Unit 2 - Applied VFX and Compositing
Activity 1 - Glowing eyes
Resources
1. IPhone Camera
2. Actors/Actress
3. Phone Tripod
4. Adobe After Effects
5. Vimeo
For this activity, we had to assemble into groups of 3. After our class went outside to film our shots. In this activity, we needed actors/actress to act for the shots. For the shots, the actor/actress needed to show their eyes clearly. The difficulty of the acting was it was very sunny outside and it was very hard for the actor/actress to open their eyes. So the thing what my group did to overcome that difficulty is we went under a tree so there is shade. This was easy for our actor/actress to open their eyes. What our actor/actress did was face the tree and quickly turn around with a creepy face to make it look very terrifying.
The Shot
After we filmed our shot, we all had to share our files because we had to edit our own versions of the video. Next thing I did was to open up Adobe After Effects. Then I imported the video file and made it a new composition.
After I set my new composition, I created 2 Null Objects and Named it "Left" and 'Right" to signify as each of the eyes. Then I set up 2 Trackers for both Null Objects so it could basically track the motion of both eyes. The next thing I did is I've created a new solid with the color of the pupils of the actor for each eye. Then I turned off the solid and created a Solid to make a mask. The mask is the shape of the eye. After that, I set the mask feather to 2.5% so it could really blend more with the actors eye lid. After I did that, I set the parent to "left" and "right". I wanted to add a action to this, so what I did is keyframe the opacity. After, I've created a new solid with a dark red color so I could create the pupils. Then I used the eclipse Tool too make the pupil shape. Then I placed the red pupils to the eyes and then set the parent to "Left" and "Right". For the red pupils, I've added a glow effect to make the eyes looks more convincing. I've also made 4 white solids and used the eclipse tool to make masks. I scaled those solids really small and placed them right on the pupils. After I did that, I set their parent to "left" and "right". This will give the pupils a more realistic effect.
Then the next thing I did is keyframed the opacity of the red pupils to give it action. After that, I pre-composed the effects and named it "Eye Glow". Then I made a new white solid and set the trackmat into alpha. I connected the white solid to the "Eye Glow" Composition and set the opacity really low so it convinces the viewers it looks more real. The last thing I did was I exported my finished comp as an H.264 file in 1080p and uploaded it to Vimeo.
Final Product
Activity 2 - Lightsaber
Resources
1. IPhone Camera
2. Actors/Actress
3. Adobe Premiere Pro
4. Adobe After Effects
5. Vimeo
For this Activity, it involves lightsabers. The first thing me and my group did was we had 2 actors to act out a little lightsaber battle. We had to make sure our actors are in the shot. After we filmed our shots, we had to share our clips so we could edit our own video.
The next thing I did was I imported the video clips into Adobe After Effects. For this activity, I had to download lightsaber presets from the Activity behance page and transport those presets into Adobe After Effects. Then I set 1 of the video clips as a new composition. After I made a new solid and from the presets folder, I dragged the lightsaber effect in the comp. After I had to keyframe the position of the lightsaber. I keyframed the lightsaber effect so it could cover and catch the movement of the Hasbro Lightsaber.
The next thing I did was I changed the lightsaber color to red because I like red. I also enabled show glow. Then I set the thickness to 12.8 so it would cover the toy and I also put soften to 8.2 do it won't look choppy when it moves. Then I've noticed that the other actor didn't have the lightsaber effect, so I did the same lightsaber effect for the actor but the only difference is I set the lightsaber color to green.
Then I've noticed that in the video, that the guy with the green lightsaber was hiding behind the wall and I couldn't tell what direction the lightsaber was coming from behind the wall. So what I did was I made a new solid to cover the wall and set the green lightsaber inverted in the wall solid and keyframed the movement behind the solid.
In the video, it didn't have any lightsaber sound effects. So the next thing I did was I rendered the video and imported it into Adobe Premiere Pro. What I did was I downloaded Lightsaber sound effects from youtube and imported it. The first thing I did was I put the "Open Lightsaber" audio first then the video, I did that because in the video it didn't show the Lightsabers opening. Then I dragged the "medium hum" in the whole video because in Star Wars, If a lightsaber is idle, it would make a hum noise. After I did that I used 2 light saber swing audio effect to make sure the 2 lightsabers have a different lightsaber swing noise. Then I put in the "hit' audio for the first hit the lightsabers make, then I added another "swing" audio. After I put another "hit" audio, I transfered another "swing" audio and at the end I put another 'hit" audio.
Final Product
