after effects 5 bible

Whether you’re a motion graphics novice or a feature film professional, this is the only book you’ll need to produce high-quality, low-cost digital effects.. Inside, you’ll find complet

MARSHALL

& SAEED

any special effect you can imagine for film, video, multimedia, and the Web, with extensive coverage of

new enhancements Whether you’re a motion graphics novice or a feature film professional, this is the only

book you’ll need to produce high-quality, low-cost digital effects

Inside, you’ll find complete coverage of After Effects 5

• Get up to speed fast with a Quick Start guide to animating and special effects

• Learn about new features for 3D compositing, parenting, expressions, and more

• Unleash powerful new special effects tools

• Learn how to enhance your designs with typography

• Sharpen and expand your animation skills

• Import and work with media from virtually any source

• Integrate After Effects into your digital video production workflow

• Prepare your work for rendering in any format or medium

PC running Windows 98/2000/Me/XP, Windows NT 4 or later;

Power Macintosh running OS 9.1, 9.2.1 or MacOS X version 10.1;

DVD-ROM drive See the “What’s on the DVD-ROM” appendix for

Produce stunning effects for film, video, multimedia, and the Web

Master powerful new features like 3D compositing and vector paint tools

J J Marshall and Zed Saeed

— Alan F Hamill, Digital Video Specialist, Adobe Systems

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Software and stock footage

on DVD-ROM

BONUS DVD-ROM

High-quality stock footage, plug-ins, tutorials from the book, and more

Improve the color balance and contrast of your footage

Loaded DVD-ROM

• High-quality stock footage

• Trapcode’s Shine and 3D Stroke demo versions

• CineLook Broadcast, CineMotion, and Cyclonist

demo versions from DigiEffects

• After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere, and Illustrator

tryout versions by Adobe Systems Incorporated

Bible

Includes new information on After Effects 5.5

*85555-BADAIf

®

Enter the 3rd Dimension! Find out how After Effects implements 3D

After Effects®

5 Bible

After Effects ®

5 Bible

J J Marshall and Zed Saeed

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After Effects ® 5 Bible

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About the Authors

J J Marshall is a born and bred resident of New York City and makes his living

there as a broadcast designer and a digital video consultant Most recently, heassisted in developing a nationwide broadband news-on-demand network calledThe FeedRoom Prior to that, he helped introduce Oxygen Media to the joys of FinalCut Pro and After Effects while editing a weekly two-hour show In addition, his pastefforts have included freelance projects for the New York New Media Association(NYNMA), Liz Claiborne, NetShoot, and the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior

at Columbia University, as well as independent documentary productions that haveaired on PBS Teaching credits include courses in digital video at open-I Media andthe School of Visual Arts (SVA) While writing this book, he served as a beta tester

on the latest version of After Effects A self-proclaimed refugee from the world oftheater, J J has long been creating data-driven art in one form or another

Zed Saeed lives and works in New York City as a freelance digital-media consultant

specializing in editing, compositing, and workflow issues Zed served as a senior production consultant for Apple Computer and Oxygen Media on Final Cut Pro anddigital-video workflow design and has worked with Media 100 and Adobe Systems onvideo-related products He has also worked as an editor, producer, compositing artist,and broadcast designer at Showtime Channels, Sundance Channel, and ESPN

post-Classics Zed has written articles on digital media technologies for magazines and hasserved on the faculty of NYU Graduate School, Parsons School of Design, and NewSchool University Zed has written, produced, and edited videos that have receivedawards and recognition by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the

American Film Institute Zed is also the author of Final Cut Pro 2 Bible.

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No lake so still but that it has its wave;

No circle so perfect but that it has its blur.

I would change things for you if I could;

As I can’t, you must take them as they are.

-Han Fei Tzu, noted Chinese Realist

It was once said of science that the more we know, the less we know; or to quoteShakespeare, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt

of in your philosophy.”

A rather strange statement indeed when applied to the subject matter of this book,

a software application called Adobe After Effects However, in the six years that I’vebeen using and teaching the application, this often describes the way I feel Becauseevery day I’m learning some new technique, some unique design concept, a differ-ent method of expressing a creative impulse, of communicating a point via ani-mated graphics

One can never know it all

At my seminars, I amuse the audience when someone raises a hand and asks, “CanAfter Effects do ?” and before they continue, I preempt the questioner by saying,

“Yes It can!” And that isn’t far from the truth, because almost any visual conceptyou can imagine can be implemented in After Effects

Go watch a major movie After Effects was probably used in the production Checkout TV commercials—more After Effects From something as subtle as changing thecolor of an actor’s hair to elaborately conceived spaceship battles in far-off galaxies;from creating animated graphics for display on a Web page to polishing up the latestentry to Sundance Power, flexibility, precision, grace After Effects exhibits all thesecharacteristics, and more

But what about the human element and the interface between imagination and

implementation? How do you get to that stage? How do you become expert (or

expert enough)? Some learn by example, others by rote Efficient learning, though,comes through comprehension and practice, then adaptation and improvement If

you see something, you’ll remember some of it, but if you see and do, your mind

and body develop a synergy of understanding

Which brings us to the ideal teaching process—this book Instruction and example

are all rolled up into the After Effects 5 Bible, which combines meticulous text with

practical examples provided on the DVD-ROM I consider this to be one of the bestAfter Effects books I’ve seen Why so, especially? Well, for me, it is J J and Zed’s

specific approach Just the right amount of instructional gravitas balanced with a

gentle sense of humor Indeed, akin to a fine gourmet meal, let this reference cate and satisfy, until you, too, develop the means to express through art, with the

edu-After Effects 5 Bible providing your guidance.

Alan HamillDana Point, CAMarch 2002

While it’s easy to learn, After Effects takes time and passion to master If an

artist has a real vision, passion for seeing that vision realized, and a mastery

of this fantastic tool, the final results will be gratifying indeed We’ve written the

After Effects 5 Bible with practical applications in mind Our primary focus has been

to provide you with a set of concrete steps for all the production scenarios you mightencounter When we were getting started in this field, we were confounded whenexperts would say something such as, “I did that with a displacement map.” Whileeveryone nodded in what appeared to our eyes as a somewhat unbelievable collec-

tive understanding, we’d be thinking, “Well, how exactly did you do that with a

dis-placement map?” Basically, we tried to write a book that we wished we had years ago.For most of us who use it regularly, After Effects is something of a religion It’s a joy

to use, and the people who make a living from it seem happy to while away entireportions of their lives manipulating the controls of its well-designed interface.Certain software applications develop an extremely devoted following, and AfterEffects is a prime example of this phenomenon More importantly, After Effectsdevotees form a community that’s mostly comprised of visual artists It’s so wellengineered that its audience can look past the vexing nature of computers andimmediately start throwing clay on the wheel Strength as a channel for creativity isits distinguishing trademark

After Effects has revolutionized the broadcast industry The mid-nineties showedthe public a dazzling array of visual artistry in ad campaigns and television networkpromotions, the quality and the quantity of which were unprecedented All corners

of the market have been dramatically affected On one hand, Academy award

win-ner John Gaeta, special effects supervisor for the immensely popular movie, The

Matrix, makes mention of his use of the application in a documentary about the

technical aspects of his work on that film On the other hand, wedding videoshave started appearing with suddenly high production values After Effects con-tributed to the rise of the so-called “digital video revolution,” and there arenumerous professionals whose careers stem completely from the widespread use

of this indispensable tool

So What Is After Effects, Anyway?

After Effects 5.5 is Adobe’s latest overhaul of this enormously successful motiongraphics software In years past, it has become a widely used tool in post-produc-tion, regardless of a facility’s size or budget Its use is prevalent at all levels of thefilm, broadcast, and Web industries, yet After Effects is noteworthy in that it is truly

software The application doesn’t rely on any proprietary hardware; instead, it

requires only the inherent resources of a personal computer With the advent ofAfter Effects, the balance of power has shifted High-end studios with large quanti-ties of bulky and expensive analog equipment now share the market with talentedartists whose “studio” consists of a single machine Vital and important work is aslikely to originate from the realm of the desktop as it is from any other productionenvironment, and this is due in large part to the accessible power of this highlyuser-friendly application

Version 5.5 is a major upgrade, and the Adobe After Effects development team is to

be commended for their amazing work Truly phenomenal software, this build ofAfter Effects boasts a variety of new features as well as vast enhancements of itsuser interface There are numerous new filters for concretizing any effect that yourmind can envision Additionally, 5.5 includes native 3D-compositing capabilities aswell as vector paint tools, both of which were possible only a short time ago withthe purchase of expensive additional software Considering that the 3D toolsinclude lights, virtual cameras, and shadows, version 5.5 represents a huge leapforward for a product that had already filled its niche in the market

Every release of an Adobe graphics product allows for greater integration with theirother offerings, and After Effects is no exception After Effects 5.5 impressivelyimports work created in the latest builds of Premiere (6.0), Photoshop (6.0), andIllustrator (10.0) Real-time dynamic previews of compositions allow for instantvisual gratification as your work evolves over the course of a project Masks cannow be manipulated directly in the Comp window Multiple layers can be simultane-ously animated with the addition of a hierarchical parenting switch in the Timelinewindow The list goes on

Further still, Adobe has continued its efforts in bringing the power of procedural

animations to your work by adding something new called expressions Based on

JavaScript, expressions are scripts that you can use to dynamically control thevalues of different properties so that you don’t have to lose time setting tons ofkeyframes Finally, your output options have been greatly enhanced Compositionscan be rendered for the versatile Flash (SWF) file format just as easily as they can

be prepared with 16-bit color for HDTV or film

How This Book Is Organized

If you’ve read all the way up to this point, we’re hoping that you want to look intothis whole thing a bit further We’ve put this book together in an attempt to giveyou a complete tour of how After Effects works, as well as to describe some of theways you’ll actually use it in production We’ve also designed it so that it can beread from front to back or, if you prefer, as a desktop reference In either case,there’s some logic to the order of the chapters, and we talk a little bit about thatdevelopment in the following description of the book’s parts

Part I: Welcome to After Effects 5

Part I acquaints you with the basics of the After Effects interface and gets youstarted on creating your own animations In essence, there’s an After Effects

“headspace,” or thought process, and the point of the first few chapters is to fullyintroduce you to this way of thinking Once you know the basics of importingelements and animating them, you will find it much easier to approach the moresophisticated aspects of compositing

Part II: Keyframes and Rendering

Part II looks into the different kinds of keyframe interpolation you can incorporateinto your animations Perhaps more importantly, this section of the book takes agood look at the Render Queue, that all-important “oven” where you bake yourcreations once you’ve thrown them together Lastly, this part of the book willintroduce you to the wonders of applying effects After all, the application is calledAfter Effects, and it hardly seems like fun to have to wait to see what the Big Fun isall about

Part III: Broadening Animation Skills: Masks, Transparency, and Time

Part III looks closely at the various ways you can work with transparency in AfterEffects Usually, budding motion graphic artists are too busy plotting the ways inwhich they might overthrow the industry before getting overly concerned withdetails such as alpha channels Nonetheless, an understanding of transparency isabsolutely critical to comprehending After Effects as a whole Even better than that,acquiring such an understanding is usually fun, at least when it’s compared to thekind of tooth pulling some folks imagine the topic to be Additionally, because AfterEffects deals with a succession of images over time, it’s also important to know how

to control the way time unfolds in your projects Do you want your clips to playslowly or quickly, or perhaps both at different points in their playback?

Part IV: Using Effects: The Big Fun

Part IV looks at the myriad of effects that you can apply to your moving images

Sometimes, this aspect of the application seems a bit overwhelming in light of thefact that the Production Bundle of After Effects now boasts of having more than 90plug-ins to enhance your work Still, the effects make up the reason why a goodnumber of After Effects aficionados initially sought out the software Perhaps yourhumble aim is to change the distribution of color in a clip of film that wasn’t litexactly right Maybe you happen to be interested in creating your own dramaticweather full of blizzards or lots of lightning Either way, the effects offer you themeans to make it happen

Part V: Aiming Higher: Advanced Techniques

Part V goes into what some people think of as the “hard” stuff At this point, wecover topics such as Motion Math, expressions, 3D compositing, as well as trackingand stabilizing your footage We’ve also included a couple of chapters on the use oftext and typography, because so many folks who use After Effects initially come to

it from the need to make a title sequence

Part VI: Rendering for All Media

Part VI considers After Effects in the context of the greater realm of video production.What did you shoot on? What are you editing on? What’s your delivery format? How

do all the pieces fit together? This part of the book briefly touches on the role of AfterEffects in a production workflow that might run the gamut from miniDV to HDTV

Part VII: Appendixes

In the appendixes, we’ve given you a list of resources on the World Wide Web.These include sites that offer After Effects goodies that range from tutorials tostock footage to free plug-ins Additionally, we’ve given you a list of keyboard short-cuts for users of both the Macintosh and Windows platforms Lastly, we include anappendix that tells you what’s on the DVD-ROM in the sleeve on the back cover

How to Use This Book

It seems a little strange to have to explain how to use this book, but I guess someexplanation is needed (typically, when people ask us how to use a book, ourresponse is to politely tell them to read it) As we mentioned earlier, you can readthis book sequentially just as easily as you can jump from place to place whileusing it as a reference In each chapter, we did our best to debunk topics that mightappear complicated, and we also tried to give you a matching step-by-step exercise

to accompany each explanation

Conventions Used in This Book

We tried to keep the explanations from being overly technical in nature, butbecause we’re talking about software, sometimes there’s no way to avoid

digibabble Hopefully, the only parts of the book that will seem as though they’ve

been written in computerese are the keyboard shortcuts in the step exercises Just

so you know, whenever we refer to a keyboard shortcut, we first provide the Macinstructions, which are followed by a forward slash and the correspondingWindows instructions For example, the keyboard shortcut for Undo isCommand+Z/Ctrl+Z

The DVD-ROM

Yep, it’s a DVD-ROM, not a CD-ROM All that means is that there is a lot more roomfor us to put stuff In other words, it holds more data than a CD-ROM, but it’s not aDVD that you can pop into the DVD player on your home entertainment system

Most computers sold in the past couple of years ship with DVD-enabled drives, soyou shouldn’t have any problems getting the data into your system

Throughout the chapters of the book, we consistently refer to the After Effectsprojects that we put on the DVD-ROM for you to refer to as you work your waythrough the step exercises If you want to get the most out of the lessons in thechapters, you’ll definitely want to copy the project files and their related mediaonto your own computer Of course, if you want to work with your own material,you’re welcome to do that instead

In addition to the projects and their media, we’ve also put a bunch of other goodies

on the disc, and we’ve given you a detailed listing of these in Appendix D

Icons and Sidebars

In a number of places, we found it useful to point out some important information

by highlighting it with these nifty little icons

Anywhere you see a Caution icon, just know that you might do some damage toyour project or your peace of mind

We used the Note icon to separate what we hope are useful bits of informationrelated to the topic under discussion

A Tip usually denotes a technique that saves a lot of time or is otherwise nently useful in production

immi-We placed Cross-Reference icons in spots where we mention a subject that iscovered in greater detail in another chapter We even go so far as to tell you thechapter number in the reference!

Lastly, we’ve included a number of sidebars devoted to the topic of what’s new inAfter Effects 5.5 They are sprinkled throughout the book wherever the update tothe application is relevant to the topic

Cross-Reference

Tip Note Caution

Contacting the Authors

Feel free to drop us a line at aebible@earthlink.net We’d be happy to hear any

insights and observations you might have While we read every message wereceive, just remember these two caveats: First, depending on the nature of ourschedule in addition to the volume of e-mail we receive, we may not be able to getback to every one of you Secondly, if you’re looking for any type of tech supportfor either your hardware or software, you should directly contact the vendor inquestion

So, get to it We sincerely hope that learning After Effects will be as much fun foryou as it was for us

J J Marshall — Above all, I want to thank my wife, Christine If not for her continual

and unswerving support, this book wouldn’t even be a remote possibility For herlove, and the grace with which it is always and unconditionally given, I am profoundlygrateful

Even though he’s my coauthor, I feel it necessary to express my gratitude to Zed.Years ago, he took me to my first After Effects User Group meeting, and the rest, asthey say, is history More than that, I’m lucky to consider him a great friend It’s myhope that we continue our “vision quest” in one form or another

Much love and many thanks to the “folks” — my mother and father continue to serve

as the core members of a small, but devoted, fan club Everyone should be so lucky

If it weren’t for the support of friends like these, difficult deadlines would have beenimpenetrable walls Thanks to Eric Morrissey, Dan Sherman, Aaron Fein, Louie Berk,Mukesh Vasvani, and TJ Shea

Zed Saeed — It has been my privilege to be involved with the development of After

