Tutorial - 2: Basic Pass Editing & Intro To Mattes

Hey guys! Here's my second tutorial looking at compositing in After Effects, this one is essentially a quick and basic introduction to tweaking individual layers & passes to get a more refined look. I then go on to introduce the concept of masking using mattes.

Mattes are a difficult one to explain, and I'm not sure I done a good job, but it should give you at least a simple example of how they can be used practically. I'll probably dedicate an entire video to alpha/luma mattes at some point in the future, as I used them extensively on our project. They are the ultimiate "we'll fix it in post" tool.

Although these first few videos are quite specific to Ticked Off, hopefully it'll give you an insight into some of the cheap tricks you can do with your own passes to modify and enhance them. It's always worth experimenting with different effects to see what you can get from your own passes. 

In the next video, I'll be looking at how to use a depth pass for camera blur, then moving on to animating the time machine effects. I realise the current 4th years are nearing the compositing stage, so I'll try and up the rate at which I'm making these so they can be of some use.

Sláinte!

Tutorial - Compositing in After Effects - 1: Importing, Compositions, Layer Setup

Salutations droogs!

As I've mentioned previously, it's my plan to start making some simple tutorial videos focused around compositing specifically for animation in Adobe After Effects. This is the first of several, so I've got a few things to get out of the way before we get stuck in. 

Firstly, I've got no idea what kind of stage to begin at. After asking around a little and getting some advice I figured the best place to begin would be the start... so with that said, some people might find the first video pretty useless. I'm going to chat a little about passes, layers, importing and setting up a comp, before moving on to setting up all the layers in my new comp. If you're already comfortable with all of that then you'll probably be more interested in the next one where I'll show what you can do to pimp them out. 

Secondly, I've never really done anything like this, and I know I've got a tendency to ramble, side track, and not finish sentences... so I'm sorry if anything isn't quite as clear as I hope. If folk have any questions I'm pretty easy to get a hold of. 

I don't know everything about After Effects. Pretty much everything I know was just sort of figured out over the course of a couple of years. There could very well be much more efficient and successful ways of solving these problems, but I hope everybody will be able to at least take away something from this. I just want to try and get people thinking about what you can achieve with compositing, which I feel is something that wasn't really explained to me during my time at uni. 

I'm not going to be looking at anything to do with Nuke, for two reasons; unless you want to be a compositor in the industry or are working with live action plates, it's unnecessary. Secondly, I can't use Nuke for shit. 

I'm also not going to be covering anything on the maya rendering side of things. For a few reasons; I knew what frames I required for comp, but my good friend/saviour/wizard Finlay handled all of the actual rendering so, to be honest, I don't feel confident in my rendering knowledge to put it in the videos. Also, there's plenty of better resources where you can find that sort of information.

Finally, I'm going to be using assets from our degree film Ticked Off for most of the compositing examples. Mainly because I've got all the frames, but also because it's something that myself and most of you guys will be familiar with.  

I think that's pretty much everything, check out the video below. I'd love to hear any feedback both good and bad, and I'm not just saying that. 

Happy comping!

Oops... I arted. (Also, tutorial update)

I've been working on some fresh concepts for our old 3rd year project, which Paxton and I are going to remake. We're pretty keen to realise the idea, particularly after everything we learned in 4th year. Here's the first of a few concept pieces I've been doing, just to get the general feel. Although, it might not make a lot of sense to those unfamiliar with the project.

We're working on getting some other pre production goodies together too including animatics and designs so stay tuned for that.

Also, after receiving a bunch of messages from DJCAD students about compositing I've decided I'm going to make some short and simple tutorial videos covering the basics of pimping stuff in After Effects. I started doing this, but my planned 10 minute tutorial turned into about an hour... so it's going to need some more structure. If any 3rd & 4th year students have any pressing questions, please just get in touch. I'll be covering passes/layers, importing, basic comping, cheap tricks, colour correction and exporting. Maybe some in-depth geekery... 

Sláinte!

Holy blog post, Batman!

Salutations. I've realised I don't art enough any more... so here's some drawings from the life drawing sessions at The Flying Duck, which are on every Tuesday (complete with beer and classic ear-food). I also gave 'em a quick lick of colour in Potatoshop.

I'll be doing my best to update this more. I'm in a creative funk of sorts, and we all know the only way to get out of it is to churn out some work! Stay tuned.

(accidentally scanned the first one on low quality, hence the shoddy compression)

Go-Go-Gadget Website!

As most of you probably know, I've got a shiny new website on the go. It's still a work in progress, but all the essentials are there. You can check it out HERE or via the link on the sidebar. As always, feedback is more than welcome!