After Effects CS3 Professional STUDIO TECHNIQUES

Mark Christiansen

Adobe r'' I

Contents at a Glance

Foreword

Introduction

Section I Working Foundations

Chapter 1 Compositing in After Effects

Chapter 2 The Timeline

Chapter 3 Selections: The Key to Compositing

Chapter 4 Optimize the Pipeline

Section II Effects Compositing Essentials

Chapter 5 Color Correction

Chapter 6 Color Keying

Chapter 7 Rotoscoping and Paint

Chapter 8 Effective Motbn Tracking

Chapter 9 The Camera and Optics

Chapter 10 Expressions

Chapter 11 32 Bit HDR Compositing and Color Management

Section Ill Creative Explorations

Chapter 12 Light

Chapter 13 Climate and the Environment

Chapter 14 Pyrotechnics: Heat, Fire, Explosions

xvii

iii

Index

Index

; key, 50 \ (backslash) key, 50 1.0 Gamma toggle, 342, 355,

369-370 2.5D tracking, 262-268 2D compositions, 132, 324 2D layers, 42, 131 2K film plates, 24 3:2 pulldown, 19 3D calculations, 131 3D camera

mixing 2D effects, 288-289

smoothing moving, 265-268

tracking, 192 3D Channel Extract effect.

402 3D compositing, 392-396 3D data, 128 3D layers, 27, 131, 135 3D offset, 265 3D position data, 126-127 3D tracking, 272-276 4K effects plates, 24 8-bit color mode, 160-161 8-bpc images, 343, 356 13.53 film, 358 16-bit color mode, 160-161 l6bpc projects, 160, 343, 356 16:9 format, 309 24 fps footage, 19, 308 24Pa pulldown, 19 29.97 fps footage, 308 32-bpc images, 365,366-370

absolute time, 75 Adapt Feature If Confidence

Is Below option, 256 Adapt Feature on Every

Frame option, 255,256,258 Adaptive Sample Limit

setting, 73 add-a-negative-number offset,

47

Add mask, 132 Add mode, 101,102,108-109 Add transfer mode, 364 Adjust Tension pointer, 226 Adjustment Layer toggle, 129 adjustment layers, 129-130,

132,169 Adobe Bridge, 34 Adobe Media Encoder, 140 Adobe Photoshop

brushes, 240 file format, 21-22 footage, 246 layers, 22 PSD files, 21-22

Advanced tab, 23,72-73 AdvantEdge plug-in, 193 .aep extension, 14 aerender application,

139-1 40 After Effects

brushes, 240 importing source

materials into;%ll opening multiple versions

of, 139-140 responsiveness of, 26-28 time measurement in,

75-76 After Effects Auto-Save folder,

14 AfterFX.exe, 139 Aligned toggle, 242 alignment

with First Vertex, 105-106 layers, 243 markers, 45, 11 1

All Panels workspace, 7 Allow Keyframes Between

Frames toggle, 56-57 Alpha Add mode, 113 Alpha Bias control, 205, 207 alpha channel effects, 129 Alpha Channel view, 204

alpha channels. See also channels

adjusting settings, 17 cleaning up, 239 display settings, 94 frame rate settings, 17-18 importing and, 17 painting, 239 preferences, 17 premultiplication and,

91-95 touching up mattes as, 240 using for selections, 85 viewing matte detail in,

188 vs. track mattes, 114

Alpha Cleaner, 218 alpha track mattes, 270-272 Alt key, 25, 26 Always Preview This View

toggle, 121 anchor points, 70-71, 253 animation

anchor point data, 70-71 BCzier handles and, 224 camera, 290-292 copying/pasting, 64-66 deformation, 236-237 Graph Editor vs. Layer

view for, 66 keyframe, 51-53,237 keyframe offsets, 69 masks, 222, 228 offsetting, 69, 70-71 paths, 322-323 patterns, 325-333 presets, 3435,321-322 primary vs. secondary, 414 properties, 51-53 in real time, 237 shapes, 102 spatial data/curves, 61-64 speed, 56 Timeline methods for,

