Synoptic Project: NextGen News Intro

Before the character watches the news program in our film, we wanted an intro to play.

I have taken a world map and added CC Sphere to it, to make the image into a globe.

Create Rings:

Apply new lines comp to globe comp and CC Sphere, then change scale and rotation

Add Adjustment Layer, edit Hue and Saturation, then add Gradient Ramp and Calculations to create a blend of the Nextgen logo colour.

Add Dimension – glow and shadow, then edit drop shadow – white glow, drop shadow – dark halo 1 and drop shadow dark halo 2.

Edit Background and add Text for countdown, then add expression for slider in  null object to change the number.

Export Comp and track onto the tv screen.

 

 

Synoptic Project: CG Enterprises Track

17/05/17

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.

Created Breakdown video.

 

Synoptic Project: Eye Test

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.

Personal Projects: Mocha AE

Some more of my work using Mocha

Added Effects: Three Graffiti Arts on wall

Added Effects: Smoke out of chimney, logo on house, logo on metal storage.

Added Effects: Logo on side of train, text on front of train

Personal Projects: Destroyed City – Video CoPilot

To practice more with after effects and with Tracking, I followed a tutorial from VideoCoPilot on how to make a destroyed effect on a building, this may also come in handy for the synoptic projects later on.

To start with I did a 3D Camera Track, which can be seen below

Once the tracking is complete, I selected 3 points on the top of the building to create an ‘Origin Point’ then chose to create a Solid on that plane.

From those origin points you can also chose to add text, null and other objects to the area.

I then created a  solid on front of building, however this needed to be rotated slightly so that it was aligned with the beams on the building, and then transfer building damage onto the solid shape.

I Changed the size of the damage so that it was larger and aligned it once again.

Added Colour Correction to base plate and to the damage with CC Curves

Pen tool to cut out certain area, this could then be changed in 3D space

Subtract the drawn shape

Duplicate layer, add mode, tint to red to be able to see it and feather both layers.

Duplicate another layer, change track matte to Alpha matte mask, move it back in 3D space and scale it up to create a 3D effect.

Duplicate layer, draw ellipse and feather out the shape to create extra gouge

Add smoke effect from action essentials 2

Duplicate background plate

add alpha track matte to “Beams” Layer

Create beams with pen tool

Beams

Breakdown So far

Add rough edges effect to beams so that they look bashed up

Adding in broken windows

Cracks on top of building, multiply mode

Mask around it and feather

Add more cracks to side of building

Precompose front building pieces

Gets messed up so need to change settings.

Final Composition and Breakdown:

Personal Project: 1 Point Tracking Practice

For this, I just used from footage by Pete that was used in a lesson and quickly downloaded some different 3D Models online so that I could practice tracking using 3D Objects. The models were all imported into photoshop to …

Personal Project: 2D Tracking – 1

I have tried to use tracking a few times before, but it has always never turned out right, so I have tried to  practice using some different types of tracking.

For this post I will be looking at 2D or 1 point tracking.

First, I Inserted stock footage into the project and created a null object. This will be used to add the tracking information.

once I had added the footage and the null object, I could start adding some tracking.

animation > track motion

With the tracking , it is best t choose a contrasting point, dark area next to light area so that the computer can track that area easier. After this, you press play and the software automatically tracks that spot, although this doesnt always work, which is where my previous projects had gone wrong.

Above is the tracking data, which I then added to the Null Object.

Then I created some text and added it to the null object, so that it would follow the tracking points.

I just used “tracking practice” to see if it had worked, and luckily it did, so then I added another tracker to end up with this.