Project 5: 3D Layers

Based on the technique learned in class, bring a photograph of your choice to life by turning it into a 3D fly-through.

Week 10: Oct 30

Effects (part 2)

Categories covered:
  • Generate
  • Perspective
  • Stylize
  • Simulations
    • Particle World
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Week 11: Nov 6

Effects (part 3)

 Time Effects
  • Echo
  • Wide Time
  • Time Blend
  • Posterize Time
  • Forced Motion Blur
Stroke Effect

  • To simulate handwriting, always use the Stroke Effect, NOT the Write-On effect (Effects > Generate > Stroke)
  • Using the stroke effect:
    • Create a solid black layer (Layers > New > Solids)
    • Select the layer you want to reveal, and use the pen-tool to trace the shape. You don't have to close the mask path. If you do close the mask path, make sure to set the mask to "none".
    • Create more masks for better timing control
    • Add Stroke effect to the layer
    • In the "Path" pulldown , chose a mask, or turn on "All Masks"
    • Adjust stroke effect settings: 
      • color: always make it white
      • brush size: make it slightly thicker than the shape you are revealing but not thick enough to reveal undesired parts of the shape out of order
      • paint style: on original image
    • Animate by changing the values of "Start" or "End"
      • If you are animating multiple Stroke effects, set keyframes to the first one and duplicate (Command + D) in the "Effect Controls" window and change the "path" of each to correspond with the desired mask. When you duplicate a stroke effect, the keys are also duplicated.
    • Tutorial: http://layersmagazine.com/animated-handwriting-in-after-effects.html
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Week 9: Oct 23

Effects (part 1)
  • You can apply effects to a layer by selecting it and: 
    • choosing Effects > ... from the top menu 
    • right-clicking on the layer in the timeline and choosing Effects > ... 
    • right-clicking inside the Effects Controls window and choosing the desired effect 
  • When trying to apply the same effect to multiple layers, create an Adjustment Layer (Layer > New > Adjustment Layer); it must be at the top of the layers you want to affect 
  • Set keyframes to any property of an effect that has the stop-watch symbol 
  • You can set keyframes in the Effects Controls window or in the Effects properties of the layer on the timeline 
  • Effects categories covered in class: 
    • Color Correction 
    • Blur-Sharpen 
    • Distort 
    • Generate 
    • Transition
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Week 8: Oct 16

Bringing a photograph to life using 3D layers.

  • For this simple technique, choose a photograph that has several obvious depth planes (foreground, mid-ground, background) and NO objects touching the ground plane (people, trees, buildings, and other free-standing foreground and mid-ground objects should be cropped before they touch the ground plane).

  • In Photoshop, separate the foreground, mid and background into different layers. Name the layers appropriately.

  • Use the stamp tool to paint out the foreground elements from the mid-ground layer and the foreground/mid-ground elements from the background layer.

  • Import the file into After Effects as Composition (not Retain Layer Size). All layers should be the same size when in the composition.

  • Resize the automatically-generated comp to 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720.

  • Turn the layers into 3D layers.

  • Space them out in the Z dimension (Z is the 3rd value in the position pro
    • leave foreground at 0
    • put mid-ground at 500
    • put background at 1000
  • Scale up the mid and background layers until their edges match the edges of the foreground layer (the resulting composition should look just like the original photograph)
  • Create a camera
  • Move the camera around and see the parallax! If you don't see parallax (especially between the foreground and the background), check your steps.



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Week 7: Oct 9

3D LAYERS (part 1)
  • To turn a layer into a 3d layer, turn on the box with the cube symbol (to the right of the layer name)
  • 3D layers have an extra dimension added to the transform properties (Z =  depth)
  • When changing position: 
  • negative numbers move the layer towards the "camera"
  • positive numbers move the layer away from the "camera"
When working with 3D layers, use camera options at the bottom of the composition window to view the scene from different angles

Note: Make sure to return the setting to your main camera before rendering

Cameras:
  • To create a new camera, go to Layer > New > Camer
  • To adjust camera settings (that appear in the intro menu), select the camera and go to Layer > Camera Settings
  • Note: Only one camera will be active per scene (if you have more than one camera, the top camera layer will be the active one. You can activate a different camera by choosing it from the camera view options in the composition window or turning it on (eye symbol) while turning off all other cameras.
  • Use Point of Interest and Position for most of your camera animations (do not set rotation keys)
  • Point of Interest—orients the camera angle (acts like rotation)
  • Position—moves the entire camera
  • Use "Camera Options" to control Depth of Field and other lens-specific properties
Lights:
  • To create a new light, go to Layer > New > Light
  • To adjust light settings, select the light and go to Layer > Light Settings
  • Light types:
    • Spot (most popular)—has the same controls as 3D cameras
    • Parallel—has the Point of Interest control, allowing you to cast it in a certain direction without creating the same light fall-off as with the Spot light
    • Point—allows you to change the position of the light source but does not have a particular direction or light fall-off
    • Ambient—lights the entire scene evenly, allowing you to create base lighting (so that when you use a Spot light, you never have an entirely black area); Keep this light at very low intensity and always combine with another light-source
    • Combine multiple light-sources for a more realistic, dimensional environment
Casting shadows:
  • To cast shadows, select the light source(s) you want to cast the shadows and turn on the "CAst Shadows" option (off by default)
  • Select the object that you want to cast shadows, go to Material Options and turn "Cast Shadows" on
  • Make sure the object that will receive the shadow has "Receive Shadows" turned on in teh Material Options (on by default)
Material Options:
Use Material Options to control the way the object reacts to light sources in the scene (highlights, shadows, surface texture, etc)
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Week 6: Oct 2

Animating Type
It is best practice to work with text either created directly in After Effects or imported as part of another file and converted to Editable Text. This saves you the trouble of linking assets and opens a world of text-specific animation controls.

Importing text from Photoshop
  • Import your Photoshop file as "Composition" (both layer size and document size are acceptable)
  • Enter the imported photoshop composition or pull the imported text layer into an independent comp
  • Right-click on the text layer and select "Convert to Editable Text"
Importing text from Illustrator
  • Text layers imported from an Illustrator file can't be converted to Editable Text
  • To use type from an Illustrator file, export it as a Photoshop format
Creating text in After Effects
  • Use the T tool in the tool window to create text directly in After Effects
Character Window Tools
  • Window > Character
  • Select fonts
  • Leading/Kerning
  • Access lower part of the window for Caps, Small Caps, Superscript, Subscript controls
Paragraph Window Tools
  • Left/Right/Center align
  • Paragraph spacing and indenting
  • Note: Always be aware of your alignment—it will impact text-specific animation controls
Animating Text Manually—back to front
  • Though AE has very sophisticated and flexible text animation tools, it is sometimes worthwhile to select a small portion of your animation for a manual treatment (to achieve a more organic, unique feel).
  • This approach would require to break up your word/line of text into "animatable" layers.
  • Start by creating your main layout as one layer (this will be your "guide" layer)
  • Make it a different color from the actual text (for better visibility)
  • Duplicate the "guide" layer and lock the original
  • Use the duplicated layer to create as many pieces as you want to animate manually
  • Position the resulting layers in original order using the guide layer as reference
  • Set keyframes on all layers for every property you plan to animate: these keyframes will be your "unaltered" state
  • Go to another part of your timeline and start animating with your layers
Animating text with paths
  • Select the text layer and use the geometry or pen tool to add a vector path to the text layer
  • This vector path does not have to be closed
  • If the path you create is closed, it will turn into a mask—be sure to disable the masking effect by choosing "none" in the mask style menu
  • On the timeline, open your text layer's Text properties
  • Open Path Options and select the path you created from a drop-down menu
  • To animate text along the path, set keys to First Margin or Last Margin (depending on your Paragraph Alignment)
  • To adjust your text's relationship to the path, use Reverse Path, Perpendicular to Path andForce Alignment
  • To have your text snap to path on character, word or line basis, open More Options and adjust Anchor Point Grouping
Text animators
  • Apply text animators by choosing properties from the Animate drop down menu
  • To more than one property to an Animator, use the Add drop-down menu after the initial Animator is created
  • To add more Animators, keep using the Animate drop-down menu (make sure no other Animator is selected)
  • Most Animator properties are animated using the Range Selector > Offset of each Animator

  • When using the Offset technique, set the Animator properties to the "ultimate" amount (the largest or smallest scale value, 0 opacity, etc); do not key the actual property
  • For smoother, overlapping Offset animation, use the Ramp Up/Ramp Down properties inAdvanced > Shape menu.
  • Adjust Ease High and Ease Low in Advanced settings for different animation overlap
 Browse Text Animation Presets
  • Open the Effects and Presets window
  • Open the menu in the upper-right corner of the window and select Browse Presets
  • Go to the Text folder and look at animation previews
  • To apply a preset, make sure your text layer is selected and double click on the preset in the Browsing window
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