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1 5th Edition Trish & Chris Meyer Amsterdam Boston Heidelberg London New York Oxford Paris San Diego San Francisco Singapore Sydney Tokyo Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

2 DEDICATED to the memory of Vera McGrath, who always said I could do anything I put my mind to Trish and to the memory of Leroy Meyer, who taught me to be curious about how things worked Chris Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK Copyright 2010 Trish Meyer and Chris Meyer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: Notices: Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meyer, Trish Creating motion graphics with After Effects / Trish & Chris Meyer. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN Cinematography--Special effects--data processing. 2. Computer animation. 3. Computer graphics. 4. Adobe After Effects. I. Meyer, Chris II. Title. TR858.M '96--dc British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at Printed in the United States of America

3 Table of Contents Introduction How to Use This Book xiv xv Part 1 Animation Techniques Part 2 Layer Management Part 3 Modes, Masks, & Mattes Part 4 Cameras! Lights! Action! Part 5 Building Hierarchies Part 6 Text Animation Part 7 Effects & Presets Part 8 Color & Keying Part 9 Time & Tracking Part 10 Drawing, Painting, & Puppetry Part 11 Working with Audio Part 12 Expressions Part 13 Importing & Integration Part 14 Exporting & Rendering Credits Index Resources iii

4 1 Animation Techniques 1 After Effects An overview of the major user interface elements in After Effects, as well as how projects are organized. Includes tips on how to customize the user interface and save the resulting layouts as Workspaces. 2 Creating a Composition Creating a new composition A tour of the Comp and Timeline panels Adding footage to a comp; the Layer panel Managing multiple comps Navigating in space Solid layers Resolution and Quality Navigating and zooming in time; the work area Safe areas, rulers, grids, and guides Frame rate; displaying time Channel switches; color picker; background color; alpha appearance Preview Possibilities sidebar (Interactive and RAM previews; OpenGL) Basic Animation Position, including spatial keyframes and motion paths; keyframe types Keyframe navigation; editing values numerically Opacity values and keyframing Scale values and keyframing Rotation values and keyframing; 3D Orientation Auto-keyframe mode; flip horizontal and vertical Working with the Anchor Point; transitions, arcs, and orbits Motion control moves Keyboard shortcuts; keyframe tips Quality issues; subpixel positioning; resampling Keyframe Velocity Easy Ease; Auto Bezier keyframes Working with the Graph Editor; Value Graphs Velocity (Speed) Graphs; editing velocity numerically Coordinating multiple values; keyboard shortcuts Position graphs Separate X, Y, and Z; graph gotchas; Hold interpolation Roving keyframes Animation Assistance Keyframe tips and tricks; copying, nudging, and scaling motion paths iv

5 2 3 Motion Sketch and Smoother keyframe assistants Auto-Orient Rotation Wiggler keyframe assistant Time-Reverse Keyframes and Exponential Scale keyframe assistants Layer Management 6 The Layer Essentials Selecting and moving layers Duplicating, soloing, renaming, and replacing layers Comp and layer markers Replacing footage; snapshots; Align panel; edit original; color-coding Beswitched sidebar (layer property switches in the Timeline panel) Trimming Trimming in and out points; slip editing Sequence Layers keyframe assistant Trimming by work area Splitting layers Overlay and Ripple Insert Edits Motion Blur and More Applying motion blur; Samples Per Frame and Adaptive Samples Shutter Angle and Phase; Blur and Masks Blur and nested comps; Render Settings Echo-style effects; Cycore CC time effects Modes, Masks, & Mattes 9 Blending Modes Blending modes explained; applying blending modes Overview and example of each mode All About Masking Masking basics; creating simple masks; shortcuts for creating shapes Transforming masks; selecting mask points and segments Mask Feather, Mask Expansion, and Mask Opacity Creating and editing Bezier and RotoBezier masks Animating masks; mask velocity and blur; mask-animating advice Inverting masks; mask seams Managing multiple masks; mask modes Auto-trace Rotoscoping advice Panning layers inside masks Masks for effects v

6 Interchanging masks with other paths; Illustrator paths Mask Interpolation keyframe assistant All About Track Mattes Mattes explained; luma versus alpha mattes Inverting mattes; improving matte contrast Choosing a matte channel Using the Set Matte Effect sidebar Animated mattes; using parenting and null objects Mattes and effects Building a track matte hierarchy Unmultiplying mattes and other tips Mattes for custom transitions Stencils and the T Stencils explained; luma versus alpha stencils; silhouettes Preserve Transparency; glints; Alpha Add mode Cameras! Lights! Action! 13 3D Space The Z dimension Rotation and orientation in 3D Z scale; offsetting the Anchor Point in 3D Camera and orthogonal views; multiple comp views Layer axes handles; Local, World, and View Axis Modes D motion paths; accelerated previews; auto-orient in 3D Rendering order issues; intersections; mixing 2D and 3D layers Cameras Camera basics Pointing the camera; Unified Camera tool; view options One-node cameras; animating the camera; Auto-Orientation Camera rigs; animation advice Editing between multiple cameras Camera settings; angle of view; depth of field Lighting in 3D Light basics; rotating lights Light parameters and types of lights Layer Material Options Creating and managing shadows Light Transmission; creating gels and gobos Faking reflections Adjustment Lights; relighting footage vi

7 5 16 Parallel Worlds D versus 3D layers Different types of 3D layers Casting 3D shadows onto 2D layers D Shadows for 3D Effects Vanishing Point Exchange D model import using Photoshop Extended Adobe Repoussé Digieffects FreeForm Third-Party 3D Plug-ins sidebar Building Hierarchies 17 Parenting Skills Parenting basics Parenting exercises Parenting: Under the Hood sidebar (the math behind parenting) Null Objects A Skewed Perspective sidebar (nonuniform scaling issues) Parents in Space sidebar (grouping 3D layers) Jump parenting Nesting Compositions Nesting basics Effects and nesting Nesting and editing a video sequence Using oversized comps (motion control techniques) Creating and navigating chains of nested comps Edit this/look at that; flowcharts Nesting options and tips Rendering order issues; problem solving Precomposing Precomposing to group layers Leave All Attributes versus Move All Attributes Fixing render order problems Clipped layers; trimming empty calories Collapsing Transformations Maintaining resolution How collapsing changes the rendering order Special cases and interactions; recursive switches Collapsing nested 3D comps Continuous rasterization of vector artwork, text, and solids Continuous rasterization and effects vii

8 6 7 Text Animation 21 Textacy Creating, editing, and formatting text using the Type tool Fill & Stroke Options sidebar Paragraphs of text Text along a path Creating a Text Animator; the Range Selector Randomize Order sidebar More on animated properties Cascade-style animations Per-character 3D including auto orientation; text in 3D space Source Text Tricks sidebar (Source Text keyframes, expressions, and scripts) Animator Shapes; Ease High and Ease Low More on the Advanced section; animating property values Anchor Point Grouping and Alignment; blending modes The Wiggly Selector Modes of Confusion sidebar (selector modes) Managing multiple selectors and animators Exporting text to SWF; converting Photoshop text Create Outlines Effects & Presets 22 Applying and Using Effects Applying effects The Effects & Presets panel; searching for effects Common effect controls Animating effects; effect point paths Copying and Pasting Effects sidebar Effects that use mask paths Render Settings CC Composite sidebar Adjustment Layers including masks, alpha channels, and blending modes Applying effects to solids Layer Styles sidebar Effects Roundup Overview A quick reference for which chapters discuss which families of effects. 23B Effects Roundup (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) Tips on well over 100 of the effects that come with After Effects CS5, organized by category. Includes a sidebar on 16-bit-per-channel mode and effects. viii

9 24 Compound Effects How compound effects work Compound Blur Texturize; managing maps using nesting and precomposing Displacement Map Troubleshooting Presets and Variations Saving and applying Animation Presets Presets and masks Presets and effects Browsing the factory presets using Adobe Bridge Text presets; saving text styles Behaviors Brainstorm Color & Keying 26 Color Management Overview of color management; Project Working Space Input profiles Output profiles Display management; output simulation Apply Color LUT (look-up table) Scene-referred profiles Luminance range issues; Match Legacy Gamma sidebar Linear blending bit floating point and HDR images Camera Raw sidebar Cineon log space RED R3D Settings sidebar Broadcast safe colors Keying Keying approaches An overview of the different keying plug-ins Keylight tutorial Color correction and edge improvements Light wrap technique B Color Difference Keyer (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) A tutorial on how to use the most powerful of the Adobe keyers. ix

