AE Design Workflow & Exercise

The AE Design Workflow:
1. Import & organize footage
2. Create compositions & arrange layers
3. Add special effects & presets
4. Animate elements & Adjust properties
5. RAM Preview
6. Render & Output final composition
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WEEK #1, IN-CLASS AE EXERCISE:
Create a five second video that animates your name.
Use one Text Animation Preset
Include a background picture.
Save the video to your USB drive.
Create a YouTube account and post the video.
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Remember the AE Design Workflow:
1. Import files into the Project panel
2. Create Comps and arrange layers
3. Add Effects and Presets to the layers
4. Adjust Properties and add Keyframes
5. RAM Preview your composition
6. Render the final video
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Other To Do's:
1. View the Project references/examples on the blog.
2. Start all projects today, and DesignThink about how the projects may be unified within one grande concept.
3. View all the text animation presets.
4. Practice, practice, practice
5. Make notes based upon what you have learned.
6. Share what you have learned with someone.
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A Possible Direction

Here is a possible direction for this course of study:
Imagine you are a TV station,
1) create a station ID,
2) TV station bumper (5 -15 second) ,
3) a couple content pieces (kinetic poems),
4) title sequence for an upcoming movie.

Coming in September 2009

Basic Text Animation

Here's an example of what is possible in the first class learning After Effects.

• Animation Presets
• Fast Blur
• Tracking
• Time Reverse
• Scaling
• Parenting
• Photoshop text to editable AE text
• Copy & paste keyframes
• Motion Blur switch

Music Video (Idea for a Project)

I'm thinking that this is a good example of a special effects project.
Might it be completed within 15 weeks?
Let me know what you think.

AE candy:
• lots of scaling and masking, and nested comps
• typography
• toning/colorizing
• lights
• 3D
• music track

Fun with Masking & Nested Comps

Featuring:
• feathered masks (Inverted, and Intersect)
• twirl type (Twirl Off Each Word)
• vignette mask (Subtract)
• audio ( fade in/out)

A new universe with shapes & animations

Effects & processes used in this composition:
• Star shape with gradient fill (position of the fill lowered to the bottom of the star, radiating upwards)
• Transfigure star into a flower (properties modified: points, inner & outer radius, inner & outer roundness)
• Twist effect (lightly applied)
• Repeater effect (horizontal & vertical positioning)
• Pluck & Bloat effect
• Text (scaled, opacity properties modified over time)
• Audio/video clip edited in Comp window then faded in and out

Enjoy...

3D Book creation in AE

Guess what... yes it's Saturday... and I decided to have some fun with After Effects, and try and create a basic 3D book, and then fly it around in space using a null object to control the whole thing.

TIP #1: I used the Object Camera Tool to view the different perspectives
TIP #2: I used Orientation to create the rotations

This might make a fun class exercise...

More After Effects fun... set to Bela Ray music

Believe it or not this baby took 5 hours to render...
lots of special effects... lights, text animations in and out, particles,
continuous animation...
enjoy...

More fun with AE

Some of the techniques and effects used in this example:
• two light sources
• wiggle the brighness to simulate a flickering effect
• mask inverted in the centre
• color keying on the Eagle image
• Blur > transporter on the text
• Film effect on text
• Particle effect using stars on a white shape layer


A SUGGESTION FOR STUDENTS TAKING THIS COURSE: Buy a portable hard drive, to carry footage, AE file, and final renderings.

Initial rendering time calculated for this video in AE was 38 hours... however, it actually took only a couple hours to render the 960 x540 video, producing a 2.56GB file. The .m4v version is 27Mb.



View at full resolution and size: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAw7xlGILKQ

AE fun on a Wednesday morning

This motion graphic advertisement features a number of AE effects:
• Fast blur
• Alpha Track Matte ( used for masking the CN Tower video)
• Wiggly - used on both the guitar and on the type
• Light Source on the video "face of jimi")
• Audio fades

Enjoy the motion graphics poster advertisement for an upcoming show by Bela Ray.

Kyle Cooper Documentary

Why does everything about motion graphics and title sequences always return to Kyle Cooper...
Anyway... I was just thinking about him today.... and checked out these videos: