Animating Encore menus in After Effects (Video Workshop) • Using Dynamic Link (Adobe TV) •...
Page 13 After Effects Community Help section of the Adobe website. From the Community Help page, you can also search for community resources not on the Adobe website. To make a feature request or file a bug report, fill out the feature request and bug report form on the Adobe website.
Page 14 • After Effects Expressions forum Layers Magazine website provides articles and tutorials about After Effects and other Adobe creative products. David Van Brink provides tips, insights, and downloadable utilities for After Effects and other digital video software on his Omino website.
Page 15: New Features In After Effects Cs4
“Tracking and stabilizing motion” on page 261. For more information about new features in After Effects CS4, go to the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_indepth. Chris and Trish Meyer provide a discussion of new and changed features in After Effects on the ProVideo Coalition website.
Page 16: Chapter 2: User Interface
Workspaces, panels, and viewers Workspaces 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 17 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface More Help topics “Panels, viewers, workspaces, and windows (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 739 Choose a workspace • Choose Window > Workspace, and select the desired workspace. • Choose a workspace from the Workspace menu in the Tools panel. •...
Page 18 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Dragging panel (A) onto docking zone (B) to dock it (C) Grouping zones Grouping zones exist in the middle of a panel or group, and along the tab area of panels. Grouping a panel stacks it with other panels.
Page 19 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 make use of a secondary monitor, or to create workspaces like those in earlier versions of Adobe applications. ❖...
Page 20 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface When you drag the divider between panel groups, all groups that share the divider are resized. Do either of the following: • To resize either horizontally or vertically, position the pointer between two panel groups. The pointer becomes a double arrow •...
Page 21 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Scroll bar for showing tabs of other panels More Help topics “Panels, viewers, workspaces, and windows (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 739 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.
Page 22: General User Interface Items
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Edit this, look at that (ETLAT) and locked Composition viewers If a Composition viewer is locked, the Timeline panel for another composition is active, and the Composition viewer for the active composition is not shown, then most commands that affect views and previews operate on the composition for which the viewer is shown.
Page 23 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface More Help topics “Activating tools (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 741 Open panel, viewer, and context menus Panel menus provide commands relative to the active panel or frame. Viewer menus provide lists of compositions, layers, or footage items that can be shown in the viewer, as well as commands for closing items and locking the viewer.
Page 24 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface If one or more layers are selected in a composition, the filtering operation in the Timeline panel only affects selected layers. In this case, unselected layers are not filtered out (hidden) if they don’t match the search query. However, if no layers are selected in the composition, the filtering operation applies to all layers in the composition.
Page 25 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface • To zoom into the area under the pointer, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you roll the mouse wheel forward. • To zoom out of the area under the pointer, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you roll the mouse wheel backward.
Page 26: Preferences
• Create New Layers At Best Quality: “Layer image quality and subpixel positioning” on page 157 • Preserve Clipboard Data For Other Applications: “Importing from After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro” on page 86 • Use System Shortcut Keys (Mac OS only): “Keyboard...
Page 27: Display Preferences
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface • Audio Preview Duration: “Preview video and audio” on page 195 Display preferences • Motion Path: “Motion paths” on page 223 • Disable Thumbnails In Project Panel: “Composition thumbnail images” on page 59 •...
Page 28: User Interface Changes From After Effects Cs3 To After Effects Cs4
CS4” on page 9. For a complete list of new and changed features in After Effects CS4, see Todd Kopriva's blog on the Adobe website. Panels Align panel • Changed name of panel from Align & Distribute to Align. See “Align or distribute layers in 2D...
Page 29 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface • Added Transform > Flip Horizontal, Transform > Flip Vertical, Transform > Center In View, Open Footage, Open Composition, Convert To Live Photoshop 3D, and Convert To Editable Text to context menu for a layer. See “Scale or flip a layer”...
Page 30 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Project panel • Added text field for searching and filtering. Removed Find button from bottom of panel. See “Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels” on page 17. •...
Page 31 “Export a composition as an XFL file to Flash Professional” on page 705. • Added Adobe Dynamic Link > New Premiere Pro Sequence. Added Adobe Dynamic Link > Import Premiere Pro Sequence. See “Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects”...
Page 32: Dialog Boxes
• Changed Tip Of The Day to Welcome And Tip Of The Day. Dialog boxes New dialog boxes • Added Adobe Flash Professional (XFL) Settings dialog box. See “Export a composition as an XFL file to Flash Professional” on page 705.
Page 33 619. Import File, Import Multiple FIles, and Replace Footage File dialog boxes • Added Adobe Premiere Pro Dynamic Link (*.prproj) and Adobe Soundbooth (*.asnd) items to Format, Files Of Type (Windows), and Enable (Mac OS) menus. • Changed GIF to GIF, Generic QuickTime in Format, Files Of Type (Windows), and Enable (Mac OS) menus.
Page 34 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Preferences dialog box See “Preferences” on page 20. • Previews: • Added Enable Adaptive Resolution With OpenGL. • Replaced Accelerate Effects Using menu with Accelerate Effects Using OpenGL (When Possible). • Import: •...
Page 35 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 User interface Keyboard shortcuts and mouse actions New keyboard shortcuts • Place the insertion point in the search field for the active panel: Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac OS). See “Search and filter in the Timeline, Project, and Effects & Presets panels”...
Page 36: Chapter 3: Workflows, Planning, And Setup
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 37 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Workflows, planning, and setup Modify and animate layer properties You can modify any property of a layer, such as size, position, and opacity. You can make any combination of layer properties change over time, using keyframes and expressions. Use motion tracking to stabilize motion or to animate one layer so that it follows the motion in another layer.
Page 38 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 “Keyboard...
Page 39: Planning And Setup
Aharon Rabinowitz provides an article on the Creative COW website about planning your project with the final delivery specifications in mind. For a video tutorial on creating and organizing projects, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0221.
Page 40: Project Settings
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. If the image is too large when you import it into After Effects, you’ll increase the memory and processor requirements of the compositions that use...
Page 41 Screen dimensions, video frame rates, and color gamuts vary greatly from one mobile device to another. Adobe Device Central contains device profiles that provide information about these characteristics. You can create a set of After Effects compositions tailored for a selected set of devices by using the File >...
Page 42 • Match the color palette to the mobile devices that you are targeting. Mobile devices, in general, have a limited color gamut. Previewing in Adobe Device Central can help determine if the colors used are optimal for an individual device or range of devices.
Page 43: 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;...
Page 44 Workflows, planning, and setup • To reveal a file in Adobe Bridge, select a file in the Project panel and choose File > Reveal In Bridge. • To use Adobe Bridge to open template projects, choose File > Browse Template Projects.
Page 45 PSD 3D object layer to honor the active camera in an After Effects composition. When the camera moves around such a layer, it views the 3D object from various angles. To see a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, see the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp.
Page 46 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 47 Flash version. When you import the XFL file in Flash, it unpacks the XFL file and adds the assets from the file to your FLA file according to the instructions in the XFL file. The following video tutorials provide detailed information about exporting XFL files from After Effects: • Importing and exporting XFL files between Flash and After Effects (Adobe.com)
Page 48: Working With Adobe Premiere Pro And 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.
Page 49 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.
Page 50: Dynamic Link And After Effects
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. Select the layer that contains the audio that you want to edit. The item must be of a type that is editable in Adobe Soundbooth or Adobe Audition.
Page 51 In Adobe Premiere Pro, you can preview a dynamically linked After Effects composition in the Source Monitor, set In and Out points, add it to a sequence, and use Adobe Premiere Pro tools to edit it. When you add a linked composition that contains both video and audio to a sequence, Adobe Premiere Pro inserts linked video and audio clips in the timeline.
Page 52 Link to a new composition When you link to a new composition from Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore, After Effects starts and creates a new project and composition with the dimensions, pixel aspect ratio, frame rate, and audio sample rate of your Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore project.
Page 53 Note: If you change the name of the composition in After Effects after you’ve created a dynamic link to it from Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro doesn’t update the linked composition name in the Project panel, but retains the dynamic link.
Page 54 Saving and Dynamic Link (Production Premium or Master Collection only) You must save your After Effects project at least once before you can create a dynamic link from Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore to a composition within it. However, you don’t have to subsequently save changes to an After Effects project to see changes to a linked composition in Adobe Premiere Pro or Encore.
Page 55: Chapter 4: Projects And Compositions
XML project files as part of an automated workflow. For a video tutorial about the XML project file format, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4065_ae. Elements of a project that you can modify in an XML project file: •...
Page 56 After Effects > Preferences > Auto-Save (Mac OS), and select Automatically Save Projects. Auto-saved files are saved in the Adobe After Effects Auto-Save folder, which is located in the same folder as the original project file. Auto-saved filenames are based on the project name: After Effects adds “auto-save n” (where n is the number of the file in the auto-save series) to the end of the filename.
Page 57 • To browse and open template projects using Adobe Bridge, choose File > Browse Template Projects. Double-click a template project to open it. • To open a template project, choose File > Open Project. On Windows, choose Adobe After Effects Project Template from the Files Of Type menu.
Page 58 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Mid-gray lines between tiles in the flowchart indicate that the Video or Audio switch for those items is deselected in the Timeline panel. Black or light gray lines indicate that the switch is selected, depending on the Brightness setting in the Appearance preferences.
Page 59 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 Adobe Premiere Pro: When the timecode base is 30 fps, each timecode value repeats twice. When the timecode base is 60 fps drop-frame, frame numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 are dropped in the same places as where 0 and 1 are dropped for drop-frame timecode with a timecode base of 30 fps.
Page 60: Composition Basics
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Composition basics About compositions A composition is the framework for a movie. Each composition has its own timeline. A typical composition includes multiple layers that represent components such as video and audio footage items, animated text and vector graphics, still images, and lights.
Page 61 Resolution When Nested settings. 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 62 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 63 After you render and export the compositions, you can preview and test the resulting movies on the simulated devices within Adobe Device Central. More Help topics “Basics of rendering and...
Page 64 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Composition settings You can enter composition settings manually, or you can use composition settings presets to automatically set frame size (width and height), pixel aspect ratio, and frame rate for many common output formats. You can also create and save your own custom composition settings presets for later use.
Page 65 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions “About precomposing and nesting” on page 60 “Motion blur” on page 227 Set composition background color ❖ Choose Composition > Background Color, and then click the color swatch or use the eyedropper to pick a color. Note: When you add one composition to another (nesting), the background color of the containing composition is preserved, and the background of the nested composition becomes transparent.
Page 66: Precomposing, Nesting, And Pre-Rendering
Composition Navigator and Mini-Flowchart. (See “Opening and navigating nested compositions” on page 62.) Precompositions in After Effects are similar to Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop. More Help topics “Precompose layers” on page 61 “Create layers from footage items or change layer...
Page 67 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions The layer that represents the composition has its own properties, in Add another set of transform properties to a layer addition to the properties of the layers that it contains. This allows you to apply an additional set of transformations to a layer or set of layers.
Page 68 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Select one of the following: Leaves the properties and keyframes of the precomposed layer in the original composition, Leave All Attributes In applied to the new layer that represents the precomposition. The frame size of the new composition is the same as the size of the selected layer.
Page 69 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions 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.
Page 70 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Upstream compositions in the Composition Mini-Flowchart are sorted from top to bottom either alphabetically or by layer order. To switch between these sorting orders, press the S key when the Composition Mini-Flowchart is open. When sorting by layer order, a composition used multiple times is sorted according to its topmost instance in the stacking order.
Page 71 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions Transformations are changes to those properties grouped under the Transform category in the Timeline panel, including Anchor Point, Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity. What you see in the Layer panel is the result of the rendering before transformations are performed.
Page 72 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Projects and compositions When a closed mask (with mask mode other than None), a layer style, or an effect is applied to a nested composition with collapsed transformations, the layers in the nested composition are first rendered on their own, then masks and effects are applied, and then the result is composited into the main composition.
Page 73: Chapter 5: Importing And Managing Footage Items
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 5: Importing and managing footage items Importing and interpreting footage items About imported files and footage items You import source files into a project as the basis for footage items and use them as sources for layers. The same file can be the source for multiple footage items, each with its own interpretation settings.
Page 74: Supported Import Formats
R3D files, see the website.) 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 75 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items • GIF • JPEG (JPG, JPE) • Maya camera data (MA) • Maya IFF (IFF, TDI; 16 bpc) • OpenEXR (EXR; 32 bpc) Note: 3D Channel effect plug-ins from fnord software are included with After Effects to provide access to multiple layers and channels of OpenEXR files.
Page 76 Animation defined by keyframes in the main, top-level movie is retained. • Video for Windows (AVI, WAV; requires QuickTime on Mac OS) You can import 10-bpc uncompressed YUV AVI files created in Adobe Premiere Pro into 16-bpc RGB After Effects projects. You can also render with 10-bpc YUV compression. (See “Video for Windows compression...
Page 77 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items More Help topics “Alpha channel interpretation: premultiplied or straight” on page 73 “Import a single still image or a still-image sequence” on page 103 “Footage (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 745 Import footage items using the Import dialog box Choose File >...
Page 78 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items The interpretation settings tell After Effects the following about each footage item: • How to interpret the interaction of the alpha channel with other channels (See “Alpha channel interpretation: premultiplied or straight”...
Page 79 Locations of the interpretation rules file: • (Windows XP and 32-bit Windows Vista) C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\ • (64-bit Windows Vista) C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\ • (Mac OS) Applications/Adobe After Effects CS4/ Quit After Effects.
Page 80 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. Adobe Flash recognizes only premultiplied alpha channels.
Page 81: Frame Rate
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Interprets the channels as straight. Straight - Unmatted Interprets channels as premultiplied. Use the eyedropper or color picker to specify Premultiplied - Matted With Color the color of the background with which the channels were premultiplied. Set the default alpha channel preferences Choose Edit >...
Page 82 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Note: Conforming can change the synchronization of visual footage that has an audio track, because changing the frame rate changes the duration of the video but leaves the audio unchanged. If you want to stretch both audio and video, use the Time Stretch command.
Page 83 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Pixel aspect ratio and frame aspect ratio Pixel aspect ratio (PAR) is the ratio of width to height of one pixel in an image. Frame aspect ratio (sometimes called image aspect ratio or IAR) is the ratio of width to height of the image frame.
Page 84 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items After Effects reads and writes pixel aspect ratios directly from QuickTime movies. For example, if you import a movie captured as widescreen (16:9 DV), After Effects automatically tags it correctly. Similarly, AVI and PSD files contain information that explicitly indicates the pixel aspect ratio of the images.
Page 85 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items 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. Note: If you have a custom interpretation rules file, then you should update it with the correct pixel aspect ratio values.
Page 86: Working With Footage Items
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Pixel aspect ratio When to use D1/DV PAL 1.09 Footage has a 720x576 frame size, and the desired result is a 4:3 frame aspect ratio. D1/DV PAL 1.46 Footage has a 720x576 frame size, and the desired result is a 16:9 frame Widescreen aspect ratio.
Page 87 Timeline panel, and then choose 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 88 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items To open a QuickTime or Video for Windows movie in the Footage panel instead of a player window, Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Mac OS) the footage item in the Project panel. The QuickTime and Video for Windows player windows play the source file, not the edited and interpreted footage item based on the source file.
Page 89 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items • To remove unselected compositions and unused footage items from selected compositions in the Project panel, choose File > Reduce Project. This command is available only when the Project panel is active. This command removes both unused footage items and all other compositions that are not included within a selected composition as nested (subordinate) compositions.
Page 90 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Proxy items in Project panel A. Proxy assigned and in use B. Proxy assigned, but original in use C. No proxy assigned D. Proxy name More Help topics “Render settings”...
Page 91 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items For best results, set a proxy so that it has the same frame aspect ratio as the actual footage item. For example, if the actual footage item is a 640x480-pixel movie, create and use a 160x120-pixel proxy. When a proxy item is imported, After Effects scales the item to the same size and duration as the actual footage.
Page 92: Importing From After Effects And Adobe Premiere Pro
Effects” on page 42.) 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.
Page 93 • 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 94 Adobe Premiere Pro. Each layer is placed on a separate track, and the last selected layer appears on Track 1. For example, if you select layers from top to bottom, the layers appear in the reverse order in Adobe Premiere Pro, with the bottom-most layer on Track 1.
Page 95 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 96: Importing And Interpreting Video And Audio
Sequence marker Markers on a new solid-color layer To copy sequence markers, you must either copy the sequence itself or import the entire Adobe Premiere Pro project as a composition. Speed property Time Stretch property Speed and time stretch have an inverse relationship.
Page 97 • Open Wide: Creating That Widescreen Look Adobe digital video applications include presets that are designed for working with various high-definition formats. Some of the most common high-definition video formats you may encounter include the following: High-definition video recording formats...
Page 98 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Interlaced video, noninterlaced video, and progressive scanning 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. Because of the speed of transmission, the afterglow of displays, and the persistence of vision, the viewer perceives each frame in full resolution.
Page 99 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Separate video fields and determine field order If you want to use interlaced or field-rendered footage (such as NTSC video) in an After Effects project, you get the best results if you separate the video fields when you import the footage.
Page 100 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Note: Upper-field first corresponds to Even Field First in an Electric Image file. The order in which the fields are displayed is important, especially when the fields contain motion. If you separate video fields using the wrong field order, motion does not appear smooth.
Page 101 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items When you apply 3:2 pulldown to footage, one frame of the film (A) is separated into two or three interlaced video fields (B) which are grouped into video frames containing two fields each. When importing interlaced video that was originally transferred from film, you can remove the 3:2 pulldown that was applied during the transfer from film to video as you separate fields so that effects you apply in After Effects don’t appear distorted.
Page 102 (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 103 The Date column in the Project panel shows when each source clip was acquired. After you import spanned clips, you can use the Date value to determine their correct chronological order within the shot. For additional information on the Panasonic P2 format and workflows with Adobe digital video software, see the Adobe website: •...
Page 104: Preparing And Importing 3D Image Files
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items During AAF import, video tracks are processed before audio tracks. Therefore, Depth order of video and audio tracks converted audio layers appear above video layers in the After Effects Timeline panel. When an Avid editing system imports footage, it is scaled to the Different image dimensions and pixel aspect ratios dimensions of the project regardless of the original dimensions of the footage.
Page 105 (See “3D object layers from Photoshop” on page 185.) For a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, go to the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp. Importing PSD files as 3D scenes Paul Tuersley provides a script on the...
Page 106 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 107 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > RPF Camera Import. Note: To create an RLA or RPF file with the camera data in 3D Studio Max, save your rendering in RPF format with Coverage, Z Depth, and Alpha Channels enabled.
Page 108: Preparing And Importing Still Images
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Note: After Effects reads only the rendering cameras in Maya files and ignores the orthographic and perspective cameras. Therefore, always generate a rendering camera from Maya, even if it’s the same as the perspective camera. If you apply the FilmFit camera setting, make sure to use either horizontal or vertical FilmFit, not fill.
Page 109 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—...
Page 110 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Note: When you render a composition that contains a numbered sequence, the output module uses the start frame number as the first frame number. For example, if you start to render on frame 25, the name of the file is 00025. A sequence of still-image files (left) becomes one image sequence when imported into After Effects (right).
Page 111 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Import a still-image sequence as a composition When you import a Photoshop or Illustrator file as a composition, you have access to the individual layers, blending modes, adjustment layers, layer styles, masks, guides, and other features created in Photoshop or Illustrator. The imported composition and a folder containing each of its layers as footage items appears in the Project panel.
Page 112 After Effects, it will not pick up any layers that have been added since the file was imported. 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 113 (See “3D object layers from Photoshop” on page 185.) For a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, go to the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp. Scaling and resizing Though it's not very well suited for movies, the content-aware scaling feature in Photoshop is very useful for extending and scaling still images.
Page 114 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items More Help topics “Layer styles” on page 177 “Working with Photoshop and After Effects” on page 38 “Preparing still-image files for importing” on page 102 Preparing and importing Illustrator files Note: For information and instructions that apply to all kinds of still image files, see “Preparing still-image files for importing”...
Page 115: Introduction To Camera Raw And Importing Camera Raw Files
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Importing and interpreting Cineon and DPX sequences You can import Cineon 4.5 or Digital Picture Exchange (DPX) files directly into an After Effects project as individual frames or as a sequence of numbered stills. Once you have imported a Cineon or DPX file, you can use it in a composition and then render the composition as an image sequence.
Page 116 Camera Raw software is included as a plug-in with Adobe After Effects® and Adobe Photoshop, and also adds functionality to Adobe Bridge. Camera Raw gives each of these applications the ability to import and work with camera raw files. You can also use Camera Raw to work with JPEG and TIFF files.
Page 117 Using Adobe Bridge, you can apply, copy, and clear image settings, and you can see previews and metadata for camera raw files without opening them in the Camera Raw dialog box. The preview in Adobe Bridge is a JPEG image generated using the current image settings;...
Page 118 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items You can convert camera raw files to the DNG format by using the Adobe DNG Converter or the Camera Raw dialog box. For more information on the DNG format and DNG Converter, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ps_dng...
Page 119 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items 7. Save the image, or open it in Photoshop or After Effects. When you finish adjusting the image in Camera Raw, you can apply the adjustments to the camera raw file, open the adjusted image in Photoshop or After Effects, save the adjusted image to another format, or cancel and discard adjustments.
Page 120 To open the Camera Raw Settings menu, click the button in the upper-right corner of any of the image adjustment tabs. Several of the commands in this menu are also available from the Edit > Develop Settings menu in Adobe Bridge. Camera Raw view controls Sets the preview zoom to the next higher preset value when you click the preview image.
Page 121 Work with the Camera Raw cache in Adobe Bridge When you view camera raw files in Adobe Bridge, the thumbnails and previews use either the default settings or your adjusted settings. The Adobe Bridge cache stores data for the file thumbnails, metadata, and file information. Caching this data shortens the loading time when you return to a previously viewed folder in Adobe Bridge.
Page 122: Navigating, Opening, And Saving Images With Camera Raw
Adjustments made in Camera Raw are also displayed in the Adobe Bridge Content and Preview panels. To view Lightroom changes in Camera Raw, and to ensure that Camera Raw adjustments can be viewed in Lightroom and Adobe Bridge, do the following: In Adobe Bridge, choose Edit >...
Page 123 Open images in Camera Raw • To process raw images in Camera Raw, select one or more camera raw files in Adobe Bridge, and then choose File > Open In Camera Raw or press Ctrl+R (Windows) or Command+R (Mac OS). When you finish making adjustments in the Camera Raw dialog box, click Done to accept changes and close the dialog box.
Page 124: Making Color And Tonal Adjustments In Camera Raw
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items In the Save Options dialog box, specify the following options: Specifies where to save the file. If necessary, click the Select Folder button and navigate to the location. Destination Specifies the filename using a naming convention that includes elements such as date and camera serial File Naming...
Page 125 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items A histogram is made up of three layers of color that represent the red, green, and blue color channels. White appears when all three channels overlap; yellow, magenta, and cyan appear when two of the RGB channels overlap (yellow equals the red + green channels, magenta equals the red + blue channels, and cyan equals the green + blue channels).
Page 126 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Note: Not all color casts are a result of incorrect white balance. Use the DNG Profile Editor to correct a color cast that remains after the white balance is adjusted. See “Adjust color rendering for your camera in Camera Raw”...
Page 127 Apply Auto Tone Adjustments in the Default Image Settings section of the Camera Raw preferences. Note: If you are comparing images based on their previews in Adobe Bridge, you may want to leave the Apply Auto Tone Adjustments preference deselected, which is the default. Otherwise, you’ll be comparing images that have already been adjusted.
Page 128 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items in the shadows, with much less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is like using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect. Adjusts the brightness or darkness of the image, much as the Exposure property does.
Page 129 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation controls in Camera Raw You can change the color saturation (vividness or color purity) of all colors by adjusting the Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation controls on the Basic tab. (To adjust saturation for a specific range of colors, use the controls on the HSL / Grayscale tab.) Adds depth to an image by increasing local contrast, with greatest effect on the midtones.
Page 130 Use Camera Matching profiles if you prefer the color rendering offered by your camera manufacturer’s software. Both Adobe Standard and Camera Matching camera profiles are intended to serve as a starting point for further image adjustments. Therefore, use the profiles in conjunction with the color and tone controls in the Basic, Tone Curve, HSL / Grayscale, and other image adjustment tabs.
Page 131 Adobe Standard and Camera Matching profiles work only with raw images. Note: If you have selected a raw file and Adobe Standard and Camera Matching profiles do not appear in the Camera Profile pop-up menu, download the latest Camera Raw update at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ps_cameraraw.
Page 132: Retouching And Transforming Images With Camera Raw
(or press L). • Click the Rotate Image 90° Clockwise button (or press R). Note: Using commands in the Edit menu, you can also rotate images in Adobe Bridge without opening the Camera Raw dialog box. Straighten images in Camera Raw In the Camera Raw dialog box, select the Straighten tool (or press A).
Page 133 Camera Raw preferences from within Adobe Bridge, choose Edit > Camera Raw Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Bridge CS4 > Camera Raw Preferences (Mac OS). To open Camera Raw preferences from within Photoshop, choose Edit > Preferences > Camera Raw (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences > Camera Raw (Mac OS).
Page 134: Making Local Adjustments With Camera Raw
XMP sidecar file or in the Camera Raw database, depending on what’s specified in Camera Raw preferences. For a video tutorial on making local adjustments in Camera Raw, go to www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4008_ps. More Help topics “Process, compare, and rate multiple images in Camera Raw”...
Page 135 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Choose the type of adjustment you want to make in the Adjustment Brush tool options by dragging the slider for any of the following effects: Sets the overall image brightness, with a greater effect in the highlights. Drag the slider to the right to Exposure increase the exposure;...
Page 136 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items To create an eraser brush that has different characteristics from the current Adjustment Brush tool, click the Local Adjustment Settings menu button and choose Separate Eraser Size. Then, specify the Size, Feather, Flow, and Density you want for the eraser.
Page 137 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items • Drag the black-and-white dotted line to shift the effect. • Position the pointer over the green-and-white or red-and-white dotted line, near the green or red dot, until a double-pointing arrow appears.
Page 138: Correcting Lens Distortion And Noise In Camera Raw
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Correcting lens distortion and noise in Camera Raw Compensate for chromatic aberration in Camera Raw Chromatic aberration is a common defect caused by the failure of the lens to focus different frequencies (colors) to the same spot.
Page 139 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Decrease Midpoint to apply the adjustment to a larger area away from the corners, or increase Midpoint to restrict the adjustment to an area closer to the corners. Apply a postcrop vignette in Camera Raw To apply a vignette to a cropped image for artistic effect, use the Post Crop Vignetting feature.
Page 140: Camera Raw Settings
Settings section of the Camera Raw preferences. Presets appear by name in the Presets tab, in the Edit > Develop Settings menu in Adobe Bridge, in the context menu for camera raw images in Adobe Bridge, and in the Apply Presets submenu of the Camera Raw Settings menu in the Camera Raw dialog box.
Page 141 The Camera Raw plug-in cannot write an XMP file to a read-only volume and writes the settings to the Camera Raw database file instead. You can view XMP files in Adobe Bridge by choosing View > Show Hidden Files.
Page 142 In Adobe Bridge or in the Camera Raw dialog box, select one or more files. In Adobe Bridge, choose Edit > Develop Settings, or right-click a selected file. Or, in the Camera Raw dialog box, click the Camera Raw Settings menu Choose one of the following: Uses the settings from the selected camera raw image.
Page 143 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Importing and managing footage items Export Camera Raw settings and DNG previews If you store file settings in the Camera Raw database, you can use the Export Settings To XMP command to copy the settings to sidecar XMP files or embed them in DNG files.
Page 144: Chapter 6: Layers And Properties
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 145 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties “Creating and editing text layers” on page 341 “3D layers” on page 179 “Cameras, lights, and points of interest” on page 186 “About shapes and shape layers” on page 309 “Null object layers”...
Page 146 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Note: By default, new layers begin at the beginning of the composition duration. You can instead choose to have new layers begin at the current time by deselecting the Create Layers At Composition Start Time preference (Edit > Preferences >...
Page 147 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Also creates the new layer at the top of the layer stacking order, with the In point set at the Ripple Insert Edit current time in the Timeline panel, but splits all 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.
Page 148 Create a layer and new Photoshop footage item When you create an Adobe Photoshop file from After Effects, Photoshop starts and creates a new PSD file. This PSD file consists of a blank Photoshop layer that has the same dimensions as your composition, with the appropriate title- safe and action-safe guides.
Page 149: Selecting And Arranging Layers
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Selecting and arranging layers Jeff Almasol provides a script on his redefinery website that creates a panel with controls for moving various combinations of items in time: layer In point, layer Out point, layer source frames, keyframes, and markers. Trish and Chris Meyer provide an introduction to moving, trimming, reordering, and sequencing layers in a PDF excerpt from the “Layer Control”...
Page 150 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties • To select all child layers assigned to a parent layer, select the parent layer and choose Select Children from the context menu in the Composition or Timeline panel. The child layers are added to the existing selection. Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website with which you can tag layers and then select, shy,...
Page 151 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Coordinate systems: composition space and layer space The coordinate system for each layer is its layer space. The coordinate system for each composition is its composition space. Property values for items that exist within a layer—such as effect control points and anchor points—exist in layer space and are measured from the origin in the layer space of that layer.
Page 152 Position, and (for 3D layers) Z Position. Separating dimensions allows you to modify or animate the position of a layer along the x axis, y axis, and z axis independently. For a video tutorial about using the Separate Dimensions command, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4067_ae.
Page 153 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties The decision of whether to work with separate dimensions depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Using one property for position has the advantage of providing smooth motion more easily. Also, using a single property for position enables the use of roving keyframes, which provides uniform speed.
Page 154 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Trim, extend, or slip-edit a layer The beginning of the duration of a layer is its In point, and the end is its Out point. The duration is the span between the In point and the Out point, and the bar that extends from the In point to the Out point is the layer duration bar.
Page 155 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Trim or extend layers in the Timeline panel Dragging the Out point of a layer duration bar. Select one or more layers in the Timeline panel. Do one of the following: •...
Page 156 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties • To remove the section, choose Edit > Extract Work Area. The gap is closed by ripple deletion. More Help topics “Work area” on page 201 “Select layers” on page 143 Place or move a layer in time The layer duration bar represents the layer duration visually.
Page 157 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties “Layers (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 746 “Trim, extend, or slip-edit a layer” on page 148 “Timeline panel” on page 57 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 158 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties More Help topics “Select layers” on page 143 Copy or duplicate a layer When you copy a layer, you copy all of its properties, including effects, keyframes, expressions, and masks. Duplicating a layer is a shortcut with which you copy and paste the layer with one command.
Page 159: Managing Layers
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Paul Tuersley provides a script on the AE Enhancers forum for splitting layers at layer markers. Lloyd Alvarez provides a script on his After Effects Scripts website that automatically detects edits in a footage layer and splits it into a separate layer for each edit (or places a layer marker at each edit).
Page 160 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties View and change layer information • To rename a layer or property group, do one of the following: • Select the item in the Timeline panel, press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS), and enter the new name. •...
Page 161 Collapse Transformations/Continuously Rasterize 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 162 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties • To deselect the Video switch for all layers except the selected layers, choose Layer > Switches > Hide Other Video. More Help topics “Layer switches and columns in the Timeline panel”...
Page 163 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties • To change the color of a label for one layer, click the label in the Timeline panel and choose a color. • To change the color of a label for all layers with that label color, select one of the layers belonging to the label group, choose Edit >...
Page 164 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties To toggle between Best and Draft quality of selected layers, click the Quality switch in the Timeline panel. To choose from all three options, choose Layer > Quality: Displays and renders a layer using subpixel positioning, anti-aliasing, 3D shading, and complete calculation of Best any applied effects.
Page 165: Layer Properties
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties When you apply an effect to a continuously rasterized layer, the results may differ from the results of applying the effect to a layer without continuous rasterization. This difference in results is because the default rendering order for the layer changes.
Page 166 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties All layer properties are temporal—they can change the layer over time. Some layer properties, such as Opacity, have only a temporal component. Some layer properties, such as Position, are also spatial—they can move the layer or its pixels across composition space.
Page 167 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties • To show only properties that have keyframes or expressions, press U, or choose Animation > Reveal Animating Properties. The U and UU commands are especially useful for learning how animation presets, template projects, or other animated items work, because they isolate the properties that were modified by the designer of those items.
Page 168 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Set a property value If multiple layers are selected and you change a property for one layer, then the property is changed for all selected layers. Sliders, angle controls, and some other property controls are only available in the Effect Controls panel. To change the units for a property, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the underlined value, choose Edit Value, and choose from the Units menu.
Page 169 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties The easiest way to pan and scan over a large image is to animate Anchor Point and Scale properties. Alan Shisko provides a detailed video tutorial on website, demonstrating how to create a complex 3D environment from 3D layers, beginning with simple 2D assets.
Page 170 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...
Page 171 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Though it's not very well suited for movies, the content-aware scaling feature in Photoshop is very useful for extending and scaling still images. This feature can be useful when repurposing images for wide-screen formats that were created for standard-definition formats.
Page 172 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties For more precision in setting audio levels by dragging sliders, increase the height of the Audio panel. ❖ In the Audio panel, to adjust volume, do one of the following: •...
Page 173 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. Carl Larsen provides a video tutorial on the...
Page 174 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...
Page 175 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that demonstrates the use of Brainstorm. 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.
Page 176 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties If you use Brainstorm on a single one-dimensional property (such as Opacity, but not Position), the Randomness value that controls the amount of variation (mutation) is replaced by a Spread value. The variants that are presented in the Brainstorm dialog box are then not random, but represent a range of values around the central value.
Page 177: Blending Modes And Layer Styles
After Effects (formerly referred to as layer modes and sometimes called transfer modes) are identical to blending modes in Adobe Photoshop. Most blending modes modify only color values of the source layer, not the alpha channel. The Alpha Add blending mode affects the alpha channel of the source layer, and the silhouette and stencil blending modes affect the alpha channels of layers beneath them.
Page 178 All blending modes described in this section are available for blending between layers. Some of these options are available for paint strokes, layer styles, and effects. For in-depth information about the concepts and algorithms behind these blending modes as implemented in several Adobe applications, see the PDF reference material on the Adobe website.
Page 179 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Blending mode gallery source layer underlying layer Normal Dissolve Dancing Dissolve Darken Multiply Color Burn Classic Color Burn Linear Burn Darker Color Lighten Screen Color Dodge Classic Color Dodge Linear Dodge Overlay Soft Light Lighter Color...
Page 180 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Pin Light Hard Mix Difference Classic Difference Exclusion Saturation Color Luminosity Stencil Alpha Stencil Luma Silhouette Alpha Silhouette Luma Alpha Add Luminescent Premul Blending mode descriptions In the following descriptions, these terms are used: •...
Page 181 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties For each color channel, multiplies source color channel value with underlying color channel value and Multiply divides by maximum value for 8-bpc, 16-bpc, or 32-bpc pixels, depending on the color depth of the project. The result color is never brighter than the original.
Page 182 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the underlying color. If Vivid Light the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer is lightened because the contrast is decreased. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer is darkened because the contrast is increased.
Page 183: Layer Styles
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Note: Sometimes, when layers are aligned edge-to-edge, seams can appear between the layers. This is especially an issue with 3D layers that are joined to one another at the edges to build a 3D object. When the edges of a layer are anti-aliased, there's some partial transparency at the edges.
Page 184 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Use the Bevel And Emboss layer style rather than the Bevel Alpha effect if, for example, you want to apply different blending modes to the highlights and shadows of a bevel. Applies interior shading that creates a satiny finish.
Page 185: 3D Layers
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Expands the boundaries of the matte before blurring. Spread Set this option to On to use the Global Light Angle and Global Light Altitude in the Blending Options Use Global Light property group instead of the Angle and Altitude settings for each individual layer style.
Page 186 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties 2D layers (left) and layers with 3D properties (right) Any layer can be a 3D layer, except an audio-only layer. Individual characters within text layers can optionally be 3D sublayers, each with their own 3D properties. A text layer with Enable Per-character 3D selected behaves just like a precomposition that consists of a 3D layer for each character.
Page 187 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Paul Tuersley provides a pair of scripts on the AE Enhancers forum for converting a composition based on a layered Photoshop file into a set of 3D layers. Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial on his Video Copilot website in which he demonstrates the creation of 3D reflections.
Page 188 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Show or hide 3D axes and layer controls 3D axes are color-coded arrows: red for x, green for y, and blue for z. • To show or hide 3D axes, camera and light wireframe icons, layer handles, and the point of interest, choose View > Show Layer Controls.
Page 189 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Animating the Orientation property is often better for natural, smooth motion, whereas animating the Rotation properties provides more precise control. More Help topics “Show or hide 3D axes and layer controls”...
Page 190 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Aligns the axes to the view you have selected. For example, suppose that a layer has been rotated View Axis mode and the view changed to a custom view; any subsequent transformation made to that layer while in View Axis mode happens along the axes corresponding to the direction from which you are looking at the layer.
Page 191 158 3D object layers from Photoshop For a video tutorial about using 3D object layers from Photoshop in After Effects, go to the Adobe website: www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4113_xp. Adobe Photoshop Extended can import and manipulate 3D models (3D objects) in several popular formats, including the following: •...
Page 192: Cameras, Lights, And Points Of Interest
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties A 3D object and its camera may be animated within Photoshop. To make After Effects use the animation of the 3D object or camera from the PSD file, choose Use Photoshop Transform or Use Photoshop Camera in the effect properties in the Effect Controls panel for the Live Photoshop 3D effect for the layer.
Page 193 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties All cameras are listed in the 3D View menu at the bottom of the Composition panel, where you can access them at any time. It’s often easiest to adjust a camera when using one of the custom 3D views. You can’t—of course—see the camera to manipulate it when you’re looking through the camera itself.
Page 194 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Note: The three things that affect depth of field are focal length, aperture, and focus distance. Shallow (small) depth of field is a result of long focal length, short focus distance, and a larger aperture (smaller F-stop). A shallower depth of field means a larger depth-of-field blur result.
Page 195 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties The dimensions used to depict the film size. Measure Film Size Online resources about cameras Dale Bradshaw provides a script and sample project for automating the rigging of a camera on the Creative Workflow Hacks website.
Page 196 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties You can specify which 3D layers a light affects by designating the light as an adjustment layer: place the light in the Timeline panel above the layers on which you want it to shine. Layers that are above a light adjustment layer in the layer stacking order in the Timeline panel do not receive the light, regardless of the positions of the layers in the Composition panel.
Page 197 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Simulate light falloff Native After Effects lights don’t include falloff properties, which means that the illumination of a layer does not decrease as the distance between the layer and the light increases. You can simulate light falloff using expressions or one of several third-party plug-ins created for this purpose.
Page 198 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties More Help topics “3D layers” on page 179 “Auto-Orientation options” on page 153 “Choose a 3D view” on page 204 Online resources for moving and animating cameras and lights AE Enhancers forum provides an expression that makes moving a camera or light more convenient.
Page 199 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties Adjusts the 3D view along the line from the camera to the point of interest. If you are using an Track Z Camera orthographic view, this tool adjusts the scale of the view. (To temporarily activate the Track Z Camera tool when the Unified Camera Tool is active, hold the right mouse button.) Drag in the Composition panel.
Page 200 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Layers and properties The contribution of the layer color to the color of the specular highlight. 100% specifies that the highlight color Metal is the color of the layer. For example, with a Metal value of 100%, an image of a gold ring reflects golden light. 0% specifies that the color of the specular highlight is the color of the light source.
Page 201: Chapter 7: Views And Previews
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.
Page 202 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews “Memory & Multiprocessing preferences” on page 635 “Layer switches and columns in the Timeline panel” on page 154 Use RAM preview to play video and audio RAM preview allocates RAM to play video and audio in the Timeline, Layer, or Footage panel at real-time speed. The number of frames that can be stored for real-time playback depends on the amount of RAM available to the application and the settings in the Preview panel.
Page 203 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Save a RAM preview as a movie After Effects can save RAM previews as uncompressed AVI files (Windows) or MOV files (Mac OS). When saving a RAM preview, keep in mind the following: •...
Page 204 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Standard previews play at a speed as close to the speed of real time as possible. However, for complex compositions, the speed of the preview may be much less than real-time speed. ❖...
Page 205 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews The time ruler visually represents the time dimension of a composition, a layer, or a footage item. In a Layer or Footage panel, the time ruler appears near the bottom of the panel. For a Composition panel, the time ruler appears in the corresponding Timeline panel.
Page 206 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Note: When multiple views are open, previews use the frontmost composition view for 2D compositions and the Active Camera view for 3D compositions. To turn off the Active Camera, deselect Previews Favor Active Camera in the Preview panel menu.
Page 207: Work Area
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews 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.
Page 208 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Work area markers indicate the composition duration rendered for previews or final output. • To move the work area, drag the center of the work area bar left or right. Dragging center of work area bar to move work area •...
Page 209 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Preview on an external video monitor You can preview the contents of your Layer, Footage, or Composition panel on an external video monitor. Previewing on a video monitor requires additional hardware, such as a video capture card or a FireWire port. If you’re using a video card to connect an external video monitor, follow the directions that came with your video card to connect the monitor for viewing previews.
Page 210: Modifying And Using Views
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Modifying and using views Choose a view layout and share view settings The Composition panel can show one, two, or four views at a time. By default, viewer options (such as grids and rulers) affect only the currently active view.
Page 211 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews More Help topics “3D layers” on page 179 “Cameras, lights, and points of interest” on page 186 “Choose a view layout and share view settings” on page 204 Show or hide layer controls in the Composition panel You can assign different options to each view in the Composition panel, so that you can see any combination of camera and light wireframes, layer handles, mask and shape paths, effect control points, and motion path controls.
Page 212 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews More Help topics “Views (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 744 Resolution In the context of printing and other media with fixed linear dimensions, resolution refers to linear pixel density: the number of pixels or dots in a certain span, expressed in such terms as ppi (pixels per inch) and dpi (dots per inch). In video, film, and computer graphics contexts, the linear measurements of the images are variable, so it doesn’t make sense to refer to the number of pixels per inch or any other linear measure.
Page 213 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews When you preview the alpha channel, the image appears as a grayscale image, with the transparency value of each pixel mapped to a scale from black (completely transparent) to white (completely opaque). Note: When you choose RGB Straight, which shows straight RGB values before they are matted (premultiplied) with the alpha channel, pixels with complete transparency are undefined and therefore may contain unexpected colors.
Page 214 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews The size of proportional grids increases or decreases when the composition size changes; the size of standard grid squares remains the same regardless of composition size. • To change settings for safe-zone margins, grids, and guides, choose Edit > Preferences > Grids & Guides (Windows) or After Effects >...
Page 215 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Views and previews Safe zones and grids in Composition panel A. Grid B. Center-cut title-safe zone C. Center-cut action-safe zone D. Title-safe zone E. Action-safe zone Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial in the Multimedia 101 series on the Creative COW website that explains safe zones.
Page 216: Chapter 8: Animation And Keyframes
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 8: Animation and keyframes Animation basics 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 217 “How Does Computer Animation Work?” and “What is interpolation?” For a video tutorial on animating using keyframes, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0227. Shaun Freeman's website provides links to information about the theory and practice of animation, especially character animation.
Page 218 “Separate dimensions of Position to animate components individually” on page 146.) Lee Brimelow provides a video overview of the Graph Editor on the Adobe website. Antony Bolante provides information, tips, illustrations about using the Graph Editor in an article on the Peachpit Press website.
Page 219 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Displays animated properties of selected layers in the Graph Editor. Show Animated Properties Displays properties that have the Graph Editor switch selected. This switch is next to the Show Graph Editor Set stopwatch, to the left of the property name, when the stopwatch is active—that is, when the property has keyframes or expressions.
Page 220: Setting, Selecting, And Deleting Keyframes
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Auto Zoom Height and Fit Toggles Auto Zoom Height mode, which automatically scales the height of the graph so that Auto Zoom Height it fits the height of the Graph Editor. The horizontal zoom must still be adjusted manually. Adjusts the value (vertical) and time (horizontal) scale of the graph to fit the selected keyframes in Fit Selection the Graph Editor.
Page 221 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Do one of the following: • Click the keyframe navigator button for the layer property. • Choose Animation > Add [x] Keyframe, where [x] is the name of the property you are animating. •...
Page 222 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes • To select all keyframes for a layer property, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) a segment between two keyframes in the Graph Editor, or click the layer property name in the layer outline. •...
Page 223 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes • Imports RPF camera data from third-party 3D modeling applications. RPF Camera Import • Opens the Sequence Layers assistant. Sequence Layers • Reverses selected keyframes in time. Time-Reverse Keyframes More Help topics “Keyframe interpolation”...
Page 224: Editing, Moving, And Copying Keyframes
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Editing, moving, and copying keyframes View or edit a keyframe value Before you change a keyframe, make sure that the current-time indicator is positioned at an existing keyframe. If you change a property value when the current-time indicator is not at an existing keyframe, After Effects adds a new keyframe.
Page 225 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Do one of the following: • To paste to the same property of the copied keyframes, select the destination layer. • To paste to a different property, select the destination property. Choose Edit >...
Page 226 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes More Help topics “Layer properties in the Timeline panel” on page 159 “About animation, keyframes, and expressions” on page 210 Move keyframes in time You can move keyframes in time, either individually or as a group. Jeff Almasol provides a versatile script on his redefinery website that creates a panel with controls for moving various...
Page 227 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Move or stretch the layer duration bar to its new In and Out points. Move the current-time indicator to the composition marker at the time at which the first keyframe appeared before you cut the keyframes.
Page 228 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Value graph A. Keyframe. B. A level value graph indicates unchanging values. C. A rising graph indicates increasing values. D. A falling graph indicates decreasing values. You can change layer property values by moving the points (keyframes) on the value graph up or down. For example, you can increase the value of a Rotation keyframe by dragging the keyframe marker on the Rotation property’s value graph higher up on the graph.
Page 229: Assorted Animation Tools
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes When you select multiple keyframes in the Graph Editor, a free-transform bounding box appears. Switch to the Graph Editor view and display the keyframes you want to adjust. Using the Selection tool, do one of the following: •...
Page 230 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes The density of dots between the boxes in a motion path indicates the relative speed of the layer or effect control point. Dots close together indicate a lower speed; dots farther apart indicate a greater speed. Note: Right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) a keyframe to open its context menu.
Page 231 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes 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.
Page 232 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Note: Though the results are different, the techniques for manipulating motion-path curves with the Pen tool work in much the same way as the techniques used to create and modify other Bezier paths, such as mask and shape paths. Sketch a motion path with Motion Sketch You can draw a path for the motion of a selected layer using Motion Sketch, which records the position of the layer and the speed at which you draw.
Page 233 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes You can paste any of these paths into the Position or Anchor Point property for a layer, or into the position property of an effect control point. The pasted keyframes are set to rove in time, except for the first and last ones, to create a constant velocity along the path.
Page 234 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes When motion blur is enabled for a composition and the Timeline panel is zoomed in so that you can see individual frames, a light gray region around the current-time indicator indicates the shutter phase and shutter angle. The width of the column shows the shutter angle, and the offset of the column shows the shutter phase.
Page 235 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Smooth motion and velocity by removing extra keyframes Smooth motion paths, value curves, and velocity curves to eliminate bumpiness or excess keyframes using the Smoother, which adds keyframes or removes unnecessary keyframes. You can also use the expression method for this purpose, without removing keyframes.
Page 236 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Using the Wiggler, you can more closely simulate natural movement within specified limits. For example, add randomness to an animated butterfly to produce fluttering. Add it to brightness or opacity to simulate the flicker of an old projector.
Page 237: Keyframe Interpolation
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes More Help topics “Expression basics” on page 646 “Work area” on page 201 Online resources for converting audio to keyframes and using the results 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...
Page 238 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Temporal interpolation and the value graph Using the value graph in the Graph Editor, you can make precise adjustments to the temporal property keyframes you’ve created for your animation. The value graph displays x values as red, y values as green, and z values (3D only) as blue.
Page 239 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Keyframe interpolation methods In layer bar mode, the appearance of a keyframe icon depends on the interpolation method you choose for the interval between keyframes. When half of the icon is dark gray , the dark half indicates that no keyframe is adjacent to that side, or that its interpolation is overridden by the Hold interpolation applied to the preceding keyframe.
Page 240 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes No interpolation No interpolation is the state in which a layer property has no keyframes—when the stopwatch is turned off and the I- beam icon appears in the Timeline panel under the current-time indicator. In this state, when you set the value of a layer property, it maintains that value for the duration of the layer, unless overridden by an expression.
Page 241 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes If you apply Continuous Bezier interpolation to all keyframes of a property, After Effects adjusts the values at each keyframe to create smooth transitions. After Effects maintains these smooth transitions as you move a Continuous Bezier keyframe on either the motion path or the value graph.
Page 242 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Change interpolation method with the Keyframe Interpolation dialog box The Keyframe Interpolation dialog box provides options for setting temporal and spatial interpolation and—for spatial properties only—roving settings. In layer bar mode or in the Graph Editor, select the keyframes you want to change. Choose Animation >...
Page 243: Speed
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Modify Bezier direction handles in the Graph Editor In the Graph Editor, keyframes that use Bezier interpolation have direction handles attached to them. You can retract, extend, or rotate the direction handles to fine-tune the Bezier interpolation curve in a value graph. You can retract or extend the direction handles to fine-tune the curve in a speed graph.
Page 244 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Motion path in Composition panel (top) compared to speed graph in Graph Editor (bottom) A. Dots are close together, indicating lower speed (top); speed is constant (bottom). B. Dots are far apart, indicating greater speed (top); speed is constant (bottom).
Page 245 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Linear interpolation (top) causes sharp changes; Bezier interpolation (bottom) creates smoother changes. More Help topics “The Graph Editor” on page 211 “About animation, keyframes, and expressions” on page 210 “Modify Bezier direction handles in the Graph Editor”...
Page 246 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Shorter temporal distance between keyframes increases layer speed. • Apply the Easy Ease keyframe assistant, which automatically adjusts the speed of change as motion advances toward and retreats from a keyframe. About the speed graph You can fine-tune changes over time using the speed graph in the Graph Editor.
Page 247 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Direction handles in speed graphs A. Incoming direction handle B. Speed control C. Outgoing direction handle Note: If you want a handle to have influence over more than one keyframe, use roving keyframes. Control speed with the speed graph In the Timeline panel, expand the outline for the keyframe you want to adjust.
Page 248 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Dragging direction handle to create a peak Start or stop change gradually Direction handles can create gradual starts and stops, such as a boat slowing to a stop and then starting again. When you use this technique, the speed graph resembles a smooth U shape.
Page 249 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes 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. In such cases, specify speed numerically in the Keyframe Velocity dialog box.
Page 250 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes The original motion path (top) shows different velocities between keyframes. After the keyframes are set to rove (bottom), the motion path shows consistent speed over the range of keyframes. In layer bar mode or in the Graph Editor, set up the keyframes for the motion you want to smooth. Determine the beginning and ending keyframes for the range you want to smooth.
Page 251: Time-Stretching And Time-Remapping
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Richard Harrington provides a video tutorial on the Peachpit website that shows how to use the Exponential Scale keyframe assistant as part of the process for panning and scanning across a series of still images. Time-stretching and time-remapping Time-stretching, time-remapping, and the Timewarp effect are all useful for creating slow motion, fast motion, freeze frame, or other retiming results.
Page 252 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Holds the layer at the position of the current-time indicator (also the frame displayed in the Current Frame Composition panel), and time-stretches the layer by moving the In and Out points. Holds the ending time of the layer at its current value and time-stretches the layer by moving its In Layer Out-point point.
Page 253 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Time-remapping overview and resources You can expand, compress, play backward, or freeze a portion of the duration of a layer using a process known as time- remapping. For example, if you are using footage of a person walking, you can play footage of the person moving forward, and then play a few frames backward to make the person retreat, and then play forward again to have the person resume walking.
Page 254 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes 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.
Page 255 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes 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 256 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Choose Layer > Time > Enable Time Remapping. This command adds two Time Remap keyframes by default, one at the beginning of the layer and one at the end. Move the current-time indicator to where you want the movie to begin. Click the Time Remap property name to select the start and end keyframes.
Page 257 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Dragging the keyframe down slows down the layer. • To slow the layer down, drag the keyframe down. (If the layer is playing in reverse, drag up.) • To speed the layer up, drag the keyframe up. (If the layer is playing in reverse, drag down.) •...
Page 258 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Drag the remap-time marker to replace the frame at the current time marker. Move the current-time indicator on the lower time ruler to the last frame where you want change to occur. 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: •...
Page 259 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes • To increase the pitch, drag the speed graph marker up. Remove clicks from new In and Out points If necessary, choose panel > Audio. In the Timeline panel, select the audio (or audio and video) layer to which you applied time-remapping. Expand the layer outline to display the Audio property and then the Audio Levels property.
Page 260: Animating With Puppet Tools
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes A check mark by the appropriate Frame Blending command (Frame Mix or Pixel Motion) indicates that it is applied to the selected layer. Also, the Frame Blending switch appears in the Switches column for the layer in the Timeline panel.
Page 261 “Expression basics” on page 646 Online resources for the Puppet tools For a video tutorial on using the Puppet tools, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0274. Aharon Rabinowitz provides a tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows a creative way to use the Puppet tools with a particle generator to simulate airflow over a car.
Page 262 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to duplicate an object using the Puppet Pin tool. Richard Harrington provides a pair of video tutorials that show how to prepare an image in Photoshop for animation in After Effects with the Puppet tools: •...
Page 263 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes More Help topics “Work with Puppet pins and the distortion mesh” on page 259 “Motion paths” on page 223 Record animation by sketching motion with the Puppet Pin tool You can sketch the motion path of one or more Deform pins in real time—or at a speed that you specify—much as you can sketch the motion path of a layer using Motion Sketch.
Page 264 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes How the Puppet effect creates outlines When a Puppet mesh is created, its boundaries are determined by an outline, which can be defined by any of the following types of closed paths: •...
Page 265 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes 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 266 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Overlap pin with negative In Front value (top), and Overlap pin with positive In Front value (bottom) Each Overlap pin has the following properties: The apparent proximity to the viewer. The influence of Overlap pins is cumulative, meaning that the In Front In Front values are added together for places on the mesh where extents overlap.
Page 267: Tracking And Stabilizing Motion
After Effects documentation, which is available from the Help menu in the mocha for After Effects application. Important: 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, and some codecs for encoding MPEG formats are available only with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.
Page 268 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes David Torno provides extensive video tutorials that show how to use mocha-AE as part of a workflow to replace one face with another in a movie. Todd Kopriva provides links and details on his After Effects Region of Interest blog.
Page 269 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes You specify areas to track by setting track points in the Layer panel. Each track point contains a feature region, a search region, and an attach point. A set of track points is a tracker. Layer panel with track point A.
Page 270 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Sean Kennedy provides a set of detailed tutorials on the SimplyCG website that demonstrate advanced motion tracking techniques: • Basic 2D tracking • Planar tracking • Head tracking • Motion tracking and compositing computer-generated elements into a scene •...
Page 271 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes If you’re tracking a large object or the set itself—such as for matchmoving—you can get good results by using a grid of uniformly spaced triangles of a uniform size as tracking markers. 2.
Page 272 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Attach point offset from feature region 5. Adjust the feature region, search region, and tracking options Place each feature region control tightly around its tracked feature, completely enclosing the tracked feature, but including as little of the surrounding image as possible.
Page 273 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes You can apply the tracking data to a null object layer and parent the layer that you want to animate to the null object layer. More Help topics “Track or stabilize motion”...
Page 274 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes If the tracking ceases to be accurate, click the Stop button , correct the problem as described in “Correct a motion track” on page 272, and resume analysis. When you are satisfied with the position of the feature region and attach point throughout the track, click the Apply button to apply the motion to the specified target.
Page 275 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes • Transform tracks position, rotation, and/or scale to apply to another layer. When tracking position, this mode creates one track point on the tracked layer and sets Position keyframes for the target. When tracking rotation, this mode creates two track points on the tracked layer and sets Rotation keyframes for the target.
Page 276 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes than the surrounding image (such as a burning candle carried through a room). Select Saturation if the tracked feature has a high concentration of color, surrounded by variations of the same color (such as a bright red scarf against a brick wall).
Page 277 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes You can rename trackers and track points and modify and animate their property values in the Timeline panel just as you do for other layer properties and property groups. You must click Apply in the Tracker panel to apply the property changes to the target.
Page 278 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes • To move only the feature and search regions together, drag the edge of the feature region, or Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) with the Selection tool inside the feature or search region. You can also hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while pressing the Up, Down, Left, or Right Arrow key.
Page 279 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Animation and keyframes Motion source and its motion path A. Moving the feature and search regions B. Keyframe marker More Help topics “Motion paths” on page 223 Correct drifting by adjusting the feature and search regions Move the current-time indicator to the last well-tracked frame.
Page 280: Chapter 9: Color
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 9: Color Color basics Charles Poynton provides an excellent set of resources on his website regarding color technology and color terminology. Color depth and high dynamic range color Color depth (or bit depth) is the number of bits per channel (bpc) used to represent the color of a pixel. The more bits for each RGB channel (red, green, and blue), the more colors each pixel can represent.
Page 281 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color To change the format in which color values are shown in the Info panel and in some effect controls, choose an option such as Percent or Web from the Info panel menu. Choosing Auto Color Display automatically switches between 8 bpc, 16 bpc, and 32 bpc, depending on the color depth of the project.
Page 282 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 283 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 284 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color (Optional) To prevent panels from updating with the results of your color selection until you accept the color by clicking OK, deselect Preview in the Color Picker dialog box. The Preview option is not available in all contexts. Note: Selecting Preview is convenient for seeing the results of your color selections before you commit them, but it can also decrease performance, as new images are rendered for the preview in the Composition panel or Layer panel.
Page 285: Color Correction And Adjustment
• 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 286 Mark Christiansen provides tips and detailed techniques for color correction, color adjustment, and color matching in the “Color Correction in Adobe After Effects” chapter of After Effects Studio Techniques on the Peachpit Press website.
Page 287 “Color management” on page 284 Online resources about color models and color spaces Adobe provides a white paper on color spaces and color management in After Effects, on the Adobe website. Charles Poynton provides an excellent set of resources on...
Page 288 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color Harry Frank provides a video tutorial on his graymachine website that shows how and why to use color conversion expressions to convert colors from the RGB color model to the HSL color model when randomly varying colors. The specific example that he shows uses the Radio Waves effect.
Page 289 Settings dialog box (File > Project Settings). The Compensate For Scene-referred Profiles feature also exists in Adobe Photoshop CS4, 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.
Page 290: Color Management
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color 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. The DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) format is a standard format closely related to the Cineon format.
Page 291 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color Overview of color management Color information is communicated using numbers. Because different devices use different methods to record and display color, the same numbers can be interpreted differently and appear to us as different colors. A color management system keeps track of all of these different ways of interpreting color and translates between them so that images can look the same regardless of the device used to display them.
Page 292 When you create or install new profiles, put them in these folders. 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 293: Calibrate And Profile Your Monitor
For step-by-step instructions on using color management to create movies for the Web, HDTV, motion-picture film, and other common media, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_colormanagementpaper. For a video tutorial on color management in After Effects, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0260. For information on color profiles, see the International Color Consortium website.
Page 294 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 295 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color More Help topics “Color models and color spaces” on page 281 “Color depth and high dynamic range color” on page 274 Linearize working space and enable linear blending 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.
Page 296 Todd Kopriva provides instructions for assigning an input color profile to correctly interpret ProRes 422 footage items on the Adobe website. More Help topics “Interpret footage...
Page 297 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color The output color profile for a render item determines what calculations are performed when converting the colors of a rendered composition from the working color space of the project to the color space for the output medium. If a project working space has not been set—that is, if color management is not on for the project—then you cannot assign an output color profile.
