Adobe After Effects - Day 14 - (March)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I tried to fix the problem I was having last day. Basically what happened was my new brush effects weren't showing up ever since I added in a circle. 

It took me most of class time to solve this problem, but I did end up succeeding and am back on track now. I was also able to add in a few more brush effects, but due to the the time I spent trying to fix this problem, I couldn't get as far as I wanted.

All I had to do to fix this was way simpler than I thought. I tried looking at everything, key frames, blending options etc; but the problem was the circle itself. I probably didn't add in the circle very properly because I did it myself and didn't follow a tutorial.


But eventually, I made the circle its own layer, and the paint effects on a separate layer. This did the trick!

BEFORE VIDEO:

AFTER VIDEO:

WHAT I LEARNED:

• I learned that when I add a circle in, it should be on a separate layer or else the paint brush effects won't show up in the composition itself.

THIS IS MY TIMELINE WITH THE CIRCLE EFFECT ON A SEPARATE LAYER

(THIS ALSO MIGHT COUNT FOR OTHER EFFECTS TOO, I'LL KEEP THIS IN MIND FOR THE FUTURE)

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Now that I fixed this problem, I for sure next class will just do what I've been doing and using the brush tool to make more effects!

- I realized that for this edit, you must think very creatively because you have to personally think what effect would match at a certain moment, which is why I also might watch a few more videos for inspiration while working on my own!

Adobe After Effects - Day 13 (March)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I was planning to add more effects, but I ran into a problem, which I am still currently trying to fix as of this time. I was working on the project and got to add in some effects, I decided to preview what I did so far only to find out that the new brush effects I've added don't appear in the composition.

Basically, all the effects appear in the layer itself, but when viewing the actual composition, the effects don't appear at all. (so I can't show a before v after video because the rendered video doesn't show my newly added effects.)

I've been searching online or just trying to solve the problem and so far no luck.

THIS IS EFFECTS WITHIN THE LAYER

THIS IS EFFECTS THAT ACTUALLY SHOW UP IN THE COMPOSITION

(if you look at the top left there's a composition option as well as the layer. I'm supposed to be adding effects to the layer itself, but now for some reason the effects I add aren't showing up in the composition which is what the rendered video will look like.)

WHAT I LEARNED:


Since I was technically spending the whole class trying to solve this problem, I only learned something small. It may be common sense too but I didn't really think of this so I learned it the hard way.

• What I learned was that when I was using the brush tool, I had to zoom in and sometimes the video was too blurry that I couldn't even see the parts where I wanted to outline, and that sometimes caused a messy after effect. So what I want to say is I should've used a more HD or high resolution video to make these kind of edits.

EXAMPLE OF THE BLUR (BUT THIS EXAMPLE ISN'T AS BLURRY AS OTHER ONES)

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Next time I will try to fix this problem so I can continue editing and adding more brush effects.

Adobe After Effects - Day 12 (March)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I continued to add paint effects to my video. I got through 9 seconds out of the 1 minute. I actually added something new today instead of doing the same old things.

As you are aware, this whole time I have been just adding in lines frame by frame using the brush tool. But at this certain part of the dance, I wanted to add a circle that was growing. I couldn't find any tutorial on that so I just tried to find a way and do it myself.


This was where I used AE's circle effect. I imported a circle into the timeline then used key frames to make the circle expand frame per frame. This all may sound a bit vague or confusing, but that's what I did today, you'll see what I mean below.

WHAT I DID TO MY CIRCLE KEY FRAMES

I think I mainly only got through another few seconds today is due to the circle. It took me a while to figure everything out.

BEFORE VIDEO (LAST POST):

AFTER VIDEO:

WHAT I LEARNED:


The first thing I learned was super important. While I was working on this project, I really needed this but didn't know what or where it was. 

• This was about layers. When I was working on this project, I would make mistakes and the CTRL Z button wouldn't simply work. I wanted to know how to delete what I just currently did but there's more to it when working with frames. I learned that all you need to do, to see your layers from the brush tool, is go over to the left side of your timeline, and click the arrow on your layer.

CLICK THOSE FOLLOWING ARROWS TO SEE YOUR PAINT LAYERS

• The second thing I learned was of course, how to add a circle. I just went over to AE'S effects library, then search circle. I then dragged it into my timeline and that's all there is to it.

HOW I ADDED A CIRCLE TO MY VIDEO

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Next time I will continue to be adding brush effects to my video. My goal is to do more than a few seconds next time but that isn't super easy to do. I also want to take my time with this project so it turns out nice.

Adobe After Effects - Day 11 (March)

WHAT I DID TODAY:


Today I started making the scribble glow effect edit. This kind of edit required me to go frame by frame and use the paint tool. You can probably imagine how long this edit will take when I say I had to go frame by frame. 


This edit is very time consuming and requires tons of patience, but I think it'll feel very worth it in the end! 


This is the main tutorial that I was following, but at some parts I had to figure it out myself and find a different way due to certain circumstances. (and because at some parts I found out that there were easier ways to do it than the person explaining.)

THIS IS HOW FAR I GOT TODAY:

(THE VIDEO IS ONLY A FEW SECONDS BECAUSE I RENDERED THE VIDEO TO THE PART WHERE I GOT TO)

ORIGINAL VIDEO - FOR REFERENCE:

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Today, the first thing I learned was that After effects is such compact editor with many features. I know this is already obvious but more specifically I learned that AE has a toolbar on the top left. 

With this toolbar, there were many things such as panning across the video, drawing shapes, brush tool, and eraser tool. I find this very fascinating because I usually only see these type of tools on programs like Photoshop.

WHAT THE TOOLBAR LOOKS LIKE

• The second thing I learned was the paint tool/brush tool. This is the main tool that I am constantly using to achieve this edit. 

How it works is I double click the layer of the video I'll be editing, that way I'll be editing in the layer itself and not the whole comp, then I click the brush tool. I then adjust the settings of the brush like size/color then from there I use CTRL + > OR < to go frame by frame. Each frame I draw something, then click the next frame to do something, I think you can kind of get the gist of it.

THE PAINT SETTINGS THAT I USE

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:


Next time I will be doing the exact same thing just using the brush tool, and going frame by frame to draw more effects. (my goal is to complete the whole dance video.

Adobe After Effects - Day 10 (March)

WHAT I DID TODAY:


Last post, I decided that I will be doing this 'glow scribble effect.' So today I was trying to find the perfect dance video or something that I could make the edit out of. Here's an example video of what I want to achieve in the end. 

I spent a lot of the class trying to find the video I want. The one I ended up downloading to use was Exo's Dubstep Intro dance, the title or whatever may seem kind of foreign but here is the original video I will be using.

(it's just a normal dance practice video from the boy group Exo)


- I didn't do much today besides setting up my timeline and work area for next time. I was also watching a tutorial so I can actually get a hang of it and start next class.

THIS IS MY CURRENT TIMELINE SETUP

WHAT I LEARNED:


Since I didn't really get started for real yet, I didn't learn much yet, or anything really. 

After going through the tutorial though, I learned that this type of edit requires a lot of time and patience. I know it's obvious that most edits require patience to complete, but for this one specifically, it will require even more patience than ever due to tons of key frames and even more..

• I did learn a shortcut key though while setting up my timeline. When I first used After Effects I was a bit skeptical on why they asked how long the project or composition is going to be when it's possible for the person to not know.

For example if I set it at 2 minutes, the whole project is capped at that length. That part kind of confused me and I asked what's the point of that. But I found a shortcut key that trims comp to work area. It's CTRL SHIFT X.

LOCATION OF THIS COMMAND

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:


Next time I will actually start the editing process itself! Of course I will be following a tutorial while I do this just in case I mess up.


There's a bunch of tutorials out there for this effect, I will go through them on my own time to see which one is easier and better to follow, then edit next class.