51-53

aperture, 73, 306, 362-363, 367

application window, 5 applications

memory management and, 143-144

multiple, 139-1 40 QuickTime and, 351 text editors, 142

arguments, 326-330 arrays, 315-316 articulated mattes, 222-227 artifacts, 19, 93, 244, 304,

305-308 aspect ratio, 49, 304 attach points, 251, 252, 318 audio, 15, 137 Audio Settings option, 15 "Auto" correctors, 158 Auto Levels effect, 158 auto-orientation, 290, 291 Auto-Save command, 14 Auto Select Graph Type, 56 auto-tracing masks, 86-87 AV Features column, 44-45

background processes, 136 background swatches, 242 backgrounds

blue, 186 blurring, 21 7 brightness, 90 color, 186,214 gradient, 30-31, 131 green, 186 holdout mattes for, 196,

197 matching/creating

environments, 400-402 multiplying into edge

pixels, 89-90, 92 tracking markers on, 192 using with mattes, 187

backlighting, 167, 382-384 backslash (V key, 50 backups, 12 banding, 160-161,343,368 .bat files, 139-140

BCzier handles, 224, 409-41 0 BCzier interpolation, 58 BCzier masks, 99 BCzier shapes, 58, 225 BCzier tools, 64 Bias settings, 205, 207 bit-depth identifier, 161 bitmap selection channel,

88-89 black-and-white images, 379 black levels, 154, 176 Black Point control, 190 Black Softness control, 190 blacks

crushed, 158 current displays and, 160 flashing, 401 low levels of, 159

blended pixels, 1 0 6 1 13 blending colors, 369-370 blending modes, 106-1 13

2D/3D layers, 107 Add, 108-109 Alpha Add, 113 collapse transformations

and, 126-1 28 combining with mattes for

selections, 88 compositing with, 87 Difference, 11 1 Hard Light, 110 Hue, Saturation, and

Brightness, 11 1-1 12 layers and, 107 Light, 110 Linear, 11 0 Linear Dodge, 108 Luminescent Premultiply,

113 Multiply, 109-1 10 Overlay, 11 0 Screen, 108-109 Silhouette Alpha, 112 Stencil Alpha, 112, 202,

203,383-384 using selections with, 87 Vivid Light, 110 vs. selections, 106-1 13

blown-out whites, 158-159

blue backgrounds, 186 blue channel, 189 blue-screcn keys, 133,

193-203 blue screens, 193-203, 206,

404 blueScm-mcv-

HD.movfootage, 197 blur. See also motion blur

boke, 283,295-299 Box Blur, 385 camera shutter settings

and, 73-75 Compound Blur, 408,431 Fast Blur, 364, 385 Gaussian Blur, 385 Lens Blur effect, 298, 299 matching tracking for

motion, 259-260 removing, 260 simulating camera blur,

295-299 three-way blur, 385

Blur Before Difference setting, 192

boke blur, 283,295-299 Boujou, 272,273 Box Blur, 385 Bridge, 34 brightness

adju~ting with Brightness control, 152

adjusting with Curves, 161-167

adjusting with Levels, 157 formula for foreground/

background, 90 gamma adjustments,

154-156 HSB mode, 11 1-1 12

Brightness & Contrast effect, 152

Brightness control, 159 Brightness mode, 11 1-1 12 Brush Dynamics settings, 241 Brush Tips panel, 239,241,

