In setting up motion tracking, it’s often necessary to refine a track point by adjusting its feature region, search region, and attach point. You can resize or move these items independently or in groups by dragging with the Selection tool. The pointer icon changes to reflect one of many different activities. Track point components (left) […]
Author: Cheryl Inglett
Analyzing and applying tracking – Advanced Editing Techniques
Now that the search and feature regions are defined, you can apply the tracker. The tracking analysis may take quite a while. The larger the search and feature regions, the longer After Effects takes to analyze tracking. The motion-tracking data is added to the Timeline panel, where you can see that the track data is […]
Removing unwanted objects – Advanced Editing Techniques
It can be frustrating and tedious to remove unwanted objects from video, especially if the object moves between frames. The Content-Aware Fill feature in After Effects makes it possible to remove distractions such as microphones or other filming equipment, incongruous landscape elements, or even people. The feature removes the area you select, and then it […]
Applying Content-Aware Fill – Advanced Editing Techniques
You’re ready to replace the masked area with content-aware fill. The Alpha Expansion setting increases the size of the area to fill. Content-Aware Fill often performs better when the selected area includes pixels outside the object you’re removing. The Fill Method determines how the feature samples pixels and accommodates motion in the video. Range determines […]
Creating a particle simulation – Advanced Editing Techniques
After Effects includes several effects that do an excellent job of creating particle simulations. Two of them—CC Particle Systems II and CC Particle World—are based on the same engine. The major difference between the two is that Particle World enables you to move the particles in 3D space rather than in a 2D layer. In […]
Understanding Particle Systems II properties – Advanced Editing Techniques
Particle systems have a unique vocabulary. Some of the key settings are explained here for your reference. They’re listed in the order in which they appear (top to bottom) in the Effect Controls panel. Birth Rate Controls the number of particles generated per second. The value itself is arbitrary and does not equal the actual […]
Creating the sun – Advanced Editing Techniques
You will now create a bright halo of light that will go behind the particles. Lighting the darkness Since the sun is bright, it should illuminate the surrounding darkness. The Gradient Ramp effect creates a color gradient, blending it with the original image. You can create linear ramps or radial ramps, and vary the position […]
Adding a lens flare – Advanced Editing Techniques
To tie all the elements together, you’ll add a lens flare to simulate an explosion. Finally, you need to make the layers under the Nova layer visible in the composition. About high dynamic range (HDR) footage After Effects supports high dynamic range (HDR) color. The dynamic range (ratio between dark and bright regions) in the […]
Setting up the project – Advanced Editing Techniques-2
The speed adjustments are rather abrupt—not the smooth, slow-motion curve you would expect to see in a professional effect. This is because the keyframes are linear instead of curved. You’ll fix that next. TipClose columns in the Timeline panel to see more icons in the Graph Editor. You can also apply an Easy Ease adjustment […]
Getting started – Rendering and Outputting
Lesson overview In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following: The total amount of time required to complete this lesson depends in part on the speed of your processor and the amount of RAM available for rendering. The amount of hands-on time required is less than an hour. If you haven’t already done […]