10 9 10 Time & Tracking 28 Frame Rate Manipulation Time stretching Reversing layers Time Remapping; freeze frames Manipulating the timing of clips Manipulating keyframed animation, sequenced layers, and nested comps The Real Out Point sidebar; frame sequences and step-frame animation Frame Blending, including Pixel Motion and Timewarp Render Settings; blending advice Motion Stabilization Overview of the motion tracker/stabilizer, including options and settings Tracking and applying a stabilization Masking and Motion Stabilization sidebar Stabilization practice and advice Motion Tracking Tracking Position, including working with the Attach Point Tracking Scale and Rotation Effect Track sidebar (applying a track to an effect point) Exercise on multipart tracking Motion Blur sidebar Corner pinning exercises mocha Performing a track Perfecting the track using AdjustTrack mode Exporting a track to After Effects mocha shape workflow Drawing, Painting, & Puppetry 32 Shape Layers Shape tools and options Working with parametric shapes Shaping as You Drag sidebar (keyboard shortcuts while creating shapes) Working with pen path shapes; free transform; open paths Strokes, Fills, and Gradients Line caps, corners, and segments (dashed lines) Managing multiple shapes; Intersections and Holes sidebar Grouping; Merge Paths Shape effects x

11 The Repeater Wiggle Transform Create outlines from text Pasting shape paths from masks and Illustrator Brainstormed Shapes sidebar Paint and Clone Getting started, editing and managing strokes; Paint on Transparent Transforming Brush Strokes; Channels; Modes Eraser tool; erase Paint Only and erase Last Stroke Only options Animating strokes; using Write On mode; replacing strokes Painting (rotoscoping) frame by frame Brushes and Tablets sidebar Interpolating brush strokes Effects and Paint sidebar Clone Stamp tool; Clone Presets; Clone Source Overlay; Source Time Shift Using motion tracking and expressions to automate cloning Other tips including painting in a straight line and revealing a title Roto Brush Roto Brush workflow Creating a base frame Propagation settings Techniques for spanning an entire shot Refining the matte The Puppet Tools Puppet Pin tool Keyframing pins; motion sketching pins Overlap tool Starch tool Mesh Issues sidebar Multiple shapes in a mesh; deforming text exercise Working with Audio 36 Working with Audio Reading audio waveforms; spotting audio Controlling audio levels Previewing Audio sidebar Mixing audio including fades; avoiding clipping distortion Trimming audio layers B Audio Effects (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) An overview of the most useful audio effects. xi

12 12 Expressions 37 Expressions Creating expressions, including using the pick whip; basic math Convert Audio to Keyframes sidebar Mixing and matching parameters, ranges, and dimensions Interpolating This to That sidebar (matching value ranges) Controlling expressions; saving expressions as presets Building more complex expressions Expression Language Menu sidebar The wiggle expression B Deeper Modes of Expression (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) An extensive review of useful expression methods, JavaScript math functions, and programming tips. Includes numerous examples C Scripting Overview (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) Controlling After Effects with scripts. By Dan Ebberts. Importing & Integration 38 Import and Interpret Importing different media types; alpha channel types; missing codecs Importing from Photoshop & Illustrator Importing projects Interpret Footage settings; Interpretation Rules Integration Web integration tips, including GIF, PNG, SWF, FLV, and F4V Flash Professional integration NLE integration tips, including Premiere Pro, Avid, and Final Cut Pro Adobe Dynamic Link Buttons for Adobe Encore sidebar Device Central integration (mobile media) Integration with 3D Applications Importing camera moves Aligning objects and coordinate systems Creating mattes; frame rate and size issues Videowall exercise, including Cinema 4D export Multipass Rendering sidebar Integrating shadows exercise B 3D Channel Effects (Bonus Chapter PDF on DVD) A review of the 3D Channel Effects for file formats with extra data channels. xii

13 14 41 Video Issues Fields and interlacing, including field flicker Frame rates and timecode :2 Pulldown Frame sizes; non-square pixels; anamorphic widescreen; working square Clean versus Production Aperture Safe areas Moving between 4:3 and widescreen aspect ratios Safe colors; composite dot crawl Monitoring your work on a real video monitor Creating web video Exporting & Rendering 42 Render Queue Rendering overview, including movies, stills and RAM Previews Render Settings XMP Metadata and Markers sidebar Output Modules Render Queue panel Creating and editing templates Advanced Rendering Consolidating, removing unused footage, and reducing projects Collect Files Multiprocessor rendering; distributed network rendering Name Templates sidebar Render Scripts sidebar (helpful render helpers) Converting sequences to movies; merging projects for rendering Prerendering and Proxies Creating footage and comp proxies Applying proxies; RED Proxies sidebar Working with proxies Rendering with proxies What s Your Preference? A review of each of the After Effects Preferences, including suggested settings. Also includes a brief overview of the text preferences file. xiii