To hear the audio while you’re dragging through your After Effects timeline, hold down the Cmd (Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows) key while dragging.
While not as good as a full preview, it can help you find your place quickly. You can improve audio scrubbing by turning off the visibility for layers with video- or processor-intensive effects.
This tutorial is a single movie from the Photoshop for Video Editors: Core Skills course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. The complete course is 3 hours and 8 minutes long and shows how to use Photoshop to perform typical video editing tasks, like lens correction, color grading, and more.
This tutorial is a single movie from the Photoshop for Video Editors: Core Skills course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. The complete course is 3 hours and 8 minutes long and shows how to use Photoshop to perform typical video editing tasks, like lens correction, color grading, and more.
Introduction
1. Pixels Demystified
2. Preparing a Photo
3. Creating a Logo Bug
4. Animating a Logo
5. Gradient Wipes
6. Correcting Lens Distortion
7. Using Actions for Video Workflows
8. Advanced Color Grading and Effects
9. Enhancing Depth of Field
10. The Photoshop/Premiere Pro/After Effects Relationship
Conclusion
This tutorial is a single movie from the Photoshop for Video Editors: Core Skills course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. The complete course is 3 hours and 8 minutes long and shows how to use Photoshop to perform typical video editing tasks, like lens correction, color grading, and more.
Introduction
1. Pixels Demystified
2. Preparing a Photo
3. Creating a Logo Bug
4. Animating a Logo
5. Gradient Wipes
6. Correcting Lens Distortion
7. Using Actions for Video Workflows
8. Advanced Color Grading and Effects
9. Enhancing Depth of Field
10. The Photoshop/Premiere Pro/After Effects Relationship
Conclusion
A fun technique when shooting water is to go for the long exposure. The water goes silky and becomes great to look at. For many, this type of shooting means a solid tripod and a remote release. But what happens if you don’t own those items (or have them with you)? That’s easy… improvise.
Put the camera in manual mode and set it on a flat surface like a bench, garbage can, or railing.
Set your aperture to the smallest aperture you have.
Attach a ND filter if you have one.
Set the timer delay on the camera. This way after you push the button to release the shutter, the camera will wait a few seconds before firing (this will stabilize the shot).
This motion graphics tutorial shows how to create interesting abstract backgrounds for your effects by moving a light source around a reflective object, such as jewelry, to create the illusion of abstract dancing shadows. Watch more at http://www.lynda.com/After-Effects-tutorials/Practical-Motion-Background-Wo....
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See what’s next in Adobe Photoshop.
Hear from Adobe evangelists and designers, photographers and filmmakers, who are breaking the creative mold.
Iconic design agency Karlssonwilker talks about taking their unique design sensibility to the web.
Go behind the scenes of "A Liars Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman" with Animation Director Justin Weyers.
Kelby Media Group CEO Scott Kelby shows off hidden gems in Photoshop CS6.
Registration is not required to view the event. Registered participants will receive speaker updates and a promo code for a $300 early bird discount on Adobe MAX 2013.
This tutorial is a single movie from the fourth chapter of the Motion Control 3D: Bringing Your Photos to Life in Three Dimensions course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. The complete course is 1 hour and 40 minutes long and reveals how you can transport your photos into a three-dimensional world using the Motion Control 3D plugin for Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.
This tutorial is a single movie from the ninth chapter of the Motion Control 3D: Bringing Your Photos to Life in Three Dimensions course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. The complete course is 1 hour and 40 minutes long and reveals how you can transport your photos into a three-dimensional world using the Motion Control 3D plugin for Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.
Adobe After Effects CS6 offers new workflows for vector graphics. Explore these new features with Rich Harrington, including converting vector files to shape layers so that they are automatically included in AE project files, as well as new 3D extrusion tools.
Adobe After Effects CS6 has a camera tracker that can add a new dimension to your compositing. Rich Harrington shows you the best approaches to AE's new 3D Camera Tracker for a variety of techniques including object placement and completely relighting a scene.
Back ten frames | Shift + Left Arrow or Shift + Page Up
Forward one frame | Right Arrow or Page Down
Forward ten frames |Shift + Right Arrow or Shift + Page Down
Move to the beginning of the timeline | Home
Move to the end of the timeline | End
Move to In point of the current layer | Up Arrow
Move to the Out point of the current layer | Down Arrow
Back 1 second | Shift + Up Arrow
Forward 1 second | Shift + Down Arrow
Jump to the next/previous whole second in timeline | Hold down the Shift key when clicking the Next/Previous Frame buttons (on either side of the Play button).
