MGE Project 2 (Reflection)

For my MGE Project 2, I make use of the effects I learnt in Project 1. Most of the effect that I used in Project 2 are effects that I used before in Project 1. I am glad that I am able to apply the effects I learnt from Project 1 as it can help me to improve my skills and also make me realised that in a effect in can be used in various ways.

The main effects I used in Project 2 are:

CC Sphere

Particle

Factual Noise

For the effect Particle, I used it quite a number of time to create different effect. For example, it was used in the fire ball, burning fire and also the smoke effect. It creates 3 different type of views using the same technique. I am quite amazed by it and I am sure that this effect/technique, I will be able to use it in the future.

As the place that we filmed the video is in public, so there are some unwanted background sounds. So before, I edit the video in After Effect, I removed the background sound using iMovie which I learnt it from the Youtube tutorial: http://youtu.be/VE3C6r_CMUA.

I think our video is quite special as it is different from the rest. The reason why we didn't choose action type of video that look like some super hero as we think that it will be unreal for us to act out and also our inspirations came from a Youtube video that we saw.

MGE Project 2

Here are the screenshots of my part of the video "Save The Earth".

For the first part of the video, is about a Earth ball rotating. To create the Earth ball, I used the effect called CC Sphere. Grab a image of the universe and apply CC Sphere on it to turn it into a sphere shape. To make the sphere shape rotate as the video goes, open up the rotation under the effect of CC Sphere, change the value of rotation y and click on stopwatch then key in time*(the value you want) for the expression. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/9x85FBpZSk8

Next, scale the Earth ball as the hand action goes. Simply set keyframes of the scale and change the values. I also add the word "Sumatra" as we get near the spot that we want at the Earth ball. Just create text and set keyframe for opacity and change the values for it. I also add on a sparkle which I learnt from this Youtube tutorial: http://youtu.be/umS0EdwS0xQ 

Then, I grab a tree image from Google and remove it background using Photoshop. Scale the tree size and set their position.

The next scene will be the hand throwing fire balls down which burned the trees. For the fire balls, I used the effect of Noise & Grain->Factual Noise. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/NwNagSovTCU. Then mask the effect to create a ball shape. As for the fire burning effect, I used the effect of Particle. I learnt it from this tutorial I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/1b-UxEdsYgo. I also added sound effect in the background. I downloaded the song from: http://youtu.be/KI5Vz49A5yc.

For the smoke effect, I learnt it from this tutorial I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/uc-eU6FbAAo. As the tutorial video is to create smoke to come out of the train pipes so I have to figure out some setting to change to in order to create the effect I want.

Next, is just plainly change the value of the opacity of the trees to make it look as thou the fire had burned down the trees.

Then, change the position of the smoke to make it seems like the hand is sweeping away it.

This is the final part of my part of the video. Is just setting keyframe of the position of the building to create the effect of it seem to be pulling up and down by the hand action.

Week 12 Studio A (02 - Simple Bleach Bypass)

Final video 

Original footage (no effects been added)

Levels effect added to footage

First, we import the footage from the asset folder that I downloaded from Olive. Next, we add an adjustment to the footage by clicking on Effect->Color Correction->Levels. In the Level effect, we changed the value of input black and input white to make the image look contrast. 

Brightness & Contrast effect added to footage

Another way to make the image look contrast will be by clicking Effect->Color Correction->Brightness & Contrast and just adjust the value of the brightness and contrast. This method might seems to be easier, however by using this method because it will increase the salutation which makes the image look fake/overdone.

First way

So, to make it more real, there are 2 ways to do it. The first way, we have to duplicate the footage and at the duplicated footage, delete off the Brightness & Contrast effect. Then change the duplicated footage mode to Color. By doing this, it will basically overlay it's color down beneath the image below. 

Second way

We can also do this without having multiple layers by clicking on Effect->Channel->CC Composite. CC Composite overlay the original footage on top of itself. At the CC Composite, we change the composite Original to Color. The outcome is similar to the first way, just that we do not have to duplicate layers to achieve it.

Overall, this tutorial is simple and easy to do and understand. 

Week 11 Studio B

Smoke Screen

For this lesson, it is e-learning. We are tasked to choose and complete one of the video tutorial at http://www.videocopilot.net/ and the tutorial I picked is the Smoke Screen tutorial (http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/smoke_screen/) .

Smoke element 

Tex_21_grayscale

As we weren't give any source files, I googled the images online. The images that we will need for the video, will be the smoke element and the background image (tex_21_grayscale). 

First, we import the smoke element image to the video then we add a new solid layer by clicking (Layer->New->Solid) and place it below the smoke element image. Then set the trackmat to "Luma Inverted Matte".  To colorise the element, we use the adjustment layer (New->Adjustment Layer) and on the Adjustment Layer click on Effect->Color Correction->Colorama.

Smoke Element after adding of effects

As the person in the video had mentioned, I agreed that Colorama effect gives us a lot of control over the output image. At the Input Phase we change the Get Phase Fro to Alpha and at the Output Cycle we change the Use Preset Palett to Ramp Grey and we changed the two color to blue, for the opacity we set it to the lowest. The smoke element will be changed to the above image.

Next, we will add random movement to the smoke element by clicking Effect->Distort->Turbulent Displace. This is added on to the Adjustment layer as well. We change the size to 10 and animate the Evolution by clicking on the the alt key+stopwatch. Type in time*100 at the Expression: Evolution. In this way, it will take the current time and multiple by 100 so when we are at one second we will have a degree of Evolution.

Now, we will create a new composition and put in the smoke element that we created. Then we create a new background (Layer->New->Solid) and put it below the smoke element. We add on rotation for the smoke element, again we alt key+stopwatch and key in value+time*5 at the Expression: Rotation. To make the smoke element 3D, we click on the 3D box to activate it.

Then we create a camera(Layer->New->Camera) and put it the texture image(tex_21_grayscale), also turn on the 3D for it and put it above solid background that we created previously.

We will now duplicate the smoke element and to rotate it, we can key in 'w' and rotate the z. Now, we will just duplicate more of the smoke element and scale, rotate according to form the cloud feel.

Texture image after adding of effects

To colorise the texture image(tex_21_grayscale), we click on Effect->Channel->Invert and then add another Effect->Color Correction->Curves. At the curves, we change RGB, Red curve down and Blue curve up. Now on texture image will look like the image above.

Now, we going to animate the camera by adding the null object(Layer->New->Null object) and activate the 3D mode. We will parent the camera layer to the null object layer and change the value of the position of the null object and set the position keyframe.

Finally, I add on text to the video to end of this exercise. For this exercise, it requires quite a bit of time to do, even thou it seems to be a simple exercise but I spent around 3 hours to complete it. The main problem I faced while doing this exercise, is the adjustment of the smoke element, at first I found it hard to rotate it, then I watch the video again and I realised that I have to rotate the z-axis.

Overall, this exercise is quite interesting and I have learnt something new!

Week 11 Studio A

Example of Set Extension

In this lesson, we learnt about set extension. For set extension, it is often used when people have low budget in filming as we could use images and edit it into the footage. We can also place characters into fantasy worlds with castles, warlocks etc. The video above is an good example of set extension that I found in YouTube.

Week 11 Studio A

The main technique that we used is tracking. First, we input the setext.mov file we downloaded at Olive then we create two null objects by Clicking layer->New->Null objects.  We changed the color of the null objects to differentiate between the two.

As you can see from the above image, the two null objects are now in green and yellow color respectively. Next click on Window->Tracker so that we can track the motion in the video. At this point, it is extremely important that we select the correct Motion Source. Also, remember to tick the Postion and Rotation checkbox for the tracker as well. 

We then track the first half of the video then repeat the process again for the second half of the video. The reason why we divided into two is because if we track the entire movie in one go, the track point that we start with would be out of frame and then it will be useless for the second half of the video. From there, we will postion the null 1 and null 2.

Then, we edit the background building in Photoshop. Import the setext.mov and background image to the Photoshop. Next, scale the building to a proper size and edit out the unwanted sections of the building. I removed the grass patches, etc by using the Lasso Tool and Quick Selection Tool. Then duplicate twice the images to make it have 3 building and resize the other two at the back, each have to be smaller than another as the further it is, the building ought to be smaller. Also, change the opacity of the buildings. Similar, the further the building is, the lower opacity it should have because from far, it should be unclear. By doing these steps, it will make the buildings much more realistic as well.

When we are done with Photoshop, save it and import the file back to After Effect and we can render the final video and we are done with this exercise.

For this exercise, it is quite challenging to me because of the Tracker technique. Despite that in one of the session, we had learnt about it, I still have poor understanding in using Tracker. However, it is quite interesting that we can add on images to our video to make it as if the images that we added is really there. I think this exercise will be quite useful for my final project!

MGE Project 1

Diamond

 The video above is my final video for Project 1. The background sound is by Rihanna - Diamonds. In my video, I emphasis of effects. As you can see from video, there are Sparkle, Cloudy, Flames, Smoky, etc effects.

List of techniques and effects used in sequences:

1) In the front part of the video, 0:00 to 0:06 where the lyrics of "Shine bright like a diamond" came out 3 times in a row. The technique I used are the 3D Space, where the lyrics have the effect of zooming out.  To create this, click on the 3D box and set the a start and end position. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/RQwZwRr7v9A

Also, from 0:00 to 0:07, the background have sparkle all over and it also have the zoom out effect as if the sparkles are coming towards the viewers, like 3D motions. The interesting thing is this is not achieved by using a image and set it as the background. To create this, I use the effect of Trapcode->Particular. For this effect, you have to download the plug-in online, it is not included in After Effect.
I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/shyG6W_NnjI and http://youtu.be/81PipBE2xtk

2) Follow on is the lyrics of "We are beautiful like diamonds in the sky", for this part, the words came out one by one, in order to create an impact. To do this, just simply, match the word and sound and position it at the timeline will do. Also, I changed the opacity of the words, when the next word is up on the screen, the previous word will fade out. To do this, just set two keyframe and set the opacity.

3) Next, is the lyrics of "Palms rise to the universe", this is one of my favourite part of the video and it matches well with the lyrics as well! One of the effects I used are CC Sphere. CC Sphere was applied on the image to turn it into a sphere shape. To make the sphere shape rotate as the lyrics goes, open up the rotation under the effect of CC Sphere, change the value of rotation y and click on stopwatch then key in time*1.5 for the expression. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/9x85FBpZSk8

4) For the next lyrics "As we moonshine and molly", I used the similar technique that I used in "Palms rise to the universe. I found a moon texture image in Google and use the CC Sphere effect to turn it into a moon shape and make it rotate use. The only different is the background. For the background, I use the Noise & Grain->Factual Noise effect to create the dark cloudy background. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/gTkey2vFBnM

5) Next, is the lyrics of "Feel the warmth we'll never die", in this part, I created an effect that seems to be blasting flames. To achieve this effect, I used the effect of Noise & Grain->Factual Noise as well. Despite using the same effect, it look quite different because of the various setting that I adjusted. For example, in this part the Fractal type is Rocky, the previous Fractal type is Basic. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/NwNagSovTCU. In this part, for the words, I also use the techniques of Swing Text to make the words seems to be bouncing back and forth and swinging.  I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/3cnCTTJMwUk

6) Follow up with the lyrics of "We are like diamond in the sky", basically, it's just positioning the keyframe and adjusting the words to match the sound. After all the words have came out, in all, they rotated slowly, by change the values of Y rotation and key in the keyframe. For this part, it is quite similar as to how I rotate the universe and moon previously.

7) Next, will be the lyrics of "You're a shooting star I see", for the 'smoke' that came out, I downloaded from http://www.mediafire.com/download/x2177fb8473rzoj/SmokeFootage.zip. To animate the words "shooting star" to appear after the 'smoke' flew past, I used the effect of Linear Wipe.

8) Next, is the lyrics of "Aversion of ecstasy", the smoking effect is done by using the technique of Trapcode->Particular  and change some of the values like size, emitter sizes etc. I learnt this technique from this tutorial that I found in Youtube: http://youtu.be/6zF0zNvtfq4.

9) Next, is the lyrics of "When you hold me, I'm alive", the background is the same as the starting part of the sparkle background. For the words, I used the techniques of Swing Text as well. Mainly it is just about changing the position values.

10) Lastly, the last part of the lyrics is "We are like diamond in the sky", it start from far and slowly zoom out of the screen as the sound ends. To achieve it change the postions and key in the keyframes.

And I'm done with the Project 1! In this project 1, I learnt a lot of different techniques and effects in After Effect. I will never thought that I will be able to create such a video and I am very satisfied with the final video!

Project Research

In my post of Week 5 Studio B - 02, I mentioned that I will like to use the technique of 3D Spaces, Sparkle Particle Effect so I did some research about it. For 3D Spaces, here is one YouTube tutorial video I found. It is just a simple, brief tutorial for 3D Spaces but it gives me a basic understanding of how to create it in After Effect.

I think that 3D Spaces is very important in doing typography in After Effect because by using the technique, it gives the words a much "alive" feel as the words are able to turn, rotate, zoom in and out, not just being in a boring, stiff position throughout the video.

As for the Sparkle Effect, when I first Google about it, I chanced upon this website that contains a lot of Sparkle Effect clips! However, it requires purchase:(

But I managed to find a couples of YouTube tutorial videos about it! Here are one of the videos that is about how to do Sparkle Effect in After Effect.

In this video, the steps are short and clear, it shows a easy way to create a nice Sparkle Effect in After Effect!

To conclude, I will definitely be using this two techniques for my video but I still have to find more effects to use for my video.