The After Effects Illusionist

606 Pages·2008·37.7 MB·English

by  Chad Perkins

T H E A F T E R E F F E C T S
I L L U S I O N I S T
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T H E A F T E R E F F E C T S
I L L U S I O N I S T
All the Effects in
One Complete Guide
CHAD PERKINS
AMSTERDAM (cid:129) BOSTON (cid:129) HEIDELBERG (cid:129) LONDON (cid:129) NEW YORK (cid:129) OXFORD
PARIS (cid:129) SAN DIEGO (cid:129) SAN FRANCISCO (cid:129) SINGAPORE (cid:129) SYDNEY (cid:129) TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perkins, Chad.
The After effects illusionist: all the effects in one complete guide/Chad Perkins.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81145-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Adobe After effects (Electronic resource) 2. Cinematography—Special effects—Data processing.
3. Computer animation. I. Title.
TR858.P48 2009
778.5’2345028553–dc22
2008051087
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81145-1
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our Web site at: www.books.elsevier.com
Typeset by diacriTech, Chennai, India
09 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
Dedication
To Heefee, Mikey, and Natty
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CONTENTS vii
C ONTENTS
Dedications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Chapter 1 Becoming an Illusionist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2 The 3D Channel Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 3 The Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 4 The Blur & Sharpen Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 5 The Channel Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Chapter 6 The Color Correction Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 7 The Distort Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 8 The Expression Controls Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Chapter 9 The Generate Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Chapter 10 The Keying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Chapter 11 The Matte Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Chapter 12 The Noise & Grain Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Chapter 13 The Obsolete Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Chapter 14 The Paint Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Chapter 15 The Perspective Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Chapter 16 The Simulation Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Chapter 17 The Stylize Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
viii CONTENTS
Chapter 18 The Text Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Chapter 19 The Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Chapter 20 The Transition Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Chapter 21 The Utility Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
CD-ROM CONTENT
Chapter 22 Using Multiple Effects Together
Chapter 23 Enhancing the Illusion with Maps
Chapter 24 Where Do I Go From Here?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
Acknowledgments
A big thank-you to my tech editor, Dan Ebberts—one of the biggest celebrities in the After
Effects community. This book would be infi nitely less interesting if it were not for Dan’s
insights and corrections.
Another big thanks to the posse at Focal Press. I’ve never been so impressed with a book
publisher before. They are a well-oiled machine over there, and I’m grateful that they put up
with a rusty cog (i.e., me) for a little while.
T hanks to lynda.com for allowing me to use many of the same exercise fi les in this book
that I used in the video training I’ve created there. Lynda.com is another one of those
amazing companies that is so great to work with, and their support helped me to get this
book fi nished.
F inally, I absolutely must say thanks to my family. You know, writing a book is kinda tough.
And, I was probably a big jerk for a lot of the process. My family was nothing but patient and
generous and uplifting. Thanks!