What I know about After Effects CC and step by step instructions for the MidKent logo animation
For this project, I developed my understanding of After effects CC software and editing techniques by creating a motion graphic title in which is able to move by using plenty of keyframes that allowed the text to move in all sorts of styles, directions and rotations. I used the MidKent college logo and words and added saber affects to it to give a little extra to style to my project. Here are the steps in which I followed to making this project:
Step 1: get the MidKent college logo and words from Google and view the image. You should always check the size of the image as if you crop the image or re-size it in Photoshop, it may be very pixelated.
Step 2: Open up Photoshop CC
Step 3: File, New and change the document type to Film and Video. The document should have light blue bars around the outsides. In between the two parallel blue lines is the tv safe. This is the aspect ratio in which the image, file or video can lie and still be in view on the television screen. The inner rectangle is called the Graphic safe in which everything of text base has to sit inside the box or it will be distorted or stretched when viewed on tv. These guidelines are crucial to know as if you do not put your important graphics inside the right guidelines then when it comes to viewing your final product on tv or computer, it may be stretched or distorted due to not being the right size.
Step 4: Once you have created a new document with the film and video guidelines, import your MidKent logo and words jpg into another document. This document does not have a background but only the image itself. You then need to unlock your background layer, right click on brush tool and select the magic wand. Once you have the magic wand, you need to click on one part of the MidKent logo and words and hold shift. By holding shift and clicking every part of the black MidKent logo and letters beneath, you are selecting only the logo and words and not the background. The magic wand tool should be the forth tool down.
Step 5: Click cmd j in order to make a new layer of the logo and words you have selected. Rename the new layer and select layer 1 which was originally the background layer. With the magic wand, you want to select just the words MidKent college and click cmd j to make another new layer and rename this layer so you know what it is. Finally delete the original jpg image.
Step 6: Drag the layer which contains the words MidKent college and the logo on, over to the other tab with the film and video guidelines. The MidKent symbol and words should have no background and you want to keep them inside the graphics safe which is the inner rectangle with no guidelines. You can make the logo and writing bigger and smaller by re-sizing it but make sure you hold shift when doing so as you do not want the aspect ratio being stretched. You can make it bigger or smaller with the transformation tools ticked. Save this document as a Photoshop (psd) document and name it.
Step 7: Open up after effects, open a new composition and label with the same name as you did with the Photoshop document. You want the document to be HDV/HDTV 720 25 and make sure the canvas is black then click okay.
Step 8: import, file, logo animation which you should have called your psd (Photoshop) file. Choose layer and import just the symbol layer then import the MidKent college words. Next select both layer, the logo and words then press P for them to stay in that position. You do not want to resize and distort the image, you have to make sure the logo and words are not stretched and the logo and words are in the same position and not further away from each other. If you were creating a title sequence for a company, they would want you to act professional and make sure the logo and words is exactly the same.
Step 9: Select the position and keyframes and animate the logo. You can add easy ease to slow down the animation when moving to drift into a stop. Here are a few little tutorials to present what I already know:
Basically what I know already is the standard keyframes and positions. The anchor point is the position in which the object rotates around. For example, the anchor point is usually in the centre of the image but if you make your object constantly rotate in circles then it will rotate around its anchor point. If you move that anchor point then the object will move and rotate around the anchor point in the position it has been moved to.
The position is where about the object or character lies for example the left hand corner. If you click the clock icon, scroll along a few seconds or however long you wanted then move the object then another keyframe will appear to show the position has changed. If you play it back then the object would have moved from its original position to the new position over the amount of time you had set when you scrolled across.
The scale is how big or small the object is. Again if you click the clock icon then the object or text will start at being that size at that time then if you scroll a few seconds or the time distance you want and change the scale then the object or text would have gotten bigger or smaller in that set time. The scale will not distort or stretch your object it will keep its original size but just enlarge the height and width.
The rotation is the object or text rotating left or right and finally the opacity is how visible the image or text is. If you want the image to fade out then the first keyframe can be 100% and within two seconds the second keyframe could be 0% so it fades out towards the end.
