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Please preview the project files and movie before beginning this tutorial. Download movie and project files from the orange bar above.
This tutorial is built on a simple principle. After Effects sometimes needs footage to really make it cook. In this way we can look at using Photoshop stills as the catalyst to make an original animation.
The recipe consists of creating 4-6 different rendered cloud layers that are much bigger than the final output. Pick any 1 filter and add it to each layer with slightly different parameters and save.
Import those layers into After Effects and go nuts! Move them around, scale them, rotate them, add different effects to them until you're happy with what you have.
Remember...we're artists, this job is supposed to be fun...so get in there and don't be afraid to get messy!
| MAKING THE RAGE BACKGROUND: PHOTOSHOP |
1. Create a new photoshop document 2000x500 pixels
2. Create 3 new blank layers
3. Name the layers from top to bottom BKG1 - BKG4
4. Change the foreground and background color boxes on the tools palette to black and white
5. Select Filter / Render / Clouds for each layer
6. Select Filter / Render / Difference clouds for each layer
7. Select Filter / Blur / Motion Blur and set the angle to 90 and the distance to 500 for each layer
8. Select the bkg1 layer
9. Select Image / Adjust / Levels and drag the dark and light histogram arrows until you get a sharp contrasted image with hot white areas and a lot of pure black areas.
10. Repeat step 9 for the remaining layers
11. Select the bkg1 layer
12. Select Filter / Noise / Add Noise
13. Set the Amount to 15 the Distribution to Uniform and check monochromatic.
14. Add this effect to the remaining layers.
15. Select the bkg1 layer
16. Select Image / Adjust / Levels and drag light histogram arrows until you get some hot white areas that removes some of the grain.
17. Repeat step 16 for the remaining layers
18. Select the bkg1 layer and change its blend mode to Overlay
19. Select the bkg2 layer and change its blend mode to Multiply
20. Select the bkg3 layer and change its blend mode to Overlay
21. Create a new empty layer above the bkg1 layer
22. Select the single row marque tool
23. Click in the center of the layer and fill it white
24. Deselect the row
25. Duplicate the layer, switch to the move tool and move the new layer down 1 pixel using the arrow keys
26. Merge the 2 new layers and name it Line
27. Select Filter / Render / Fibers and set the Variance to 15 and the Strength to 10
28. Select Filter / Blur / Motion Blur and set the Angle to 0 and the distance to 15
29. Select Filter / Blur / Gaussian Blur and set the blur to 1
30. Select Image / Adjust / Levels and drag the dark and light histogram arrows until you get a sharp contrasted image with hot white areas and pure black areas.
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Single Row Marquee Tool
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31. Duplicate the Line layer 3X
32. Rename the layers from top to bottom Line1 - Line4
33. Select Line1
34. Select Edit / Transform / Rotate and set the rotation to 25 and then click on the commit check box to apply the settings
35. Repeat step 34 for the remaining lines and increase the rotation by 25 for each layer. Ex. 50,75,100
36. Reposition the lines so that they are spread out on the document
37. Change the blend modes for each line to hard light
38. Create 3 new layers above the line layers and rename them from top to bottom Yellow, Orange and Red
39. Fill the Yellow layer with Yellow R 215, G 185, B 20
40. Fill the Orange layer with Orange R 140, G 80, B 5
41. Fill the Red layer with Red R 70, G 20, B 5
42. Change the blend mode to Softlight for the Yellow layer
43. Change the blend mode to Overlay for the Orange layer
44. Change the blend mode to Color for the Red layer
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45. Save the file as RageBKG
| MAKING THE RAGE BACKGROUND: AFTER EFFECTS |
1.Select file / new / new project
2.Import the RageBkg.psd as a composition (Either use the one you just created or the one supplied in the project folder that you can download from the orange bar above.
3.Double click on the composition icon to open it
4.Select composition / composition settings
5.Change the preset to NTSC D1, 720x486 with a duration of 5:00
6.Change quality to best for all layers
7.Turn the eyeball off for all layers
8. Turn the eyeball on for the BKG4 layer
9. Set position keyframes IN and OUT to its current position
10. Marquee select both keyframes
11. Select window / the wiggler
12. Set noise type to jagged
13. Set Dimension to One Dimension X
14. Set frequency to 5
15. Set magnitude to 400 and apply
16. Lock this layer
18. Turn the eyeball on for the BKG3 layer
19. Repeat steps 9.-10. for this layer
20. In the wiggler set the magnitude to 300 and apply
21. Lock this layer
22. Turn the eyeball on for the BKG2 layer
23. Repeat steps 9.-10. for this layer
24. In the wiggler set the magnitude to 200 and apply
25. Lock this layer
26. Turn the eyeball on for the BKG1 layer
27. Repeat steps 9.-10. for this layer
28. In the wiggler set the magnitude to 100 and apply
29. Lock this layer
30. Turn the eyeball on for the Line4 layer
31. Set position, rotation and scale keyframes for their current IN and OUT. Marquee select both position keyframes
32. In the wiggler change the frequency to 15
33. Change the magnitude to 100 and apply
34. Apply these wiggler settings to the scale and rotation keyframes
35. Lock this layer
36. Turn the eyeball on for the Line3 layer
37. Repeat steps 31. And 34. for this layer
38. Lock this layer
39. Turn the eyeball on for the Line2 layer
40. Repeat steps 31. And 34. for this layer
41. Lock this layer
42. Turn the eyeball on for the Line1 layer. Repeat steps 31. And 34. for this layer
43. Lock and shy this layer
44. Close the wiggler window
45. Turn the eyeball on for the yellow, orange and red layers -- these 3 layers will create a tri-tone effect due to their color and transfer mode settings
46. Save the file as Ragebkg
47. Render the file as Ragebkg
Experiment with the speed of the animation to give it a quirky feeling
Click here to see another variation of the movie -- this one's in slow motion.
Feel free to ask questions in the After Effects forum at Creativecow.net.
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