Page 298 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color Enable or disable display color management When color management is on, the default behavior is for RGB pixel values to be converted to the color space of your computer monitor from the working color space for the project. Color appearance is preserved; RGB numbers are not preserved.
Page 299 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color During output simulation, colors are converted from the working color space for the project to the color space of the monitor through the following flow: Colors are converted from the 1. Colors are converted from working color space for the project to output color space. working color space to the color space of the output type using the output color profile (the same profile that will be used for rendering to final output).
Page 300 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color Show how colors will appear when displayed by a non–color managed application on a Macintosh Macintosh RGB computer (with a gamma of 1.8). This option is not available if Linearize Working Space is selected. Show how colors will appear when displayed by a non–color managed application on Windows (with Windows RGB a gamma of 2.2).
Page 301 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Color Broadcast-safe colors Analog video signal amplitude is expressed in IRE units (or volts in PAL video). Values between 7.5 and 100 IRE units are considered broadcast-safe; colors in this range do not cause undesired artifacts such as audio noise and color smearing.
Page 302: Chapter 10: Drawing, Painting, And Paths
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” on page 38. For a video tutorial on using the paint tools, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0223. More Help topics “Blending mode reference” on page 172 “Layer properties in the Timeline...
Page 303 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths • To select paint strokes in the Layer panel, use the Selection tool to click a paint stroke or drag a box around portions of multiple paint strokes. To momentarily activate the Selection tool, press and hold V. •...
Page 304 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths More Help topics “Paint tools and paint strokes” on page 296 “Paint tools (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 754 Choose a brush gallery display mode ❖ Choose a display mode from the Brushes panel menu: Text Only, Small Thumbnail, Large Thumbnail, Small List, or Large List.
Page 305 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Brush strokes using 100% roundness (left) and varying percentages (right) Controls the transition of a brush stroke from 100% opaque at the center to 100% transparent at the edges. Hardness Even with high Hardness settings, only the center is fully opaque.
Page 306 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths “Blending mode reference” on page 172 “Layer properties in the Timeline panel” on page 159 “Paint tools (keyboard shortcuts)” on page 754 Select a color for the Brush tool Do any of the following with the Brush tool active: •...
Page 307 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Clone Stamp tool You can use the Clone Stamp tool to copy pixel values from one place and time and apply them at another place and time. For example, you can use the Clone Stamp tool to remove wires by copying from a clear patch of sky, or you can create a herd of cows from one cow in the source footage and offset the copies in time.
Page 308 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths 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 309 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Note: You can manually manipulate the time and coordinates from which sampling begins by modifying the Offset, Source Time Shift, Source Position, or Source Time values in the Paint panel. You can reset them to zero with the Reset button.
Page 310 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Eraser tool If you use the Eraser tool in Layer Source & Paint or Paint Only mode, it creates Eraser strokes that can be modified and animated. In contrast, using the Eraser tool in Last Stroke Only mode only affects the last paint stroke drawn and does not create an Eraser stroke.
Page 311 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths More Help topics “Layer properties in the Timeline panel” on page 159 “Managing and animating shape paths and masks” on page 322 “Add, edit, and remove expressions” on page 647 Animate a paint stroke by sketching with Write On If you choose Write On from the Duration menu in the Paint panel, the End property is automatically animated to match the motion that you used to draw the stroke.
Page 312: Overview Of Shape Layers, Paths, And Vector Graphics
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths After Effects interpolates a paint stroke (center) between two different shapes created with the same brush (left and right). Overview of shape layers, paths, and vector graphics About vector graphics and raster images Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors, which describe an image according to its geometric characteristics.
Page 313: About Paths
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 314 Photoshop, and Adobe Fireworks®. (See “Creating shapes and masks” on page 312.) 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”...
Page 315 342 Online resources for shape layers For a video tutorial introducing shape layers, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0224. Trish and Chris Meyer provide an introduction to shape layers in a PDF excerpt from the “Shape Layers” chapter of...
Page 316 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Groups and render order for shapes and shape attributes Though the default is for a shape to consist of a single path, a single stroke, and a single fill—arranged from top to bottom in the Timeline panel—much of the power and flexibility of shape layers arises from your ability to add and reorder shape attributes and create more complex compound shapes.
Page 317 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths When you add a shape attribute using the Add menu in the Tools panel or Timeline panel, the attribute is added within the group that is selected. You can drag groups and attributes to reorder them in the Timeline panel. By reordering and grouping shapes and shape attributes, you can affect their rendering order with respect to other shapes and shape attributes.
Page 318: Creating Shapes And Masks
• Trace color or alpha channel values to create a mask using the Auto-trace command. (See “Create a mask from channel values with Auto-trace” on page 313.) • Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See “Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks” on page 320.) •...
Page 319 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths To create a mask that you can move independently of the primary layer that it’s masking, create the mask on a separate white solid layer, and use that solid layer as a track matte for the primary layer. Then use parenting to make the solid layer a child of the primary layer, so that the mask moves with the primary layer as if it were applied directly.
Page 320 • Convert a motion path to a shape path. (See “Create a mask or shape from a motion path” on page 321.) • Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See “Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks”...
Page 321 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths More Help topics “About shapes and shape layers” on page 309 “About masks” on page 375 Create a shape or mask by dragging with shape tools The shape tools are the Rectangle , Rounded Rectangle , Ellipse , Polygon...
Page 322 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths (Optional) If drawing a rounded rectangle or rounded square, do the following before releasing the mouse button: • To increase or decrease the corner roundness, press the Up Arrow key or the Down Arrow key, or roll the mouse wheel forward or backward.
Page 323 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths More Help topics “Keyboard shortcuts” on page 738 Create a manual Bezier path using the Pen tool With the Pen tool selected and the RotoBezier option deselected in the Tools panel, click in the Composition panel where you want to place the first vertex.
Page 324 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths A vertex appears, and the Pen tool pointer changes to an arrowhead. Drag to modify the length and direction of both direction lines for a vertex, and then release the mouse button. Drawing the first vertex in a curved path A.
Page 325 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths • To replace a mask path, select the mask in the Timeline panel, Layer panel, or Composition panel. • To replace a shape path, select the shape path (not the group) in the Composition panel or Timeline panel. In the Tools panel, double-click the Rectangle , Rounded Rectangle , Ellipse...
Page 326 72 dpi is the Resolution setting of documents created in Photoshop using a Film & Video preset. Path drawn in Adobe Illustrator (left) and pasted into After Effects as a mask (right) Note: You can also use a copied Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks path as an After Effects motion path. See “Create a...
Page 327 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Create a mask or shape from a motion path You can copy position keyframes, anchor point keyframes, or an effect control point’s position keyframes and paste those keyframes into a selected mask path or shape path. When you create mask paths or shape paths from motion paths, make sure that you copy keyframes from a single Position property only—do not copy the keyframes of any other property.
Page 328: Managing And Animating Shape Paths And Masks
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Create a shape path from a motion path In the Timeline panel, click the name of the Position property or Anchor Point property from which you want to copy the motion path. (This selects all keyframes. To select only some of the keyframes of a motion path, Shift-click them.) Choose Edit >...
Page 329 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Rotoscoping tips • Immediately after beginning to draw a mask, press Alt+Shift+M (Windows) or Option+Shift+M (Mac OS) to turn on keyframing for that mask and set a keyframe. This way, you won’t edit a mask frame-by-frame for several minutes (or longer) and then realize that you lost all of your work on previous frames because you forgot to click the stopwatch to make the mask shape animated.
Page 330 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths • To view mask paths in the Layer panel, choose Masks from the Layer panel View menu. • To hide a mask path while showing others, lock the mask by selecting its Lock switch in the Timeline panel, and then choose Layer >...
Page 331 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths • Using the Selection tool, click within the layer bounds in the Composition panel. • To deselect all shapes on a layer but leave the shape layer selected, click within the layer bounds but outside all shape paths.
Page 332 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths • To select all masks on a layer, select a mask on the layer, and choose Edit > Select All or press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS). • To deselect all masks, press Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows) or Command+Shift+A (Mac OS). •...
Page 333 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Note: When you animate rotation using Free Transform Points, the vertices of the mask are interpolated in a straight line from keyframe to keyframe. For this reason, the results may be different from what you expect. Display the layer containing the paths that you want to transform in the Composition or Layer panel.
Page 334 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths In most cases, the appropriate pen tool becomes active when you place the Pen tool pointer in a particular context. For example, the Delete Vertex tool becomes active when you place the Pen tool pointer over an existing vertex, and the Add Vertex tool becomes active when you place the Pen tool pointer over a path segment.
Page 335 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths To view the tension value of a vertex, look in the Info panel as you adjust the tension. Change a mask path numerically Select the mask. In the Timeline panel, expand the Mask properties. Next to the Mask Path property, click the underlined word, and specify the changes in the Mask Shape dialog box.
Page 336 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Set options in the Mask Interpolation panel, and then click Apply. Note: To interrupt the interpolation process, press Esc. The Info panel indicates that the process has been interrupted and reports the number of keyframes created.
Page 337 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths curved segment; otherwise, it applies the polylines algorithm. Curve applies the algorithm for mask paths that have curved segments. Polyline applies the algorithm for mask paths that have only straight segments. Note: The mask path keyframes added by Smart Mask Interpolation are polylines when Polyline Matching Method is selected, regardless of whether the input mask paths contained curved segments.
Page 338 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths When you use the Pan Behind tool in the Composition panel, After Effects automatically makes two adjustments. In the Layer panel, the mask is moved in relation to its layer (top), and in the Composition panel, the layer is moved in relation to the composition (bottom). Move a mask Select the mask or masks you want to move.
Page 339: Shape Attributes, Paint Operations, And Path Operations For Shape Layers
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths The mask will not have motion blur. More Help topics “Motion blur” on page 227 Shape attributes, paint operations, and path operations for shape layers 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 340 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths New shapes are created with fill and stroke properties depicted by the swatch buttons next to the underlined Fill and Stroke text controls in the Tools panel. You can also modify the fill colors, stroke colors, fill type, and stroke type for selected shapes using these controls.
Page 341 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths By default, when you create a shape path by drawing with the Pen tool, the control points for the gradient are placed in the center of the layer. You can adjust these points after you finish drawing. You can modify the Start Point, End Point, Highlight Angle, and Highlight Length properties in the Timeline panel.
Page 342 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths The stroke extends beyond the end of the path for a number of pixels equal to the stroke width in Projecting Cap pixels. The end is squared off. Line Join options for strokes The Line Join property for a stroke determines the appearance of the stroke where the path suddenly changes direction (turns a corner).
Page 343 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths Alter shapes with path operations Path operations are similar to effects. These live operations act nondestructively on a shape’s path to create a modified path that other shape operations (such as fills and strokes) can apply to. The original path is not modified. Because path operations are live, you can modify or remove them at any time.
Page 344 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths transformations are auto-animated, meaning that they change over time without the need to set any keyframes or add expressions. The Wiggle Transform operation is especially useful following a Repeater operation, because it allows you to randomize the transformations of each repeated shape separately.
Page 345 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths The Merge Paths path operation has the following options, each of which performs different calculations to determine the output path: Merges all input paths into a single compound path. This option is the default used for shapes created from Merge text characters made up of multiple paths, like the letter e, when using the Create Shapes From Text command.
Page 346 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Drawing, painting, and paths 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 347: Chapter 11: Text
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 348 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 349 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Michael Cardeiro provides a script on the After Effects Scripts website that makes multiple versions of your compositions using information from a spreadsheet or database. The script goes through your spreadsheet line by line, making a new version of your composition with text layers in the composition receiving text from the spreadsheet automatically.
Page 350 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Enter paragraph text When you enter paragraph text, the lines of text wrap to fit the dimensions of the bounding box. You can enter multiple paragraphs and apply paragraph formatting. You can resize the bounding box at any time, which causes the text to reflow within the adjusted rectangle. When you enter paragraph text, it has the properties set in the Character and Paragraph panels.
Page 351 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text • To select a range of text, click, move the pointer, and then Shift-click. • To select a word, double-click it. To select a line, triple-click it. To select a paragraph, quadruple-click it. To select all text in a layer, quintuple-click anywhere in the text.
Page 352 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Change the direction of text Horizontal text flows from left to right; multiple lines of horizontal text lie from top to bottom. Vertical text flows from top to bottom; multiple lines of text lie from right to left. A.
Page 353: Formatting Characters And The Character Panel
Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts Mac OS 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 354 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Choose a font family • Click in the Font Family menu box, and begin typing the name. Continue typing until the desired font family name appears. • To choose the previous or next font family in the menu, place the pointer over the Font Family menu box and use your mouse scroll wheel;...
Page 355 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Alan Shisko provides an article and video tutorial about kerning on his Motion Graphics 'n Such blog. • To use the built-in kerning information for a font, choose Metrics from the Kerning menu in the Character panel.
Page 356 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Change text fill or stroke color The text you enter gets its color from the Fill Color and Stroke Color controls in the upper-right corner of the Character panel. Select text to change its color after the text has already been entered. •...
Page 357 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Text scale and baseline shift Horizontal scale and vertical scale specify the proportion between the height and width of the text. Unscaled characters have a value of 100%. You can adjust scale to compress or expand selected characters in both width and height. Baseline shift controls the distance that text appears from its baseline, either raising or lowering the selected text to create superscripts or subscripts.
Page 358: Formatting Paragraphs And The Paragraph Panel
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Specify how leading is measured Select the paragraphs you want to adjust. Choose Top-To-Top Leading or Bottom-To-Bottom Leading from the Paragraph panel menu. A check mark indicates which option is selected. Use tate-chuu-yoko Tate-chuu-yoko (also called kumimoji and renmoji) is a block of horizontal text laid out within a vertical text line.
Page 359 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text • To reset values in the Paragraph panel to the default values, choose Reset Paragraph from the Paragraph panel menu. Align and justify text You can align text to one edge of a paragraph (left, center, or right for horizontal text; top, center, or bottom for vertical text) and justify text to both edges of a paragraph.
Page 360: Animating Text
After Effects offers two composition methods, which you choose from the Paragraph panel menu: Offers a traditional approach to composing text one line at a time. This option is useful Adobe Single-line Composer 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 361 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 & Presets panel menu or from the Animation menu. (See “Apply...
Page 362 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text 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. • Use a selector to specify how much each character is affected by the animator. •...
Page 363 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text 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.
Page 364 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text • To rename an animator group, make sure that it is the only thing selected, and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS); or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the name and choose Rename. •...
Page 365 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Use a Wiggly selector to vary a selection within a specified amount over time. Use expression selectors to use expressions to dynamically specify how much you want characters to be affected by an animator property. •...
Page 366 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Original (left) and with VEN selected by the range selectors, Based On set to Character, Shape set to Triangle, and Scale set to 40% (right) Range selector properties Range selectors include the following properties, in addition to properties common with other selectors: The beginning and end of the selection.
Page 367 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Calculates the randomized order of a range selector when the Randomize Order option is set to On. Random Seed When Random Seed is zero, the seed is based on its animator group. If you want to duplicate an animator group and retain the same randomized order as in the original animator group, set Random Seed to a value other than zero.
Page 368 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Fill color changes randomly using an expression animator. Text anchor point properties Text animators animate character position, rotation, and size-related properties relative to an anchor point. You can use the text property, Anchor Point Grouping, to specify whether the anchor point used for transformations is that of each character, each word, each line, or the entire text block.
Page 369 After Effects Exchange on the Adobe website. • To enable per-character 3D animator properties for a text layer, select the layer and choose Enable Per-character 3D from the Animation > Animate Text menu or from the Animate menu for the layer in the Timeline panel.
Page 370: Examples And Resources For Text Animation
Last Margin when text is left-aligned and Force Alignment is Off. Examples and resources for text animation For a video tutorial on animating text, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/vid0226. Steve Holmes provides a tutorial on the Layers Magazine website that uses three text animators and per-character 3D text animation to create a text animation.
Page 371 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Richard Harrington provides a detailed, step-by-step video tutorial on the Peachpit website that covers the basics of animating text using text animators and selectors. Colin Braley provides a tutorial and example project on his website that show how to use an expression on the Source Text property to animate text to overcome some of the limitations of the Numbers effect.
Page 372 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Set the Y Rotation value for the layer to -45, rotating the entire layer so that you can more easily see the 3D motion of the characters. Preview the composition. Example: Offset characters This example illustrates how you can easily animate random characters so that they gradually form a legible word or phrase by specifying a Character Offset value and animating the range selector.
Page 373 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Example: Animate characters with the Wiggly selector This example demonstrates how easy it is to animate the position of individual characters. It also shows how the Wiggly selector can create a dramatic change to the animation simply by adding it to the layer. Animating the color and position of the characters in the word Galaxy Create a new composition.
Page 374 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text Example: Animate text tracking This example shows you how easy it is to isolate characters when tracking a line of text. Using the Tracking and Line Anchor animator properties, you can easily move all but one or a few characters. Animating the tracking values for the characters 3579 (left and center) so that only the 7 in the middle remains (right) Create a new composition.
Page 375 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text 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 Create a new composition.
Page 376 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text In the Composition panel, drag the start selector to the left edge of the text (the value will be at 0). Move the current-time indicator to 5 seconds and drag the start selector in the Composition panel to the right edge of the text (the value will be 5).
Page 377 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text “Text selectors” on page 358 “Set or add keyframes” on page 214 “Preview video and audio” on page 195 Example: Animate text position with expressions This example uses the attributes with the expression to animate a line of text.
Page 378 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Text To see the expressions on a layer, select the layer and press EE. More Help topics “Time display units” on page 52 “Time conversion methods (expression reference)” on page 661...
Page 379: Chapter 12: Transparency, Opacity, And Compositing
Adobe Photoshop is an excellent application for performing many compositing tasks, including defining areas of transparency using its superior selection and painting tools. You can use Adobe Photoshop together with After Effects for optimum efficiency and best results when doing compositing work.
Page 380: Alpha Channels, Masks, And Mattes
Many file formats can include an alpha channel, including Adobe Photoshop, ElectricImage, FLV, F4V, TGA, TIFF, EPS, PDF, and Adobe Illustrator. AVI and QuickTime (saved at a bit depth of Millions Of Colors+), also can contain alpha channels, depending upon the codec (encoder) used to generate the images stored in these containers. For Adobe...
Page 381: About Masks
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing Some programs can store multiple alpha channels in one image, but After Effects only interprets the fourth channel as an alpha channel. Note: The term alpha channel technically refers to the fourth (A) channel in an RGBA image file, regardless of whether that channel is used for communicating transparency information.
Page 382 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing The position of a mask in the stacking order in the Timeline panel affects how it interacts with other masks. You can drag a mask to different positions within the Masks property group in the Timeline panel. The Mask Opacity property for a mask determines the influence that a closed mask has on the alpha channel of the layer inside the mask area.
Page 383 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing In the Timeline panel, expand the layer and mask properties for the mask. Select the mask or keyframes. Copy the mask or keyframes, and paste the mask or keyframes to the layer to which you want to apply the mask. Delete masks •...
Page 384 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing Compound masks that result when different modes are applied to the circle mask. The masks in this illustration have different Mask Opacity values. A. Original masks B. None C. Add D. Subtract E. Intersect F. Lighten G. Darken H. Difference The mask has no direct influence on the alpha channel of the layer.
Page 385 In the Timeline panel, expand the Mask properties of the layer you want to adjust. 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. More Help topics “Creating shapes and masks”...
Page 386 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing 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 387 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing Traveling matte A. Track matte layer: a solid with a rectangular mask, set to Luma Matte. The mask is animated to travel across the screen. B. Fill layer: a solid with a pattern effect.
Page 388 This option is useful for creating results such as glints or light reflecting off a polished surface. The behavior of a layer with the Preserve Underlying Transparency option selected is similar to the behavior of a clipping mask in Adobe Photoshop. ❖...
Page 389: Keying
Keylight before attempting to use these built-in keying effects. 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 at www.adobe.com/go/vid0229.
Page 390 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 391 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing • For evenly lit footage, adjust keying controls on only one frame. Choose the most intricate frame of the scene, one involving fine detail such as hair and transparent or semitransparent objects, such as smoke or glass. If the lighting is constant, the same settings you apply to the first frame are applied to all subsequent frames.
Page 392 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Transparency, opacity, and compositing Example of using a hold-out matte A. Original bluescreen image. The background for the number is also blue. B. After keying, the background for the number is also transparent. C.
Page 393: Chapter 13: Effects And Animation Presets
After Effects includes hundreds of animation presets that you can apply to your layers and modify to suit your needs. 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 394 After Effects 7 is available on the Adobe website. This set of animation presets is similar to the set included with After Effects CS4. For a list of animation presets included with After Effects CS4, see “Animation preset...
Page 395 Adobe provides many third-party effect plug-ins with After Effects. Keylight, Color Finesse, and Cycore FX (CC) plug- ins are installed by default with the full version of Adobe After Effects software. These plug-ins are not included with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. The installers for some plug-ins install their documentation in the same directory as the plug-ins themselves.
Page 396 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Color depth Many effects support processing of image color and alpha channel data at a depth of 16 or 32 bits per channel (bpc). Using an 8-bpc effect in a 16-bpc or 32-bpc project can result in a loss of color detail. If an effect supports only 8 bpc, and your project is set to 16 bpc or 32 bpc, the Effect Controls panel displays a warning icon next to the effect name.
Page 397 You can create control layers by drawing or painting in an image-editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop. Tips for creating control layers: •...
Page 398 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Chris and Trish Meyer provide an article on the ProVideo Coalition website that explains how to use a simple set of expressions to orient a layer with a Comp Camera effect so that it integrates with other 3D layers in a composition. More Help topics “Cameras, lights, and points of interest”...
Page 399 • To apply the most recently applied effect to one or more layers, select the layers, and then press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Windows) or 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.
Page 400 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: Applying an effect or animation preset to a layer selects the layer. By default, when you apply an effect to a layer, the effect is active for the duration of the layer. However, you can make an effect start and stop at specific times or make the effect more or less intense over time by using keyframes or expressions or by applying the effect to an adjustment layer.
Page 401 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Effect switch in the Effect Controls panel and Effect switch in the Timeline panel A. The Effect switch in the Effect Controls panel turns a specific effect on or off. B. The Effect switch for an effect in the Timeline panel also turns a specific effect on or off.
Page 402 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets View an effect control point • To view an effect control point in the Layer panel, choose the effect name from the View menu at the bottom of the Layer panel.
Page 403 This section provides a list of animation presets included with the full version of After Effects CS4. Note: Animation presets marked with an asterisk (*) are included in the package of additional animation presets provided by Adobe on the Adobe After Effects Exchange.
Page 404 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Fade In Over Layer Below • Fade In+Out - frames • Fade In+Out - msec • Fade Out Over Layer Below • Opacity Flash - layer markers • Opacity Flash - random •...
Page 405 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Left Third - scoop mask NTSC • Left Third - scoop mask PAL • Lower Third - scoop mask NTSC • Lower Third - scoop mask PAL • Lower Third Holdout - darken •...
Page 406 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Shapes Backgrounds • Box Swarm • Kaleidoscopic • Nerve Net - Circular • Nerve Net - Linear • Nerve Net - Penta Backgrounds 2* • Autumn Leaves* • Blue Hibiscus* •...
Page 407 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Mandathorns* • Neon Flower* • Protection* • Pulsing Snake* • Radar Stopwatch* • Spiral Magic* • Swoop* • Tunnel Drain* • Woven Celtic* • Woven Springs* Lower Thirds* •...
Page 408 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Alien Face • Box - dashed lines • Bullseye • Circular - half round • Circular - tri dash • Crosshair - brackets • Crosshair - round • Crosshair - square •...
Page 409 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • RingingPhone-US Synthetics • Blue Bars • Cells • Digital • Ethereal • Gold Ambiance • Lightning - Horizontal • Lightning - Vertical • Mosaic • Orange Streaks • Smoke - Drifting •...
Page 410 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • 3D Rotate around Circle • 3D Rotate in by Character • 3D Rotate out by Word • 3D Scramble in Position Z • 3D Spiral Down & Unfold •...
Page 411 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Fly In From Bottom • Fly In With A Twist • Pop Buzz Words • Raining Characters In • Random Fade Up • Random Shuffle In • Random Word Shuffle In •...
Page 412 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Evaporate • Foggy • Jiggy • Transporter Curves and Spins • Bloom Flower • Clockwise Entry • Counter Rotate • Dust Devil • Lasso Tumble • Lasso • Musical Chairs •...
Page 413 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Flicker Color - scale • Flicker Color • Flicker Green • Inflammation • Pulse Blue • Pulse Orange • Pulsing Strokes • Rotate Hue • Sliding Color Flicker •...
Page 414 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Overlay • Pulse Exposure • Shadows • Silhouettes • Sonar Ping • Spin Flash • Word Flash Mechanical • Algorithm Loop • Algorithm • Automation • Bad Reception •...
Page 415 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Elbow Room • Explosion • Hop, Skip, And A Jump • Pendulum • Punching Bag • Question • Rattle • Roll Bounce • Sequential Jump • Six-Shooter • Slide Bounce •...
Page 416 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Multi-Line Flip • Outgoing - Incoming • Pneumatic • Production • Stack Right Left • Weekdays • Word Processor • Zippy Organic • Autumn • Boiling • Boomerang •...
Page 417 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Slice And Dice • Sprouts • Tag Team • Wheatfield • Wind Current • Wobble Paths • 360 Loop • Antelope • Ants • Back Stage • Balance •...
Page 418 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Serpent • Slippery Slope • Spiral Long • Spiral • Springy • Squirmy • Stairwell • Symmetry • Tchotchke • Walk Of Stars • Zig-Zag Rotation • Drip Down •...
Page 419 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Increase Tracking • Magnify • Spasm • Stretchy Transform • Separate XYZ Position “Separate dimensions of Position to animate components individually” on page 146. Transitions Transitions - Dissolves •...
Page 420 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Fly to Inset • Slide - drop • Slide - straight • Slide - swoop • Slide - variable • Stretch & Blur • Stretch & Slide • Stretch - diagonal bottom •...
Page 421: Effect Galleries
“Fog 3D effect” on page 434 “ID Matte effect” on page 435 The following effects are third-party effects that are included with Adobe After Effects. For information about these effects, see “About 3D Channel effects” on page 430. • EXtractoR effect...
Page 422 445 “Unsharp Mask effect” on page 446 The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 423 452 “Solid Composite effect” on page 453 The following effect is a third-party effect that is not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about this effect, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388:...
Page 424 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Color Correction effects gallery No effect applied “Auto Color and Auto Contrast effects” “Auto Levels effect” on page 454 “Brightness & Contrast effect” on on page 453 page 454 “Broadcast Colors effect”...
Page 425 469 “Tritone effect” on page 470 The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 426 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets “Bezier Warp effect” on page 470 “Bulge effect” on page 471 “Corner Pin effect” on page 471 “Displacement Map effect” on page 472 “Liquify effect” on page 473 “Magnify effect”...
Page 427 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 428 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets “4-Color Gradient effect” on page 486 “Advanced Lightning effect” on “Audio Spectrum effect” on page 488 page 487 “Audio Waveform effect” on page 489 “Beam effect” on page 490 “Cell Pattern effect”...
Page 429 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 430 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Noise & Grain effects gallery No effect applied “Add Grain effect” on page 525 “Dust & Scratches effect” on page 527 “Fractal Noise effect” on page 527 “Match Grain effect”...
Page 431 552 “Radial Shadow effect” on page 552 The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 432 • CC Rain effect • CC Scatterize effect • CC Snow effect • CC Star Burst effect Bob Donlon provides a pair of tutorials about the CC Particle Systems II effect on the Adobe website: • simulating fire • simulating fireworks...
Page 433 593 “Threshold effect” on page 593 The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 434 598 “Timewarp effect” on page 600 The following effects are third-party effects that are not available with the trial version of Adobe After Effects software. For information about these effects, see “Effects overview and resources” on page 388: •...
Page 435 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • CC Grid Wipe effect • CC Image Wipe effect • CC Jaws effect • CC Light Wipe effect • CC Radial ScaleWipe effect • CC Scale Wipe effect •...
Page 436: 3D 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 437 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: The value that is mapped to white or black.
Page 438 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets This channel can be used to check your UV maps or as input for the Displacement Map effect. The RE:Vision Effects RE:Map plug-in suite can be used to map alternative textures onto objects. For information, see the RE:Vision Effects website.
Page 439 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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. The amount of feather along the edges of the matte. Feather Select to matte out everything with a depth greater than the Depth value.
Page 440 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “About 3D Channel effects” on page 430 “Preparing and importing 3D image files” on page 98 “3D layers” on page 179 Fog 3D effect The Fog 3D effect simulates fog by behaving as though a scattering medium is in the air that makes objects look more diffuse as they get more distant along the z axis.
Page 441 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “About 3D Channel effects” on page 430 “Preparing and importing 3D image files” on page 98 “3D layers” on page 179 ID Matte effect Many 3D programs tag each element in a scene with a unique Object ID. The ID Matte effect uses this information to create a matte that excludes everything in the scene except the element you want.
Page 442: Audio Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Audio effects Backwards effect The Backwards effect reverses the audio of a layer by playing the audio from the last frame to the first frame. The frames remain in their original order in the Timeline panel. Select Swap Channels to swap left and right channels. Harry Frank and Aharon Rabinowitz provide a video tutorial on the All Bets Are Off website that shows how to use...
Page 443 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The number of voices in the processed (wet) audio. Voices The rate in Hz at which the modulation cycles. Modulation Rate The amount of modulation. Modulation Depth The modulation phase difference in degrees between each subsequent voice. Divide 360 by the Voice Phase Change number of voices to find the optimum value.
Page 444 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Modulator effect The Modulator effect adds both vibrato and tremolo to audio by modulating (varying) the frequency and amplitude. The type of waveform to use. Sine produces smoother modulation. Triangle produces more abrupt Modulation Type modulation.
Page 445 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies the amount of detail preserved from the original audio. High brightness simulates a room with Brightness live (highly reflective) acoustics. The amounts of the original (dry) sound and delayed (wet) sound in the final output. Values of 50% Dry Out, Wet Out are commonly used.
Page 446: Blur & 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. Eran Stern provides a demonstration of the Bilateral Blur effect on the Motionworks website.
Page 447 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets When Colorize is selected, the Bilateral Blur effect operates on each color channel individually. The result is a color image. More Help topics “About Blur & Sharpen effects” on page 440 Box Blur effect Box Blur is similar to Fast Blur and Gaussian Blur, but Box Blur has the added advantage of an Iterations property, which allows you to control the quality of the blur.
Page 448 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), blur layer (lower-left), and result (lower-right) The maximum amount, in pixels, that any part of the affected layer can be blurred. Maximum Blur Stretches the control layer to the dimensions of the layer to which it is applied; otherwise, the Stretch Map To Fit control layer is centered on the effect layer.
Page 449 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Fast Blur effect When layer quality is set to Best, Fast Blur is a close approximation of Gaussian Blur, but Fast Blur blurs large areas more quickly. Stu Maschwitz compares the Box Blur, Fast Blur, and Gaussian Blur effects in a post on his ProLost blog.
Page 450 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), Depth Map layer (lower-left), and result (lower-right) The control layer from which the depth map is taken. Depth Map Layer The channel of the control layer to use as the depth map. Pixels with low values correspond to low Depth Map Channel depth (near the camera);...
Page 451 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) Spin blurs in arcs around the Center point, as if the camera were rotating; Amount specifies degrees of rotation. Type Zoom blurs radially outward from the center point; Amount specifies the length of the blur. More Help topics “About Blur &...
Page 452 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. How far the filter searches for dissimilar pixels to blur. Radius How different the values of pixels should be before they are eliminated. Threshold What parts of the image receive the blur.
Page 453: Channel Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Channel effects Additional resources about Channel effects Satya Meka provides the Separate RGB effect plug-in on the After Effects Scripts website. This effect—which was written with Pixel Bender—offsets, scales, and rotates each color channel of an image separately. Alpha Levels effect If you are working on a project that was created in an older version of After Effects and the Alpha Levels effect is applied to one or more layers, you can continue to use the Alpha Levels effect;...
Page 454 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color. The layer to blend with (the secondary or control layer). Blend With 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 455 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Ensures that the alpha channel of the original layer isn’t modified. Preserve Transparency More Help topics “Blending modes and layer styles” on page 171 Channel Combiner effect The Channel Combiner effect extracts, displays, and adjusts channel values for a layer. Note: You can use this effect to view any channel as a grayscale image by choosing the channel from the From menu and choosing Lightness Only from the To menu.
Page 456 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets How the effect remaps values that fall outside the grayscale range of 0-255. Overflow Behavior • Values above 255 are mapped to 255. Values below 0 are mapped to 0. Clip •...
Page 457 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 458 This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. The channel to use as a source. Take Channel From 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 459: Color Correction Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Solid Composite effect The Solid Composite effect offers a quick way to create a composite of a new color solid behind the original source layer. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. The opacity of the source layer.
Page 460 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The transparency of the effect. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with the Blend With Original effect result composited on 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;...
Page 461 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Use the Key Out Unsafe and Key Out Safe settings for How To Make Color Safe to determine which portions of the image the Broadcast Colors effect affects at the current settings. Note: A more reliable way to keep colors within the broadcast-safe range for your output type is to use color management features to set the output color profile accordingly, such as to SDTV (Rec.
Page 462 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “Color correction and adjustment” on page 279 Change To Color effect The Change To Color effect (formerly Change Color HLS effect) changes a color you select in an image to another color using hue, lightness, and saturation (HLS) values, leaving other colors unaffected.
Page 463 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 464 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Color Link effect The Color Link effect colorizes one layer with the average pixel values of another layer. This effect is useful for quickly finding a color that matches the color of a background layer. This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Page 465 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 466 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Output Cycle controls Presets for the Output Cycle. The top palettes are designed for quick color correction and Use Preset Palette adjustment tasks. The bottom choices offer a variety of built-in color palettes for creative results. Customize the output color palette by altering the colors and locations of the triangles on the Output Output Cycle Cycle wheel.
Page 467 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets How far a color can be from Matching Color and still be affected by the Colorama effect. When Matching Tolerance Matching Tolerance is 0, the Colorama effect only affects the exact color selected for Matching Color. When Matching Tolerance is 1, all colors are matched;...
Page 468 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 469 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Darkens or brightens the shadows and midtones with minimal change to the highlights. Offset The amount of gamma correction to use for adding an additional power-curve adjustment to the Gamma Correction image.
Page 470 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specify the hue, saturation, and lightness of the color range Colorize Hue, Colorize Saturation, Colorize Lightness chosen from the Channel Control menu. After Effects displays only the sliders for the Channel Control menu choice. More Help topics “Color correction and adjustment”...
Page 471 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The softness of the color boundaries. High values smooth the transition from color to gray. Edge Softness Determines whether RGB values or HSB values are compared. Choose Using RGB to perform more Match Colors strict matching that usually decolors more of the image.
Page 472 You can choose a color preset to apply a hue adjustment to an image, or you can specify a custom color using the Adobe Color Picker or the eyedropper.
Page 473 • To select a custom color for the filter color, click the color swatch for the Color control to select a color using the Adobe Color Picker, or click the eyedropper and click a color anywhere on the computer screen.
Page 474 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Applies the specified map and phase to the alpha channel of the layer. If the specified map Apply Phase Map To Alpha doesn’t include an alpha channel, After Effects uses the default map (linear distribution of brightness) for the alpha channel.
Page 475 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets lightening only the darkest areas of an image. Specifying a value that is too large for a given image may introduce halos around strong dark to light edges. The default settings attempt to reduce these artifacts. These halos may occur if the Shadow or Highlight Amount value is too large;...
Page 476: Distort Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Tritone effect The Tritone effect alters the color information of a layer by mapping bright, dark, and midtone pixels to colors that you select. The Tritone effect is like the Tint effect, except with midtone control. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.
Page 477 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The positions of the vertices and tangents determine the size and shape of a curved segment. Dragging these points reshapes the curves that form the edge, thus distorting the image. For example, you can use Bezier Warp to reshape one image to fit another, as in wrapping a label around a jar.
Page 478 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original image (upper-left), corner moved (lower-left), and final image (lower-right) AE Enhancers forum describes and links to an animation preset from Donat van Bellinghen for scaling a set of Corner Pin effect points.
Page 479 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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 480 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Mask properties Determines the area of the image in which mask opacity and feather settings affect the distortion. Freeze Area Mask Areas outside the mask are distorted; areas within the mask are distorted according to Mask Opacity and Mask Feather settings.
Page 481 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Reconstructs unfrozen areas to match the displacement at the starting point for the reconstruction. You can Displace use Displace to move all or part of the preview image to a different location. Reconstructs unfrozen areas to match the displacement, rotation, and overall scaling that exist at the Amplitwist starting point.
Page 482 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Uses spline algorithms. If you scale the image beyond 100%, Soft reduces edge pixelation and maintains image Soft quality. Soft works well at large magnification amounts. • Creates scatter or noise in the image as the image enlarges. Scatter The blending mode used to combine the magnified area with the original layer.
Page 483 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Mirror effect The Mirror effect splits the image along a line and reflects one side onto the other. The position of the line about which the reflection occurs. Reflection Center The angle of the line about which the reflection occurs.
Page 484 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets width and height. Unlimited resizes the layer as far as it is stretched. This option may require a large amount of memory. Add and match lens distortion with Optics Compensation To match FOV values, layers must be the same size.
Page 485 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The conversion process to use: Type of Conversion • Moves pixels by using (x,y) coordinates from each pixel as (r, ) coordinates. For example, an (x,y) Rect To Polar coordinate of (2,3) becomes a polar coordinate with a radius of 2 and a degree of 3.
Page 486 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies what part of the image is reshaped. Anything outside the boundary isn’t altered. If not Boundary Mask specified, After Effects uses the first mask created as the Boundary mask. In the Composition and Layer panels, a blue outline defines the boundary mask.
Page 487 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Position the boundary mask to specify the area of the image that will remain unaltered. Areas within the boundary mask are distorted; areas outside the mask remain unaltered. Keep the boundary mask as far as possible from the source and destination masks to avoid foldovers.
Page 488 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.
Page 489 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies how closely the image follows the shape defined by the curve. Stiff distorts the least, while Super Elasticity Fluid distorts the most. In general, use the stiffest setting possible that doesn’t create polygonal images. Specifies a method for the interpolation that Smear performs between keyframes.
Page 490 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “Motion blur” on page 227 Turbulent Displace effect The Turbulent Displace effect uses fractal noise to create turbulent distortions in an image. For example, use it to create flowing water, funhouse mirrors, and waving flags.
Page 491 A value of 50, for example, produces a twirl that extends to the edges of the layer. 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.
Page 492: Generate Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Wave Warp effect The Wave Warp effect produces the appearance of a wave traveling across an image. You can produce a variety of different wave shapes, including square, circular, and sine waves. The Wave Warp effect is automatically animated at a constant speed across the time range (without keyframes or expressions).
Page 493 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Advanced Lightning effect The Advanced Lightning effect creates simulations of electrical discharges. Unlike the Lightning effect, Advanced Lightning doesn’t self-animate. Animate the Conductivity State or other properties to animate the lightning. The Advanced Lighting effect includes the Alpha Obstacle feature, with which you can make the lightning go around designated objects.
Page 494 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies the level at which a path terminates, based on resistance in the atmosphere and Termination Threshold possible alpha collision. At lower values, the path terminates more easily when encountering resistance or alpha obstacles.
Page 495 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The path starts from a single point and appears as a radial graph. Use Polar Path The lowest and highest frequencies, in hertz, to display. Start Frequency, End Frequency The number of frequency bands into which to divide displayed frequencies.
Page 496 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) The audio layer you want to display as a waveform. Audio Layer The position at which the waveform starts and ends, if Path is set to None. Start Point, End Point If set to None, the audio waveform is displayed along the path of the layer.
Page 497 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. Original (left), and with a simulated beam (right) The Length control specifies the length of the beam based on a percentage of the Time specified. For example, a setting of 100% means that the visible beam length is at its maximum when the Time control is 50%.
Page 498 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Values above 255 or below 0 are reflected back into the 0-255 range. For example, a value of 258 (255+3) Wrap Back is reflected to 252 (255-3), and a value of -3 is reflected to 3. With this setting, Contrast values above 100 increase complexity and detail.
Page 499 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The opacity of the colored rectangles. Opacity The blending mode to use to composite the checkerboard pattern on top of the original layer. These Blending Mode blending modes work identically to the ones in the Timeline panel, except for the default None mode, which renders the checkerboard pattern only.
Page 500 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Maintains the alpha channel of the original layer. If you choose Including Alpha in the Maintain Original Alpha Average Pixel Color menu, the original alpha is stenciled over the sampled color. The transparency of the effect.
Page 501 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specify the settings for the specified set. X (Real) and Y (Imaginary) specify the pixels at the center Mandelbrot, Julia of the image for either the Mandelbrot or Julia set. Magnification specifies the magnification of the effect. Escape Limit specifies how many times the calculation looks for a color for a given pixel before it assigns the color black.
Page 502 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Use the arrow keys to pan the center point by 1 pixel. Press Shift as you press an arrow key to adjust the point by 10 pixels. Press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you press an arrow key to adjust the center point of the opposite set.
Page 503 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 504 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Contracts the area of the fill color. The Spread Radius value indicates the number of pixels the fill color Choke shrinks from the edge of the fill area. •...
Page 505 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets pixel image, it may generate a 400x400-pixel image and then scale it down using 4x oversampling. Oversampling provides high-quality results but results in long render times. This option works only with Best quality mode. What to base the wave shape on.
Page 506 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies the initial direction of a wave if Velocity is greater than 0. By default, particles are emitted from the Direction producer point in an expanding radial pattern. Specifies the speed at which the wave moves in the specified direction. Velocity Controls the continued rotation of a shape after it is born.
Page 507 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets For example, the Scribble effect can simulate fills that look like marker, crosshatching, or textiles. It fills a mask with a single zigzagging line that crisscrosses the path. Some paths, because of their geometry, cannot be filled with a single line.
Page 508 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specify the curviness, spacing, and overlap of the scribbled line. Stroke Options • Controls the amount of curve at the end of each scribbled stroke. Specify a value between 0° and 100°. Curviness •...
Page 509 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies whether the stroke is applied to the original layer or to a transparent layer. Paint Style More Help topics “Fill effect” on page 494 Vegas effect The Vegas effect generates running lights and other path-based pulse animations around an object. You can outline just about anything, surround it with lights or longer pulses, and then animate it to create the appearance of lights chasing around the object.
Page 510 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Determines the length of the stroke of a segment in relation to its maximum possible length. For example, if Length Segments is set to 1, the maximum length of a stroke is one complete trip around the object outline. If Segments is set to 3, the maximum length of a segment is 1/3 of the total outline, and so on.
Page 511: Keying Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Other methods of animating paint strokes and text are also available. For example, you can animate text by using the type tools and text animators, and you can animate a paint stroke applied with a paint tool. Paint strokes can have a Write-on Duration setting, which you can use to create similar results as with the Write-on effect.
Page 512 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The Color Difference Key effect creates transparency from opposite starting points by dividing an image into two mattes, Matte Partial A and Matte Partial B. Matte Partial B bases the transparency on the specified key color, and Matte Partial A bases transparency on areas of the image that don’t contain a second, different color.
Page 513 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Adjust transparency values for each partial matte and for the final matte by dragging one or more of the following sliders in the Matte Controls section: • Black sliders adjust the transparency levels of each matte. You can adjust the same levels using the Black eyedropper.
Page 514 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Drag the Edge Feather slider to specify the softness of the edge. Higher values create a softer edge but take longer to render. Color Range 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.
Page 515 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Select the minus eyedropper, and then click areas in the matte thumbnail to subtract other colors or shades from the range of colors keyed out. Drag the Fuzziness slider to soften the edges between transparent and opaque regions. Use the sliders in the Min and Max controls to fine-tune the color range you selected with the plus and minus eyedroppers.
Page 516 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 517 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Use the Extract effect In the Effect Controls panel, the Extract effect displays a histogram for a channel specified in the Channel menu. The histogram displays a representation of the brightness levels in the layer, showing the relative number of pixels at each level.
Page 518 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets In addition to masking a soft-edged object from its background, Inner/Outer Key modifies the colors around the border to remove contaminating background colors. This color decontamination process determines the contribution of the background to the color in each border pixel, and then removes that contribution—thus removing the halo that can appear if a soft-edged object is matted against a new background.
Page 519 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The Linear Color Key effect uses RGB, hue, or chroma information to create transparency from a specified key color. This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color. More Help topics “Keying introduction and resources”...
Page 520 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Adjust matching tolerance in one of the following ways: • Select the Plus (+) or the Minus (-) eyedropper, and then click a color in the left thumbnail image. The Plus eyedropper adds the specified color to the key color range, increasing the matching tolerance and the level of transparency.
Page 521 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets White background of original (upper-left and lower-left) is removed using Luma Key and composited over underlying layer (lower-right). More Help topics “Keying introduction and resources” on page 383 “Matte Choker effect”...
Page 522: Matte Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original greenscreen (upper-left) leaves green glow when keyed out (lower-left). Spill Suppressor removes glow (lower-right). More Help topics “Keying introduction and resources” on page 383 “Matte Choker effect” on page 516 “Simple Choker effect”...
Page 523 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left) shows areas of unwanted transparency after using Color Key (lower-left) that are removed with Matte Choker (lower- right). More Help topics “Keying introduction and resources” on page 383 “Close a hole in a matte”...
Page 524: Noise & Grain Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left) contains unwanted edges after keying (lower-left) that are removed with Simple Choker (lower-right). More Help topics “Keying introduction and resources” on page 383 Noise & Grain effects Work with Grain effects Almost every digital image captured from the real world contains grain or visual noise caused by the recording, encoding, scanning, or reproduction processes and by the equipment used to create the image.
Page 525 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Three types of grain effects: matching (upper-left), adding (lower-left), and removing (lower-right) RE:Vision Effects provides the DE:Noise plug-in for removing noise and grain from images. For information, see the RE:Vision Effects website.
Page 526 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets When any grain effect is first applied, the Amount value of the Blend With Original controls group is set to 0%; this value determines the percentage of blending between the original image and the processed version. At 0%, no blending occurs and the selected effect is applied to the entire image at full strength;...
Page 527 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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. Select Invert Match if you want to invert the matte so that the white areas become black and the black areas become white.
Page 528 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The preview region redraws, centered in the new position. To change the dimensions of the preview region, change the Width and Height values in the Effect Controls panel to the desired size, in pixels. (Larger preview regions can result in slower rendering.) Select Show Box if you want to outline the preview region in color.
Page 529 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Manually reposition noise samples Automatic grain or sample selection generally gives acceptable results for the Match Grain or Remove Grain effect, but you can choose to manually position and resize each sample or change the sample number. For example, you may want to reposition samples if the automatic sampling selected a uniform area that is underexposed or overexposed and that lacks information about grain structure.
Page 530 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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 531 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Several factors can affect the apparent color of the grain that these effects generate, including the following: • The color value of the underlying pixel in the source image. •...
Page 532 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The distribution of the added noise over the color channels does affect the overall color of the resulting image. With a dark background, the noise tends to add to the image visually, so a red tint or more noise in the red channel gives a reddish hue to the image.
Page 533 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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.
Page 534 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: Because the controls for the two effects are nearly identical, you can use most instructions and tutorials created for the Fractal Noise effect to instead guide your use of the Turbulent Noise effect. (See “Turbulent Noise effect”...
Page 535 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets the appearance at 2 revolutions, and so on. To return the Evolution setting to its original state (for example, to create a seamless loop), use the Cycle Evolution option. You can specify how much the noise evolves over a period of time by animating Evolution.
Page 536 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Set a value for Cycle. The evolution completes the number of revolutions you specify for Cycle in the amount of time determined by the distance between Evolution keyframes. Determine the Cycle value by considering how much of this cycle you need to render before it repeats.
Page 537 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “Working with added or matched grain” on page 524 Match noise or grain between images Make sure that the source and the destination layers are in the same composition. Select the destination layer to which you want to add grain.
Page 538 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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 539 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) The amount of noise to add. Amount Of Noise Use Color Noise adds random values to the red, green, and blue channels individually. Otherwise, the Noise Type same random value is added to all channels for each pixel.
Page 540 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Specifies the numbers of revolutions of the Noise Phase that the noise cycles through before it repeats Cycle (available only when Cycle Noise is selected). Alter the timing of the Noise Phase keyframes to adjust the speed of the Noise Phase cycles. To save time animating the Noise Phase value, use the Cycle Noise option to create a seamless noise loop.
Page 541 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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.
Page 542 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Adjust any of the following in the Fine Tuning controls group to improve the balance between noise reduction and retained sharpness: Suppresses some of the chroma from the noise to clean up the image. If the noise is colorful, Chroma Suppression increasing this control can help remove it.
Page 543 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Sharpen an image with Unsharp Mask controls The Remove Grain effect contains Unsharp Mask controls, which increase the contrast of edges and fine details to help restore some of the sharpness that may have been lost during the grain reduction process. ❖...
Page 544 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Remaps triangularly, so that values above 1.0 or below 0 fall back into the range. This option reveals Wrap Back subtle detail when Contrast is set above 100. When used as a luma matte, the layer reveals more detailed textured areas of transparency.
Page 545: Paint Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Renders the fractal noise as hue values instead of grayscale. The Saturation and Lightness of the original layer are maintained. If the original layer is grayscale, nothing happens. •...
Page 546 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets For animated strokes, the exact timing (real time) you used to draw the strokes can be played back and rendered. You can adjust the playback speed to fit the timing you want. You can also create new strokes by blending existing strokes, both in space and in time.
Page 547 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Erase areas of the layer, using Brush Type settings defined in the Effect Controls panel. The Eraser Eraser tool pointer appears as a circle with an X through it. If you use an installed tablet with stylus eraser support, Vector Paint automatically switches to eraser mode when you use the stylus eraser.
Page 548 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The Color Clone affects strokes only while you draw; it has no effect on an already completed stroke. This brush setting is the only one you can’t apply after drawing. Clicking either the eyedropper or Color swatch turns off the Color Clone feature.
Page 549 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: Don’t use the Undo command on the Edit menu to undo Vector Paint actions. Use the eyedropper to select a color to paint with from a sampling anywhere on the desktop. Press Eyedropper the Escape key to cancel the eyedropper.
Page 550 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Play back your painting with Vector Paint Use the Playback Mode pop-up menu in the Effect Controls panel to specify when and how quickly your strokes appear in a composition. When you draw strokes, Vector Paint records information for the stroke start time and the drawing time of each stroke (in real time).
Page 551 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets When you create strokes on a layer, the stroke is tied to the location of the current-time indicator in the Timeline panel when you start drawing. Vector Paint also records the amount of time you take to draw the stroke. For example, you might start painting a stroke with the current-time indicator set to 0:00 and use 1.5 seconds to draw the stroke.
Page 552 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • The values for Re-timer are percentages of the original time required to draw the stroke. The default value is 100%. A higher value causes the drawing time to increase, so that a setting of 200% uses twice the time to draw the selected strokes.
Page 553 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Determines how much the original shape of the path is altered while wiggling. Greater values Displacement Detail increase the detail of displacement (or change in shape) in the stroke. Lower values produce less displacement, leaving the path closer to its original shape.
Page 554 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Composite Paint options The imported image is visible. A. In Original (default setting), before painting The paint strokes appear above the original image. B. In Original, with paint stroke An erasure stroke removes underlying portions of both the paint C.
Page 555: Perspective Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets the original image. Erasures remove only painting strokes; that is, they re-reveal the underlying image within the alpha channel. The original image appears within its alpha channel in working view. Strokes affect the alpha K.
Page 556 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) To avoid problems with flipped views, keep in mind the following guidelines: • Use the same vertical dimensions for the composition and source images. A one-pixel difference produces the same result as moving the position one pixel vertically.
Page 557 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Performs the same operation as Red Blue LR but also balances the colors to reduce shadows Balanced Red Blue LR or ghosting effects. • Converts the layer into a 3D view using the RGB channels of the original layer. This Balanced Colored Red Blue option maintains the original colors of the layer but may produce shadows and ghosting effects.
Page 558 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Drop Shadow effect The Drop Shadow effect adds a shadow that appears behind the layer. The alpha channel of the layer determines the shape of the shadow. When you add a drop shadow to a layer, a soft-edged outline of the alpha channel of the layer appears behind it, as if a shadow is cast on the background or underlying objects.
Page 559: Simulation Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Copy and paste position keyframes or expressions from a control point for another effect (for example, Lens Flare) to quickly create a shadow that matches the light source for another effect. The distance from the layer to the surface on which the shadow falls.
Page 560 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Distributes light over the layer. Increasing this value adds an even illumination to all objects and Ambient Light prevents shadows from being completely black. Setting Ambient Light to pure white and setting all other light controls to 0 makes the object fully lit and eliminates any 3D shading from the scene.
Page 561 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), gradient layer (center), and with Card Dance applied (right) Apply Card Dance to the layer to use for the front of the cards. To set the view, use the rotation or perspective controls, or match the perspective of the effect in any scene by corner-pinning.
Page 562 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The order in which the transformations (scale, rotation, and position) are performed. Transformation Order Position, Rotation, and Scale controls Position (X, Y, Z), Rotation (X, Y, Z), and Scale (X, Y) specify the transformation properties you want to adjust. Because Card Dance is a 3D effect, you can control these properties separately for each axis of the cards.
Page 563 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website in which he demonstrates how to use the Caustics effect with the Wave World effect. Note: The Caustics effect ignores masks and alpha channels on the layer to which it is applied. You can precompose the layer with the effect and apply the mask to the precomposition layer, or you can precompose the layer with the mask and apply the effect to the precomposition layer, depending on what result you want to achieve.
Page 564 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Water controls Specifies the layer to use as the surface of the water. Caustics uses the luminance of this layer as a height Water Surface map for generating a 3D water surface. Light pixels are high, and dark pixels are low. You can use a layer created by using the Wave World or Radio Waves effect;...
Page 565 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), with Foam applied (lower-left), and with a robot layer used as the Bubble Texture Layer (lower-right) You can also substitute any image or movie for bubbles. For example, you can create swarms of ants, flocks of birds, or crowds of people.
Page 566 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets upper-left corner of the screen if you don’t select Zoom Producer Point. If you select Zoom Producer Point, the point moves with the universe as it is zoomed out, and the point ends up closer to the center of the screen. Determines the rate at which bubbles are generated.
Page 567 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Controls how popping bubbles affect each other. When a bubble pops, it affects other bubbles around it Pop Velocity by leaving a hole that other bubbles can fill, pushing other bubbles away, or popping other bubbles. The higher the value, the more popping bubbles affect one another.
Page 568 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Bubble Velocity faces the bubble in the direction of its motion. This setting is the most useful for flocking-style animations. Specifies the layer that is reflected in the bubbles. If you want to use this layer only for the reflection, Environment Map turn off the video switch for a layer.
Page 569 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets This effect works with 8-bpc color. Particles shooting out of the spacecraft layer (upper-left), text characters used as particles shooting out of a ray gun (lower-left), and Layer Exploder used on spacecraft layer (lower-right) Start by creating a stream or plane of particles, or by exploding an existing layer into particles.
Page 570 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets When you use a layer as a source for particles, Particle Playground ignores any changes you’ve made to that layer within that composition, such as changing the Position values. Instead, it uses the layer in its original state. To keep changes for a layer when you use it as a particle source, precompose the layer and use the precomposition layer as the control layer.
Page 571 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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 572 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies the radius of the particles resulting from the explosion. This value must be smaller Radius Of New Particles than the radius of the original layer or particle. Specifies, in pixels per second, the maximum speed of the range within which Particle Playground Velocity Dispersion varies the velocity of the resulting particles.
Page 573 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Takes a frame at random from the layer, by using a time in the range from 0 to the Random Time Absolute Random Max you specify. Choose Absolute Random when you want each particle to represent a different single frame of a multiframe layer.
Page 574 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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. To open the Particle Playground options dialog box, click Options at the top of the Particle Playground entry in the Effect Controls panel.
Page 575 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Gravity controls Use Gravity controls to pull existing particles in a direction you specify. Particles accelerate in the direction of gravity. Apply in a vertical direction to create falling particles, such as rain or snow, or rising particles, such as champagne bubbles.
Page 576 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: The simulation space is not bounded by the dimensions of the layer to which Particle Playground is applied. You may need to use a selection map that is larger than the Particle Playground layer so that the selection map affects dots that are not visible.
Page 577 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specify the minimum and maximum values you want the layer map to produce for each Map To group. Min is the value to which a black pixel is mapped, and Max is the value to which a white pixel is mapped. The complete tonal distribution between Min and Max is then scaled proportionally.
Page 578 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets result in no adjustment, similar to flat land. Lower pixel values represent less resistance to a particle’s force, similar to a downhill grade. Higher pixel values represent more resistance to a particle’s force, similar to an uphill grade. For best results, use a soft-edged layer map image.
Page 579 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • You use a layer map to affect the Scale property of particles and find that the smallest particles aren’t small enough while the largest resulting particles are too large. In this case, the entire output range needs to be shifted down; lower both the Min and Max values.
Page 580 Adobe Photoshop, and then paint or paste each layer map into its own channel. Save the control layer as an RGB image in a format After Effects can import.
Page 581 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), and as Shatter is applied over time to reveal another layer (lower-left and right) More Help topics “Common Lighting controls and Material controls” on page 553 “Precompose layers”...
Page 582 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Render control The Render control renders the whole scene (the default), the unshattered layer, or the shattered pieces independently. For example, if you want to apply the Glow effect only to shattered pieces and not to the portions of the layer that remain intact, create the explosion and duplicate the layer.
Page 583 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Specifies the speed at which the exploded pieces travel—how hard they are blown away from or sucked back Strength into the blast point. A positive value blows the pieces away from the blast point; a negative value sucks the pieces into the blast point.
Page 584 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Affects the initial velocities and spins generated by the force sphere. When this control is set to 0, pieces Randomness fly directly away from the center point of a blast (assuming a positive force). Since real explosions are rarely orderly, Randomness allows you to vary things a little bit.
Page 585 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: If you choose a layer with an effect applied, the effect does not show up in the texture unless you precompose the layer. However, if you 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.
Page 586 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The alpha channel determines whether a shattered piece exists. A white alpha channel value results in a shattered piece, and a black alpha channel value results in no piece. Using an alpha channel, you can make a tile map with holes in it or generate simple 3D models like extruded text.
Page 587 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets To understand how this effect works, consider the following information about the physics of waves: A wave consists of a peak and a trough. The amplitude of a wave is the height, or distance, between the peak and trough. The wavelength is the distance from one peak to the next.
Page 588 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Controls the clarity of the water by adjusting how opaque the alpha channel is in shallower areas. For Transparency example, you can easily see to the bottom of a pool filled with fresh water, but you can see only an inch or two into a pool filled with coffee.
Page 589: Stylize Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Note: You can create a pulsing wave effect by animating the steepness of the ground so that the ground pokes through the water, producing waves. Then use the Wave Strength control to intensify the effect. Producer 1 and Producer 2 controls The Producer controls specify the point at which the waves begin.
Page 590 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) The direction in which the strokes are made. The image is effectively shifted in this direction, potentially Stroke Angle causing some clipping at the layer boundaries. Applying the Grow Bounds effect before the Brush Strokes effect effectively extends the boundaries of the layer to prevent this clipping.
Page 591 Time effect on the layer if you're trying to make a movie look like a cartoon. 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 at www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4066_ae. 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 592 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets 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...
Page 593 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Cartoon effect properties Fill, Edges, or Fill & Edges. Determines which operations to perform and which results to display. Render The radius for the blurring operation that is used to smooth the image and remove details before the Detail Radius operation to find edges.
Page 594 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (left), and with effect applied (right) More Help topics “Emboss effect” on page 588 Emboss effect The Emboss effect sharpens the edges of objects in an image and suppresses colors. The effect also highlights the edges from a specified angle.
Page 595 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. Be sure to preview at Best quality before you render the effect.
Page 596 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The midpoint specifies the balance between the two colors used in the gradient. Lower percentages use A & B Midpoint less of the A color. Higher percentages use less of the B color. The color of the glow if you choose A &...
Page 597 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Posterize effect The Posterize effect posterizes colors; the number of colors is reduced and gradual color transitions are replaced by abrupt color transitions. You specify the number of tonal levels (or brightness values) for each channel in an image. The Posterize effect then maps pixels to the closest matching level.
Page 598 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Evolution Options provide controls that render the effect for one short cycle and then loop it for Evolution Options the duration of your layer. Use these controls to pre-render your roughen elements into loops, and thus speed up rendering time.
Page 599 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets The time, in seconds, between the start of subsequent strobes. Strobe Period (secs) The probability that the strobe operation applies to any given frame. Random Strobe Probability Choose Makes Layer Transparent for each strobe to make the layer transparent. Choose Operates On Color Strobe Only to use the operation specified by Strobe Operator.
Page 600: Text Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Effect applied with threshold settings of 44 (left), 70 (center), and 200 (right) Text effects 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).
Page 601 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Varies based on the chosen type and whether Random Values is selected. Value/Offset/Random Max Specifies the number of places to the right of the decimal point. Decimal Places Select for time and date numbers to be based on the current time and date. Current Time/Date The position of the numbers on the layer.
Page 602: Time Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Alternatives to using the Timecode effect Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See “Creating and editing text layers” on page 341.) 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 603 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets • Combines the echoes by taking the minimum pixel values from all of the echoes. Minimum • Emulates combining the echoes by sandwiching them optically. This mode is similar to Add, but it doesn’t Screen overload as quickly.
Page 604 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Time Difference effect Use Time Difference with Particle Playground to shed particles only from moving sections. Specifies the layer to be compared to the effect layer. The Video switch for the comparison layer doesn’t need Target to be on (unless you select the source layer as the Target).
Page 605 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Time Displacement effect Displacement map layer Like the Displacement Map effect, the Time Displacement effect uses a displacement map, but it bases the movement of pixels in the layer on luminance values in the map. Pixels in the layer that correspond to bright areas in the displacement map are replaced by pixels in the same position but at a specified number of seconds forward in time.
Page 606 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Suppose you specified 2 seconds as the maximum time displacement. After Effects finds the luminance value of each pixel in the displacement map, and then it replaces the corresponding pixels at the current time with pixels from another time based on the maximum time of 2 seconds.
Page 607 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Timewarp effect You can use the Timewarp effect to add motion blur within a video layer without changing the layer’s speed. Apply the Timewarp effect, set Speed to 100, enable motion blur within the effect, and use the manual shutter control features to adjust the motion blur.
Page 608: Transition Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Adjusts the size of the blocks used to calculate the vectors. Block Size Controls the weighting of the red, green, and blue channels in calculations used to analyze the image. For Weighting example, setting Red Weight and Green Weight to zero means that only the blue channel is analyzed for motion.
Page 609 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets More Help topics “About animation, keyframes, and expressions” on page 210 Block Dissolve effect The Block Dissolve effect makes a layer disappear in random blocks. The width and height of the blocks, in pixels, can be set independently.
Page 610 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) More Help topics “Randomness and random seeds” on page 396 “Common Lighting controls and Material controls” on page 553 “About Transition effects and the Transition Completion property”...
Page 611 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Camera Position controls Rotate the camera around the corresponding axis. Use these controls to look at the X Rotation, Y Rotation, Z Rotation cards from the top, side, back, or any other angle. Where the camera is positioned in x,y space.
Page 612 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) 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.
Page 613 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Original (upper-left), and with effect applied (lower-left and right) More Help topics “About Transition effects and the Transition Completion property” on page 602 Linear Wipe effect The Linear Wipe effect performs a simple linear wipe of a layer in a specified direction. At Draft quality, the edge of the wipe isn’t anti-aliased;...
Page 614 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Radial Wipe effect The Radial Wipe effect reveals an underlying layer using a wipe that circles around a specified point. At Best quality, the edges of the wipe are anti-aliased. The angle at which the transition starts.
Page 615: Utility Effects
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Utility effects Cineon Converter effect The Cineon Converter effect provides a high degree of control over color conversions of Cineon frames, but in most cases you should convert the colors in a Cineon file using color management features. (See “Cineon and DPX footage items”...
Page 616 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Color Profile Converter effect The Color Profile Converter effect converts a layer from one color space to another by specifying input and output profiles. In most cases, you should use automatic color management features to convert from one color space to another, rather than using the Color Profile Converter to manually do the conversions.
Page 617 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets For an explanation of scene-referred profiles, see “System gamma, device gamma, and the difference between scene and viewing environment” on page 282. Note: If you open an After Effects 7 project that uses DPX Scene and DPX Theater color profiles in the Color Profile Converter effect, After Effects CS4 does not automatically update these profiles to the new equivalent profiles (Kodak 5218/7218 Printing Density and Kodak 2383 Theater Preview).
Page 618 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Apply the HDR Compander effect to a layer once in the effect stack above low-dynamic-range effects, and once below low-dynamic-range effects. Because the first instance of the HDR Compander effect compresses the range of values through sampling, some precision is lost.
Page 619: Obsolete Effects
341.) 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. This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Page 620 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Lightning effect If you are working on a project that was created in an older version of After Effects and the Lightning effect is applied to one or more layers, you can continue to use this effect; otherwise, use the Advanced Lightning effect. (See “Advanced Lightning effect”...
Page 621 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.
Page 622 Specifies the ending vertex of a Bezier curve and the angle of a line. For circles or loops, Vertex 2 is Vertex 2 ignored. Specifies an arbitrary path. You can use a mask created in the Layer panel or in Adobe Illustrator. Custom Path Reverses the path.
Page 623: Advanced Controls
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets Slants characters left or right, similar to italics. The slant is based on the point where the character Horizontal Shear intersects the path. To slant characters from their centers, set Baseline Shift to make the path go through the centers of the characters.
Page 624 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Effects and animation presets of Visible Characters increases between whole numbers. The exact opacity of the character is equal to the fractional part of the Visible Characters value. For example, the eighth character is displayed at 10% opacity if the value of Visible Characters is 7.10 and Fade Time is 100%;...
Page 625: Chapter 14: Markers And Metadata
Both kinds of markers can hold the same information. 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 626 Scripts and expressions can read and use data stored in markers. Because XMP metadata for source footage items can be converted to layer markers, expressions and scripts can work with XMP metadata. To view video tutorials on working with markers, cue points, and XMP metadata go to the Adobe website: •...
Page 627 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Markers and metadata Dragging a composition marker from the bin. • To add a numbered composition marker at the current time, press Shift + a number key (0–9) on the main keyboard. Note: If the number you press is already used by another composition marker, After Effects does not create a new marker. Instead, it moves the existing marker with that number to the new position.
Page 628 Markers and metadata Adobe Encore can read chapter references in After Effects layer markers when you export to the AVI or 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 629 Use Clip Notes to submit a movie to reviewers for comments. When you render and export a movie for Clip Notes comments, a copy of the movie or a link to the movie is included in an Adobe PDF file. The movie can be in a Windows Media (Windows only) or QuickTime container format.
Page 630 Return Comments To Add Clip Notes comments Open the Clip Notes PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Professional, or Adobe Reader (version 7.0.5 or later). If prompted, specify your preference in the Manage Trust For Multimedia Content dialog box. If prompted for a password, enter the password and click OK.
Page 631: Xmp Metadata
In most cases, XMP metadata remains with the file even when the file is converted to a different format—for example, from PSD to JPG. XMP metadata is also retained when files are placed in a document or project in an Adobe Creative Suite application.
Page 632 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 633 Preferences dialog box for details. If a file already has an XMP ID, then After Effects doesn’t write a new one, and no change is made. Files created by recent versions of Adobe applications will, in general, already have an XMP ID.
Page 634 700.) 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 635 About file, clip, and project metadata For the most part, Adobe video and audio applications deal with 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 636 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Markers and metadata For After Effects, both Project and File properties are stored directly in files, so you can access this metadata in Adobe Bridge. Separates metadata in these sections: Soundbooth • Displays properties for the currently displayed audio or ASND file. This metadata is stored directly in such File files, so it appears in other applications.
Page 637 Metadata panel provides more extensive properties and lets you edit them for multiple files simultaneously. Note: Instead of a Project panel, Adobe OnLocation uses the Shot List and Soundbooth uses the Files panel. In the workspace, select the desired files or clips. (To apply similar metadata to multiple related files, Shift- or Ctrl- click them.)
Page 638: Chapter 15: Memory, Storage, And Performance
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 15: Memory, storage, and performance Memory and storage Memory (RAM) usage and storage Factors that influence memory (RAM) available to After Effects The operating system imposes certain limits on the amount of memory that an application can use. After Effects on the Mac OS X operating system can use up to 3.5 GB of RAM, although only about 3 GB is actually available to the foreground application, because Mac OS X uses approximately 500 MB to load the user interface libraries.
Page 639 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Memory, storage, and performance Use the following formula to determine the number of megabytes required to store one uncompressed frame at full resolution: (height in pixels) x (width in pixels) x (number of bits per channel) / 2,097,152 Note: The value 2,097,152 is a conversion factor that accounts for the number of bytes per megabyte (2 ), the number of bits per byte (8), and the number of channels per pixel (4).
Page 640 Note: When you first import a file, you may experience a delay while the media is being processed and cached. A database retains links to each of the cached media files. This media cache database is shared with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Encore, and Adobe Soundbooth, so each of these applications can each read from and write to the same set of cached media files.
Page 641 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Memory, storage, and performance Memory & Multiprocessing preferences Set memory and multiprocessing preferences by choosing Edit > Preferences > Memory & Multiprocessing (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Memory & Multiprocessing (Mac OS). As you modify settings in the Memory &...
Page 642 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Memory, storage, and performance Because antivirus software operates by monitoring every read and write operation, such software can decrease rendering speed, especially with the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously preference selected. Specifies the minimum amount of RAM that will be allocated to each background Minimum Allocation Per CPU process, each of which runs on its own CPU (processor core).
Page 643: Performance
Help > Updates. For more information about updates, go to the Downloads section of the Adobe website. • Make sure that you’ve installed the latest versions of drivers and plug-ins, especially video card drivers. To download updates for drivers and plug-ins, go to the provider’s website.
Page 644 RAM and how to install RAM. • Stop or pause resource-intensive operations in other applications, such as video previews in Adobe Bridge. • When possible, keep the source footage files for your project on a fast local disk drive. If your source footage files are on a slow disk drive (or across a slow network connection), then performance will be poor.
Page 645 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Memory, storage, and performance Improve performance by modifying screen output You can improve performance in many ways that don’t affect how After Effects treats your project data, only how output is drawn to the screen as you work. Although it is often useful to see certain items and information as you work, After Effects uses memory and processor resources to update this information, so be selective in what you choose to display as you work.
Page 646 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Memory, storage, and performance • Set the Resolution/Down Sample Factor value of the composition to Auto in the Composition panel, which prevents the unnecessary rendering of rows or columns of pixels that aren’t drawn to the screen at low zoom levels. See “Resolution”...
Page 647: Chapter 16: Plug-Ins, Scripts, And Automation
Several plug-ins come with After Effects and are automatically installed in the Plug-ins folder. You can obtain other plug-ins for After Effects and other Adobe products from Adobe or other vendors. For specific instructions for installing a plug-in, see its documentation.
Page 648 Effect plug-ins written with Pixel Bender have the filename extension .pbk (for single-kernel effects) or .pbg (for multiple-kernel effects). The Pixel Bender language is also used to write effects and filters for use with other Adobe software, including Flash and Photoshop.
Page 649: Scripts
After Effects scripts use the Adobe ExtendScript language, which is an extended form of JavaScript, similar to Adobe ActionScript®. ExtendScript files have the .jsx or jsxbin filename extension.
Page 650 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 651: Automation
USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Plug-ins, scripts, and automation Automation After Effects and other Adobe software with which it’s integrated provide many different means for automating various processes. 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.
Page 652: Chapter 17: Expressions
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 17: Expressions Expression basics Many of the examples in this section are based on examples provided by Dan Ebberts. Dan Ebberts also has an excellent collection of example expressions and tutorials for learning how to work with expressions on his MotionScript website.
Page 653 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions More Help topics “Save an animation preset” on page 388 “About animation, keyframes, and expressions” on page 210 “Text selectors” on page 358 Add, edit, and remove expressions You can enter entire expressions yourself, by manually typing them or by using the Expression Language menu; or you can create an expression with the pick whip or paste it from an example or other property.
Page 654 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions For example, you can double the result by typing at the end of the expression; or you can halve the result by typing at the end of the expression. As you develop comfort editing expressions, you can combine these simple operations—and more. For example, you can add to the end of an expression to change its range from 0-360 to 0-100.
Page 655 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Drag the pick whip to a property to create a link to the value of the property. You can drag the pick whip to the name or value of a property. If you drag to the name of a property, the resulting expression displays all the values as one.
Page 656 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Edit an expression manually Click in the expression field to enter text-editing mode. Note: When you enter text-editing mode, the entire expression is selected. To add to the expression, click within the expression to place the insertion point;...
Page 657 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions thisComp.layer(1).position.valueAtTime(time+2) From “Property attributes and methods (expression reference)” on page 677, notice that the method valueAtTime returns a Number or Array. When an expression returns a Number, Array, or Boolean (true or false), you cannot add further attributes or methods to the expression (if you want, however, you can add arithmetic operators, such , and Show expressions and the expression graph...
Page 658 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions thisComp.layer(index + 1).name + "\rOpacity = " + thisComp.layer(index + 1).opacity.value The following example reports the name of the footage item used as the source of the topmost image layer in the stacking order at the current time that has its Video switch set.
Page 659 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions function average(a, b) return (a + b) / 2; average(position, thisComp.layer(1).position); Note: You must define each function fully within each expression in which it is used. There is no global library of functions that you can add to.
Page 660 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions The names for the Expression Control effects indicate what type of property control they provide: Angle Control, Checkbox Control, Color Control, Layer Control, Point Control, Slider Control. If you apply an animation preset from the Animation Presets > Shapes > Backgrounds category, you can see a custom Animated Shape Control effect in the Effect Controls panel.
Page 661 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Convert an expression to keyframes In some situations, it’s useful to convert an expression to keyframes. For example, if you want to freeze the values in an expression, you can convert the expression to keyframes and then adjust the keyframes accordingly; or, if an expression takes a long time to evaluate, you can convert it to keyframes so that it renders more quickly.
Page 662 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Reading this expression from left to right, you progress from the higher-level, containing object down to the specific property: • The global object used refers to the current composition: thisComp • A specific layer object within that composition is referred to by its name: layer("Layer B") •...
Page 663 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Dimension Property Rotation ° Opacity % Scale [x=width, y=height] Position [x, y] Anchor Point [x, y] Audio Levels [left, right] Scale [width, height, depth] 3D Position [x, y, z] 3D Anchor Point [x, y, z] Orientation [x, y, z] 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...
Page 664 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions x = thisComp.layer("Layer A").position[0]; y = thisComp.layer("Layer B").position[1]; [x,y] You can create an expression that refers to just one value within the array of a 2D or 3D property. By default, the first value is used, unless you specify otherwise.
Page 665 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions thisComp.layer(1).position thisComp.layer(1).position.valueAtTime(time) To use a relative time, add an incremental time value to the argument. For example, to get the Position value 5 time seconds before the current time, use the following expression: thisComp.layer(1).position.valueAtTime(time-5) Default time references to properties in nested compositions use the original default composition time, not remapped time.
Page 666: Expression Language Reference
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Expression language reference Use the After Effects expression elements along with standard JavaScript elements to write your expressions. You can use the Expression Language menu at any time to insert methods and attributes into an expression, and you can use the pick whip at any time to insert properties.
Page 667 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Return type: Number. posterizeTime(framesPerSecond) 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 668 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions timeToCurrentFormat(t = time + thisComp.displayStartTime, fps = 1.0 / thisComp.frameDuration, isDuration = false) Return type: String. Argument type: t and fps are Numbers; isDuration is a Boolean. Converts the value of t to a String representing time in the current Project Settings display format. See timeToFrames for a definition of all of the arguments.
Page 669 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Argument type: vec1 and vec2 are Arrays. Returns the dot (inner) product of the vector arguments. Return type: Array [2 or 3]. cross(vec1, vec2) Argument type: vec1 and vec2 are Arrays [2 or 3]. Returns the vector cross product of vec1 and vec2.
Page 670 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions The offset value, but not the timeless value, is also used to control the initial value of the function. wiggle For example, this expression on the Opacity property sets the Opacity value to a random value that does not vary with time: seedRandom(123456, true);...
Page 671 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Argument type: valOrArray is a Number or an Array [2 or 3]. Returns a number in the range from -1 to 1. The noise is not actually random; it is based on Perlin noise, which means that the return values for two input values that are near one another will also tend to be near one another.
Page 672 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Similar to , except that the tangent is 0 only on the value1 side and interpolation is linear on the value2 side. ease Return type: Number or Array. easeIn(t, tMin, tMax, value1, value2) Argument type: t, tMin, and tMax are Numbers, and value1 and value2 are Numbers or Arrays.
Page 673 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Comp attributes and methods (expression reference) Return type: Layer, Light, or Camera. layer(index) Argument type: index is a Number. Retrieves the layer by number (order in the Timeline panel). Example: thisComp.layer(3) Return type: Layer, Light, or Camera. layer(name) Argument type: name is a String.
Page 674 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions thisComp.marker.nearestKey(time).time Return type: Number. marker.numKeys Returns the total number of composition markers in the composition. Return type: Number. numLayers Returns the number of layers in the composition. Return type: Camera. activeCamera 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.
Page 675 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns the width of the footage item, in pixels. Return type: Number. height Returns the height of the footage item, in pixels. Return type: Number. duration Returns the duration of the footage item, in seconds. Return type: Number.
Page 676 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns the width of the layer, in pixels. It is the same as source.width Return type: Number. height Returns the height of the layer, in pixels. It is the same as source.height Return type: Number.
Page 677 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns true if the Video switch is on for the layer; false otherwise. Return type: Array [4]. sampleImage(point, radius = [.5, .5], postEffect=true, t=time) Argument type: point is an Array [2], radius is an Array [2], postEffect is a Boolean, and t is a Number. Samples the color and alpha channel values of a layer and returns the average alpha-weighted value of the pixels within the specified distance of the point as an array: [red, green, blue, alpha].
Page 678 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Return type: Property. timeRemap Returns the value of the Time Remap property, in seconds, if Time Remap is enabled. Return type: MarkerKey. marker.key(index) Argument type: index is a Number. Returns the MarkerKey object of the layer marker with the specified index. Return type: MarkerKey.
Page 679 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns the value of the Light Transmission property for a 3D layer. Return type: Property. castsShadows Returns a value of 1.0 if the layer casts shadows. Return type: Property. acceptsShadows Returns a value of 1.0 if the layer accepts shadows. Return type: Property.
Page 680 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Transforms a point from layer space to view-independent world space. Example: toWorld.effect("Bulge")("Bulge Center") Dan Ebberts provides an expression on his MotionScript website that uses the method to auto-orient a layer toWorld along only one axis. This is useful, for example, for having characters turn from side to side to follow the camera while remaining upright.
Page 681 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Camera attributes and methods (expression reference) Camera objects have the same attributes and methods as Layer objects, except for source effect mask width , and all of the material properties. height anchorPoint scale opacity audioLevels...
Page 682 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns the cone angle of a light, in degrees. Return type: Property. coneFeather Returns the cone feather value of a light as a percentage. Return type: Property. shadowDarkness Returns the shadow darkness value of a light as a percentage. Return type: Property.
Page 683 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Property attributes and methods (expression reference) Return type: Number, Array, or String. value Returns the value of a property at the current time. Return type: Number or Array. valueAtTime(t) Argument type: t is a Number. Returns the value of a property at the specified time, in seconds.
Page 684 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Example: produces about 5 wiggles per second with an average size of about 20 position.wiggle(5, 20, 3, .5) pixels. In addition to the main wiggle, two more levels of detailed wiggles occur with a frequency of 10 and 20 wiggles per second, and sizes of 10 and 5 pixels, respectively.
Page 685 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions loop type result cycle (default) Repeats the specified segment. Repeats the specified segment, alternating between forward and backward. pingpong offset Repeats the specified segment, but offsets each cycle by the difference in the value of the property at the start and end of the segment, multiplied by the number of times the segment has looped.
Page 686 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Returns the MarkerKey object with this name. Use only on marker properties. Return type: Key or MarkerKey. nearestKey(t) Returns the Key or MarkerKey object nearest to a designated time. Return type: Number. numKeys Returns the number of keyframes on a property.
Page 687 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Animating a brush stroke with an expression Key attributes and methods (expression reference) When you access a Key object, you can get , and properties from it. For example, the following time index value expression gives you the value of the third Position keyframe:...
Page 688 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions m = thisLayer.marker.nearestKey(time); s = "time:" + timeToCurrentFormat(m.time) + "\r" + "duration: " + m.duration + "\r" + "key index: " + m.index + "\r" + "comment:" + m.comment + "\r" + "chapter:"...
Page 689: Expression Examples
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Expression examples Many of the examples in this section are based on expressions provided by Dan Ebberts. Dan Ebberts also has an excellent collection of example expressions and tutorials for learning how to work with expressions on his MotionScript website.
Page 690 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 691 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions Expression example: Create a bulge between two layers This example expression synchronizes the Bulge Center argument of the Bulge effect in one layer with the position of another layer. For example, you can create an effect that looks like a magnifying glass moving over a layer, with the contents under the magnifying glass bulging as the lens (that is, the overlying layer) moves.
Page 692 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions More Help topics “Add, edit, and remove expressions” on page 647 “Create a camera layer and change camera settings” on page 186 Expression example: Flip layer horizontally if facing away from camera ❖...
Page 693 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Expressions timeToStop = 4; if (time > timeToStop){ value; }else{ wiggle(3,25); • Apply the following expression to a property to start wiggling it at time 2 seconds and stop wiggling it at time 4 seconds: timeToStart = 2;...
Page 694: Chapter 18: 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.
Page 695 Render Queue panel. When you manage render and export operations with the 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. (See “Encoding and...
Page 696 Supported output formats Note: 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, and some codecs for encoding MPEG formats are available only with the full version of Adobe After Effects software.
Page 697 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Video project formats • Adobe Premiere Pro project (PRPROJ; Windows and Mac OS on Intel-based Mac only) Still-image formats • Adobe Photoshop (PSD; 8, 16, and 32 bpc) • Bitmap (BMP, RLE) •...
Page 698 A chime plays when all items in the render queue have been rendered and exported; a different noise plays if a render operation fails. You can replace the render-complete sounds on Windows by placing files named rnd_okay.wav and rnd_fail.wav in this folder: C:\Documents and Settings\[user_name]\Application Data\Adobe\After Effects\9.0 or C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\9.0.
Page 699 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Render item statuses Each render item has a status, which appears in the Status column in the Render Queue panel: The render item is listed in the Render Queue panel but is not ready to render. Confirm that you have selected Unqueued the desired render settings and output module settings, and then select the Render option to queue the render item.
Page 700 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting • To stop rendering with the purpose of starting the same render over again, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) Stop. The render item for which rendering was stopped is assigned the status User Stopped, and a new item with the status of Queued is added to the Render Queue panel.
Page 701 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Collect files in one location The Collect Files command gathers copies of all of the files in a project or composition into a single location. Using this command is a useful step before rendering, for archiving, or for moving a project to a different computer system or user account.
Page 702 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Note: If rendering time is unusually long, you may have set Maximum Number Of Machines too high, and the network overhead required to track rendering progress among all computers is out of proportion to the time spent actually rendering frames.
Page 703: Render Settings
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Note: Make sure that the insertion point is outside the square brackets ([ ]) of preset properties. Do any of the following: • To save the file naming template as a preset for future use in the Output To menu, click the Save button .
Page 704 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting • To apply a render settings template to selected render items, click the triangle next to the Render Settings heading in the Render Queue panel, and choose a template from the menu. You can choose a custom render settings template or one of the preset render settings templates: Often used for rendering to final output.
Page 705 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Determines whether to use proxies when rendering. Current Settings uses the settings for each footage Proxy Use item. (See “Placeholders and proxies” on page 83.) Current Settings (default) uses the current settings for Effect switches .
Page 706 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting 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.
Page 707 Specifies whether to include information in the output file that links to the source After Effects Include Project Link 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 708 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Note: All files created with a color depth of Millions of Colors+, Trillions of Colors+, or Floating Point + have labeled alpha channels; information describing the alpha channel is stored in the file. Therefore, you do not have to specify an alpha interpretation each time you import an item created in After Effects.
Page 709 OpenGL as appropriate. For information regarding specific OpenGL hardware, go to the After Effects section of the Adobe website. Important: Because not all features of a composition can be rendered with OpenGL—and because some features that can be rendered with OpenGL are rendered with different results—you may only want to use OpenGL rendering to accelerate...
Page 710 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Note: You cannot use the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing feature while also using OpenGL to render RAM previews or render for final output. The Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously feature works by using background processes on multiple CPU processor cores to render frames.
Page 711: Rendering And Exporting For Flash Professional And Flash Player
Flash Player 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.
Page 712 Exporting a composition to XFL format To export the selected composition as an XFL file, choose File > Export > Adobe Flash Professional (XFL). In the Adobe Flash Professional (XFL) Settings dialog box, choose what After Effects will do with layers with unsupported features: Layers with unsupported features are not included in the XFL output.
Page 713 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting When After Effects creates an XFL file, it also saves a report ([XFLfile_name] report.html) to the same folder as the XFL file. The report indicates the following: • whether layers with unsupported features were rasterized or ignored •...
Page 714 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting • The layer does not have motion blur, frame blending, or time-remapping applied. • The layer does not have a track matte. • There is no adjustment layer above the layer. •...
Page 715 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 716 “Color management” on page 284.) Select the composition you want to export, and then choose File > Export > Adobe Flash Player (SWF). Enter a filename (making sure to include the .swf extension) and location, and then click Save. Specify options as appropriate, and then click OK.
Page 717 Only stroked paths and filled paths in CMYK or RGB color spaces are supported. Adobe Illustrator files Layers that have Illustrator source files are converted to corresponding SWF items if the layer does not contain masks or have Collapse Transformations enabled.
Page 718 Important: Some applications install a QuickTime export component that appears as an entry in the File > Export menu for Flash Video (FLV). Adobe recommends that you not use this command, but instead render and export FLV and F4V files using the Render Queue panel. Some features, such as export of cue points from After Effects, only work for render and export through the Render Queue panel.
Page 719: Rendering And Exporting Still Images And Still-Image Sequences
USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting For a video tutorial on rendering and exporting to FLV and F4V formats, go to the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4097_xp. Jan Ozer provides technical details and tips in “Encoding options for H.264 video” on the...
Page 720 Filmstrip format You can export part or all of a composition as a single Filmstrip file. A Filmstrip file opens in Adobe Photoshop as a series of frames in a column. Each frame is labeled with its frame number and timecode. If the column of filmstrip frames is more than 30,000 pixels tall, the frames continue in a second column.
Page 721: Exporting Project Information To Other Adobe Applications
You can export an After Effects project as an Adobe Premiere Pro project without rendering. 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.
Page 722 Render Queue panel. When you manage render and export operations with the 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 723 Millions Of Colors+ when an alpha channel is required. You can render with 10-bpc YUV compression to create 10-bpc AVI files for use with HD footage in Adobe Premiere Pro: choose 10-bit YUV (4:2:2 YUV) from the Compressor menu.
Page 724 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Note: If you are going to use the resulting movie in another After Effects composition, enter a small value (less than 5) in the Key Frame Every field or deselect the Key Frame Every option. The presence of key frames greatly increases the memory required to edit and render a movie.
Page 725 You can create a color palette in Adobe Photoshop if the default Web Safe or System color palettes don’t give the results that you want.
Page 726 Specify how many audio channels are in the exported file. If you choose fewer channels Channels or Output Channels than are in the master track of a sequence or project, Adobe Media Encoder downmixes the audio. Choose a higher bit depth to increase accuracy of audio samples. Higher bit depth can improve dynamic Sample Type range and reduce distortion, especially if you add additional processing, such as filtering or resampling.
Page 727 Enables encoding with alpha transparency, which lets you encode video with the background Encode Alpha Channel removed so you can overlay the subject of the video on top of other Flash content. Adobe Media Encoder supports alpha channel transparency using the following formats/codecs: •...
Page 728 Optimize Stills or Expand Stills a still image has a duration of 2 seconds in a project set to 30 fps, Adobe Premiere Pro creates one 2-second frame instead of 60 frames at 1/30 of a second each. Selecting this option can save disk space for sequences and clips containing still images.
Page 729 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Available only when exporting in the FLV video format using the On2VP6 codec, selecting Simple Simple Profile Profile optimizes high-resolution video content that will be played back on older computers or other devices with limited memory and processing resources.
Page 730 Rendering and exporting Presets for export settings When exporting with Adobe Media Encoder, choosing a format automatically makes available a list of associated presets designed for particular delivery scenarios. Selecting a preset, in turn, activates the appropriate options in the various settings tabs (Video, Audio, and so on).
Page 731: Automated Rendering And Network 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 CS4\Support Files • Mac OS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects CS4 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 732 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Argument Description –help Print usage message. Display the version number of aerender to the console. Does not render. –version verbose_flag specifies the kind of messages reported: –v verbose_flag : Reports only fatal and problem errors. ERRORS ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS : (default) Reports errors and progress of...
Page 733 You install render engines in the same manner as the full version of the application, but you do not activate them. You run the render engine using the Adobe After Effects Render Engine shortcut in the Adobe After Effects CS4 folder.
Page 734 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting When you have multiple render engines on multiple computers monitoring a watch folder, they cooperate to achieve optimal efficiency. If your queued render items are set to Skip Existing Files (a Render Settings option), the render engines all work on a single render item at once—no render engine renders any frame another render engine has already worked on.
Page 735 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting When you install an After Effects render engine on a computer, it contains all the plug-ins included with After Effects. If a composition uses a plug-in from another manufacturer, the plug-in must be present on all computers that will render the composition.
Page 736 • (Windows only) To start After Effects in watch-folder mode from the command line, choose Start > Run, and then enter the following, modifying the application path to the exact name of the folder in which you installed After Effects, and replacing C:\[temp] with the path to your watch folder: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\afterfx.exe" -wf C:\[temp] To start the After Effects render engine rather than the full version of After Effects, use the -re option with the command.
Page 737 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 738: Converting Movies
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting When the disk volume to which After Effects is writing files is full, it can continue writing files to an overflow volume. You can set preferences to make After Effects render to up to six different disk volumes, as specified in the Overflow Volumes list.
Page 739 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Choose Composition > Add To Render Queue. In the Render Queue panel, next to Render Settings, choose the appropriate preset from the menu. For example, if you’re converting to DV footage, select DV Settings from the menu. In the Render Queue panel, next to Output Module, choose the appropriate output module preset from the menu, or choose Custom to enter custom settings.
Page 740 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting More Help topics “Output modules and output module settings” on page 700 “Render and export with the Render Queue panel” on page 691 “Introduce 3:2 pulldown” on page 736 Scaling a movie down Several methods exist for producing a reduced-size movie from your composition, each with tradeoffs between speed and quality: Create a new composition at the smaller dimensions, and nest the large composition inside it.
Page 741 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 742 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Adjust the render settings as desired, and click Render. More Help topics “Render settings” on page 697 “Render and export with the Render Queue panel” on page 691 Introduce 3:2 pulldown If you are creating output for film that’s been transferred to video, or if you want to simulate a film look for animation, use 3:2 pulldown.
Page 743 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Rendering and exporting Click the underlined Render Settings name, and then choose Upper Field First from the Field Render menu. Click OK, and then click Render to make the movie. In the composition, change the color of the solid in the Composition panel, and add a new title, such as “Lower Field First”, to identify it.
Page 744: Chapter 19: Keyboard Shortcuts
Last updated 12/21/2009 Chapter 19: 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 745: Projects (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Undo Ctrl+Z Command+Z Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z Command+Shift+Z Purge all Ctrl+Alt+/ (on numeric keypad) Command+Option+/ (on numeric keypad) Projects (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS New project Ctrl+Alt+N Command+Option+N Open project Ctrl+O Command+O...
Page 746 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Open or close Project panel Ctrl+0 Command+0 Open or close Render Queue panel Ctrl+Alt+0 Command+Option+0 Open or close Tools panel Ctrl+1 Command+1 Open or close Info panel Ctrl+2 Command+2 Open or close Preview panel...
Page 747: Activating Tools (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Cycle to previous or next item in active viewer Shift+, (comma) or Shift+. Shift+, (comma) or Shift+. (for example, cycle through open (period) (period) compositions) Cycle to previous or next panel in active Alt+Shift+, (comma) or Option+Shift+, (comma) or frame (for example, cycle through open...
Page 748: Compositions And The Work Area (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Activate and cycle through Brush, Clone Stamp, and Eraser Ctrl+B Command+B tools Activate and cycle through Puppet tools Ctrl+P Command+P Temporarily convert Selection tool to Shape Duplication Alt (in shape layer) Option (in shape layer) tool...
Page 749: Previews (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Go forward 1 frame Page Down or Ctrl+Right Arrow Page Down or Command+Right Arrow Go forward 10 frames Shift+Page Down or Shift+Page Down or Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow Command+Shift+Right Arrow Go backward 1 frame Page Up or Ctrl+Left Arrow Page Up or Command+Left...
Page 750: Views (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Show current frame on video preview / (on numeric keypad) / (on numeric keypad) device Toggle Output Device preference between Ctrl+/ (on numeric keypad) Command+/ (on numeric keypad) Desktop Only and video preview device Take snapshot Shift+F5, Shift+F6, Shift+F7, or...
Page 751: Footage (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Zoom in Timeline panel to single-frame ; (semicolon) ; (semicolon) units or zoom out to show entire composition duration Zoom in time = (equal sign) on main keyboard = (equal sign) on main keyboard Zoom out time - (hyphen) on main keyboard...
Page 752: Effects And Animation Presets (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Replace selected footage item Ctrl+H Command+H Reload selected footage items Ctrl+Alt+L Command+Option+L Set proxy for selected footage item Ctrl+Alt+P Command+Option+P Effects and animation presets (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS Delete all effects from selected layers...
Page 753 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Turn Video (eyeball) switch on or off for Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V Command+Option+Shift+V selected layers Turn off Video switch for all video layers other Ctrl+Shift+V Command+Shift+V than selected layers Open settings dialog box for selected solid, Ctrl+Shift+Y Command+Shift+Y light, camera, null, or adjustment layer...
Page 754: Showing Properties And Groups In The Timeline Panel (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Showing properties and groups in the Timeline panel (keyboard shortcuts) Note: This table contains double-letter shortcuts (for example, LL). To use these shortcuts, press the letters in quick succession. Result Windows Mac OS Find in Timeline panel Ctrl+F...
Page 755: Showing Properties In The Effect Controls Panel (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Hide property or group Alt+Shift-click property or Option+Shift-click property or group name group name Add or remove property or group from set that is Shift+property or group Shift+property or group shown shortcut...
Page 756: Layers (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Increase or decrease Rotation (Z Rotation) of + (plus) or - (minus) on numeric + (plus) or - (minus) on numeric selected layers by 1° keypad keypad Increase or decrease Rotation (Z Rotation) of Shift++ (plus) or Shift+- (minus) Shift++ (plus) or Shift+- (minus)
Page 757: Keyframes And The Graph Editor (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Switch to 3D view 1 (defaults to Front) Switch to 3D view 2 (defaults to Custom View 2) Switch to 3D view 3 (defaults to Active Camera) Return to previous view New light Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L...
Page 758: Text (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Easy ease selected keyframes out Ctrl+Shift+F9 Command+Shift+F9 Set velocity for selected keyframes Ctrl+Shift+K Command+Shift+K Add or remove keyframe at current time Alt+Shift+property shortcut Option+Shift+property shortcut (For property shortcuts, see “Showing properties and groups in the Timeline panel (keyboard...
Page 759 Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS In vertical text, move insertion point one Up Arrow or Down Arrow; Left Up Arrow or Down Arrow; Left character up or down; one left or right; one Arrow or Right Arrow;...
Page 760: Masks (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Masks (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS New mask Ctrl+Shift+N Command+Shift+N Select all points in a mask Alt-click mask Option-click mask Select next or previous mask Alt+` (accent grave) or Alt+Shift+` Option+` (accent grave) or (accent grave) Option+Shift+` (accent grave)
Page 761: Shape Layers (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Set starting sample point to point currently Alt-click Option-click under Clone Stamp tool pointer Momentarily activate Eraser tool with Last Ctrl+Shift Command+Shift Stroke Only option Show and move overlay (change Offset value of Alt+Shift-drag with Clone Option+Shift-drag with Clone aligned Clone Stamp tool or change Source...
Page 762: Markers (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Result Windows Mac OS Reposition shape during creation Hold spacebar when dragging to Hold spacebar when dragging to create shape create shape Set rounded rectangle roundness to 0 Left Arrow when dragging to Left Arrow when dragging to (sharp corners);...
Page 763: Saving, Exporting, And Rendering (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Last updated 12/21/2009 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Keyboard shortcuts Saving, exporting, and rendering (keyboard shortcuts) Result Windows Mac OS Save project Ctrl+S Command+S Increment and save project Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S Command+Option+Shift+S Save As Ctrl+Shift+S Command+Shift+S Add active composition or selected items to render Ctrl+Shift+/ (on main Command+Shift+/ (on main queue...
Page 764: Index
341 about 430 about 141 transparency 106 Depth Matte effect 432 lights 189 Adobe Premiere 6.0 and 6.5 42 Depth Of Field effect 433 Adobe After Effects Adobe Premiere Pro EXtractoR effect 431 conversion of layers in Adobe Premiere...
Page 765 After Effects 90 bits per channel (bpc) 274 scale 164 audio volume 165 Blend effect 447 text 354 conversion in Adobe Premiere Pro 88 blending modes text, examples 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371 Audio Waveform effect 489 about 171 animation presets...
Page 766 Auto Contrast effect 453 Channel Blur effect 441 about 110 Auto Levels effect 454 Channel Combiner effect 449 cache in Adobe Bridge 111, 115 Brightness & Contrast effect 454 Channel effects chromatic aberration 132 Broadcast Colors effect 454 Arithmetic effect 447...
Page 767 Index Colorama effect 459 Colorama effect 459 copying and pasting common controls 453 colorDepth (expression element) 660 between Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects 88 Curves effect 461 Colorize control, Hue/Saturation effect 463 Corner Pin effect 471 Exposure effect 462...
Page 768 HD 91 vectors 658 exporting pixel aspect ratio 80 viewing 651 about 688 Dynamic Link. See Adobe Dynamic Link extending layers 148 After Effects project to Adobe Premiere Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) 625 Pro 715 extensions, filename 37 audio 720...
Page 769 Audio Waveform effect 489 Fast Previews 200 about 67 Beam effect 491 favorites. See animation presets Adobe Photoshop files 142 Cell Pattern effect 491 feathering mask edges 379 importing and interpreting 71 Checkerboard effect 492 feature region 263...
Page 770 Adobe Illustrator files 108 H.264 91 Adobe Photoshop files 106 JavaScript, as expression language 655 halos 73, 451 Adobe Premiere 6.0 and 6.5 projects 86 justifying text 353 handheld cameras 267 Adobe Premiere Pro projects 86 hand-tinted images 457 After Effects projects 86...
Page 771 229 copying and pasting 152 loopInDuration (expression element) 679 time-stretching 245 creating 139 looping value graph 222 creating from Adobe Premiere Pro 88 footage items 86 values 221 guide 168 Fractal Noise effect 529 keying 383 image quality 157...
Page 772 519 monitors about 60 viewing 323 profiling 287 pre-rendering 64 masks, conversion in Adobe Premiere Monochrome control, Channel Mixer network rendering 727, 729, 730 Pro 89 effect 457 new features 9 Match Grain effect 521, 524, 526, 530...
Page 773 Clip Notes comments as 623 preferences Pen tool resetting 20 P2 media drawing paths 316 Premiere Pro. See Adobe Premiere Pro importing 96 editing paths 327 premultiplied channels 73, 75 Paint Bucket effect 497 keyframes and motion paths 225...
Page 774 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4 Last updated 12/21/2009 Index methods 195 pausing and stopping 691 Radial Blur effect 444 modes 200 performance 637 Radial Shadow effect 552 performance 637 post-render actions 702 Radial Wipe effect 608 viewers 15 render queue 691, 692 radiansToDegrees (expression element) 666 work area 201 render settings 697...
Page 775 714 Stereo Mixer effect 439 sequence markers, conversion in After Single-line Composer 354 Effects 90 Stereo Mixer effect, conversion in Adobe slip edit 149 Premiere Pro 89 sequences of still images 103, 713 slow motion. See time-stretching and...
Page 776 57 Find Edges effect 588 creating 341 time ruler 198 Glow effect 589 creating masks from 319 Time Stretch property, conversion in Adobe Premiere Pro 89 Mosaic effect 590 creating shapes from 319 timecode 52 Motion Tile effect 590...
Page 777 Unsharp Mask effect 446 tracking, text 348 video transitions, conversion in After updates 4 Effects 90 transfer modes, conversion in Adobe Premiere Pro 88 upper-field first field order 93 video tutorials 4 transfer modes. See blending modes url (expression element) 682...
Page 778 XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) 625 XMP metadata about 620 exporting 701 XMP sidecar files in Camera Raw 134 viewing in Adobe Bridge 135 z axis 179, 182 Zig Zag path operation 338 zoom (expression element) 675 zoom lens 244 zooming 18, 205...

This manual is also suitable for:

After effects cs4

Adobe 65008009 - After Effects CS4 Using Manual

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: User Interface

Chapter 3: Workflows, Planning, and Setup

Chapter 4: Projects and Compositions

Chapter 5: Importing and Managing Footage Items

Chapter 6: Layers and Properties

Chapter 7: Views and Previews

Chapter 8: Animation and Keyframes

Chapter 9: Color

Chapter 10: Drawing, Painting, and Paths

Chapter 11: Text

Chapter 12: Transparency, Opacity, and Compositing

Chapter 13: Effects and Animation Presets

Chapter 14: Markers and Metadata

Chapter 15: Memory, Storage, and Performance

Chapter 16: Plug-Ins, Scripts, and Automation

Chapter 17: Expressions

Chapter 18: Rendering and Exporting

Chapter 19: Keyboard Shortcuts

Index

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Summary of Contents for Adobe 65008009 - After Effects CS4