T354 Week 11 - Spring 2008

Announcements:

• MultiVisions next Friday!
• Apps for fall 400-level classes close tomorrow (Wed).
• Consider your final project (review parameters & timeline) We can not have a repeat of what happened with a few people’s midterm project. In other words you do need to lock into an idea well in advance.

Agenda:

• Tuesday: Turn in homework & finish lighting
• Work / catchup session + 2 in-class exercises
• Thursday: Misc tips. Odds & ends

Please place your homework in the week 11 folder.

Lighting in 3D - (Meyer chapter 16)

How to Create a Stroke Effect (An outline around a layer)

For starters don’t use the Stroke effect- it does something different than the stroke effect you know from Photoshop.
Duplicate the layer you'd like to apply the stroke to.
Add a tint effect (Found under Color Correction). Tint to whatever color you want the stroke to be
Use Simple Choker in negative number

In-class Exercise - Stroking

• Make a new TV-sized comp.
• Create a text layer (or import some footage with an interesting shape)
• Add a tasteful stroke, the color of which works within your composition.
• Animate the stroked object in a tasteful and interesting way
• Cast a shadow with it
• Make a movie (less than 50 MBs please) called "stroke" and place it in your week 11 folder.

In-class Exercise

In Word or TextEdit:

• List 2 things you are struggling with in AE.
• List 3 things you'd like to learn
• Call this "to-do" and place it in your week 11 folder.

Thursday (under construction)

Misc tips

Intro to Motion Stabilizing & Tracking

Tracking and Motion Stabilization commands can be found under the Animation menu.

Both of these use AE's ability to analyze footage.

To use Motion Tracking or Stablization, first you must have a layer with changing frames (motion) and that has a distinct feature to track.

[review stabilization with HM_peacock2_DV.mov]

Select the layer then choose Animation -> Stabilize Motion.

Move the track point to the distinct feature. To move the track point, drag the area between the inner and outer squares. Adjust the feature region (inner square) to closely encompass the feature you want to track by dragging its handles. Adjust the search region (the outer square) only if you're tracking a fast-moving object.

You can create multiple tracks and targets, which can be applied to other layers. Use the "Edit Target" in the Tracker Controls panel to choose a target layer from the Layer pop-up menu.

You can track in a limited range of frames by first defining a work area.

The tracking area

• The track point is broken down into 2 rectangles and an attach point.
• The feature region is the smallest square. It should surround the distinct feature to be tracked.
• The larger box is the search region. It is the area that AE will look for to find the distinct feature.
• The point in the middle is the attach point. It represents the place of attachment for the track point.

Note how the edges of the video frame are visible? It helps to use footage which is larger than the needed out. This is one reason why some like to shoot in HD, even though the final output is SDTV. In addition to being able to stablize, footage can also be re-framed.

Motion Tracking

Motion Tracking uses a similar technique, but applies the tracking data to a different layer.

[review stabilization with AB_Recreation&Leisure.mov]

 

An interesting variation of Motion Tracking is Perspective Corner Pinning. This can be used to replace signs on billboards or othe moving shots.

In-Class Exercise (5 points)

Using either your own footage or the supplied samples make a short comp that incorporates both motion stablization and motion tracking. (It can be as simple as using two different clips)

Output a movie called "tracking" and leave a copy in your week 11 folder

 

Homework:

• Read work through Meyer chapters 28 & 29
• Make a 15 or 30-second animated sequence for TV. While it can be an ad, a title, a promo, etc. it must have:
  • a specific objective/purpose
  • audio (natural soundtrack, sound effects, music, etc.)
  • at least one motion tracked layer (bonus points if you incorporate 3D corner pinning tastfully & succesfully)
  • You may turn in a full-size SDTV version (720 x 480) using either DV, MPEG-4, H.264, or for the iPod.
  • Be sure to note what sources you used in the accompanying critique form.

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