242 Brush tool, 239 brush tools, 239, 241

Index

! brushes adding, 242 adjusting on Brush Tips

panel, 239 adjusting size, 241, 318 After ~ffects, 240 defining on the fly, 241 deleting, 242 hardness, 241 Liquify effect, 41 1-41 2 Photoshop, 240 preset, 241 renaming, 242 scaling, 241

bullet hits, 421, 423-425, 427

C cache

disk, 28-29, 137 frames in Timeline, 137 RAM, 28,136-137,223 speed of, 137

caching, 28-32, 223 camera footage. See footage Camera Mapper, 295 camera report, 283, 284-285 Camera Settings dialog, 279 camera shots. See also footage

flipping/flopping, 58 inverting, 58 organizing, 119-121 reviewing, 38-40

camera shutter, 73 cameras, 278-310

3D. See 3D camera animating, 290-292 camera projection,

292-295 lens settings, 279-281 mixing 2D/3D effects,

288-289 push, 59,282,291-292 real camera emulation,

282-288 real camera settings,

281-282 simulating camera blur,

295-299 single-node/targeted, 274

smoothing moving camera, 265-268

storytelling with, 290-295 virtual compared to real,

278-289 working with grain,

299-304 Caps Lock, 26,233 CC Light Rays effect, 388-389 central processor unit (CPU),

27 channels

alpha. See alpha channels bitmap selection, 88-89 blue, 189 color, 32, 156-157 green, 176, 189 red, 189 shifting colors, 190

child layers, 70 Choke Matte setting, 202-204 choking, 210-211,216 chroma sampling, 209 chromatic abberation,

307-308 CIN format, 21 Cinema 4D software, 274 Cineon files, 3532355, '-%

358-359,370 Cineon log space, 357-360 clean plate, 149, 191 click-and-drag interface, 50 climate. See weather

conditions Clip Black setting, 201, 202 Clip controls, 207-208 Clip Notes, 140 Clip values, 207-208 Clip White setting, 201, 202 clipping, 150, 160 clips

duration, 76 mixing clips with different

frame rates, 244 reversing with Time

Remap, 80 source, 76-77,377

clone brush, 241 Clone Stamp, 239

clones frames, 242, 243 mixing multiple clone

sources, 243 pixels, 242 presets, 243 from separate clips, 243 using motion tracker with,

318-319 cloning, 239, 242-246 Collapse Transformations

toggle, 126-128, 289, 292 collapsed layers, 126-128,

289,292 Collect Files command,

12-13,138 Collect Source Files menu, 13 color

8-bit, 160-161 8-bpc, 343 16-bit, 160-161 16-bpc, 160, 343 32-bpc, 366-370 adjusting user interface,

104 background, 214 balancing, 381 blending, 369-370 brightness, 11 1-112 calibration, 344 color-coding

compositions, 44-45 color-coding layers, 44-45 converting to black and

white, 379 cycling for masks, 104 desaturated, 206 editing, 44 effect on cinematography,

305,310,377-378 expressed as percentages,

178 foreground, 214 hue, 111-112,168-169,

218,219,379 labels, 44-45 light, 392 masks, 102, 103, 227 matching. See color

matching

Index

color (continued) names, 44 removing color matting,

95 RGB, 189,257,342,346 saturation, 11 1-1 12,

168-169,218,219,379 sRGB, 345

color channels, 32, 156-157. See also channels

color correction, 147-184 applying via adjustment

layers, 169 channels, 156-157 clipping, 150 Color Finesse, 170 color matching, 156-157 curves. See Curves controls gamma, 154-156 histograms. See histograms Levels. See Levels overview, 148-1 49 three-way color corrector,

170-171 tools/techniques, 169-171

color depth, 15, 161, 343 Color Difference Key, 193 Color Finesse, 170 Color Key, 189 color keying, 185-220. See also

Keylight best practices, 186-188 blue-screen, 193-203 challenges, 213-220 color spills, 219-220 difference mattes,

191-192 edge selection, 216-218 Extract tool for, 189-190 green-screen, 193-203 Linear Color Key effect,

190-191 matte fringing, 219 matte holes, 218 multiple passes for, 188 on-set effects, 213-216 optimizing Keylight,

203-213 overview, 186

steps for, 194-197 tips for creating mattes,

186-188 color management, 341-352

bypassing, 352 disabled by default, 341,

344345 display management,

347-350 enabling, 344, 345 features, 341-342 input profile, 347-350 monitor calibration, 344 output profile, 350 output simulation,

347-350 overview, 340,341-343 project working space,

345-347 QuickTime, 350-351 QuickTime and, 350-351

color matching, 171-184 basic technique, 172-182 channels for, 156-157 dramatic lighting, 177-181 gamma slamming,

182-184 ordinary lighting: 172-1 77 overview, 171 scenes with no clear

reference, 181-182 color mismatch, 178 Color Profile Converter

effect, 350 color profiles, 344, 345,

346-348,370 color quantization, 343 Color Range, 220 Color Settings option, 15 color spaces

defining, 344 encoding vs. compositing,

359-360,362 linear, 362,370 log, 354355,358,360 monitor, 354, 366 toggling between, 366 YUV, 210

color spills, 211-213, 219-220 color timing, 171,380-381

color wheels, 170 Colorista plug-in, 170-171,

309,381 comments in timeline, 4 4 4 5 Comp button, 50 Comp marker bin, 51 comp markers, 45,50-51 comp tabs, 121 Compander effect, 367-369 compositing

blending modes for, 87 brightness, 90 multipass, 392-396 optical, 106 overview, 88

compositing color spaces, 359-360

Composition panel matching motion blur,

259-260 Minimal view, 6 opacity settings, 91 Timeline button on, 50

Composition section, 35 Composition Settings dialog,

22-23 Composition view, 50 Composition viewer, 5, 30,

70,390 compositions. See also projects

2D, 132,324 advanced settings,

128-129 applying Time Stretch

to, 78 color-coding, 44-45 creating, 23, 128 embedded, 128 fitting layers to width/

height, 49 importing PSD files as,

21-22 length, 47-48 multiple, 118-123 naming, 123 navigating in, 46-47 nested, 67, 68, 78, 121-129 opening Timeline for, 123 parenthesized, 128 pixel dimensions, 126

placing in Render Queue, 35

relationship to projects, 122-123

replacing, 51 revealing name of, 122 settings, 22-23 subcompositions, 78, 133 timing, 126 trimming duration to

work area, 48 r i viewing current, 123

Compound Blur, 408,431 Compress-Expand Dynamic

Range preset, 368 compression

lossless, 20, 21, 38 lossy, 21 LZW, 20,38 QuickTime, 38

! compression artifacts, 244 comps folder, 119 conditionals, 333,335-337

; Confidence graphs, 256 '' Confidence settings, 256 ' Conformed Media Cache

Consolidate All Footage command, 13

Constant mode, 241 context-clicking, 10-1 1,

context menus, 10-11 Continuously Rasterize

adjusting with Curves,

adjusting with Input/ Output levels, 150-154

adjusting with Levels, 157,

'Input/output levels,

Contrast value, 152 coplaner 3D layers, 131, 292 core mattes, 207-208

corners, tracking, 250

Correspondence Points (Reshape tool), 233

CPU (central processor unit); 27

CRT monitor, 160 crushed blacks, 158 CRW format, 21 Current Settings option, 135 Current Time Indicator, 50,

69,258 current time status, 47 Curves

adjusting contrast, 163-1 67

adjusting gamma with, 155,161,163-167

adjusting gradients, 164 drawbacks, 161-162 gamma slamming,

182-184 S-curve adjustment, 167 uses for, 161 vs. Levels, 161-162

curves, logarithmic, 357-359 Curves adjustments, 161-167 Curves controls

adjusting brightness, 161-167 - .-%

single point adjustments in, 165, 167

Custom Output Simulation dialog, 348-349

Cycle Mask Colors option, 102

Cycle Mask Colors option, 104

cyclorama, 213-216

Darken mode, 103 data

copying/pasting between keyframes, 64-66

keyframe spatial, 61-64 offsetting tracking,

318-319 random numbers, 330

day-for-night effect, 379-380 daylight scene, 172-1 77

Deactivate Live Update toggle, 26

decimal values, 362 Default Spatial Interpolation

to Linear option, 58, 61-62 deformation animations,

236-237 deleting

brushes, 242 items from projects, 13 keyframes, 69, 228 motion tracks, 259 points, 259

delta, 207-208,269-270 Depth Cue plug-ins, 295 depth cues, 399,401 depth map, 401,402 depth of field, 282,295-296