That is the basic information of how keyframes and the transform tools work. when changing the objects scale size or anything instead of double clicking on the light blue numbers next to the keyframe title, you can hover over the blue numbers and scroll across to make slight changes for when it feels right. The transform tool are very necessary to know as it is basic and easy but is one of the most important information you need to know when in after effects.
This tutorial is how I managed to add the new free Saber plug-in for after effects by Co-pilot:
This is how I learnt to use the new plug-in saber by a few tutorials similar to this one. The only difference was I had to auto trace my jpg image of the MidKent logo and words then add in the effect saber as text does not need to be auto traced. In order to auto trace, you have to make sure that you want to auto trace the mask. You should create a new mask on your existing layer then go to layer, auto trace the work area and then go to effect, video copilot and add in the saber effect. You then want to go to customise core and where it says core type, with a drop down list. You want to change it to layer masks. Scroll back up to the top and change the glow intensity, bias and spread to how you want it and if you like, you can experiment with the presets and customisations. Every time you change the preset then it would be a good idea to change the intensity and other settings.
make sure your image or photoshop document you add into after effects has no background as you do not want the auto trace picking up little background errors. Or if it does have a background the make sure it is only plain as you want the auto trace to easily pick up your font or image.
Step 10: once finished, export the video into Render Queue and export it as a mp4 video.
This is where I started out on after effects. To learn more tools and techniques I watch plenty of Youtube trailers where I can see how an effect has been created. Here is my outcome:
What I now know about the 3D icon and keyframes:
For the 3D positioning and keyframes you first click on the toggle switches/modes right down the bottom on the left hand side. You then get three little empty squares appear on your layer, next to the screen and the drop down bar. above these three boxes is a few circles icon, a circle which is half white and half black which looks like the contrast icon in Photoshop, and lastly there is a 3D box above the last square. click on the square that is beneath the 3D box. This sets the position keyframes to 3D mode. Then click on the down arrow next to the coloured square on your layer and another drop down bar should come up saying transform. click on the arrow next to transform. You then get the anchor point, position, scale, orientation, X, Y and Z rotation and lastly opacity. With these keyframes and 3D mode, it allows you to give more depth and free movement to your text, images or animations. Next to the anchor point, there is three different anchor point settings, if you hover over the blue, you can slide left and right to move the anchor point or you can double tap and type in what you want it to be. The first anchor point moves your object left and right where you can align it within the anchor point where the image or text can move around. The second anchor point goes up and down where you can also align the image to the anchor point. The anchor point is the blue circle with arrows coming out from. It is the blue dot where the image will move and rotate around. The last anchor point brings your image or text closer or further away.
Next is the position, the first position allows the image and its anchor point to move left or right. The second position settings allows the image and the anchor point to go up and down and lastly, the final position settings allows for the image and anchor point to come closer or further away to the screen, this makes it look 3D. All three settings on the scale pretty much do the same thing. The whole image or text is in a box even if there is no background. It makes the whole image smaller or bigger without distorting or stretching it. You can align your object in the frame of your composition which is shown above.
The first orientation allows for the image to rotate around its anchor point as in moving like a wheel. It comes closer and further away while orbiting its anchor point. The image will come really close the screen and back around again. The second orientation setting makes the image orbit around its anchor point by going left and right. Instead of coming closer to the screen where it looks like it is a wheel about to run us over, it orbits around the anchor point like a planet going left or just going right. If the anchor point was dead in the centre of the image then the image or text would rotate around its own axis so it would look like it is spinning around and around, rather than orbiting the anchor point. Here is my example: It shows the MidKent logo spinning on the spot. This is using the second orientation setting.
The last orientation setting allows the image to go around and around as if it is spinning upside down like a 2D wheel. The X rotation make the image rotate around and around starting from its anchor point. Instead of going around the anchor point, it rotates in a circle from the anchor point. as it the anchor point is the floor and it is rotation above it. The Y rotation makes the image rotate left or right. It rotates just one way but again starting from the anchor point, not around it. The Z rotation spins around like a 2D wheel. The opacity is the same as the ordinary keyframes where the image is 100% visible or is fading away. Here are my screenshots of how you get to the keyframes:
