During one of the scenes in act 2, I was given the task to create the logo to go onto the side of the building, “CG Enterprises”.
I made this within photoshop and then exported it into illustrator to create a vector of it.
This then meant I could put it into after effects and create a 3d Object from the logo vector.
Originally I was going to create a 3D model of the logo within Maya, then export it out into after effects to make the track.
However, I used the vector from Illustrator, created outlines from it within After Effects and turned it into a 3D image.
I then added a spot light into AE to allow the shape to project shadows and have a slight glossy look to it.
18/05/17
I had a few problems withe After Effects crashing a lot, due to it not being able to RAM Preview. I found out that I had RayTrace 3D enabled as the chosen renderer, which is why it was taking ages to just preview the scene.
Classic 3D rendered almost instantly, however, I need to use a 3D renderer to be able to see the 3D effects of the logo, so it was a choice of either CINEMA 4D , or RayTrace 3D.
I eventually went with CINEMA 4D, as this rendered things quicker than RayTrace, but still allowed me to use the 3D logo.
22/05/17
I came across a few problems with trying to add effects to the vector, due to it being, a vector.
So I have pre-composed the vector, lighting and null object into a new pre-composition , which has finally allowed me to edit it properly.
I have added a mix of effects onto this, Curves, Hue and Saturation, CC Vector Blur, CC Light Sweep, CC Cross Blur and Drop Shadow.
Tweaked the brightness of the sign to make look more real.
For part of the inside the head scene there will be neurons in the background, so I am making these within After Effects using this image from Google.
First try I used a mix of Glow and Vegas effects to create this.
I added more layers of this, starting them at different times and changing each layers colour, however I didnt think this would work that well, so I created a new comp and added a CC Mr Mercury effect and played around with it until I made an effect that worked well.
I duplicated this layer and added another colour and again, changed the timing on it, as well as adding a piece of test footage we took from the green screen room.
During some shots of the film, we are going to include a logo for the company “CG Enterprises” , so I needed to create some concepts for this, then allow the group to vote on a design they like.
These are some of the designs I quickly mocked up in my sketchbook, I then sent these to the group, coming back with these results.
As there was a majority vote for the top left design, I then made a mock version in photoshop, then sent it to the group again.
The only thing that they said to change was the boldness of the font, ending up with this design.
As some scenes in the project are set in the night, we may have to film them during the day and perform Day to Night Correction within after effects, so I took some footage from around the college building and practiced the DTNC on them.
One example of some test footage I took
I decided to leave this piece of footage as while I was doing some colour correction, I realized that there was a lot of sunlight in the shot and it would be best to use some footage that was all in the shade, or all in sunlight as it is easier to convert.
Footage 2
I then tried to correct the other footage, this time tracking a section of the sky as well to change its colour
I did originally try to track within mocha, but for some reason the software crashed every time I launched mocha, so I needed to track it myself with in AE.
With and without mask
Unfortunately, after effects kept crashing again, so I changed to another piece of footage to try out on.
During the previs section of the project, we were all given tasks to create a short clip of what is going to happen in the shooting within maya for each of the acts.
I was given Act 2 to pre-vis.
I did this within Maya and then added all the footage together within Premiere Pro.
I decided to do a test on the eye effect for our project within after effects, as the characters eye changes from normal to a red colour.
I tracked the shape motion in Mocha AE, as after effects track motion wasnt very reliable for this.
Once I exported the shape motion from mocha, I pasted it onto a solid object in after effects.
But it had a few issues with lining up properly, so I needed to adjust some keyframes so that it was more accurate.
From here I then added some feather effects, a blur and overlayed another layer so that it created a yellow ring “glow” around the red of the eye.
I then created a “pulse” effect on the other test to see if this worked any better than just the original eye, but I feel as though the first test worked better.
Today I was shown how to use Mocha in After Effects, So I will be practicing more using different shots and images.
I imported some test footage of the tunnel. This footage is really “shaky and rotates” a lot, this would be very difficult to track with 1 or 2 point tracking.
Next, you go into animation, then click Track in Mocha AE.
Next, you find a clean frame, and click on the Spline button, then draw around a shape that you want to track, as well as adjusting the planar surface.
To track this, I then tracked “backwards” and then “forwards” to ensure there was no errors.
Due to where the footage is saved, it takes a while to track, so it looks jumpy.
Next we copy the tracked information back to after effects.
Then you make a new solid, and paste the tracking onto that solid, but must make sure that it is on frame 1 otherwise it wont work properly.
Once this is done, we pre-compose this and import the image file above the composition.
Sometimes the image needs an adjustment, so different modes such as Overlay or colour dodge will work, depending on the image and footage used. But for this one, I have used Exclusion
However, the image still looks quite sharp, so we add a CC Force Motion Blur to the image, giving it a more realistic feel.
I then changed the curves slightly so that the colours arent so bright.
After, I then did another track on the other wall and added another image.
In the beginning of the project, I started sketching up some concepts for what the character may look like, using a reference image I was given:
The first image I created was more of a realistic style showing the normal work attire, then a more messed up work attire.
The second image I created was more of a close up to show what the characters face my look like between the normal work and then the psycho. This was done using a mix of Copic and Spectrum Noir Markers.
Bethany Cassap 