Monsters Mayhem and Makeup

Special 3 part series for Indie filmmakers

Digital Video - After Effects Abuser Group
Tuesday, April 23

We’re thinking if we never plan for some out-of-the-norm effects, we’re most likely going to miss or not know what to do with the opportunities when they come, so let’s dream a little and have some fun.

We will have special guest artist Coco to demo her makeup artistry. Want to see how to create bloody scars for the talent (or for a Halloween costume)? This meeting she will be aging one of our audience volunteers, as well as revealing some tricks of the trade for scars, broken bones and zombies.
Coco has numerous credits for stage, screen and television, and was key makeup artist for last year's "Doug Stabs Betty" indie production (see IMDB.com for details)

In upcoming months we plan to showcase her monster makeup and prosthetic appliances, and with a little luck we can introduce After Effects into the mix to add those "live" touches that creep us out. visit her website: CocoMakeup

Also on the agenda is an update on our old buddy Gareth Edwards. You may recall Gareth was the one man army who created all the visual FX for Attila (BBC, 2008) from his personal computer, in his bedroom. My hero. He went on to write, shoot, edit and create effects for his own movie, "Monsters" which won him critical acclaim and his current gig, directing Godzilla 2014. Impressive. We will show clips from The Making of Monsters, and some Attila FX highlights. We are researching the Godzilla trailer surprise from Comicon San Diego, and hope that it will be available to show.

After Effects 3D Camera - part II: Make Heads Turn with Displacement Maps, also 3D Gotchas & Solutions

DV-After Effects Abuser Group - Tuesday March 26

This meeting will also be on Adobe Connect. Here is the URL for
tonight's meeting:  http://experts.adobeconnect.com/dvae/

• Last month we showed you how to make your still images come to life by creating layers in Photoshop, and using 3D camera moves in After Effects.

• This month an exciting new twist: Terry Syndergaard is going to add to those effects by making a 2D face or cartoon character turn its head in After Effects by utilizing a grayscale depth map (displacement map) created in Photoshop.

• There is one "Gotcha" in 3D camera moves on still photos -a person or object can look like they're sliding along the ground. Terry will show how to anchor them in place, adding realism to the scene.

• Bonnie Erdrich, Co-Manager, is excited to share a glimpse into the future of storytelling on a tablet - a graphic novel with 3D images that seem to pop up from the surface. This is both amazing and intriguing. Is this real or trickery? We will look forward to your input.

Also: an exciting preview of an upcoming meeting.- turning a plain 2D surf photo into a dramatic slow-mo movie for a show opener or TV series title. This holds tremendous promise for incredible effects you can use in to your own projects.

RSVP

Getting Your Sea Legs With After Effects 3D Camera Moves

DV-After Effects Abuser Group - Tuesday February 26

Welcome aboard, mates!
We're in uncharted waters here, and "Thar' be Dragons!"

Well, that's how Terry Syndergaard felt when trying to master the 3D camera in After Effects, but with some online tutorial assistance from Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot fame, he's been wading into it with both guns blazing! 

The desired effect: Making your still pictures come to life, adding production value to your film, and thereby being able to charge more for your work, as well as lift you above the mere mortals in the multimedia crowd. To be clear, we're talking about 3D as in illusion of dimension and parallax, simulating camera-shot video, and not 3D as in wearing glasses to watch Avatar.

Terry has done the hard work for you wading through the quagmire of supposed tutorials out there, and narrowed it down to the best from Andrew Kramer, Andrew Devis at Creative Cow, and an ingenious tip from Trish Meyers (Crish Design.com / Lynda.com) allowing camera handle control better than any of the recommended methods. 

Terry Tips:
As you may know, before you can create your 3D moves in After Effects, you must first prepare your images in Photoshop. Terry will show you some great tips that he’s discovered along the way: 
• Photoshop Quick Select + Lasso extraction for layering which is key to the success of this technique.
• A quick method of softening edges with Refine Edge (no cut-out look!)
• Numbering scheme (bottom to top) to ensure After Effects orders correctly - and it quickly solves

After Effects Cartoon Roto?

DV-After Effects Abuser Group - January 22

Want to add some personality to your video, giving it an animated quality without all the work of Rotoscoping?

Responding to a client's request to give a rotoscoped look to documentary footage, we experimented with the After Effects Cartoon filters, Red Giant's Toonit and DVShade's LiveToon, and came up with some really interesting and sometimes "Out There" stylized fun, without having a team of artists rotoscoping 30 frames for each second of video.

While these tricks will never fully replace real roto, we will show you how filters can create some great looks for your video while leaving the labor to the rendering engine of your computer.

RSVP