Adobe After Effects 5.0- P4 ppsx

79 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Classroom in a Book Placing the Square Grid animations Yo u’ll now add, duplicate, rename, and move the Square Grid Comp within the new composition. 1 In the Project window, select the Squares Grid Comp and drag it into the Composition or Timeline window. 2 Press Ctrl + D (Windows) or Command + D (Mac OS) five times to duplicate the layer so that a total of six layers appears in the Timeline window. 3 In the Timeline window, select Layer 1 and press Enter or Return. The layer name becomes active. 4 Type Square Grid 1, and press Enter or Return to enter the new name. 5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 to rename each of the other five layers, naming them according to their position in the layer stack: Square Grid 2, Square Grid 3, and so forth. AE_CIB.book Page 79 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM LESSON 2 80 Building Elements from Squares 6 In the Timeline window, select Square Grid 1 and drag it to the far left edge of the Composition window, at approximately the 220, 220 coordinates. 7 Move Square Grid 2 to the right of Square Grid 1, at approximately 660, 220. 8 Move each of the remaining layers until they line up approximately as shown: • Square Grid 3: 1100, 220 • Square Grid 4: 1540, 220 • Square Grid 5: 1980, 220 • Square Grid 6: 2420, 220 Layers 1–6 positions Adjusting the opacity of some layers To add variety and texture, you’ll change the opacity of two layers. 1 In the Timeline window, select the Square Grid 1 layer and press T to open its Opacity property. 2 Scrub or type 50% as the Opacity value, and press Enter or Return. Then press T again to close the Opacity property. 1 2 3 4 5 6 AE_CIB.book Page 80 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 81 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Classroom in a Book 3 Select the Square Grid 4 layer and repeat this process, but this time change the Opacity value to 80%. 4 Save your work. Rotating layers To give this element a slightly less uniform appearance, you’ll randomize the orientations. Because you created the original animation composition as a perfect square, you can simply rotate a few of the duplicates. This varies the movement within the overall compo- sition, creating the impression that you’ve done a lot more work than you actually did. Your last task before rendering is to limit the work area. 1 Choose Edit > Select All or press Ctrl + A (Windows) or Command + A (Mac OS) to select all layers. 2 Press R to open the Rotation properties for all of the layers. 3 Choose Edit > Deselect All or press Ctrl + Shift + A (Windows) or Command + Shift + A (Mac OS) to deselect all layers, leaving the Rotation properties open. 4 Scrub or type to enter Rotation values for the layers, as follows: • Square Grid 1: 0˚ (No change.) • Square Grid 2: 90˚. • Square Grid 3: 180˚. • Square Grid 4: –90˚. • Square Grid 5: 0˚ (No change.) AE_CIB.book Page 81 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM LESSON 2 82 Building Elements from Squares • Square Grid 6: 90˚. 5 Move the current-time marker to 3:00 and press N to set the work area to end at 3:00. 6 Press Home to move the current-time marker to 0:00, and then preview the animation. The squares randomly shift as they shuffle themselves in the Composition window. If you want to make adjustments, do so now. 7 Save the project. Rendering the dancing squares Yo u’ve finished working with this element, so it’s time to render the movie. 1 Close the Composition and Timeline windows, and then select the Squares01 Comp in the Project window. 2 Choose Composition > Make Movie, or press Ctrl + M (Windows) or Command + M (Mac OS). 3 In the Output Movie To dialog box, locate your _mov folder in the AE_CIB job folder and type Squares01.mov in Name. 4 In the Render Queue window, choose Best Settings for the Render Settings. AE_CIB.book Page 82 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 83 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Classroom in a Book 5 Click the underlined words Best Settings to open the Render Settings dialog box. 6 Make sure that Time Span is set to Work Area Only and that the work area indicated starts at 0:00 and ends at 3:00. Click OK to close the Render Settings dialog box. 7 For the Output Module, choose Custom to open the Output Module Settings dialog box, and do all the following:. • In Format, choose QuickTime Movie. • Select the Import into Project When Done option. AE_CIB.book Page 83 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM LESSON 2 84 Building Elements from Squares • Click Format Options to open the Compression Settings dialog box. 8 Choose Animation and Millions of Colors+, and then click OK to close the dialog box. 9 Make sure that Channels is set to RGB + Alpha, and then click OK to close the Output Module Settings. You’ll use the alpha information when you composite this layer into your final piece in a later lesson. 10 Choose File > Save, as a precaution. 11 Click the Render button. When rendering is complete, close the Render Queue window. The Squares01.mov now appears in the Project window because of the option you selected in step 7. Playing the Squares01 movie You can now play the movie you’ve just rendered. 1 Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you double-click the Squares01.mov to open it in the Footage window, and then reduce the size of the window as needed so that it fits on your screen. Note: Pressing Alt or Option when you open the movie gives you access to the Magnification menu and shortcuts. If the movie fits on your screen as is, you do not need to use the Alt or Option key. AE_CIB.book Page 84 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 85 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Classroom in a Book 2 Play the movie. It should look just like it did in the final Preview before rendering. 3 When you are finished, close the Footage window, save your work, and close the project. If you need to take a break, this is a good place to do so. Creating pulsating strips of squares In this section, you start to create a second squares-based element that will become part of the overall project. The first component of this element is made up of three different compositions: a strip of squares that moves into view from the left; a strip of squares that moves into view from the right; and a strip of squares that is not animated. Using transfer modes, you’ll make these subcomponents interact with each other so that you see strips of squares that appear to pulsate, growing wider and then narrower in an apparently random fashion. Importing a layered source file For this composition, you use a layered Photoshop source file. When you import this kind of file into After Effects, you can either ignore the layering structure and use the Photoshop file as a single flat image or you can preserve the integrity of the Photoshop layers so that you can use them separately. To keep the layers, you’ll import the file as a composition. The dimensions of the Photoshop layers determine the size of the After Effects composition. Yo u’ll continue your work within the Boxes02_work.aep project you created at the beginning of this chapter. If it is not already open, find that file in the _aep folder in your AE_CIB job folder and open it now. 1 Choose File > Import > File. The Import File dialog box appears. 2 In the _psd folder in your AE_CIB job folder, select the Squares.psd file. AE_CIB.book Page 85 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM LESSON 2 86 Building Elements from Squares 3 In Import As, select Composition. Note: This option is available only when you select a file that contains layers. 4 Click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac OS). Two new elements appear in the Project window: a composition file and a folder, both named Squares.psd. AE_CIB.book Page 86 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 87 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 Classroom in a Book 5 Double-click the composition to open it in the Composition and Timeline windows. In the Timeline window, you see the three layers created in Photoshop. Each layer retains all the Photoshop settings assigned to it. Note: If you can’t see the entire image in the Composition window, resize the window and then use the magnification menu in the lower left corner of the Composition window to reduce the zoom. Or, press Ctrl + minus sign (–) (Windows) or Command + minus sign (–) (Mac OS). 6 Close the Composition and Timeline windows, and then expand the Squares.psd folder in the Project window so that you see the three layers created in Photoshop. You can click any of these layers to see their thumbnail images in the top of the Project window. Because you imported the source file as a composition, you can also use each of these layers independently within your compositions. For more information about importing layered files, see After Effects online Help. Note: In After Effects, this composition inherits the most recently used Duration and Frame Rate settings. Creating a composition for pulsating squares For this section, you begin with a new composition. 1 Choose Composition > New Composition, or press Ctrl + N (Windows) or Command + N (Mac OS). The Composition Settings dialog box opens. 2 In Composition Name, type Moving Right Comp. AE_CIB.book Page 87 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM LESSON 2 88 Building Elements from Squares 3 On the Basic tab of the dialog box, set the following options: • In Width, type 860, and deselect Lock Aspect Ratio. • In Height, type 300. • Make sure that the Pixel Aspect Ratio is Square Pixels. • In Frame Rate, set 29.97. • (Optional) In Resolution, select Half or lower, as needed for your system. • Make sure the Start Timecode is 0:00. • In Duration, type 500, to specify five seconds. 4 Click OK. The new composition appears in the Squares.psd folder in the Project window if that folder was selected when you started this task. 5 Drag the Moving Right Comp out of the Squares.psd folder and place it on the top level of the Project window hierarchy. (If necessary, enlarge the Project window so that you can drag the composition to an empty area at the bottom of the window.) Note: Yo u created this composition at a size (860 by 300 pixels) that is at least as large as you will ever need for your final animation. By building elements at larger-than-needed sizes, you accomplish two things. First, you give yourself maximum flexibility because you can always shrink the image later by reducing the Scale property. Second, you maintain image quality, which would be compromised if you scaled it up beyond 100%. This practice is a good general rule to follow—but there are exceptions to it, as you’ll see later in this lesson. AE_CIB.book Page 88 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM [...]... pulsating-squares movie After rendering, the Squares02.mov appears in the Project window You can now play the movie AE_CIB.book Page 99 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 99 Classroom in a Book 1 Double-click the Squares02.mov to open it in the Footage window If you need to resize the player window, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you double-click to open it in the After Effects. .. black area on the screen to select a black sample Then click OK Creating a solid layer for the lens flare After Effects includes many effects that you can apply to your work to create complex images quickly But effects cannot exist by themselves; you must have at least one layer first and then apply the effects to the layer In this task, you’ll create the layer without placing any footage This layer is simply... PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 95 Classroom in a Book Notice how the image in the Composition window changes each time you add a new layer Note: In the Timeline window, make sure that the SquaresLayer01 is in the lowest (Layer 3) position in the layer stack If it is not, select it and drag it to that position Applying transfer modes and adjusting the work area Transfer modes are a familiar concept to Adobe. ..AE_CIB.book Page 89 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 89 Classroom in a Book Creating and animating the first layer In this composition, you’ll use just one of the Photoshop layers to animate squares that travel from left to right You’ll... designate the _mov folder in your AE_CIB job folder Click Save The Render Queue opens with the Squares02 Comp as item number one in the queue AE_CIB.book Page 97 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 97 Classroom in a Book 3 In the Render Settings pop-up menu, choose Best Settings to set Quality to Best and Resolution to Full These settings override any settings that were left in... 3 Draw a marquee around both Position keyframes to select them Or, click the word Position in Layer 2 4 Move the current-time marker to 0:00 AE_CIB.book Page 91 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 91 Classroom in a Book 5 In the Composition window, drag Layer 2 to the right so that the layer is positioned in the center of the Composition window As you drag, press Ctrl + Shift (Windows)... you render this composition, you’ll select a setting so that it renders only the work area rather than the entire length of the composition AE_CIB.book Page 93 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 93 Classroom in a Book Creating a second composition for pulsating squares Next, you’ll create a composition similar to the one you just made except for three details: you give the composition... Solid, to open the Solid Settings dialog box 2 In Name, type Lens Flare Solid 3 In Width, scrub or type 720 4 In Height, scrub or type 540 AE_CIB.book Page 101 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 101 Classroom in a Book 5 Using either the eyedropper or the color swatch, select black 6 Click OK to close the Solid Settings dialog box The Lens Flare Solid appears in the Timeline... the two middle keyframes (at 1:08) to select them 5 Drag the selected keyframes to 2:08, using the display on the Info palette as your guide AE_CIB.book Page 103 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 103 Classroom in a Book 6 In the Timeline window, move the current-time marker to 2:08 and change the Layer 1 Flare Brightness value to 100, which changes the value of the existing Flare... Comp in Name 3 In Preset, select NTSC D1 Square Pix, 720 x 540 4 (Optional) In Resolution, select Half or lower, as needed for your system AE_CIB.book Page 105 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5.0 105 Classroom in a Book 5 In Duration, type 400 to specify four seconds, and then click OK The Box Lights Comp appears in the Project, Composition, and Timeline windows Combining and . type 50 % as the Opacity value, and press Enter or Return. Then press T again to close the Opacity property. 1 2 3 4 5 6 AE_CIB.book Page 80 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 81 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS. Render Settings. AE_CIB.book Page 82 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 83 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5. 0 Classroom in a Book 5 Click the underlined words Best Settings to open the Render Settings dialog. to use the Alt or Option key. AE_CIB.book Page 84 Monday, October 8, 2001 12:08 PM 85 ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 5. 0 Classroom in a Book 2 Play the movie. It should look just like it did in the final