TrackMatte

The track matte tutorial focus on using videos as animated background for text base colour.
Firstly by changing track mette settings to alpha matte. Allows the text to capture the video on the text. (Image 1 & 2)

Image 1


Image 2


Add drop shadow and bevel alpha effects to give the words more edge. (Image 3)

Image 3


By adding in another piece of the video and change the hue of the video, allows the text to stand out more. (Image 4)

Image 4


The final product:

Anybody can be Bond

Tis tutorial covers on how to create a opening effect of the 007 movie.

Firstly, use a null object to control a cirle, by linking the circle's center to the null object. (Image 1)

Image 1


I then have to precompose the circle to be able to use freeze frame. Duplicating 6 of the circle layer. And animate to get the circle to look as if it stops and splits or a ghost effect. (Image 2 & 3)

Image 2


Image 3


Create grids to form grooves. (Image 4)

Image 4


Create another composition. And add in both white and black groove precomps as well as main circle solid. Create a perspective CC cylinder effect and adjust the positions to form a spiral in the center of both white and black groove layer. Distort the layers using warp and do some tweeks to create more perspective to the spiral. (Image 5)

Image 5


Cut out a hole in the video, by creating another solid with a generated circle that would be used as a luma matte for the video. (Image 6)

Image 6


Use a null object to track the man in the video's position. So as to allow the circle alpha layer and white and black grooves to follow the man's position. (Image 7)

Image 7


Manipulating the light and shading of the CC cylinder controls to allow the spiral's edges to blend to the blackground. (Image 8)

Image 8


Add in the barrel reflection image. Programme the barrel refletion image to automatically move with the null object's position. (Image 9)

Image 9


Add in a adjustment layer with a mask above the barrel reflection image. Use trubulent displace effect to create an illusion that the barrel is warping. (Image 10)

Image 10


Animate the null by moving it around the video. Duplicatethe Circle alpha layer and manipulate the opacity of the new circle alpha layer and white, black groove and barrel reflection layer to create a cross fade effect at the end of the video. (Image 11)

Image 11



Add in a rim, by duplicating the circle alpha again. Manipulate the edge thickness as well as feathering it to look more refined. (Image 12)

Image 12



Create a blood effect using a new solid layer. Use pen tool to draw out a blood looking shape to mask on the solid layer. Animate the blood to my own preference. (Image 13)

Image 13


Create a small solid and mask out a gun fire spark shape. Using feathering, opacity and add in a glow effect. Limit the layer shown on screen for 1 frame only, so that it flashes for an instance only. (Image 14)

Image 14


I also added 007 theme song from this website.
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=1114734&song=James+Bond+Theme+Song

The Final Product:

Replacing Experiments

After going through the tutorials. I further experimented on 3 other videos using the perspective corner pin method to replace with another object.

Here are the videos:

Video 1: There is still much to be improved, as the tracker is still jerking alot.


Video 2: Though I successfully covered the brand, I didn't manage to find a way to blend the corners.


Video 3: Besides throwing in a still image or a solid, it is also possible to add in a video into a specific area.

Motion Tracking

This tutorial focus on motion tracking.
Create a solid layer and copy the main colour of the area which you would want to replace. For this case its brown. (Image 1)


Image 1

Using perspective corner pin to track 4 points at once.
Using this I can replace an area with a solid colour, by applying the tracker to the solid. This could actually be done using subtract masking as well. (Image 2 and 3)


Image 2


Image 3

We also can apply letters to that area. Pre-compose the area and edit through that pre-compose itself. Anything that have been edited in that pre-compose. Will show up in the main composition. (Image 4 and 5)


Image 4


Image 5

The final product:

Blood Splatter

This tutorial focus on blood splattering.
Null object is created, so as to track the video jerks.


Creating masking animations to enhance blood splattering. (Image 1 & 2)

Image 1


Image 2

Importing image sequence to enhance blood splattering. It give a squirt feeling, as though blood is really squirting out from the man.

Image 4

I have to duplicate the video and mask out the man's silhouette. This is to ensure that the man is above the blood splatter at all times. (Image 5-7)

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

The final product:

Animating & Compositing Basics

In this tutorial, I've learn how to use ease in and ease out methods.





I then learn how to use masking to create animations.



It is also being mentioned that, a balance in the positions of the elements is very important, as it changes the feel instantly to the audience perspective.

Set Extentions

This tutorial focus on linking multiple trackers and using photoshop to edit CGs to be placed on a video.

Firstly, create 2 null objects.

Each null object have a roll in tracking either the first part or last part of the video jerks. (Image 1 & 2)


Image 1


Image 2

Parenting the first tracker to the second tracker, links them together. This method of tracking, is good for long or wide panning shots, where track points goes in and out of frames. Thus, allows you to link multiple trackers into a fluid null object.

Save a frame of the video thats near the end of the video, as a photoshop file. Using photoshop to create multiple castles for the setting.

Import and copy the castles layer and paste it above your main compostition. Parent it to the first null object, allowing it to stick on to the background. (Image 3)

Image 3

Using the sky replacement technique. We use a extra mash subtract on a small part of the sky. Adding feather to blend the added sky image to the video. Use adjustment layers to edit the colours, by using colour corrections curves as well as photo filters. Add a few mask to give depth. (Image 4)

Image 4

Add a few tweeks using more adjustment layers with effects to get a movie feel.



The final product:

Advance Sky Replacement

This tutorial is more advance in terms of adding more effects to enhance the still sky image.

Firstly I have to duplicate the videos twice.
By adding colorama effect to the 1st copy of the video to get a alpha, that would be used for the 2nd copy, by using luma inverted matte. (Image 1)



(Image 1)

Next add a layer of still cloud image under the 2nd video copy. Lowering the opacity of the image, helps to blend the cloud with the video's background.

Just like the first simple sky replacement tutorial. This time adding a extra tracker with both position and rotation switched on, so as to track both positioning and rotation of the jerk.

Color editing for the first 2 videos is done by precomposing the first 2 layers, so that a matte choker effect can be applied. The matte choker effect helps to choke the matte, so that the video's background images' edges can be smoothed out.

Locking the pre-composition layer consisting the first 2 videos will enable the control of the effects in these layers, when I switch back to the main composition.

Color editing for the still sky image is done by using color correction effect curves. Alternating the curves will give different tones and shadow or lightings. (Image 2)



(Image 2)

The final Product:

Simple Sky Replacement

This tutorial teaches me how to create a simple sky replacement technique using Linear Wipe. Linear Wipe helps to add depth in the composition. (Image 1 shows the original video without the sky background)

Image 1

As I am replacing the sky with a still image (Image 2 shows replaced sky), the still image would not follow the camera jerk of the video. Thus using a tracker, would allow the still image to rotate or move with camera jerk.

Tracker refers to the zig zag boxes:

Image 2

As the biker is still covered by the sky in image 2.

Duplicating the video layer and placing it on top of the image, and removing the duplicated video's sky, using color key effect. Increasing the tolerance will take away the original video's sky color. Which then leaves the biker infront of the still image (Image 3).

Image 3

Lastly, to enhance the colours of the video. An adjustment layer is created and placed above all the layers. Add a adjustment effect using curves, to change the RGB colours. Alternating the curves will allow me to get warm/cool tones and enhance shadows and lighting as well.

The final product: