3DVA Blog

So we were told to create a mini clip and incorporate at least 2 effects to it. So we are able to do any effect we like to showcase what we could do after 3 weeks of learning to use after effects. At first my imagination was running wild. I really could not decide on what to do for the project. There is so many thing i would really want to do. So finally i got an idea to recreate an effect seen on cartoon and make it to reality. At first i thought that i was crazy trying to do something that i do not know at all. And also there are no video tutorial to create the effect itself. So that was the challenge for me. I had to figure it all out by myself.

Below is the reference video which was taken from the cartoon.

As you can see it is really a short clip. However i need to figure out how to create the veins on the face and also how to manipulate the eyes. Although it is such a short clip, i need to make it look intense and realistic. So firstly i need to do the difficult part of the scene. That will be the veins on the face. I went to browse through tutorials online and my efforts were fruitless. I could not find any good tutorials to create veins in after effects. Then i got an idea. I decided to create the veins in photoshop and then import it into after effects. So now i need to make the veins look so realistic and believable. Thankfully i am rather satisfied with it. Then i use the mask expansion to make the veins moving upwards towards the guys face.

Next i decided to do the eye manipulation. this one is rather easy because there is a tutorial about eye replacement on videocopilot.net. So i went to refer to it and did some compromising to make the eye look almost like the one in the reference. So technically i made it all from scratch.

So now after completing the difficult parts of the effects, I went to move on to the light flash just as he opens his eyes. For this i went to refer to the lumos tutorial regarding the light ring. And then i went to do the wiggle effect to make it look intense and dramatic. For this one, i watch it from a tutorial in videocopilot.

Finally i did some color correction to make it look pleasing to the eyes.

This is my completed video for project 1:

Week 3 is all about colour correction. We will learn how to use colour finesse and all the different colour correction tolls in after effects. Colour correction is an important topic to learn about because it helps to change the look of the video depending on the plot. Also it helps to make ugly looking videos into something professional. I was literally clueless about colour correction. I did not know what was shadow, highlight, alpha and also midtones. Thank goodness one tutorial taught me about it and i understood it. There are many exercises about colour correction for this week but although the steps are rather the same, there are slight differences to them. Below is an exercise to create a lumos effect from the harry potter movie. I manage to use colour correction to make it look dark n gloomy so that the lumos spell is able to shine dramatically. I enjoyed this exercise very much. Overall it is something new and fun to make using after effects.

The next one is also to change the colour field of the scenes. We got 2 clips from the movie the warriors way. Both clips have different colour correction but we are suppose to switch the two different colour in each of the clip. Herer are the clips.

Original clip.

Edited clip.

Original clip.

Edited clip.

The next exercise is to make a bad looking scene into a good polished looking clip. It taught me how to use colour finesse in a much more complex way and in the end i find it very useful.

Editted Image.

Original Image.

The next exercise is about the same as the previous one. We are required to soften some colours in the clip so thet it is not too overpowering.

Original clip.

Editted clip.

Original clip.

Editted clip.

The following exercise ia also the same thing. However i had a difficult time trying to colour correct the landscape one. But i did my best.

Original

Editted

Original

Editted

Then finally it is an exercise about bleach bypass. It may sound difficult but actually it is very easy to do. It is jus to create a blur effect to enable user to concentrate on the clear portion of the video than the blur ones.

For week 2 we will be doing much more complicated effects. It is really fun yet scary because the fear of not understanding it may be a problem. But thankfully it was good. Although we got an example in the tutorial, i decided to do some out of the box ideas making it unique and original. The first exercise was the fringe clip where we need to change the clip to another one using motion tracking. This one was rather easy because in the previous lab exercise, i have already done it. So for this one it was smooth sailing. I decided to create the feel of a music video by setting in the key poses and also the beat of the music so it looked polished. Overall i am very satisfied with this work.

The next exercise was to also do tracking. However we were told to add in images or extra items into the video such as skies and landscape. In the tutorial they did many castles at the background and also replace the sky. I on the other hand took only one castle and added in a mountain at the background to make it look magnificent. I enjoyed this tutorial very much.

The next exercise is really really fun. We are suppose to make a james bond intro using after effects. Finally something where we can do just as the real movie. I had a great time with this exercise. Especially the blood dripping part. Overall i like this exercise.

The last exercise for this week was a simple one but i decided to challenge myself to do something more. The tutorial teaches us on how to make a font looked transparent with the video, its called track matte. It was an easy tutorial but i decided to spice it up a little bit. I was so happy with what i did for the fringe exercise, i decided to do the same for this one. I took a music video and sort of made an intro duction to the song. I am proud of this work of mine. Overall, this is my favourite because i took the tutorial that i learn and apply it in my own way.

The first week of 3DSFX was really exciting. I finally got the chance to learn about the arts of special effects. To add more to the excitement, we were told to learn the basics of after effects. Although the exercise givan was rather simple, it really helps me to understand the functions of after effects in a much clearer way. The first exercise was to create a simple introduction about Power Foundation. Its really interesting when I learn about the keyframing and setting the movement of the words with the music given.

Then the next exercise was to create a blood shot from a scene given from videocopilot.com. At first i was really unsure about doing the exercise because it seemed difficult to complete. However, after following through the tutorial given, I was amazed that it was actually rather simple. Now i know how to makeblood protruding out of a person using after effects.

For the other exercise we were told to learn about motion tracking. At first it sounds difficult but actually it is a basic tool when using after effects. We were given 3 videos to do motion tracking on and I think i did rather well. I am satisfied with this exercise.