299 Despill Bias, 200, 207 Despot cleanup tools, 209 destructive edits, 267 difference mattes, 85,

191-192 Difference mode, 102, 11 1,

243 diffraction effect, 408 digital film, 358-360 disk cache, 28-29, 137 disk space, 137 displacement map, 429-430 Display Style option, 15 displays. See also monitors

black detail and, 160 preferences, 24 resolution, 24-25

distortion heat, 428-430 lens, 283,285-288 Liquify effect, 410-419 Mesh Warp effect,

409-410 with Reshape, 231-235

dividers, 5 docking zones, 7 DOS shell, 139 double-matte method, 207 DPX format, 21,353-355,

370 Draft quality, 24

Index

drawing Bezier masks, 99 ellipses and rectangles,

96-97 freeform, 96 with mask tool, 97 masks, 224,226 with Pen tool, 96 points, 225

drives, external, 137 drop zones, 7 duration

layers, 76 source clips, 76 trimming to Work Area,

48 Duration setting, 241 dust busting, 246 dust removal, 246 DV format, 38, 342, 347 dynamic range, 355-357. See

also HDR (high dynamic range)

Cineon files, 353-355, 358-359

Compress-Expand Dynamic Range preset, 368

low, 362, 365 on monitor, 341 overview, 355

E E key, 67 Easy Ease keyframe assistants,

58-59 ECMAscript, 313 Edge Feather control, 189 edge mattes, 201-208

black edges, 93 creating for edge

selection, 216-218 protecting edge detail

with, 187 screen gain and, 201

Edge Thin control, 189 edges

finding, 216-217 refining, 196

Edit Value Graph, 56 editing

anchor points, 70-71 attach points, 252 colors, 44 destructive edits, 267 keyframes, 57-58 parent-child relationships,

71 preferences, 142-143 Smoother edits, 267 temporal edits, 244 tracking target, 252-254

Effect Controls tab lock icon on, 65 stopwatch, 69

effects, 32-35. See also filters; specz$c effects

accessing in Effects & Presets panel, 34-35

adjustment layer, 132 alpha channel, 129 animation presets, 34-35 applying to layers, 33 described, 32 energy, 425-428 explosions, 422,424-425,

434-435 '-'

fire, 430-434 firearms, 421-425 heat distortion, 428-430 incompatible, 367-369 names, 322 Paint. See painting resetting, 152 smoke. See smoke study of, 38-40 transparency selections

from, 88 Effects & Presets panel, 34-35 Effects Controls panel, 7 effects plug-ins, 33 elements

adding as layers, 48 duplicating, 48-49 finding. See finding items pre-rendered, 135 renaming, 44 reusing, 124

rotating, 413-414 static, 47-48

ellipses, 96-97 Enable Disk Cache option,

137 Enable OpenGL toggle, 26 encoding color spaces,

359-360 energy effects, 425-428 environment

creating, 400-402 matching, 400

environment reference, 215 Eraser tool, 239 Erodilation tool, 216 errors

continuity, 290 out-of-memory, 144 premultiplication, 95 rendering, 131,144 rounding, 292

Expansion, 237 explosions, 422,424-425,

434-435 exposure, 283,365-369 Exposure control, 184,362,

367 expressions, 312-338

arguments, 326-330

components/variables, 319-320,367

conditionals, 333,335-397 extending tracks with,

269-270 layer index numbers,

330-333 lmks/offsets, 312,31&

318-319

Index

proportional scaling of layers, 324

resources for, 337-338 rules, 333-337 time in, 330-333 toggles/text, 313 tracking paint/effects,

31 7-320 triggers, 333-335 values, 313-316

Expressions menu, 32C327 EXR format, 21, 366 EXR images, 396 extensions, 12 Extract tool, 189-190 Extrapolate Motion option,

256 eyedropper tool, 198

F

Fast Blur, 364, 385 feathering

alpha selections, 89-90 masks, 98

feathering effect, 228 Feature Region contents, 258 feature regions, 250, 251 .ffx file suffix, 34 fields, interlacing, 18-19 file extensions, 12 files

add-a-negative number offset for, 47

.bat files, 139-140 Cineon, 353-355,358-

359,370 collecting for footage,

12-13 floating point, 356, 365,

368 naming conventions, 39,

60 PDF, 140 PSD, 21-22 RPF, 272,396,402 source, 9-13,135

fills, 100 film

Cineon and, 353

digital, 358-360 exposure to light, 354

film formats, 309 filters, 378-380. See also

effects Find Edges, 216-217 finding items

effects, 34 keyframes, 67 presets, 34 specific Timelines, 5b

fire, 430-434. See also explosions; pyrotechnics; smoke

firearms, 421-425 First Vertex, 105-106, 235 Fit to Comp, 49 flag of Mars, 379 flares, 283, 385-387 Fleischer, Max, 222 flip/flop options, 58 flipping masks, 97 flipping shots, 58 floating point files, 356, 365,

368 floating point TIFF format,

368 floating windows;8 flopping shots, 58 Flowchart view, 67-68, 123 fog, 405-408 folders

comps, 119 organizing projects with,

119-121 source, 119, 121

footage. See also camera shots 24 fps vs. 29.97 fps, 308 collecting files for, 12-13 consolidating, 12-13 HDW, 8,348 importing into After

Effects, 9-1 1 importing still sequences

for, 18 importing with

premultiplied images, 94-95

information about, 18

interpretation of, 16-20, 91-95

missing, 11-13 Photoshop, 246 plate, 23 reloading, 12 removing unused, 13 replacing, 11-12 retiming, 80-82 sequences for, 18 source formats, 20-22, 121 stabilized, 260

Force alphabetical order option, 9

foreground swatches, 242 foregrounds

blurring, 21 7 brightness, 90 color, 214 matching/creating

environments, 400-402 mattes with, 187 motion blur and, 259-260 rotoscoping features in,

196 formats. See also specz$cformats

film, 309 non-square pixel, 18-20,

22 raster image, 20-21 source footage, 20-22,121 video, 309 virtual cinematography,

304,305,308 Fractal Noise effect, 110, 325,

406408 fractal noise patterns, 110 frame blending, 76-77, 126 Frame Mix mode, 77 frame rates

adjusting, 16, 17-18, 29, 75

maintaining, 128-129 misinterpreted, 17 nesting and, 78, 128 RAM previews, 29 speed and, 308-309

Index

frames adding/subtracting from

groups, 69 bad, 18 cloned, 242, 243 display of, 16 keyframes between, 56-57 navigation, 46-47, 50 overwriting, 18 selecting multiple, 9 skipping, 24

Frames option, 16 Frames Per Second setting,

17 Freeze Frame, 77, 192 fringing, 17, 210-211, 219 From Current Time option,

29 full-screen mode, 8, 29 Full Screen option, 29 Furnace plug-ins, 80

G gamma

1.0 Gamma toggle, 342, 355,369-370

adjusting with Curves, 155,161,163-167

adjusting with Levels, 154-156,157,159

described, 156 monitors, 360-362 offsetting in file and

monitor, 361-362 QuickTime, 342, 351 spiking and, 160 video gamma space,

360-362 gamma boost, 155 Gamma control, 154-156 gamma slamming, 182-1 84 gamut, 346 garbage mattes, 194-195,