This Bridge tutorial titled Adding Ratings is from chapter one of the Documentary Photo Techniques with Photoshop and After Effects course presented by lynda.com author Rich Harrington. This specific tutorial describes how to use Adobe Bridge to add rating to your photos to decide which shots you prefer. The complete Documentary Photo Techniques with Photoshop and After Effects course has a total duration of 2 hours and 2 minutes and explores the world of documentary storytelling, using various techniques in Adobe Photoshop and After Effects to transform damaged photos into brand-new works of art. Documentary Photo Techniques with Photoshop and After Effects To view more of this course on lynda.com, click the link above.
Documentary Photo Techniques with Photoshop and After Effects course presented table of contents:
Introduction 1. Organize Your Photos with Adobe Bridge 2. Understanding Resolution 3. Working in the Right Color Space 4. Removing Damage 5. Content-Aware Repairs 6. Controlling Focus 7. Removing Distractions 8. Toning Images 9. Documentary Motion Control with After Effects 10. Exporting Animation Conclusion
When you want to rotate a 3D layer in an After Effects composition, type W to switch to the Rotation tool (V will switch you back to the Black Arrow selection tool when you’re done), and then choose Rotation or Orientation from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Tools panel.
Rotation is the best choice for animating.
Orientation is better for posing.
This is because when you keyframe Orientation, it always takes the shortest path between two angles. So if you start with a layer rotated 0 degrees and orient it clockwise to 350 degrees, in the final animation, it will rotate counter-clockwise from 0 to 350. On the other hand, Rotation remembers which direction you rotated the layer and how many times around you went.
Photoshop Extended lets you combine two great features for creative options. You can open up a video file and then use your painting tools to edit individual frames or to create an animation. This process is typically called rotoscoping.
1. Open or create a new video file. You can either open an existing video file (File > Open). You can also create a new video layer to isolate your animation (Layer > Video Layers > New Blank Video Layer.
2. Prepare to animate. Animation tasks are easier when you change Photoshop’s layout. In the Application bar, click the Motion workspace button to reconfigure Photoshop.
3. Select a layer and time. You need to choose where to animate. In the Animation or Layers panel, select a video layer. Next, move the current time indicator to the video frame you want to modify. This is where the animation will begin. 4. Start Painting. You can use any of your painting tools to modify the layer. Try using several strokes to create an animated image. You can also use the Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp, Healing Brush, or Spot Healing Brush to modify individual frames in a video file.
5. Move Forward. Since your goal is to animate, you’ll need to use more than one frame. You can use the playback controls at the bottom of the frame to advance to the next or previous frame. To make painting easier, click the submenu of the Animation panel (upper right corner of the panel) and choose Enable Onion Skins. This will show you a preview of the previous stroke when painting.
6. Change your Mind? Any painting you do on a video frame applies non-destructive edits. This means you can discard the altered pixels on a frame at any time. Simply choose Layer > Video Layers > Restore Frame or Restore All Frames command.
In this episode of Video Adrenaline for Photoshop and After Effects, Richard Harrington explores the interaction between Photoshop and AE when creating 3D models. Learn how to use Photoshop to retexture a model and import as a live 3D model into After Effects.
] In this installment of Photoshop and AE Video Adrenaline, Richard Harrington demonstrates how to combine Photoshop and After Effects to look at a great feature called Content Aware Scale. In Photoshop, you can detect skin tones or choose to protect a selected area from transform, but be able to completely re-scale an image while leaving the selected area unchanged. Richard then brings these concepts into After Effects for video in the next installment of Video Adrenaline for Photoshop and After Effects.
The image on the left is aliased, notice the jagged stair-step edges. The image on the right has anti-aliasing applied to the text.
Did you ever play with Lego building blocks as a child? Perhaps you noticed how hard it was to build an arch or a curve. The best you could achieve still had noticeable stair stepping. Guess what, pixels are just like those building blocks. Curved or diagonal lines will not look good at low resolutions, and you must soften the edge. By choosing to use an Anti-aliasing method, Photoshop will generate smoother results—especially when using selection tools (such as the Quick Selection tool) or vector-based type. Anti-aliasing works by softening the color transition between edge pixels.
Since only the edge pixels are changed, you lose no detail in the image itself. Anti-aliasing is a useful option for creating text, making selections for filters, or copying and pasting. It will be a recurrent topic throughout this book. You can adjust the anti-aliasing for many tools directly in the Options bar. You should apply this option before a selection is made. This post is sponsored by iStockphoto – Get a free audio track for your video project or photo slideshow http://www.istockphoto.com/freeaudio
When you need to create text for your projects, you can turn to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or After Effects. With each application, there are two ways you can create a text layer. You can use either Point or Paragraph text in each application, both offer benefits and you should carefully choose which you want.
Point Text
Click in the Comp window and start typing to create Point text. Point Text treats each line you type as a separate block of text. New lines will only be created when your press the Return (Enter) key. This method is useful if you want to align the text to a specific point on-screen.
Paragraph Text
Click the left mouse button down and drag in the Comp window to create a Paragraph text block. The edge—the text’s bounding box— is defined by how far you dragged the mouse when you created the paragraph text layer. This style of text wraps text around to the next line when your type reaches the edge of the current line.
You can resize the bounding box by clicking to place the cursor within the text, then dragging on one of the sizing handles around the perimeter of the bounding box. Shift-dragging a sizing handle will constrain the proportions of the bounding box. Make sure you don’t accidentally drag a sizing handle with the Selection tool, or you’ll scale the text, not it's bounding box. This post is sponsored by iStockphoto – Get a free audio track for your video project or photo slideshow http://www.istockphoto.com/freeaudio
For this one-hour webcast with Richard Harrington, co-author of Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5: Studio Techniques.
Almost all motion graphics artists today use After Effects, Photoshop or Illustrator to some degree in their projects. During this complimentary webcast, you will:
Learn how the Adobe Creative Suite can benefit your motion graphics workflow
Discover ways to connect After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Illustrator
Gain important knowledge of essential techniques like repairing and retiming footage, stylizing footage, background design, and using 3D objects and cameras
Explore advanced techniques like DVD menu design, motion control 3D and panoramic images
This webcast is ideal for both intermediate and professional users who want to incorporate CS5 into their own work. There will be five copies of the book given away and all attendees get 15 days of complimentary access to all of Creative Edge including Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5: Studio Techniques.
Make Photoshop Come to Life in Your Video Production
List Price:
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Get the most out of Photoshop in your video productions, learning Photoshop from COW Leader Richard Harrington. In this DVD, Richard, author of one of the top ranked Photoshop books, focuses on automating Photoshop and other power user techniques for video artists.
The Actions palette provides a video-friendly graphic user interface (GUI) for computer programming. Here’s some general advice to get results quickly.
Brush strokes, cloning, and most manual tools from the toolbox do not work. There are several alternatives, such as using a Gradient Fill layer instead of the Gradient tool.
To play a single step of an action, double-click on it.
Change Your Mode. Button mode lets you launch actions quickly; it’s in the Actions palette’s submenu. You’ll need to disable it to get recording and editing features.
Get Accelerated. Set the Playback Options from the Actions palette submenu to play back an action accelerated. Photoshop can process faster than it can redraw the screen.
Be Batchful. You can choose File>Automate>Batch to run an action on an entire folder of images. You can batch multiple folders at once. Create aliases or shortcuts within one folder that point to the desired folders. Be sure to click the Include All Subfolders option.
Be Safe. Back up your custom actions to two folders, the default location and a secondary backup. This way, a reinstall or upgrade won’t blow your custom actions away.
Change Your Rulers. To create an action that will work on all files, you must record some commands with the rulers set to percentage.
Size Specific. Use File>Automate>Fit Image to resize images for a specific height or width.
Be Careful Where you click. Photoshop will record the names of layers as you select them. This may cause playback issues, because the action will look for specific names.
Use keyboard shortcuts to select layers and such so that the action won’t look for a specific name for that step.
Choose layer above Option+] (Shift+Alt+])
Choose layer below Option+[ (Alt+[)
Choose top layer Shift+Option+] (Shift+Alt+])
Choose bottom layer Shift+Option+[ (Shift+Alt+[)
You can also arrange layers with shortcuts.
Move the current layer up the layer stack Cmd+] (Ctrl +])
Move the current layer down the layer stack Cmd+[ (Ctrl +[)
Move the current layer to the top Shift+Cmd+] (Shift+Ctrl+])
Move the current layer to the bottom Shift+Cmd+[ (Shift+Ctrl+[)
Using 3D Objects in Photoshop Photoshop’s 3D Engine is very flexible. It allows you to transform layers three dimensionally. More importantly, it lets you create new 3D elements including primitive shapes (such as cones or spheres). You can also make complex elements can be created using grayscale meshes.
Entire Web sites and commercial products have been developed that significantly extend Photoshop’s ability as a video tool. Here are a few of my favorites.
ActionFX – One source that has both free and for-sale actions is the diverse Web site, ActionFX (http://www.actionfx.com) Members have access to thousands of Photoshop actions, as well as other add-ons.
PanosFX – A great site that is really becoming one to watch is PanosFX (http://www.panosfx.com). This site has some incredible free actions as well as some very affordable and powerful tools for sale.
Photomerge is a specialized “mini-application” within Photoshop that assists in combining multiple images into a single photo. You can access it from either Photoshop or Bridge. Depending on the resolution of your sources and the speed of your machine, it can take a while to complete.
Blending modes are an integral part of both design and color correction workflows as they let you mix the content of two or more layers. Part of the reason many pass on blending modes is that they are hard to use if you don’t know which one you want. The truth is that the list can get a little long and if you aren't familiar with them, it can get a little confusing.Here’s a much better way to experiment when using Adobe Photoshop or After Effects:1. Select the layer or layers you want to blend.2. If using Photoshop, choose the Move tool (In After Effects, you can skip this step).3. Press Shift + = (Shift plus Equal) to scroll through the list.4. To move backward, press Shift + – (Shift plus Minus) to return to a passed blending mode.Be sure to check out my two Photoshop books – Photoshop for Video and Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS5.
A new addition to Photoshop CS5 Extended is the Repoussé command. The command can be used to create a 3D model from a 2D object (like shape layers or text). Making a selection first can also isolate the effect. The target pixels can be extruded, inflated, and repositioned in 3D space. The resulting 3D model can be easily imported into After Effects for animation or compositing. See the whole tutorial over at TipSquirrel.com.
There were a lot of updates in After Effects 10.0.1. Here are a few you may have missed. Thanks to Todd Kopriva for taking the time to point these out.
new and changed features
There were several fixes and improvements for RED (R3D) import and workflow. .
The Apply Color LUT effect can now use .3dl files with floating point values or 3DMESH/Mesh keywords, or those saved from an ASSIMILATE SCRATCH system (i.e., that have SCRATCH in the comments at the top of the file).
QuickTime (.mov) files from JVC solid-state cameras can be imported.
The standalone Adobe Media Encoder (AME) application can export MXF files containing MPEG-2 essence items that comply with the XDCAM HD format used by such systems as Avid Unity. Because you can use the standalone AME application to render and export After Effects compositions, this feature extends to After Effects.
notable bug fixes
Crash importing Sony XDCAM HD footage from Sony XDCAM Transfer application.
Slow playback of compositions containing several layers based on video footage items, especially for long-GOP footage from DSLR cameras.
Crash when using a PNG file with path name longer than 256 characters.
Colors rendered incorrectly with Avid DNxHD and AJA2vuy codecs in 16bpc and 32bpc projects.
QuickTime movies using Blackmagic RGB 10bit codec rendered with color shift or gamma shift.
Standard-definition-sized H.264 movies were imported with color space interpreted as HDTV (Rec. 709) instead of SDTV (Rec. 601 NTSC).
Todd Kopriva (tech lead for Adobe After Effects and wonderful tech editor for my new book) has released a bunch of free videos that address frequently asked questions in After Effects.
After Effects supports scripts which can automate complex tasks. One of those scripts can actually render a file then email you upon completion. If you’re a tech geek, the gears in your head are already spinning. Just think, the leash has been cut! You are free to leave and relax while your machine churns away.
Open up your General Preferences and be sure that the Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network box is checked.
Add your files to the Render Queue like normal.
Choose File > Run Script > render_and_email.jsx, you will now be prompted for your email settings.
Enter server smtp address: such as mail.mac.com, click OK
Enter the reply to address: such as the email you want to use to send the message.
If your server required log-in (most do), click YES and enter your ID and password. Click OK.
Enter the recipients email address. Click OK
An email with the subject AE Render complete will be sent when the queue is finished.
How cool is that? If you have an iPhone... you can also checkout apps like LogMeIn and iTeleport to actually view (and control) your screen from your mobile device. I've actually set up rendered files and sent them via YouSendIt to clients remotely.
Here are two quick tips to give you more control when you need to stop or re-render an item in After Effects.
A Better Stop
Normally when you click Stop on an item in the render queue, it adds it to the bottom of the list and will pick up where it left off. That may be what you want, but often you intended to bust the render, tweak it, and re-render. To stop a render and re-queue it to begin at the beginning, hold down the Option (Alt) key when clicking Stop Render. This will avoid the pickup and add the item to be re-rendered from the start of the original output settings.
Need to Re-render?
For one reason or another, it always happens, the need to re-render. Perhaps a small tweak to a keyframe or a timing issue. Chances are while your animation may have needed refining, the render queue was perfect. Save yourself some time and Re-queue that animation.
Select a previously rendered animation.
Press Command + Shift + D (Control + Shift + D) to duplicate the render item with the same settings and output name. This will rewrite over the previous file to the exact same destination.
Save your work, then click Render when ready to output.
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