Effects for many years I have had the support and ear of many good people fromAdobe Systems: Steve Kilisky, Erica Schisler, David Trescot, Christie Evans, DanWilk, Richard Pelzar, Bruce Bowman, Kim Platt, Marcus Chang, Phil Nelson, andmany others have over the years put up with my nagging and harassment andresponded with nothing but kindness It seems like a foregone conclusion now, but Ihave long held that After Effects would take over the world, as it so rightfully has Special thanks to Showtime Channels and Sundance Channel for all the time theygranted me to be their After Effects artist, designer, and usurper of resources for all-night beta testing Thanks also to visionary art directors like Tony Castellanoand Crystal Hall-Aurnhammer, who spoiled me for anything else for the rest of myliving days

As always my gratitude goes to my mentor Dirk Van Dall, Vice President of DigitalVideo at Showtime Channels Dirk, an artist at heart and hands-down the mostknowledgeable person on digital media issues, got me started on this path and gave

me the access and direction to get where I am today As we like to say, “It’s Dirk’sworld We all just live in it.”

The authors join together in expressing their gratitude to the following people.We’d like to express our appreciation to the people at Hungry Minds for all theirhelp preparing this book Thanks to Tom Heine, our acquisitions editor, forproviding steady support and looking out for us from the time the book was nomore than a concept

Also, many thanks are due to Melba Hopper, our project editor, whose tirelessefforts have resulted in making this book a reality Early in the process, she told usthat she didn’t like to work after 8 p.m., in the interest of preserving her sanity Wecould hardly disagree, but the number of late night e-mails we received from herwere a testament to her dedication We also want to express our gratitude to thecopy editor, Jerelind Charles, for her careful editor’s eye

We owe a great deal of credit to Adobe Systems, Inc — first, for creating and ing After Effects, thereby providing us with the opportunity to even write this book;second, and far more importantly, for continuing to develop After Effects as beauti-fully as they do Extra special thanks go to Steve Kilisky and Erica Schisler for theirkindness in finding the time to go out of their way to support us in the midst oftheir extremely hectic schedules

releas-We particularly want to express our appreciation for the work of Alan Hamill, ourtechnical editor It’s a privilege to write about After Effects when you know that amember of Adobe’s superb digital video team is watching out for you

A number of companies kindly provided us with some gorgeous stock footage Wedeeply appreciate the contributions made by John Davis from bestshot.com; SamBartlett from Digital Juice, Inc.; Steve Gianfermo from Videometry; Charlie Pattonfrom EyeWire by Getty Images; Dave Hill from Creatas; Barry Dagestino, MichaelPixley, and Domenic Rom from Sekani; and Julie Hill from ArtBeats If you needproduction-quality elements, look these guys up

Thanks to Victoria Hamilton from The Foundry in the U.K They make fantasticplug-ins, and Vikki is a highly valued ally

As we began putting this book together, many colleagues graciously answered thecall to contribute some of their work to the cause For this, we deeply thank AdamHelfet Hilliker of HelfetHillikerGormley Designs (say that 10 times!), Steve Fein of BigRipple Multimedia, Axel Baumann, and Mark Magnus All of them are great artists

As some of you may know, there are a number of very talented folks who preparetop-notch training materials for After Effects Brian Maffitt and Trish and ChrisMeyer have set the bar in this particular field We owe them our thanks for theirinspiration and our respect for their contributions

Last, but certainly not least, everything changed one morning during the secondweek of writing this book The atrocity of September 11 hit so close that it literallyshook the windows of our homes We were spared, but thousands were not Writingabout After Effects suddenly seemed frivolous when compared to the harrowingreality that too many of our neighbors had to face Our hearts go out to those whowere lost and to those who lost them on that day Despite its wounded soul, NewYork City is still a great place to live, and we do so with pride.

Contents at a Glance

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xvii

Quick Start: Making a Movie with After Effects 1

Part I: Welcome to After Effects 5 25

Chapter 1: Working in After Effects: Finding Your Way Around the Interface 27

Chapter 2: Importing Media: Bringing Things In 61

Chapter 3: Moving Your Artwork 103

Chapter 4: Setting Your Preferences 141

Part II: Keyframes and Rendering 171

Chapter 5: Sharpening Positional Animations 173

Chapter 6: Improving Keyframe Animations 199

Chapter 7: Working the Render Queue 223

Chapter 8: Building Complex Compositions 263

Part III: Broadening Animation Skills: Masks, Transparency and Time 297

Chapter 9: Making Use of Masks 299

Chapter 10: Creating Mattes: Creative Hole-Punching 333

Chapter 11: Mixing It Up with Transfer Modes 349

Chapter 12: Manipulating Time: Relativity in After Effects 375

Part IV: Using Effects: The Big Fun 387

Chapter 13: Photoshop in Motion: Color Correction and Selective Blurring 389

Chapter 14: Changing Channels and Colors 423

Chapter 15: Simulating Natural Physics: Perspective, Light, and Sound 457

Chapter 16: Designing with Style 487

Chapter 17: Warping and Morphing Matter 511

Chapter 18: Particle Playground 539

Chapter 19: Keying and Knockouts 565

Chapter 20: Vector Painting 585

Part V: Aiming Higher: Advanced Techniques 603

Chapter 21: Working with Text Within After Effects 605Chapter 22: Working with Text Outside After Effects 627Chapter 23: Putting Math in Motion: Using Motion Math Scripts 657Chapter 24: Adding the Third Dimension to Your Design 677Chapter 25: Adding Expressions to Your Arsenal 713Chapter 26: Improving Your Visuals with Sound 733Chapter 27: Wiggling, Tracking, and Stabilizing 751

Part VI: Rendering for All Media 777

Chapter 28: Juggling Format Issues 779Chapter 29: Prepping for Editors 801

Part VII: Appendixes 825

Appendix A: After Effects Resources 827Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts for the Mac 829Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 843Appendix D: What’s on the DVD-ROM 857

Index 863Ads 898End-User License Agreement 901

Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xvii

Quick Start: Making a Movie with After Effects 1

Building an After Effects Project 2Saving a project 2Importing media 3Creating and developing a composition 6Adding an effect to a layer 11Animating a layer’s Transform properties 13Adding a soundtrack to your comp 17Rendering Your Creation 22

Part I: Welcome to After Effects 5 25

Chapter 1: Working in After Effects: Finding Your Way Around the Interface 27

Establishing Home Base: The Project Window 28Looking ahead: What are you making? 28Pushing more buttons in the After Effects Project window 35Sifting and sorting through the footage in the Project window 38Saving your project 39Knowing Your Tools 40Knowing Your Palettes 43Decoding the Info palette 43Jumping in time with the Time Control palette 45Peeking at the Audio palette 47Working Within a Composition 48Moving layers in the Comp window 49Working with layers in the Timeline window 52Saving Your Workspace 60

Chapter 2: Importing Media: Bringing Things In 61

Figuring Out the Import Business 61Understanding image size 62The logic of project files 63

Working with Still Images 67Prepping still images to import into After Effects 69Importing a sequence of still images 75Leading the Adobe Family Reunion 78Importing layered Adobe Photoshop files 78Importing layered Adobe Illustrator files 83Importing Adobe Premiere projects 85Interpreting Source Media 87Preparing motion footage for import 88Setting interpretations 92Life After Importing 101

Chapter 3: Moving Your Artwork 103

Deconstructing the Timeline 103Introducing the Switching Columns 105Seeing and hearing — The A/V panel 105Global composition switches 106Flipping switches in the Switches panel 107Finding the hidden panels 108Knowing the time graph in depth 109Undergoing a Transformation 111Changing position 113Changing scale 115Changing degrees of rotation 117Adjusting the anchor point 118Fading opacity 120Introduction to Keyframes 122Working with Keyframes 122Modifying a motion path 125Economies of scale 133Employing spins, fades, and a moving anchor 137Introduction to nesting compositions 139

Chapter 4: Setting Your Preferences 141

Setting Overall Preferences 141Setting General Preferences 142Setting Previews preferences 149Setting Display preferences 151Setting Import preferences 155Setting Output preferences 156Setting Grids & Guides preferences 157Setting Label Colors and Label Defaults preferences 159Setting Cache preferences 161Setting Video Preview preferences 161Setting Project Settings 164Setting Composition Settings 164Setting Basic Composition settings 165Setting Advanced Composition settings 166

Part II: Keyframes and Rendering 171

Chapter 5: Sharpening Positional Animations 173

What Is Interpolation? 173Putting a Layer in Motion: Animating Position 175Moving a layer through space 175Changing a layer’s positional path 180Changing the Speed of a Layer 188Changing Temporal Interpolation with the Timeline Value Graph 189Putting It All Together 197

Chapter 6: Improving Keyframe Animations 199

Working with Keyframes Across All Transform Properties 199Animating multiple layers 200Reviewing your new techniques 207Using the Keyframe Assistant 208Making fluid-looking animations 209Sequencing layers 217

Chapter 7: Working the Render Queue 223

Introducing the Concept of Rendering 223Making movies 225Saving a RAM Preview 226Getting the Most out of the Render Queue 226Tweaking render settings 230Understanding Output Module Settings 236Saving Time by Creating Templates 241Improving Your Render Choices 245Increasing Efficiency 245Rendering Still Frames 248Rendering Still Images 250Authoring Flash Files 254Adjusting SWF settings for export 255Learning which features are supported by Flash 256Managing a Complex Workflow: Workgroup Rendering 257Collect Files 258Watch Folder 259

Chapter 8: Building Complex Compositions 263

Introducing Effects 263Learning how to apply effects 264Keyframing effects 267Saving and applying favorites 270Learning the different layer property controls 271

Using After Effects as a Video Editor of Sorts 274Trimming layers in the Timeline 276Trimming in the Layer and Footage windows 281Using markers 283Building Good Nesting Habits 287Nesting compositions 287Pre-composing layers 290Looking at the flowchart 292Parenting and Hierarchies 294Understanding parenting 294Grouping layers as “parents” and “children” 294Using Null Object layers 296

Part III: Broadening Animation Skills: Masks,

Transparency, and Time 297

Chapter 9: Making Use of Masks 299

Creating Masks 300Understanding mask paths 300Drawing Rectangular and Oval masks 300Drawing Bezier masks with the Pen tool 305Modifying Masks 307Selecting one or more control points 307Adding, deleting, and adjusting control points 310Replacing, resetting, and deleting masks 311Tweaking Bezier curves 312Adjusting mask properties besides shape 316Putting Masks in Motion 317Animating a mask with the Free Transform points 317Creating more mask animations 319Animating multiple masks 323Panning behind a mask 325Using a mask as a motion path (and vice versa) 329Using Masks with Effects 331Using masks as the basis for other effects 332

Chapter 10: Creating Mattes: Creative Hole-Punching 333

Understanding Transparency 334Working with Track Mattes 334Using a layer’s alpha channel as a Track Matte 335Using a layer’s luminance as a Track Matte 337Inverting mattes 340Creating traveling mattes 340Working with Stock Footage Mattes 343Using the Preserve Transparency Switch 347

Chapter 11: Mixing It Up with Transfer Modes 349

Using the Different Layer Modes 350Understanding the result in the Comp window 351Using Add 353Using Multiply 354Using Screen 355Using Overlay 356Using Soft Light 357Using Hard Light 357Using Color Dodge and Color Burn 359Using Darken and Lighten 359Using Difference and Exclusion 361Using Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity 362Beyond Math: Designing with Transfer Modes 366Making instant Track Mattes 367Animating by splitting layers 368Working with the Stencil Transfer Modes 368Using a layer’s luminance as a stencil 370

Chapter 12: Manipulating Time: Relativity in After Effects 375

Time-Stretching a Layer 376Going backwards 379Using the time-stretching keyboard shortcuts 381Frame Blending 381Understanding Time-Remapping 382Using the Layer window to see two timelines 385Setting time-remapping keyframes 386Preparing footage for time-remapping 386

Part IV: Using Effects: The Big Fun 387

Chapter 13: Photoshop in Motion: Color Correction and Selective Blurring 389

Applying the Adjust Effects to Footage 390Using the Brightness and Contrast effect 391Using the Channel Mixer effect 391Using the Color Balance effect 394Using the Curves effect 395Using the Hue/Saturation effect 400Using the Levels effect 403Using the Posterize and Threshold effects 407Wrapping up the Adjust effects 408Adding Basic Text 409

Applying the Blur and Sharpen Effects to Footage 412Using Channel Blur 412Using Compound Blur 415Using Directional Blur 417Using Fast Blur and Gaussian Blur 418Using Radial Blur 421Using Sharpen and Unsharp Mask 422

Chapter 14: Changing Channels and Colors 423

Applying the Channel Effects to Footage 424Using the Arithmetic effect 424Using the Blend effect 425Using the Compound Arithmetic effect 430Using the Invert effect 431Using the Minimax effect 433Using the Remove Color Matting effect 434Using the Set Channels effect 437Using the Set Matte effect 439Using the Shift Channels effect 439Applying the Image Control Effects to Footage 440Using the Change Color effect 441Using the Color Balance (HLS) effect 445Using the Colorama effect 445Using the Equalize effect 452Using the Gamma/Pedestal/Gain effect 453Using the Median effect 454Using the PS Arbitrary Map effect 454Using the Tint effect 455

Chapter 15: Simulating Natural Physics: Perspective, Light, and Sound 457

Getting Perspective 458Using Basic 3D 459Using the Bevel effects 459Using the Drop Shadow effect 461Throwing Light and Visualizing Sound 462Applying the Audio Spectrum and Audio Waveform effects 463Using the Beam effect 469Using the Stroke, Fill, Ellipse, and Ramp effects 470Using the PS+Lens Flare effect 472Using the Fractal effect 474Using the Radio Waves effect 475Using the Vegas effect 477Simulating Natural Physics and Breaking Stuff 479Using the Card Dance effect 480Using the Caustics effect 480

Using the Foam effect 482Using the Shatter effect 483Using the Wave World effect 484

Chapter 16: Designing with Style 487

Going for That Certain Look 487Using the Brush Strokes effect 488Using the Color Emboss effect 489Using the Emboss effect 489Using the Find Edges effect 490Using the Leave Color effect 490Using the Mosaic effect 491Using the Motion Tile effect 492Using the Noise effect 493Using the PS+Extrude effect 494Using the PS+Tiles effect 495Using the Strobe Light effect 495Using the Texturize effect 496Using the Write-on effect 497Filtering Time 498Using the Echo effect 498Using the Posterize Time effect 500Making the Transition 501Using the Block Dissolve transition effect 502Using the Card Wipe effect 502Using the Gradient Wipe transition effect 503Using the Iris Wipe transition effect 504Using the Linear Wipe transition effect 504Using the Radial Wipe transition effect 505Using the Venetian Blinds transition effect 506Prepping for Broadcast 507Using the Broadcast Colors effect 507Using the Reduce Interlace Flicker effect 508Using the Timecode effect 509

Chapter 17: Warping and Morphing Matter 511

Warping on a Budget 512Using the Mirror effect 513Using the Offset effect 514Using the Polar Coordinates effect 517Using the Photoshop Distortion effects 518Using the Smear effect 521Using the Spherize effect 523Using the Transform effect 525Warping with Precision 526Using the Bezier Warp effect (PB only) 526Using the Bulge effect (PB only) 527Using the Corner Pin effect (PB only) 528

Using the Displacement Map effect (PB only) 529Using the Mesh Warp effect (PB only) 532Using the Optics Compensation effect (PB only) 533Using the Reshape effect (PB only) 534Using the Ripple effect (PB only) 537Using the Twirl effect (PB only) 537Using the Wave Warp effect (PB only) 538

Chapter 18: Particle Playground 539

What Is Particle Playground? 539Understanding the Particle Playground effect 540Using the Cannon 542Understanding the Cannon settings 544Using the Grid 545Understanding the Grid settings 547Using the Layer and the Particle Exploders 547Replacing the particles with layers 551Using a series of frames to replace the particles 552Understanding the layer map options 555Using Gravity 555Repelling and attracting particles 556Using walls to contain particles 556Using layer maps to influence particle behavior 558Understanding Persistent and Ephemeral properties 560Understanding the layer map options 560Speeding up rendering in Particle Playground 562

Chapter 19: Keying and Knockouts 565

Finding the Key 566Navigating bluescreens, greenscreens, and spill 566Working with the keying filters 567Using the Color Difference Key (PB only) 567Using the Color Key 570Using the Color Range Key (PB only) 571Using the Difference Matte effect (PB only) 574Using the Extract effect (PB only) 576Using the Inner Outer effect (PB only) 577Using the Linear Color Key effect (PB only) 578Using the Luma Key effect 580Using the Spill Suppressor effect (PB only) 581Working with the Matte Tools effects (PB only) 582

Chapter 20: Vector Painting 585

Understanding Vector Painting 586Understanding the Paint tools 588Learning to select strokes 590Understanding the Composite Paint options 591

Working with Playback modes 597Understanding the Playback Mode setting 597Working with the Re-timer 599Working with the Shift-Paint Record option 599Working with the Wiggle Control options 600Working with the Interface Options 601

Part V: Aiming Higher: Advanced Techniques 603

Chapter 21: Working with Text Within After Effects 605

Working with Text Filters in After Effects 606Using Basic Text 606Using the Numbers filter 609Using the Path Text effect 612

Chapter 22: Working with Text Outside After Effects 627

Working with Illustrator Text 628Putting your template to use 632Importing Illustrator text as a composition 634Having some more fun with Illustrator text 637Working with Photoshop Text 641Saving Photoshop effects for use in After Effects 644Actually using Photoshop effects in After Effects 645Using the Glow effect in After Effects (PB only) 646Using Text as the Basis for Effects 651

Chapter 23: Putting Math in Motion: Using Motion Math Scripts 657

Getting to Know the Motion Math Window 658Explaining the Motion Math window interface 659Getting Your Feet Wet with Motion Math 661Understanding the Motion Math scripts 662Modifying Motion Math Scripts 667Working with Scripts That Require Input 669Understanding the Blink Script 671Understanding the Parallax Script 673

Chapter 24: Adding the Third Dimension to Your Design 677

Introducing 3D 678Welcome to Z-space 678Adjusting a 3D layer’s Position and Rotation 679Animating in 3D 689Adding Cameras and Lights to the 3D Mix 700Working with virtual cameras 701Throwing light 707

Chapter 25: Adding Expressions to Your Arsenal 713

Explaining Expressions 713Getting to Know the Expression Icons 714Creating Your First Expression 716Converting expressions to keyframes 718Creating and editing expressions 718Saving expressions 720Working with Arrays 721Using Expressions with Effects 723Working with layers and time in expressions 725Using the element menus 727Controlling expressions by using Effect Controls 728

Chapter 26: Improving Your Visuals with Sound 733

Mixing Sound in After Effects 734Previewing Audio 734Editing Audio Levels 737Leveraging the Standard Audio Effects 740Using the Backwards effect 741Using the Bass & Treble effect 742Using the Delay effect 742Using the Stereo Mixer effect 743Plying the Production Bundle Audio Effects 743Using the Flange & Chorus effect (PB only) 744Using the High-Low Pass effect (PB only) 744Using the Modulator effect (PB only) 745Using the Parametric EQ effect (PB only) 745Using the Reverb effect (PB only) 747Using the Tone effect (PB only) 748True “Sweetening” 749

Chapter 27: Wiggling, Tracking, and Stabilizing 751

Randomizing with The Wiggler (PB only) 752Using the Motion Tracker/Stabilizer Controls (PB only) 756Tracking movement in footage 756Tracking for effect 766Stabilizing shaky footage 772

Part VI: Rendering for All Media 777

Chapter 28: Juggling Format Issues 779

What Are Formats? 779Understanding NTSC Video 78029.97 fps versus 30 fps 780NTSC versus PAL and SECAM Video 781Understanding the DV format 782

Working with Standard Definition (SD) video 783SDI — Serial Digital Interconnect 784Understanding HD (High Definition) video 785Troubleshooting Field Issues 786Determining the field order of outgoing footage 788Minimizing flicker with After Effects 789Understanding the 3:2 Pulldown 790Mixing and Matching Frame Sizes and Pixel Aspect Ratios 791Understanding pixel aspect ratio settings 792Mixing pixel aspect ratios 794Knowing alternatives to mixing pixel aspect ratios 795Working with Interpretation Rules 796Understanding Interpretation Rules 797

Chapter 29: Prepping for Editors 801

Working with Non-Linear Editing Systems 802Working with Avid Editing Systems 802Understanding the Workflow 802Exporting material from Avid 803Rendering in After Effects for Avid 807Handling alpha channels with Avid material 808Layering Alpha and RGB files within Avid 811Working with the Final Cut Pro Editing System 812Working between Final Cut Pro and After Effects 812Working with Media 100 Editing Systems 817Working Between Media 100 and After Effects 819Working in After Effects with Media 100 material 819Using the Export Plug-In from Media 100 821Understanding Exports from Media 100 to After Effects 822

Part VII: Appendixes 825

Appendix A: After Effects Resources 827

Adobe After Effects Sites 827

Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts for the Mac 829 Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 843 Appendix D: What’s on the DVD-ROM 857

System Requirements 857Using the DVD-ROM 858What’s on the DVD-ROM 859Project files 859Source materials 859

PDF 860More AE art and techniques 860Goodies 860Troubleshooting 861

Index 863 Ads 898 End-User License Agreement 901

Making a Movie with After

Effects

Greetings, folks! Welcome to the amazing creation known

as After Effects If you’ve never used it before, then thisQuick Start chapter will introduce you to the basic workings

of the application If you’re a graphics professional, you mayhave worked with some of Adobe’s excellent contributions tothe field, and After Effects deserves its place in the company

of great programs like Illustrator and Photoshop Othersamong you may be getting more deeply immersed in therapidly expanding world of digital video and are wonderingwhat the hype surrounding After Effects is all about Nomatter how you ended up here, there’s no question that theapplication can take your dynamic media productions to ahigher level By the time you’re finished with this brief chap-ter, you’ll be familiar with its basic animation techniques and

be able to create your own QuickTime movie as the result ofyour efforts

This chapter assumes that you’ve pulled up a chair next toyour happily humming workstation and want to get down towork Armed with a copy of After Effects and this Bible, it’stime to see what a few clicks of the mouse will yield Getting

up and running involves familiarizing yourself with some mentary compositing techniques If you aren’t clear as to

rudi-exactly what it is, After Effects is visual effects and

composit-ing software that gives you tight control over your motiongraphics productions For the most part, that means that youcan use it to make preexisting elements move through spaceover time while directly controlling their appearance You’ll

be able to see this for yourself very quickly

Adobe Systems, Inc., has recently unleashed version 5.5 of After Effects upon theworld This means a number of things, such as support for Mac OS X, enhanced 3Dcontrols, new effects, smart mask interpolation, and a whole host of enhancementsand goodies Version 5.0 was a quantum leap in and of itself, introducing 3D anima-tion into what had always been a 2D environment, as well as offering the controlafforded by expressions, which are based on JavaScript These are great develop-ments, and by the time you make your way through this book, you’ll know a gooddeal more about them than you do now If you’re new to this corner of the universe,don’t worry We’ll tell you what all these things mean a bit later For the moment, youshould focus your attention on the basics of this program that have made it such apowerful tool from the very beginning.

The Quick Start “chapter” is our introduction to new users of After Effects If you’re

an After Effects veteran, you probably don’t have much to gain from the followingexercises If that’s the case, you may want to use the book as a desktop reference

We leave it up to you

Building an After Effects Project

Without any more drum rolls, go ahead and fire up your machine and start AfterEffects by double-clicking its application icon When you open up the program forthe first time, you are greeted with the splash screen while the application loads,and then you see an empty Project window and some palettes Before you getoverly concerned with exactly what these are, start building good habits by savingyour project

In order for these opening exercises to work properly, you need to copy the Source

Material folder from the DVD-ROM to your hard drive Over the course of theQuick Start chapter, you’ll be working with a number of files that we put in thisfolder We provide you with a QuickTime movie that we rendered from our own

project using the same elements The movie is called QS Rendered.mov, and we

suggest that you look at it to get a sense of the composition you’ll be building.Also, if you want to look at the finished version of the After Effects project that

you’re going to create in this chapter, take a look at the one called Quick Start.aep You can find both the finished project file and the QuickTime movie in the Project

Files/Quick Startfolder If you want to get the most out of the chapter, you maynot want to open the finished After Effects project until you’ve tried to completethe project on your own

Saving a project

After you initially open the application, by default, After Effects creates a project

called Untitled Project.aep Change that and give this project a name Choose

On the DVD-ROM Note

File➪ Save As and the Save Project As dialog box opens up Name the file

some-thing such as My Quick Start project.aep and save it in a location where you plan on

saving your After Effects work

You should make a habit of keeping the aep file extension on the tail-end of allyour After Effects project files There are a couple of good reasons for this First ofall, if you’re working on a Windows-based PC, your system may not recognize thefile without the correct extension Secondly, if you’re working on a Mac, while itdoesn’t matter because the OS will recognize the file whether or not you add theextension, if you ever want to bring your project into a PC environment, the aepfile extension will suddenly become an issue In short, we recommend that youget in the habit of ending your project filenames with aep See Figure QS-1

Figure QS-1: An After Effects project file uses the aep

extension and contains links to various media, not the actualmedia

After Effects project files are interesting animals, because they don’t contain anyactual media If you’re a video editor, you’re used to this concept because video-editing applications work in a similar fashion This may not seem overly remarkablewhen you first think about it, but we should mention that most other programshandle the job of saving their respective files somewhat differently For example,when you save a Photoshop or word-processor file, you’re writing the contents ofthat file to disk When you save an After Effects project, you’re saving a file thatcontains links to the media that are used by the project, not the actual media itself

For example, imagine that you’ve brought a QuickTime movie into your AfterEffects project After you save the project file, if for some reason it is inadvertentlydeleted, the QuickTime movie won’t be lost What’s lost is the project file contain-ing the link to the QuickTime movie This will make more sense as you movethrough the chapter, but that’s the basic idea behind the actual contents of anAfter Effects project file

STEPS: Bringing Elements into Your Project

1 Choose File ➪ Import ➪ Multiple Files This opens up the Import Multiple

Files dialog box shown in Figure QS-2

Caution

Figure QS-2: Choose File➪ Import ➪ Multiple Files

to open the Import Multiple Files dialog box

2 Navigate your way to the location where you copied the files from the

DVD-ROM to your hard drive and select the Quick Start Media folder by

5 In the Project window, twirl open the Quick Start Media folder by clicking

the small triangle to the left of it Doing this displays the contents of the

folder you just imported

Okay, mission accomplished You successfully brought in all the media you’re going

to use to create your animation

Select any of the footage items under the Quick Start Media folder by clicking them

once, and a thumbnail sketch of the item appears at the top of the Project window,along with some information describing the file’s vital statistics Look at Figure QS-3

to see what After Effects has to say about some of the media you imported

You may have noticed the asterisk following your project name at the top of theProject window This is After Effects’ way of telling you that your file has been modi-fied since the last time you saved it Because you just imported all that media, youshould save your project As a general rule, anytime you make significant changes

to your project file, you should save them Go ahead and choose File➪ Save and do

it regularly in the future You’ll be glad you did

Figure QS-3: If you click a footage item in the Project window,

After Effects will show you a thumbnail of the file and tell you everything it knows about it

If you remember what we told you earlier, then you’ll know that your project filenow contains links to the media you just imported This is an important detail, andwe’ll explain why If you were to quit After Effects and move any of the media filesyou just imported to a different location on your hard drive, the next time youopened up the project, After Effects would report the moved files as missing Later

on in the book, we explain how to relink your project to files that have beenmoved, but at this point, you should at least be aware of the fact that movingmedia around the different folders of your hard drive can result in problems

Caution