Ae Cib Instructor Notes

8/7/2019 Ae Cib Instructor Notes

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Classroom in a Book Instructor Notes

Adobe

After Effects

7.0


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Adobe After Effects 7.0 Instructor Notes

LESSON 1

Lesson 1 uses a sample project to provide an overviewo the typical Ater Eects workow, rom creating aproject to importing ootage, creating a composition,applying eects, and outputting content. Along theway, students are introduced to the various elements othe Ater Eects workspace, which theyll need to un-derstand as they proceed with the lessons in this book.

About the Adobe workspace

Ater Eects 7.0 oers a redesigned, unifed user

interace. Adobe video and audio applications providea consistent, customizable workspace. Although eachapplication has its own set o panels (such as Tools,Properties, Timeline, and so on), you move and grouppanels on your computer screen in the same way acrossproducts.

The main window o a program is the application win-dow. The various panels are organized in this windowin an arrangement called a workspace. The deaultworkspace contains groups o panels as well as panelsthat stand alone.

You customize a workspace by arranging the panels,usually by dragging them, in the layout that best suitsyour style o working. You can create and save severalcustom workspaces or dierent tasksor example,one or editing and one or previewing.

You can drag panels to new locations, move panels intoor out o a group, place panels alongside each other,and undock a panel so that it oats in a new windowabove the application window. As you rearrange panels,the other panels resize automatically to ft the window.

You can use oating windows to create a workspacemore like those in previous versions o Adobe applica-

tions, or to place panels on multiple monitors.

Using a scroll-wheel mouse

I your mouse has a wheel or scrolling, you can zoomin the Timeline, Project, Render Queue, Composition,Layer, Footage, Flowchart, Eect Controls, and Eects& Presets panels, and scroll in the Timeline, Project,

Render Queue, Flowchart, Eect Controls, and Eects& Presets panels.

Do any o the ollowing:

To zoom into the center o the panel, or into the eatureregion when tracking, roll the mouse wheel orward.

To zoom out o the center o the panel, or out o the ea-

ture region when tracking, roll the mouse wheel backward.

To zoom into the area under the pointer, hold down Alt(Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you roll the mouse

wheel orward. To zoom out o the area under the pointer, hold down

Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you roll the mousewheel backward.

To scroll vertically, roll the mouse wheel orward or back-

ward.

To scroll horizontally, hold down Shit as you roll the

mouse wheel backward or orward. When you are in the

Timeline panel, rolling backward moves you orward in

time and vice versa.

Note: You can scroll in a panel even i it is notcurrently active as long as you move the pointerover it. For instance, you can scroll in the Com-position panel even i the Eect Controls panelis currently active.

Lesson 1: Getting to Know the Workfow


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Lesson 2: Creating a Basic Animation Using

Eects and Presets

LESSON 2

Ater Eects 7.0 lets you produce great-looking anima-tions quickly using hundreds o ully customizableanimation presets, including presets or animating text,eects, transitions, backgrounds, and behaviors. Youcan also use included project templates or DVD mo-tion menus and motion graphics backgrounds. Lesson2 explores how to create a composition using some othese new presets. At the end o the lesson, students

export their animation in Flash ormat or use on theweb. These notes provide additional background aboutanimation presets and Flash export.

About animation presets

Animation presets let you save and reuse specifcconfgurations o properties and animations, includ-ing keyrames, eects, and expressions. Ater Eectsincludes hundreds o animation presets that you candrop into your projects and then modiy to suit yourneeds.

You can apply an entire animation preset to a layer,or you can apply a single eect or property rom ananimation preset. I a property or eect exists in theanimation preset but not in the target layer, the prop-erty or eect is added to the target layer.

See Gallery o animation presets or animated illustra-tions o animation presets included with Ater Eects.

Many animation presets dont contain animation;rather, they contain combinations o eects, trans-orm properties, and so on. You can save one or moreproperties with all o the desired settings to an anima-tion preset without including keyrames. A particularly

convenient category o animation presets is behaviors,which you can use to quickly and easily animate with-out keyrames.

Animation presets can be saved as FFX iles andtranserred rom one computer to another. Bydeault, animation presets are stored in the Presetsdirectory.

For additional inormation, go to Adobe Studio onthe Adobe website.

Saving animation presets

You can save settings o one or more eects as an ani-mation preset. Saving an eect as an animation presetalso saves any set keyrames, as well as expressions used

in the eect. For example, i you created an explo-sion using several eects with complex parameter andanimation settings within those eects, you can saveall those settings as a single animation preset. You canthen apply that animation preset to any other ootage,or you can apply any single eect rom that animationpreset to any ootage. The 20 most recently saved orapplied animation presets appear under Recent Anima-tion Presets in the Animation menu.

Animation presets also appear in the Animation Presetsmenu in Eect Controls and in Eects & Presets. TheAnimation Presets menu in the Eect Controls panel

lists only those animation presets that contain the cur-rent eect. For example, i the Mirror eect is selected,the menu will show only those presets that includethe Mirror eect. I the Animation Presets categoryin Eects & Presets does not appear, choose the ShowAnimation Presets option rom the Eects & Presetspanel menu.

Note: When you apply an eect rom the Ani-mation Presets pop-up menu, only the currenteect rom the animation preset is applied.

Exporting Flash animations

Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) ormats oerpopular standards or producing interactive web con-tentand now you can output both ormats directlyrom Ater Eects 7.0.

The ollowing tutorial explores the two ormats to helpstudents understand which to use or a given circum-stance. It then details how to export these fle types


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rom Ater Eects. You can use it to enhance the Lesson2 Flash animation export exercise.

Note: Though you can generate SWF and FLVles rom Ater Eects, incorporating theseles into web content and adding interactivityis typically done through a Flash authoring ap-

plication.

The fles used in this tutorial are on Disc 2 o the TotalTraining Video Workshop (included with Ater Eects).Depending on the television standard or your region,copy either the NTSC or PAL older rom the Ater E-ects 7.0 older to your desktop. Alternatively, you canollow along using your own fles. Youll need a fle witha vector logo (such as an Adobe Illustrator fle).

SWF vs. FLV

SWF fles deliver vector graphics (especially anima-tions) and other data types, including video, over theInternet. SWF fles also allow viewer interaction, suchas ollowing a web link. To view SWF fles, you needAdobe Flash Player, a plug-in or your web browser.

FLV fles contain only video. They may or may not bepart o a larger SWF fle, and they dont allow inter-activity themselves. To view FLV fles, you need FlashPlayer 7.0 or later; these fles can also be viewed by

embedding Flash Video Player code directly into aweb page. Several third-party standalone players orFLV fles are also available. (At the time o this writing,Windows Media Player and QuickTime Player dontsupport FLV fles.)

Create a comp

Youll start by creating a comp, which youll then turninto a common example o SWF content: a logo ani-mation that links to a companys home page, used as aweb advertisement.

1. Create a new Ater Eects project by choosing File > New

> New Project, and then import MC_logo.ai rom the older

you copied to your desktop.

2. Choose Composition > New Composition. Name thecomposition Linked_Logo, and rom the Preset menu,

choose Web Banner 468 x 60. Enter a duration o 500 (to

make the composition 5 seconds), and then click OK.

3. Press the Home key to ensure that the current-time

indicator is at the start o the composition, and then drag

MC_logo.ai rom the Project panel to the Timeline panel.4. Because the logo is too large or the banner, youll scale it

to ft. With MC_logo.ai selected in the Timeline panel, press

S to reveal its Scale property. Enter a scale value o 25%.

5. Now change the color o the logo so youll be better ableto view the alpha channel later on. Choose Eect > Color

Correction > Change To Color. In the Eect Controls

panel, click the color swatch or To and then enter values o

R=239, G=9, B=9 to create a bright red. Click OK, and then

select Hue, Lightness & Saturation rom the Change menu.

6. Select the Linked_Logo comp in the Project panel and

choose Composition > Background Color. Click the color

swatch and then enter values o R=0, G=88, B=238 to create

a bright blue. Click OK twice to apply the new color.

Animate the logo

1. With MC_logo.ai selected in the Timeline panel, choose

Animation > Browse Presets. Ater Adobe Bridge opens,

choose Presets rom the navigation menu at the top o thewindow, and then open the Behaviors older. Select the frst

behavior, Autoscroll - horizontal.x. The preview panel dis-

plays a thumbnail o the behavior. Double-click Autoscroll

- horizontal.x to apply it to the layer in Ater Eects, and

then close Bridge.

2. Press the spacebar to preview the animationlogos

marching across the screen. The march is a bit rantic;youll edit the eect to slow it down. In the Eect Controls

panel, locate the Autoscroll - horizontal eect, and setSpeed (pixels/second) to 25.

3. Save the project, naming it Flash_Export.aep.

4. In the Timeline panel, move the current-time indicator to

4:00 (our seconds). Make sure that MC_logo.ai is selected,and then choose Layer > Add Marker. A layer-time marker

is added at the our-second mark.

5. Double-click the marker to display the Marker dialog

box. Type Company link in the Comment text box, typehttp://www.adobe.com in the URL text box, and then type

_blank in the Frame Target to speciy a new browser win-dow. Click OK.

Note: With the marker in place, the link is in-voked automatically at the our-second mark.I you preer that the user initiate the link, youcould simply add a link to the SWF le ater plac-ing it on a web page (as opposed to embedding

the link within the SWF le as you just did.)

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Export the comp to SWF

Now that the animation is complete, you can export

the comp to SWF. Ater Eects creates the SWF fle, andthen places it in an HTML fle or convenient viewing.

1. Choose File > Export > Macromedia Flash (SWF).Choose a location or the fle, name it Logo_Ad.sw, and

then click Save.

Note: Be sure to include the .sw extension sothat the HTML le Ater Eect generates can

locate the SWF le.

2. In the SWF Settings dialog box, choose Rasterize rom

the Unsupported Features menu, and then select Include

Layer Marker Web Links.

Note: The SWF ormat doesnt support severaleects; choose to rasterize the unsupportedeatures to make sure that all eects are in-cluded in the SWF le. See Ater Eects Help or

more inormation on SWF settings.

3. Click OK. Ater Eects exports an HTML fle and a SWF

fle.

4. Start your web browser and open the HTML fle to view

the animation. I your browser is set up correctly, when theanimation reaches the our-second mark, the Adobe home

page opens in a new browser window.

Export the comp or FLV

FLV output can drastically improve the workow e-fciency or developing animated Flash content in AterEects. You can import FLV fles rom Ater Eects di-rectly into your Flash authoring sotware without hav-ing to recompress (encode) the video data. FLV evensupports alpha channels, helping to combine multiplefles over a consistent background.

Now youll export the comp you just created, includ-ing an alpha channel, in Flash Video (FLV) ormat. Butfrst, youll view the alpha channel.

1. Choose Alpha rom the Show Channel menu at the bot-

tom o the Composition panel.

2. When youre fnished viewing the alpha channel, choose

RGB rom the Show Channel menu, and then choose File >

Export > Flash Video (FLV).

Note: QuickTime 6.5.2 or later is required toexport FLV les rom Ater Eects.

3. In the Flash Video Encoding Settings dialog box, choose

Flash 8 - Medium Quality (400 kbps) rom the Please Select

A Flash Video Encoding Profle menu. Then click ShowAdvanced Settings.

4. In the Encode Video section, select Encode Alpha Chan-

nel. Then deselect Encode Audio, since the animation

doesnt include any audio. You can leave the other settings

at their deaults. Click OK.

Note: Two codecs are available or FLV export.You must use the On2 VP6 codec to include an

alpha channel.

5. Speciy a location or the FLV fle, name it Logo_ad, and

then click Save. Ater Eects exports the FLV fle.

6. To view the FLV fle, do either o the ollowing:

Add the fle to a web page, and then open the web page in a

browser with Flash Player installed.

Open the fle in a third-party standalone player. A quick

search on the Internet should locate several standaloneplayers available or download.

LESSON 2


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LESSON 3

Lesson 3 explores the many text options and text-animation eatures in Ater Eects 7.0. The ollowingmaterial provides additional background on ormattingand animating text in Ater Eects.

About text layers

With Ater Eects, you can add text to layers withexibility and precision. You can create and edit text di-rectly on-screen in the Composition panel and quicklychange the ont, style, size, and color o the text. You

can apply changes to individual characters and set or-matting options or entire paragraphs, including align-ment, justifcation, and word wrapping. In addition toall o these style eatures, Ater Eects provides toolsor easily animating specifc characters and eaturessuch as text opacity and hue.

About onts

A ont is a complete set o charactersletters, num-bers, and symbolsthat share a common weight,width, and style. In addition to the onts installed on

your system, Ater Eects uses ont fles in this localolder:

Windows Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts

Mac OS X Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

I you install a Type 1, TrueType, OpenType, or CIDont into the local Fonts older, the ont appears inAdobe applications only.

To use smart quotes

Smart quotes, or printers quotation marks, use acurved let or right quotation mark instead o straightquotation marks. To apply smart quotes, choose UseSmart Quotes rom the Character panel menu.

To edit text in text layers

You can edit text in text layers at any time. I you set thetext to ollow a path, designate it as a 3D layer, trans-orm it, or animate it, you can still continue to edit it.

The pointer or a type tool changes as you move itaround the Composition panel. When it is directly overa text layer, it appears as the edit text pointer; click toedit the existing text. When the pointer is not directlyover a text layer, it appears as a new text pointer; clickto create a new text layer. Shit-click always creates anew layer.

1. Select the Horizontal Type tool or the Vertical Type tool.

2. In the Timeline panel, double-click the text layer to set

the type tool to editing mode and select the text.

3. Edit text

To blend overlapping characters in a textlayer

1. In the Timeline panel, expand the text layer and the More

Options group.

2. Choose a blending mode rom the Inter-Character Blend-

ing menu.

Note: To blend a text layer with the layersbeneath it, speciy a blending mode rom theModes column in the Timeline panel.

To change the direction o text

The Vertical Type and Horizontal Type tools let you en-ter text that ows horizontally or vertically. Horizontaltext ows rom let to right; multiple lines o horizontaltext lie rom top to bottom. Vertical text ows rom topto bottom; multiple lines o text lie rom right to let.

When you convert the vertical or horizontal orienta-tion o a text layer, the results rom paragraph text(justifable text that wraps within a bounding box) arevery dierent rom the results o point text (indepen-

dent lines o text) because paragraph text ows relativeto its bounding box while point text lies relative to theComposition panel. For example, when you convertparagraph text rom horizontal to vertical or vice versa,the texts bounding box doesnt change its orientation,but the ow o text inside the box does.

Lesson 3: Animating Text


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About text animation presets

You can browse and apply text animation presets as you

would any other animation presets.

The text animation presets were created in an NTSCDV 720 x 480 composition, and each text layer uses 72-point Myriad Pro. Some preset animations move thetext on, o, or through the composition. The anima-tion preset position values may not be appropriate ora composition that is much larger or smaller than 720x 480; or example, an animation that is supposed tostart o-screen may start on-screen. You may need toadjust the text animators position values.

I the text isnt positioned as expected or the text disap-

pears unexpectedly, adjust the text animators positionvalues in the Timeline or Composition panel.

The Paths category o text animation presets auto-matically replaces source text with the presets name,changes the ont color to white, and may change othercharacter properties.

The Fill And Stroke category o animation presets con-tains presets that may change the fll color and strokeproperties o the preset that you apply. I the anima-tion preset requires a stroke or fll color, the animationworks only i you have assigned one to your text.

To animate text with text animator groups

Once you create and ormat your text layers, use textanimator groups to quickly and easily create elaborateanimations. A text animator group includes one ormore selectors and one or more animator properties. Aselector is like a maskit specifes which characters orsection o a text layer you want an animator propertyto aect. Using a selector, you can defne a percentageo the text, specifc characters in the text, or a specifedrange o text.

Using a combination o animator properties and

selectors, you can create complex text animations thatwould otherwise require painstaking keyraming. Mosttext animations require you to animate only the selec-tor valuesnot the property values. Consequently,text animators use a small number o keyrames evenor complex animations. For example, to animate theopacity gradually rom the frst character to the last, setthe Opacity value (in the Animator group) to 0, and

then set the End (Range Selector property) to 0% at 0seconds and 100% at the end o the animation.

Text animator groups animate a characters position,shape, and size-related properties relative to each char-acters own anchor point. The text property AnchorPoint Grouping lets you reposition each charactersanchor point relative to its word, line, or entire textblock. In addition, you can control the alignment o theanchor point relative to the anchor point group and theont with the Grouping Alignment property.

About selectors

Each animator group includes a deault Range selector.

You can add additional Range selectors to an animatorgroup or add multiple animator properties that use thesame Range selector.

In addition to this Range selector, you can add a Wigglyselector. Use the Wiggly selector to create selectionsthat wigglevary within a specifed amountovertime. You can add one or more Wiggly selectors to ananimator group, and that animator group can containone or more properties.

When you add multiple selectors to an animator group,you can control the way they interact with each otherby using each selectors Mode property. You can set

values or the Start and End properties by changing thevalues in the Timeline panel or by using the selectorbars in the Composition panel.

About the Expression selector

The Expression selector lets you dynamically speciyhow much you want characters to be aected by ananimator property through the use o expressions. Youcan add one or more Expression selectors to an anima-tor group, and that animator group can contain one ormore properties.

LESSON 3


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LESSON 4

Lesson 4: Animating a Multimedia

Presentation

Lesson 4 builds a complex animation involving multi-ple layers, several types o keyrames, audio, and more.It starts rom a layered, imported Photoshop fle. Thesenotes provide additional background and teachingmaterial on how Ater Eects works with Photoshopand Illustrator fles.

Layered les

You can import Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator,EPS, and many PDF fles directly into an Ater Eectsproject.

Ater Eects imports attributes that were applied inPhotoshop, including position, blending modes, opac-ity, visibility, transparency (alpha channel), layer masks,layer groups (imported as nested compositions),adjustment layers, common layer styles (Drop Shadow,Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Em-boss, and Color Fill), layer clipping paths, vector masks,image guides, and clipping groups.

You can also create a new Photoshop fle and add it asthe top layer in a composition rom within Ater E-ects, or use Ater Eects to create a new Photoshop flewithout adding it to a specifc composition.

When you import an Illustrator fle, Ater Eects makesall empty areas transparent by converting them into analpha channel.

Ater Eects can import Illustrator CMYK fles. How-ever, to maintain accurate color, convert your CMYKimages to RGB images in Illustrator.

You can import a multilayered Photoshop or Illustrator

fle in the ollowing ways: As a new composition, with each layer in the Photo-shop or Illustrator fle becoming a separate layer in thecomposition that keeps its original dimensions. Thisoption, Composition - Cropped, makes it easier tomanipulate layers and speeds their rendering time.

As a new composition, with each layer in the Photo-

shop or Illustrator fle becoming a separate layer in thecomposition and changing dimensions to match thecomposition size. This option, Composition, is helpulwhen you need to align layers manually.

As a single still-ootage item imported rom any onelayer in the Photoshop or Illustrator fle.

As a single still-ootage item merged as you import

multiple Photoshop or Illustrator layers.

Preparing layered Photoshop les

Importing layers into Ater Eects makes it possible toprearrange a composition in Photoshop using layersand preserve those layers in Ater Eects so that theyare ready or animation. Preserving layers is also useuli you want to use a single Photoshop fle as a sourceor both print and dynamic media.

Beore you import a layered Photoshop fle, prepareit thoroughly to reduce preview and rendering time.Avoid problems importing and updating Photoshoplayers by naming them properly. Beore you importthem into Ater Eects, do the ollowing:

Organize and name layers. I you change a layer namein a Photoshop fle ater you have imported it into A-ter Eects, Ater Eects retains the link to the originallayer. However, i you delete a layer, Ater Eects isunable to fnd the original layer and lists it as Missingin the Project panel.

Make sure that each layer has a unique name to avoidconusion.

I you want to import a composited version o a lay-

ered Photoshop fle along with a layered version, selectAlways Maximize Compatibility For Photoshop (PSD)Files in the Photoshop File Handling Preerences dialogbox.

Preparing Illustrator les

Beore you save an Illustrator fle or importing into


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Ater Eects, consider doing the ollowing:

To ensure that Illustrator fles appear correctly in

Ater Eects, select Create PDF Compatible File in theIllustrator Options dialog box.

To copy paths between Illustrator and Ater Eects,make sure that the AICB and Preserve Paths optionsare selected in the Files & Clipboard section o theIllustrator Preerences dialog box. I you dont selectAICB in Illustrator, Ater Eects prompts you whenyou attempt to paste the path.

To ensure that fles rasterize most aithully in AterEects, save your fle in AI ormat instead o Illustrator8.x or 9.x EPS ormat.

Transparency in Photoshop les

Photoshop supports a transparent area and oneoptional layer mask (alpha channel) or each layer ina fle. You can use these layer masks to speciy how di-erent areas within a layer are hidden or revealed. I youimport one layer, Ater Eects combines the layer mask(i present) with the transparent area and imports thelayer mask as a straight alpha channel.

I you import a layered Photoshop fle as a merged fle,Ater Eects merges the transparent areas and layer

masks o all the layers into one alpha channel that ispremultiplied with white.

I the layered Photoshop fle contains clipping groups,Ater Eects imports each clipping group as a composi-tion nested within the main composition. Ater Eectsautomatically applies its Preserve Underlying Transpar-ency option to each layer in the clipping-group compo-sition, maintaining transparency settings.

When you import a Photoshop fle as a composition,any vector masks convert to Ater Eects masks. Youcan then modiy and animate these masks within AterEects.

Ater Eects also supports any blending modes appliedto the fle.

For more details about how Ater Eects works withtransparency in Photoshop fles, visit the support areao the Adobe website.

To use adjustment layers rom Photoshop

Adjustment layers in Photoshop change the color

and tonal qualities o an image without permanentlymodiying the original image. Photoshop adjustmentlayers aect the appearance o all layers below them.When you import a Photoshop fle containing one ormore adjustment layers as a composition, Ater Eectsdirectly converts the Photoshop adjustment layers toAter Eects adjustment layers.

To remove the eect and display the layer as a whitesolid, turn o the Adjustment Layer switch in AterEects.

To remove the eect and the white solid, either delete

the adjustment layer or turn o the Video switch orthe layer.

To continuously rasterize an Illustrator le

When you import a vector fle, Ater Eects automati-cally rasterizes it. However, i you want to scale a vectorfle above 100%, you need to continuously rasterizeit to maintain image quality. You can continuouslyrasterize an Illustrator fle (or any other vector fle) atany time while designing your project. Continuouslyrasterizing causes Ater Eects to rasterize the fle asneeded based on the transormation or each rame. A

continuously rasterized fle generally produces higherquality results, but it may preview and render slowerthan a rasterized image.

When you apply an eect to a continuously raster-ized layer, the results may be dierent than when youapply the eect to a nonrasterized layer. This is becausethe deault rendering order or the layer changes. Thedeault rendering order or a nonrasterized layer ismasks, eects, and then geometrics (transormations),whereas the deault rendering order or a continuouslyrasterized layer is masks, geometrics (transormations),and then eects. You can change the deault rendering

order.

For example, i an Illustrator fle pictures a dog andi you want to animate the scale o the dog and applythe Bulge eect to the dogs nose, turn o continu-ous rasterization so that the bulge stays on the dogsnose as the picture scales larger and smaller. Make sureto check the results o the eect beore continuing to

LESSON 4


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work on your project.

Whether or not you continuously rasterize, i you view

and render a composition using Best Quality, AterEects anti-aliases (smooths) the art. For general inor-mation about rasterizing, see Illustrator Help.

Note: You cannot paint interactively on a con-tinuously rasterized layer. However, you canapply a paint eect by copying and pasting orusing the Favorites menu.

Design an Illustrator CS2 workfow or videoproduction

When you import Illustrator CS2 fles into video pro-

duction applications, you can save production time bysetting up Illustrator CS2 fles or maximum efciency:

Customize the startup fleYou can customize thedeault settings or new fles by editing the startup flethat Illustrator CS2 uses or RGB fles. In the Plug-insolder within the Adobe Illustrator CS2 applicationsolder, youll fnd two fles: Adobe Illustrator CS2Startup_CMYK.ai and Adobe Illustrator CS2 Startup_RGB.ai. These fles contain the deault settings or newIllustrator CS2 CMYK and RGB documents, respec-tively. For a video production workow, edit the AdobeIllustrator CS2 Startup_RGB.ai fle. You can set the de-

ault Artboard Size to match your most requently usedAter Eects composition size. In addition, you cancustomize the contents o any palette. For example, iyour shop has a standard set o Illustrator CS2 graphicstyles or symbols, you can save them into the AdobeIllustrator CS2 Startup_RGB.ai fle, and theyll be avail-able in every Illustrator CS2 document you create. Asyou create documents using the File > New command,you can adjust the artboard size, orientation, and docu-ment color mode in the New Document dialog box.

Create document templatesA template is a custom-ized Illustrator CS2 document that creates an untitled

document when you open it. You can use templatesto create requently-used documents that dier romyour customized startup fle. Theres only one dier-ence between saving a document as a document or asa template: To save a document as a template, chooseIllustrator CS2 Template rom the Format menu in theSave As dialog box. Open a template using the samemethods you use to open a document.

Draw closed paths or masksWhen you draw masksin Illustrator CS2 or pasting in Ater Eects, always

draw closed paths. You cant use open Illustrator CS2paths as masks.

Control layer dimensionsI you import an Illus-trator document into Ater Eects and the Illustratordocument dimensions arent what you expect, speciythe layer dimensions in the Illustrator CS2 document.By deault, an Illustrator CS2 document imports usingthe largest area covered by all objects, not the artboardsize. To override the deault behavior, speciy a docu-ment size by drawing a rectangle in Illustrator CS2,and with the rectangle selected, choose Object > CropArea > Make. This command sets the outer bounds o

the document to the size o the rectangle. Areas outsidethe artboard are still clipped even i you extended therectangle past the artboard.

Edit Illustrator CS2 les rom within Ater E-ects projects

Whenever you have an Illustrator CS2 fle in an AterEects project, you can open the fle in Illustrator CS2directly rom Ater Eects. To open an Illustrator CS2fle, select it in the Project panel and choose Edit > EditOriginal. When you save the fle in Illustrator CS2, thefle is automatically updated in Ater Eects.

LESSON 4


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Lesson 5: Animating Layers

LESSON 5

Lesson 5 introduces students to the Layer panel, whichthey use to remap time, and to the Graph Editor, wherethey edit Time Remap keyrames.

About the Graph Editor

To view and manipulate all aspects o eects and ani-mations, including eect property values, keyrames,and interpolation, use the Graph Editor. The GraphEditor represents changes in eects and animations as atwo-dimensional graph, with playback time represent-

ed horizontally (rom let to right). In layer bar mode,on the other hand, the time graph represents only thehorizontal time element, without showing a visualrepresentation o changing values.

There are two types o graphs available in the GraphEditor: value graphs, which show property values; andspeed graphs, which show rates o change o propertyvalues.

Working with the Graph Editor

In the Graph Editor, each property is represented by its

own graph. You can view and work on one property ata time, or you can view multiple properties simultane-ously. When more than one property is visible in theGraph Editor, each propertys graph has the same coloras the propertys value in the layer outline.

To select which properties are shown in theGraph Editor

Click the Show Properties button at the bottom o theGraph Editor, and select rom the ollowing options:

Show Selected Properties Displays selected properties

in the Graph Editor.

Show Animated Properties Displays animated proper-ties o selected layers in the Graph Editor.

Show Graph Editor Set Displays properties that havethe Graph Editor toggle selected.

To select Graph Options in the Graph Editor

Click the Graph Options button at the bottom o theGraph Editor, and select rom the ollowing options:

Auto-Select Graph Type Automatically selects theappropriate graph type or a property: speed graphs orspatial properties (such as position), and value graphsor other properties.

Edit Value Graph Displays the value graph or allproperties.

Edit Speed Graph Displays the speed graph or allproperties.

Show Reerence Graph Displays the unselected graphtype in the background or viewing only. (The graynumbers to the right o the Graph Editor indicate thevalues or the reerence graph.)

Show Audio Waveorms Displays the audio waveormor any layer that has at least one property in the GraphEditor.

Show Layer In/Out Points Displays In and Out pointso all layers that have a property in the Graph Editor.

Show Layer Markers Displays layer-time markers inthe Graph Editor, i they exist.

Show Graph Tool Tips Toggles the graph tool tips onand o.

Show Expression Editor Shows or hides the expres-sion editor feld.

Allow Keyrames Between Frames Allows placemento keyrames between rames or fne-tuning anima-tion.

Using the Snap button

When you drag a keyrame in the Graph editor withthe Snap button toggled, the keyrame snaps to theollowing items:

Keyrames (both vertically and horizontally)

Current-time indicator

In/Out points


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Markers

Work area start/end

Composition start/end

When the keyrame snaps to one o these items, anorange line appears in the Graph Editor to indicatethe object youre snapping to. Ctrl-drag (Windows) orCommand-drag (Mac OS) to temporarily toggle theSnap button.

Note: Shit-dragging the current-time indicatoralso snaps to the items in the list above.

To pan and zoom in the Graph Editor

To pan vertically or horizontally, drag with the Handtool.

To invoke the Hand tool momentarily, press and holdthe spacebar.

To pan vertically, spin the mouse scroll wheel.

To pan horizontally, press the Shit key as you spin themouse scroll wheel.

To zoom in, click with the Zoom tool.

To zoom out, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click(Mac OS) with the Zoom tool.

To zoom using the mouse scroll wheel, press Alt (Win-dows) or Option (Mac OS) while scrolling to zoomhorizontally; press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (MacOS) to zoom vertically.

To zoom horizontally, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) with the Zoom or Hand tool to the letto zoom out or to the right to zoom in.

To zoom vertically, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) with the Zoom or Hand tool up tozoom in or down to zoom out.

Note: You cannot pan or zoom vertically when

Auto Zoom Height is selected.

Auto Zoom Height and Fit

The Auto Zoom Height, Fit Selection, and Fit All but-tons help you adjust the Graph Editors view to ocuson relevant portions o your animations.

Auto Zoom Height toggles Auto Zoom Height mode,which automatically scales the height o the graph so

that it fts the height o the Graph Editor. The horizon-tal zoom must still be adjusted manually.

Fit Selection adjusts the value (vertical) and time (hori-zontal) scale o the graph to ft the selected keyramesin the Graph Editor.

Fit All adjusts the value (vertical) and time (horizontal)scale o the graph to ft all o the graphs in the GraphEditor.

LESSON 5


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Lesson 7: Keying

LESSON 7

Lesson 7 is about keying. A common task in video pro-duction, keying removes the background o a clip sothat you can place the subject in another environment.Keying allows the weather anchor to appear in ront oa map, a superhero to y across the night sky, and moreprosaically, production artists to prepare video fles orcompositing in other applications.

You create a key by isolating the background pixels;Ater Eects uses the keyed pixels to create an alphachannel that defnes the transparent background. The

alpha channel can be included in certain video ormats,such as Flash Video (FLV), or use in other applica-tions. Ater Eects oers a comprehensive set o keyingcontrols that lets you create seamless compositions.

In this tutorial, which you can use in class to supple-ment the keying exercises in Lesson 7, youll key live-motion ootage o a DJ shot against a green screen. Notonly will you remove the green background, youll alsoexplore ways to fnesse the key to minimize spill (orhalo eects) and clean up the edges o the subject.

The fles used in this tutorial are on Disc 2 o the TotalTraining Video Workshop (included with Ater Eects).

Depending on the television standard or your region,copy either the NTSC or PAL older rom the Ater E-ects 7.0 older to your desktop. Alternatively, you canollow along using your own fles. Youll need ootageshot against a green screen.

Prepare the project

First, youll need to create a project and import theootage. Then youll create a composition and prepareit or keying. When keying, youll fnd it helpul tochange the compositions background color to some-

thing other than black or white. A dierent color helpsyou to see problems as you create your key. Ratherthan changing the background color, you can click theToggle Transparency Grid button at the bottom o theComposition panel to view the key as you create it.

1. Start Ater Eects and choose File > New > New Project.

2. Choose File > Save As. Navigate to the location where you

want to save the fle, name the project Keying.aep, and thenclick Save.

3. Choose File > Import > File. Select Green_Raul.avi rom

the older you copied to your desktop, and click Open.

4. Drag Green_Raul.avi onto the Create A New Composi-

tion button at the bottom o the Project panel. Ater Eects

creates a new composition based on the settings o the

ootage.

5. Choose Composition > Background Color. Click the

color swatch and then select a bright orange color. Click

OK twice.

6. Choose File > Save to save the project.

Create a garbage mask

A garbage mask (or garbage matte) helps to defne thesubject area o the key, masking out the unnecessaryareas.

1. Press the spacebar to preview Green_Raul.avi. Notice

that the DJs arms move, but otherwise there is very little

movement in the clip. When youre done, press the Homekey twicethe frst time stops the playback, and the second

time returns the current-time indicator to the beginning o

the composition.

2. Select the Pen tool rom the Tools panel.

3. In the Composition panel, use the Pen tool to create a

path around the DJ and his equipment. Try to create a path

that encompasses all o the DJs movement.

4. Ater closing the path, scrub through the clip to makesure that all o the DJs movements are within the path. I

necessary, use the Pen or Selection tool to adjust the path.

5. Choose File > Save to save the project.

Apply the Color Key eect

Now that youve created the garbage mask, you can getdown to the actual keying. Youll use the Color Key e-ect to remove the green pixels o the background.

1. Press the Home key to return the current-time indicator

to the beginning o the clip, and then select Green_Raul.avi

in the Timeline panel.

2. Choose Eect > Keying > Color Key. The Eect Controls


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LESSON 7

panel appears and displays the properties or the Color Key

eect.

3. Click the eyedropper to the right o the Key Color prop-erty, and then move the cursor around the green area in

the Composition panel. Notice that as you move the cursor,

the Ino panel displays the RGB values or each pixel. Click

a green pixel to the right o Rauls head. A sprinkling o

the green pixels are keyed out and the orange backgroundshows through. The number o pixels keyed out depends on

the color values o the pixel you clicked.

4. In the Eect Controls panel, set Color Tolerance to 16. By

deault, Color Tolerance is set to zero, so the pixels that arekeyed out are those that exactly match the selected color.

Increasing the value to 16 causes the majority o the green

pixels to be keyed out.

5. Set Edge Thin to 3 to smooth the edges and tighten thekey, and set Edge Feather to 4 to soten the transition.

6. Increase Color Tolerance to 32. Though not necessarily

a high setting, its too high or this ootage, making Rauls

green headband disappear. Just as in the real world, theinitial key goes a long way toward the desired results, but

you almost always need to tweak the composition urther.

Reset Color Tolerance to 16.

Apply a second Color Key eect

Although there are many ways to remove the remaininggreen pixels, or this ootage, applying a second in-

stance o the Color Key eect is the quickest. I you usethe Eyedropper tool to examine the remaining greenpixels, youll see that their green values are close to oneanother (and somewhat darker than the green used inthe original key.)

1. With Green_Raul.avi selected in the Timeline panel,

choose Eect > Color Key to apply a second instance o the

eect. The most recent eect applied appears at the top othe Eect menu.

2. In the Eect Controls panel, click the color swatch or

Color Key 2, enter values o R=62, G=108, B=67, and then

click OK. Set Color Tolerance to 10, Edge Thin to 2, and

Edge Feather to 2. These settings remove the majority o thegreen pixels. I you zoom in, however, youll notice a slight

green halo around the DJ. Next youll remove that.

Remove light spill

The green halo results rom light spill, or the light re-ected rom the background onto the subject. You canuse the Hue/Saturation eect to correct this problem.

Ater Eects 7.0 Proessional includes the Spill Sup-pressor eect, which makes quick work o removing

spill.

1. Select Green_Raul.avi in the Timeline panel, and then

choose Eect > Color Correction > Hue/Saturation.

2. In the Eect Controls panel, set Channel Control to

Greens, since you want to change green pixels. Drag theGreen Saturation slider to the let, to somewhere around

-40. This setting desaturates the green and removes the

halo. (It also dulls the green in the DJs headband, a perect

example o the compromises oten required when keying.)

3. Save the project.

View the alpha channel

Now that youve completely removed the background,view the resulting alpha channel you created.

1. At the bottom o the Composition panel, click the Show

Channel button and select Alpha.

Add a new background

You can now either add a new background or renderthe composition in a ormat that retains the alphachannel. Many ormats can retain alpha channels, in-cluding Flash Video, QuickTime, and a host o others.See Ater Eects Help or more inormation.

1. Choose Layer > New > Solid. Type New Background inthe Name text box, and click OK.

2. In the Timeline panel, drag New Background below

Green_Raul.avi.

3. Choose Animation > Browse Presets. Bridge opens anddisplays the available presets. In the Backgrounds older

within Bridge, double-click Cosmic Powers.x to apply

it to the solid layer. Close Bridge. At frst glance, the new

cosmic background seems a bit darkthe preset you ap-plied is essentially a collection o predesigned animations,

so you need to render the rames beore you experience the

crackling energies.

4. In Ater Eects, press the spacebar to preview the com-

position. You may notice some o the orange backgroundappears around the edges o the composition. The orange

appears because the edges o the layer warp with the

animation. Select New Background in the Timeline panel,

and press the S key to reveal its Scale property. Set Scale to

125%, and then preview the composition again.


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Lesson 8: Perorming Color Correction

LESSON 8

Lesson 8 covers color correction. To ensure that colorappears on a viewers system as students see it on theircomputers, a complete understanding o color andcolor management is useul.

About color depth

Color depth is the number o bits per channel (bpc)used to represent the color o a pixel. Channels containcolor inormation: RGB images have channels or red,green, and blue. The more bits per channel, the more

colors can be represented.

In Ater Eects, you can work in 8-bpc, 16-bpc or 32-bpc color mode or each project; 16-bpc and 32-bpccolor modes are available only in Ater Eects Proes-sional. Many eects support 16 and 32 bits per channel(see Color depth and eects).

Even i your output is 8-bpc (Millions O Colors),you can obtain better rendering quality by having theproject (or render) color depth set at 16-bpc or 32-bpcbecause o the added precision achieved by calculatingcolor values at higher bit depths.

32-bpc color mode (Pro only) is or working with HDR(high dynamic range) images. Ater Eects assumesthat all HDR ootage represents color linearlyin lin-ear light. When you import HDR images, Ater Eectsconverts oating-point 32-bit values rom linear lightto the projects working color space. I you haventchosen a working color space or your project, AterEects converts HDR ootage rom linear light using agamma value o 2.2; this value represents the gammaor a typical monitor. Gamma is the exponent used inconverting RGB levels. When you render to a 32-bpcoutput ormat, Ater Eects removes the gamma ap-

plied on import, converting 32-bit values back to linearlight.

16-bpc color-mode (Pro only) rames require hal thememory o 32-bpc rames and oer advantages interms o speed and storage. Use 16-bpc mode whenyou work with high-resolution images that containa narrow range o colors, such as when youre creat-ing subtle gradients or flm eects or HDTV output.

Transitions between colors are smoother with lessvisible banding, and more detail is preserved than with8-bpc color (though less than with 32-bpc color). Youcan import 16-bpc images, including those rom AdobePhotoshop, and composite and color-correct ootagein 16-bpc mode. Take advantage o 16-bpc color whenperorming most Ater Eects tasks, including layer ad-justment, rame blending, 3D compositing, and Cineonfle import. The Ino panel displays 16-bpc color valueswith exact precision.

When rendering to output module depths o TrillionsO Colors, set the project to 16-bpc color depth to takeadvantage o the output fles extra color precision.

To choose a project color depth

Do one o the ollowing:

Choose File > Project Settings, and choose a colordepth rom the Color Depth menu.

In the Project panel, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Project Color Depth button.

To expand the range o luma levels

Some fle ormat modules convert 8-bpc luma romcertain hardware, such as cameras, to RGB levels withinthe range o 16 to 235. In 8-bpc mode, Ater Eectsworks with RGB levels rom 0 to 255. I blacks orwhites appear either crushed or aded, there may be aluma range mismatch that you can correct by expand-ing the range o luma levels. You can expand the rangeo the luma levels to 0 to 255 without having to apply aLevels eect. Luma expansion also works with 16-bpcootage and projects.

1. Select the ootage in the Project panel and choose File> Interpret Footage > Main, and select Expand ITU-R 601

Luma Levels.

Note: In 32-bpc projects, Ater Eects can gener-ate over-range values that let you work withwhiter-than-white, or over-bright, values (orexample, values above 235 in an 8-bpc le).


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Color management

Color images can look dierent when viewed with

dierent display devices and in dierent contexts. Forexample, an image displayed on a computer monitormay look dierent rom the same image displayed on avideo monitor or projected onto a movie screen. Colorsshit because dierent devices use dierent methods tocreate color and produce dierent ranges o colors.

In Ater Eects, you can compensate or color outputbetween dierent display devices by frst calibratingand profling your monitor and then selecting an RGBworking color space, an intermediate color space usedto defne and edit color, which Ater Eects uses or allpixel color calculations. Each project can have its own

working color space, which is saved with all other proj-ect settings in the project (.aep) fle. When Ater Eectsdisplays pixels, it converts rom the working color space(which characterizes the space colors are in) to themonitor profle (which defnes how the monitor repro-duces color) to produce predictable, consistent color.

Because Ater Eects doesnt honor ICC profles as-signed to images such as those rom Adobe Photoshopand doesnt assign profles to fles on output, it doesntprovide a complete color management system. Howev-er, i you calibrate and profle your monitor and set anRGB working color space or the project, colors in your

images will look the same on any calibrated monitor.

To calibrate and prole your monitor

When you calibrate your monitor, youre adjusting itso that it conorms to a known specifcation. Ater yourmonitor is calibrated, the profling utility lets you savea color profle. The profle describes the color behavioro the monitorwhat colors can be reproduced on themonitor and how the color values in an image must beconverted so that colors are displayed accurately.

Beore you calibrate and profle your monitor, make

sure that your work environment provides a consistentlight level and color temperature. For example, thecolor characteristics o sunlight change throughout theday and alter the way colors appear on your screen, sokeep shades closed or work in a windowless room.

Make sure your monitor has been turned on or at leasthal an hour. This gives it sufcient time to warm up

and produce more consistent output.

Make sure your monitor is displaying millions o colors

or 24-bits-per-pixel or higher.

Remove colorul background patterns on your monitordesktop and set your desktop to display neutral grays.Busy patterns or bright colors surrounding a documentinterere with accurate color perception.

Do one o the ollowing to calibrate and profle yourmonitor:

In Windows, use the Adobe Gamma utility, located inthe Control Panel.

Note: Dont use Adobe Gamma to calibrate an

LCD (fat panel) monitorit doesnt producereliable results. Instead, use a hardware calibra-tor.

In Mac OS, use the Calibrate utility, located in the Sys-tem Preerences/Displays/Color tab.

For best results, use third-party sotware and measur-ing devices. In general, using a measuring device suchas a colorimeter along with sotware can create moreaccurate profles because an instrument can measurethe colors displayed on a monitor ar more accuratelythan the human eye can.

Note: Monitor perormance changes and de-clines over time; recalibrate and prole yourmonitor every month or so. I you nd it di-cult or impossible to calibrate your monitor to astandard, it may be too old and aded.

Most profling sotware automatically assigns the newprofle as the deault monitor profle. For instructionson how to manually assign the monitor profle, reer tothe Help system or your operating system.

To choose a working color space

I you dont choose a working color space or a proj-

ect, Ater Eects uses the color space o the monitor.For best results, choose a working color space thatmatches your output color space. For example, chooseSDTV (Rec 601 NTSC) i youre preparing ootageor broadcast video, or choose sRGB IEC61966-2.1 iyoure preparing ootage or the web. A good matchbetween working and output color spaces not only letsyou take advantage o the Ater Eects color manage-

LESSON 8


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ment eature but also gives more accurate previews andsomewhat more accurate results when linear blending

is used (see To enable linear blending). Setting a work-ing color space, however, can signifcantly slow RAMpreviews.

The color spaces available in Ater Eects vary based onthe color profles installed on your computer.

1. Choose File > Project Settings.

2. Choose a working color space rom the Working Space

menu.

3. Use the Color Profle Converter eect to convert a layer

rom one color space to another. For example, apply the

Color Profle Converter eect to an adjustment layer at the

top o a composition to convert output to a dierent colorspace.

To proo colors

I youve chosen a working color space, you can chooseto proo your colors as theyd appear without the work-ing color space applied; that is, as raw color values inthe color space o the monitor.

1. Choose View > Proo Setup > Unmanaged.

2. Choose View > Proo Colors to toggle the proo display

on and o. When proofng is enabled, a check mark appears

next to the Proo Colors command.

LESSON 8


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Lesson 9: Building and Animating

a 3D Object

LESSON 9

Lesson 9 is the frst o a two-part project that covers allaspect o 3D animation in Ater Eects. Here is someadditional useul inormation about 3D editing in AterEects.

Using third-party 3D les

Though Ater Eects can import some third-party

fles with depth inormation and interpret the z-axisinormation in those fles, it cannot animate individualobjects within those fles. Ater Eects treats each com-posited third-party 3D fle as a single layer. That layer,as a whole, can be given 3D attributes and treated likeany Ater Eects 3D layer, but the objects containedwithin that 3D fle cannot be manipulated individually.To access the 3D depth inormation in these fles, usethe 3D Channel eects.

About z scale

Usually, scaling a layers z axis has no eect on the layer

because the layer itsel has no depth. To add depth, youcan change the position o the layers anchor point orestablish a parenting relationship with other layers.Once you add depth, scaling the layers z scale valueappears to change the layers position.

How Ater Eects works with 3D image les

Ater Eects can import 3D image fles saved in Soti-mage PIC, RLA, RPF, and Electric Image EI ormat.These 3D image fles contain red, green, blue, andalpha (RGBA) channels, as well as auxiliary channels

with optional inormation, such as z depth, object IDs,texture coordinates, and more.

With RLA and RPF fles, all o the auxiliary channelsare included in a single fle. Sotimage PIC fles havea corresponding ZPIC fle that contains the z-depthchannel inormation. Although you cant import aZPIC fle, you can access the additional channel inor-mation as long as the ZPIC fle is stored in the same

older as the imported PIC fle.

Similarly, Electric Image (EI) fles can now have associ-ated EIZ fles with z-depth channel data. Just as withZPIC fles, you cannot import EIZ fles into Ater E-ects; instead, you simply store them in the same olderas the EI fles. For inormation about creating EIZ fles,see your Electric Image documentation.

Ater Eects can also import baked camera data, in-cluding ocal length, flm size, and transormation data,rom Maya project fles as a single composition or twocompositions.

To import RLA or RPF data into a camera layer(Pro only)

Ater Eects imports camera data saved with RLA orRPF sequence fles. That data is incorporated into acamera layer that Ater Eects creates in the Timelinepanel. You can access the camera data o an importedRLA or RPF sequence and create a camera layer con-

taining that data.

1. Place the imported sequence in the Timeline panel, andthen select the sequence.

2. Choose Animation > Keyrame Assistant > RPF Camera

Import.

Note: To create an RLA or RPF le with thecamera data in 3D Studio Max, save your render-ing in RPF ormat with Coverage, Z Depth, andAlpha Channels enabled.


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LESSON 10

Lesson 10: Using 3D Eects

Lesson 10 is the second o a two-part project on using3D animation in Ater Eects. It covers 3D eects andusing lights and cameras.

Camera settings

You can set up cameras in Ater Eects to simulate thecapabilities o real-world cameras. Use camera settingsto confgure the camera view to match the settings youuse to record video ootage or to look at the oot-age rom a new perspective. You can change camera

settings at any time by selecting the camera layer andchoosing Layer > Camera Settings.

NameSpecifes the name o the camera. By deault,Ater Eects assigns the name Camera 1 to the frstcamera you create in a composition, and all subsequentcameras are numbered in ascending order. I you deletea camera, and are still using the Ater Eects deaultnaming convention, Ater Eects names the next cam-era you create with the lowest available number. Youshould choose distinctive names or multiple camerasto make it easier to distinguish them.

PresetSpecifes the type o camera settings you wantto use. Cameras come with several presets. The presetsare named according to ocal lengths. Each preset ismeant to represent the behavior o a 35mm camerawith a lens o a certain ocal length. Thereore, the pre-set also sets the Angle O View, Zoom, Focus Distance,Focal Length, and Aperture values. The deault preset is50mm. You can also create a custom camera by speciy-ing new values or any o the settings.

ZoomSpecifes the distance rom the position o thecamera to the image plane.

Angle O ViewSpecifes the width o the scene

captured in the image. The Focal Length, Film Size,and Zoom values determine the angle o view. A widerangle o view creates the same eect as a wide-anglelens.

Enable Depth O FieldApplies custom variables tothe Focus Distance, Aperture, F-Stop, and Blur Levelsettings. Using these variables, you can manipulate thedepth o feld to create more realistic camera-ocus-

ing eects. (The depth o feld is the distance rangewithin which the image is in ocus. Images outside thedistance range are blurred.)

Focus DistanceSpecifes the distance rom thecameras position to the plane that is in perect ocus.

Lock To ZoomMakes the Focus Distance valuematch the Zoom value.

Note: I you change the settings o the Zoom orFocus Distance options in the Timeline panel,the Focus Distance value becomes unlockedrom the Zoom value. I you need to change thevalues and want the values to remain locked,then use the Camera Settings dialog box in-stead o the Timeline panel. Alternatively, youcan add an expression to the Focus Distanceproperty in the Timeline panel: Select the FocusDistance property, and choose Animation > AddExpression; then drag the expression pick whipto the Zoom property.

ApertureSpecifes the size o the lens opening. TheAperture setting also aects the depth o feld; increas-ing the aperture increases the depth o feld blur. Whenyou speciy new values or Aperture, the values orF-Stop change dynamically to match it.

F-StopRepresents the ratio o the ocal length to ap-erture. Most cameras speciy aperture size using the -stop measurement; thus, many photographers preer toset the aperture size in -stop units. When you speciynew values or F-stop, the values or Aperture changedynamically to match it.

Blur LevelControls the amount o depth-o-feldblur in an image. A setting o 100% creates a naturalblur as dictated by the camera settings. Lower valuesreduce the blur.

Film SizeSpecifes the size o the exposed area oflm, which is directly related to the composition size.When you speciy new values or Film Size, the Zoomvalue changes to match the perspective o a real cam-era.

Focal LengthSpecifes the distance rom the flmplane to the camera lens. In Ater Eects, the cameras


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position represents the center o the lens. When youspeciy new values or Focal Length, the Zoom value

changes to match the perspective o a real camera. Inaddition, the Preset, Angle o View, and Aperture valueschange accordingly.

UnitsSpecifes the units o measurement in whichthe camera setting values are expressed.

Measure Film Size Specifes the dimensions used todepict the flm size. About 3D previews

You can speed up preview time or 3D layers by en-abling Wirerame mode on the Fast Previews menuor by using Dra 3D mode. Tese preview modesreduce the amount o data displayed in a 3D layer, so

the screen redraws aster. You can also use OpenGL oraster previews o 3D layers.

About 3D rendering

Ater Eects provides three 3D rendering plug-ins:Advanced 3D, Standard 3D, and OpenGL Hardware.These plug-ins compute the motion blur, lighting,shadow, and depth-o-feld inormation unique to3D. OpenGL also provides rendering support or anumber o other 2D eects. Ater Eects can also useOpenGLi the appropriate hardware is availableduring interactions like moving and rotating layers.

Ater Eects can use the Advanced 3D rendering plug-in to create both RAM previews and output fles. The3D rendering plug-in you speciy becomes the deaultor uture compositions.

LESSON 10


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Lesson 11: Advanced Editing Techniques

LESSON 11

Lesson 11 looks at some o the advanced editing tech-niques available in the Proessional version o AterEects 7.0. However, it only touches on one new andimportant eature: support or HDR color. Here issome additional inormation about HDR, as well as atutorial, to supplement the lesson.

Working with natural light in HDR

Its a common yet mistaken assumption that the onlyAer Eects Proessional users who have any business

using 32-bit mode are artists working on big-budgetblockbuster flms. Te reality is that anyone using theProessional edition can beneft rom the 32-bit HDRpipeline. Not only does 32-bit mode mean more colorsand more accuracy than the 8-bit or 16-bit modes,it also means that the behavior o light and color inAer Eects is remarkably similar to the behavior inthe natural world. In this tutorial, youll explore how32-pbc images preserve the ull range o light data, andhow the same principals apply whether or not yourestarting with a 32-bit source.

Te fles used in this tutorial are on Disc 2 o the otal

raining Video Workshop (included with Aer E-ects). Depending on the television standard or yourregion, copy either the NSC or PAL older rom theAer Eects 7.0 older to your desktop. Alternatively,you can ollow along using your own fles. Youll needan Aer Eects project fle and a layered 32 bpc PSDfle.

Work with 32-bit input

Te most obvious advantage or 32-bit support is thatit allows you to work with 32-bit source images. Such

images can store light values beyond what your moni-tor displays as ull white. Tese light values are useulwhen you want to manipulate the light, such as bring-ing the light values o your scene down. In 8-bit and16-bit images, really bright white values are clipped tothe color spaces highest value; bringing these clippedcolors down turns them gray. However, 32-bit images,which retain the original (non-clipped) values, behave

much more like natural light, even through severalcolor corrections.

Adjust the exposure o an HDR image

1. Open the Ater Eects project HDR_1.aep. Select the PSD

fle. Its thumbnail, labeled Floating Point, appears at the

top o the Project panel. The bottom o the Project panel

indicates that the fle is in 32 bpc mode.

2. From the Workspace menu, choose Standard to ensure

that the Ino panel is clearly visible. Select Auto Color Dis-

play rom the Ino panel menu.

3. Move the pointer around the image in the Compositionpanel, noting the R, G, and B values in the Ino panel. Most

o the images pixel values are in the normal Decimal range

o 0.0 to 1.0. (In 8-bit terms, this range is 0 to 255.) Now

move the pointer over the brightest areas o the image,

and note that the values are greater than 1.0. These areascontain whiter-than-white values.

4. Select the HDR.psd layer in the Timeline panel, and

choose Eect > Color Correction > Levels. Move the

pointer over the brightest areas again, and note that the val-ues are 1.00. In the Eect Controls panel, deselect Clip To

Output White. Note that the values are again greater than

1.0. Set Output White to 0.5. The result is similar to stop-

ping down a cameras lens aperture, reducing the amount

o light entering the camera.

5. Select Clip To Output White, and notice that the bright

values turn gray. I the brightest possible white is limited to

1.0 (with clipping on), setting Output White to 0.5 turns it

medium gray. But i the brightest possible white is limited

to 2.0 (with clipping o), setting Output White to 0.5 turnsit back to ull white, or 1.0 (with clipping on). Darker values

in the visible range also change proportionally.

6. Apply a second Levels eect just as you did in step 3. This

time, set Output White to 2.0. Look amiliar? Essentially,

you restored the levels to their original values with the sec-ond occurrence o the eect. Toggle the eects o or this

layer by clicking the Eect switch in the Timeline panel.

Note that no loss o image quality occurs, even though you

made two drastic Levels adjustments. The image quality isretained because the HDR pipeline provides space to store

and retrieve the value changes.


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Take advantage o HDR without 32-bit source

Even i you dont have HDR source material available,

the ability to work with values that all outside therange o your monitor can still transorm your work.

1. Open the project HDR_2.aep. The Main compositionconsists o three layers: a precomposed Source Text 3D

layer, a Camera 1 layer, and a Light 1 layer. In the Timeline

panel, reveal the properties or the Camera 1 layer. Notice

that Depth O Field is on, and Focus Distance is at the

center o the text layer. Reveal the properties or the Light 1layer. Notice that at rame 0 Intensity is set to 100%, and at

the end rame its set to 1000%, ten times greater.

2. In the lower right corner o the Composition panel, ad-

just the Exposure control by dragging across the value be-

side it. Dragging to the right increases the exposure; drag-ging to the let decreases exposure. Increasing the value by

1.0 is equivalent to increasing exposure by one stop.

3. Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the 32

bpc button at the bottom o the Project panel, toggling themode to 8 bpc. Not only do the lighting eects disappear,

but so does the Exposure control, which is available only in

32 bpc mode.

Note: The Exposure control is or previewingpurposes only. To achieve similar results thatshow up in your nal render, increase the Inten-sity o the light or apply the Exposure eect.(Keep reading or more inormation.)

Go urther with HDR

Several eects have been upgraded to work in 32 bpc,and new eects have been added to take advantage oHDR. In the Eects & Presets panel, choose Show 32bpc Eects Only rom the panel menu to see these e-ects. Many are ideal or blurs and color correction.

A separate, somewhat more complicated beneft oHDR is the Linear Blending option. To set this option,choose File > Project Settings. Linear Blending changesthe way that Ater Eects works internally with gamma;

it combines light levels in a way thats similar to howtheyre combined in the real world. However, to usethis option properly, the source images and the work-ing space o your project must be converted to supportan altered gamma. For more inormation, see AterEects Help.

What is happening in 32-bit HDR mode?

As youve just seen, 32 bpc can calculate and hold

values even above the brightest value that your moni-tor can display. (Monitors display brightness at 1.0on a decimal scale, or at 255 in 8 bpc color.) But whatuse are these color values i your monitor cant displaythem? Because the bright values arent clipped, theyremore realistic. The real world contains brightnessvalues ar beyond what your monitor can display. Andnow you can capture a little bit o that reality in AterEects.

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Lesson 12: Rendering and Outputting

LESSON 12

Lesson 12 covers the topics rendering and outputting.Here is some addition inormation about DV and HDoutput.

Getting video out o your computer

Once you have fnished assembling and editing clips,its time to get your fnal production out o yourcomputer and on its way to distribution. These days,creative proessionals are expected to deliver video thatcan be used in multiple media. Broadcast and flm pro-

essionals alike are now creating web-based work, whileweb designers may need to create animations that areoutput in video ormats. DVDs have also become anextremely popular way to combine high-quality videoand audio content with menu-driven interactivity. Toaddress this growing need or exibility, Ater Eectsoers a wide range o options that enable you to pro-duce high-quality deliverables or any medium.

The project you edited in the Timeline does not actu-ally contain the material rom which it was piecedtogether. Rather, it reerences your source fles. Beoreexport, make sure that the Timeline is ready to output

at the quality you require. For example, replace anyoine fles with high-resolution fles suitable or fnalexport. To get your edited program out o your com-puter in one piece, you can:

Record the timeline to physical media including vid-eotape or motion picture flm, assuming that you havethe proper hardware or video or flm transer, or haveaccess to a service provider that oers the appropriateequipment and services.

Export a video fle or viewing rom a hard disk,removable cartridge, CD, DVD, or the web.

Export portions o your timeline as clips.

Capture stills or sequences o stills.

Good housekeeping

In proessional production environments, ater a videoproject has been completed, it is typically clearedrom the editing system to make room or new work.

Because the multigigabyte storage media that would beneeded is costly, and the process o uploading can bevery time-consuming, projects and source fles are notusually saved in their entirety. I you do want to saveyour entire project, you can trim unused rames romsome or all o your source clips and remove unusedclips in their entirety rom Project Bins.

Typically, however, a digital master fle is exported andarchived, the original raw ootage is stored on tapes,and an Edit Decision List (EDL) is saved. I the project

needs to be revised later, the master fle can oten beedited. For more extensive repurposing, the EDL can beused to recapture the necessary clips rom the originaltapes. Files used to develop titles, graphics, and anima-tions, as well as portions o the project that have under-gone extreme manipulation to achieve special eectscan also be archived.

Today, more and more production proessionals areexporting Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) flesrather than EDLs to archive or exchange projects. AAFis a widely supported industry standard or high-endexchange o data, such as the inormation necessary to

transer a video project rom one platorm to another.An AAF fle helps you preserve as much o the projectsintegrity as possible when you transer it to anothersystem. However, not all elements o a project can besuccessully transerred using AAF. Also, the applica-tion you use to open the AAF fle may not support alleatures. In general, an AAF fle dependably translatesediting data and commonly used transitions, such ascross-dissolves and wipes, but does not support eects(flters) or audio ade and pan inormation, includingaudio transitions.

Exporting to videotapeYou can record your edited program onto videotapedirectly rom your computer. This process can be assimple as playing the Timeline and recording on aconnected device. When you record standard DV videoback to standard DV tape, all that is required is anIEEE 1394 connection. However, i you plan to recordDV audio and video to an analog ormat, such as VHS


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tape, youll need a device that can convert DV to analogusing the connectors supported by your analog video

recorder. Most DV cameras and all DV video taperecorders are capable o this conversion; some DV cam-eras require you to record the video to DV tape, thencopy the DV tape to the analog video recorder.

Exporting to digital les

You can prepare variations o a program or clip or avariety o dierent uses. For example, you can createseparate versions or DVD distribution and web view-ing. Adobe Premiere Pro and Ater Eects both oerbuilt-in support or exporting the ollowing digital vid-eo fle ormats: Microsot AVI, Animated GIF, Quick-Time, MPEG-1 and -2, as well RealMedia and WindowsMedia fles or the web. Ater Eects also exports AdobeFlash (SWF) fles. Several audio-only ormats and avariety o still-image and sequence ormats are alsosupported by both applications. Additional fle ormatsmay be available i provided with your video capturecard or i you add third-party plug-in sotware.

To start the export process, you enter settings thatdetermine the properties o the fnal fle. These settingsmay include the data rate or playback, the color depth,the rame size and rame rate, the quality, and whattype o compression method, or codec, to use. Choos-ing compression settings is a balancing act that variesdepending on the type o video material, the targetdelivery ormat, and the intended audience. Oten, youdiscover the optimal compression settings through trialand error. Prior to distribution, you should always testthe fles you export on the type o platorm or equip-ment you expect your audience to use.

Web video

The web is rapidly gaining importance as a vehicle ordistributing video content. From training programs, to

sharing the experience o personal events such as wed-dings, to ull-length eature flms, video delivered viathe Internet or a corporate intranet is big business.

DVD

Adobe Encore DVD adds creative authoring or proes-sional DVD production to the Adobe Production Stu-

dio solution set. To learn more about DVD productionand Adobe Encore DVD, take a look at the Adobe DVD

Primer on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/mo-tion/primers.html.

What is high denition?

Ater years o anticipation, high defnition (HD) videoproduction has become widespread. Over-the-airHDTV is rapidly building an audience, and high defni-tion DVD development is proceeding quickly. Evenpeople not producing or an HD audience are usingHD ormats during production and post-production.For example, the pioneering DVD company Criterionuses HD on D5 tape or digital intermediates romtheir telecine captures. Suddenly, companies are fndingthat they have HD content to distribute and are look-ing or ways to distribute it.

The myth is that HD is very expensive and difcult toauthor. The reality is that HD has become cheaper andeasier to use than standard defnition (SD) was only aew years ago. Today, you can build a complete entry-level HD production system, including storage, sot-ware, and camera, or under U.S.$10,000. Higher-endand uncompressed HD editing systems can be muchmore expensive, but they are also declining in price asmore options enter the market.

Types o HD

High defnition simply means more than standarddefnition (SD). The highest resolution SD ormat isPAL, with 576 lines. Thus, almost any video rame witha vertical size greater than 576 lines is considered HD.I a fnal video is destined or playback on a computermonitor or a custom device, you can create your ownrame dimensions. However, most HD video is either1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Post-production or HD content

In the Adobe production workow, post-production isthe domain o Adobe Premiere Pro or editing, AdobeAudition or sound mixing and sweetening, and AterEects or compositing and fnishing.

Post-production or HD is similar to post-productionor SD. One dierence is that with HD youre dealing

LESSON 12


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with signifcantly more data and consequently increas-ing the load on the CPU and video card. However, i

you have worked in Adobe Premiere Pro and AterEects or SD, you can use the same tools and enjoy thesame workow in HD.

A complete HD post-production suite can include aworkstation or acquisition and editing, and anotheror scene-by-scene color correction and eects. Withtwo workstations, an Editor and Colorist can work ondierent parts o the production at the same time. Oneor more videotape playback decks may be located nearthe editing workstation or acquisition, depending onthe ormats used in production. To ensure that highquality is maintained throughout the process, a suite

should include at least one high-resolution monitor.High perormance computers and a RAID array areused or ast processing, and reliable mass storage.

Choosing an HD monitor

HD video monitors can be quite expensive, especiallymodels with an HD-SDI input. However, a true proes-sional-grade HD video monitor is essential or anyproducer working with HD destined or broadcast.

For some tasks, a computer monitor is a less expensiveway to view the actual HD output, especially or proj-

ects that use progressive scanning. However, computermonitors use a dierent color temperature rom truevideo monitors, so its benefcial to use a video moni-tor to ensure that you see the true representation o thevideo as it will be delivered. A number o vendors oerHD-SDI to Digital Video Interace (DVI) convertersto drive computer monitors. High-quality 1920 x 1200LCD monitors are now available or around US$2000,so this converter is cost eective. Because computermonitors are natively progressive, these converters arenot a good solution or natively interlaced projects inAdobe Premiere Pro. (Conversion isnt an issue withAter Eects because the preview is progressive.)

Another advantage o using broadcast monitors iscalibration. These monitors provide eatures that easilyset them to the canonical 709 color space o HD. Whilethis setting is possible with a computer monitor as well,correctly setting the calibration can be difcult or inac-curate. Even systems with a colorimeter or automaticcolor confguration dont always include 709 presets.

HD can be slow!

The additional throughout and processing power

required or HD production oten exceeds the capa-bilities o even the astest computers. A computer thathandles SD video simply cannot be expected to providethe same perormance with HD, without a little help.The good news is that modern tools give you a numbero techniques to get around these limitations.

Speciying rendering quality and compression

Ater Eects has several rendering modes. For fnaloutput, you should always use the highest qualitymode, especially when your fnal product is to be com-

pressed. High-quality mode can increase compressionefciency, resulting in ewer image artiacts.

Rendering in Ater Eects

16-bit per channel (bpc) rendering was introduced inthe Ater Eects Production Bundle and is now avail-able in both Ater Eects Standard and Ater EectsProessional. The 16-bpc rendering process doublesthe number o bits available or each channel, whichgreatly increases the precision o the video rendering.That extra precision is quite useul, especially in reduc-ing the appearance o banding in an image with subtle

gradients. This precision has a cost. 16-bpc renderingtakes twice the time and requires twice as much RAMas 8-bpc rendering.

16-bit per channel rendering is adequate or mostvideo, and Ater Eects also eatures 32-bit renderingor high dynamic range (HDR) ootage. Floating-point numeric values allow the same number o bits todescribe a much wider range o values than fxed-pointvalues; 32-bits per channel allow or much greater pre-cision than do 8- or 16-bits per channel. This exibilityenables you to work with images that have a very widerange o brightness levels, more like the range o levels

ound in the real world.

Rendering in 16 or 32 bpc isnt necessary when encod-ing to an 8-bpc delivery ormat like Windows Mediaor MPEG-2. It does, however, provide a very welcomequality boost when going back out to 10-bpc ormatslike D5.

LESSON 12

Ae Cib Instructor Notes

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