Suggestions for effects

Suggestions for effects

on Nov 4, 2011 at 9:40:59 pm

Somebody wants me to add background effects to this trailer I cut together for them last year, only there are no greenscreens, the background isn't a solid color, and I'm not sure how to add the star and light effects they're asking for without at LEAST a solid background color so I can key everything in. And also without it looking terrible and fake. Does anyone here have any suggestions, or can guide me to some tutorials that can help me through this issue? So far I've tried creating a twinkling star background, but I'm not sure how to make it so it doesn't overlap the actors (who move around quite a lot).

(and, yes, I am extremely new to After Effects so I'm sure there is some obvious solution I'm overlooking. I'm basically having to teach myself so I would appreciate any sort of guidance at all)

Re: Suggestions for effects

by ben g unguren

on Nov 4, 2011 at 10:38:24 pm

It's hard to offer suggestions without actually seeing the video. My initial impulse (without seeing anything) would be to do some 3D motion tracking and add some graphics stuff that "sticks" to the moving camera or objects moving in the scene.

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

Re: Suggestions for effects

on Nov 4, 2011 at 10:56:12 pm

Here's the video (it's not great, I know):

I've also been thinking of using some still images of stars and messing the blending to try to make it look like it's part of the wall rather than something separate.

Re: Suggestions for effects

by ben g unguren

on Nov 5, 2011 at 3:21:50 am

One thing you could try are particle effects. You'd essentially create a 3D layer that follows a skate, an arm, a hand, etc -- then you cause that layer to emit particles. You'd have to do a fair amount of rotoscoping whenever someone passes in front of a particle, etc. This can get pretty complicated but it's also a lot of fun. Here's a tutorial I just came across that shows the basic technique (there are others out there, but I can't find them at the moment):

http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/vfx/create-an-illuminating-light-painting-...

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

Re: Suggestions for effects

on Nov 5, 2011 at 3:45:03 am

Thanks so much! Hopefully I'll be able to do the rotoscoping.

Re: Suggestions for effects

by Michael Szalapski

on Nov 7, 2011 at 5:36:22 pm

This page has links to a lot of great tips, tricks, tutorials, and techniques to make rotoscoping less painful: [link]

- The Great Szalam
(The 'Great' stands for 'Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble')

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

Re: Suggestions for effects

on Nov 8, 2011 at 1:35:52 am

Thank you! That'll certainly come in handy.

Re: Suggestions for effects

by ben g unguren

on Nov 11, 2011 at 8:13:07 pm

Here's another tutorial that could prove very useful for your project:

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com