201,271-272 Gaussian Blur, 385 glints, 386-387 Go to Time dialog, 47 GPU (graphics processor

unit), 27

gradients adjusting with Curves,

162,164,166 backgrounds, 30-31,131 banding in, 160-161 black to white, 150-151 Ramp, 156

grain, 299-304 expressions averaging,

331-333 lack of, 184 management of, 299-304 noise as, 301 removal of, 302-303

graininess, 200 Graph Editor, 54-66

Confidence graphs, 256 controls, 54 copying/pasting

keyframes, 64-66 Easy Ease keyframe

assistants, 58-59 enabling, 54 Graph Options menu

55-57 Hold keyframes, 60 roving keyframes, 64 Show Properties menu, 55 Transform Box, 57-58, 70 U/UU shortcuts, 67-68 vs. Layer view, 66 working with, 54-58

Graph Options menu, 55-57 graphics processor unit

(GPU), 27 gray card, 361 gray matching, 172 grayscale conversion, 190 grayscale gradient, 151 grayscale ramp, 361 grayscale transparency

channel, 157 green backgrounds, 186 green channel, 176,189 green screen keys, 193-203 green screens, 189, 193-203,

21 1 grids

3D, 274 overlay, 31 preferences, 31 transparency, 30

Grids & Guides preferences, 31

grouping zones, 7 Grow Bounds effect, 127 Guess button, 17, 92,94 guide layers, 30-31, 120,

130-131 guides, 31-32 Guides options, 31-32 guns, 421-425

H halation, 283 halos, 113, 383, 388 Hand tool, 25 handles, Bkzier, 224, 409-410 Hard Light mode, 110 HD display, 346 HD files, 18 HD footage, 8, 24 HD format, 18, 284, 309 HDR (high dynamic range).

See also dynamic range described, 340 linear floating-point HDR,

362-370 linearized working space,

108-1 10,365,369 Merge to HDR feature

357 source, 365-366

HDR images, 356-355 HDR pipeline, 366, 368 HDTV footage, 8, 348 HDTV profile, 346 HDTV standard, 309 HDV format, 38, 209,281,

304 headroom, 158 heat distortion, 428-430 height, Fit to Comp, 49 hero shots, 171 high-contrast corners, 250 high-contrast mattes, 85,

188-192,222 high definition. See H b High-Dynamic Range. See

HDR highlights

color matching, 174-1 77

Index

gamma slamming and, 183-184

raised gamma, 164 histograms

Extract tool, 189-190 gamma adjustments and,

155 Levels, 150,157-161 problem solving with,

160-161 Hold keyframes, 60 holdout masks, 213 holdout mattes, 196, 197, 201 hue, 111-112 Hue mode, 111-1 12 Hue/Saturation control,

168-169,218,219,379

I lf/Tken statements, 333,

585-337 image planes, 295-296 images

8-bpc, 345,356 32-bp,365,366-370 EXR, 396 HDR, 956-35'1 imporking, 94-95 layering wer opaque

background, 91 morphing, 230-235 plate, 149 premultiplied, 94-95 RGB, 189 sharpening, 302,304 still, 10,18 translating into pixels,

89-90 Import 8r Replace Usage

option, 133,134 Import aption, 135,135 importing

with alpha channels, 85-86

footage with premultiplied images, 94-95

image sequences, 128 Maya scenes for 3D

tracking, 274-275 PSD files as compositione

21-22

source materials, 9-1 1 still sequences for moving

footage, 18 In/Out points, 47, 49, 76, 126 Increment and Save

command, 14 index number, 48 Info palette, 39, 173-174 Info panel, 107,198 Input Black controls, 150-154 input profile, 347-350 Input White controls,

150-154 Inside Mask control, 201 interlaced fields, 18-19 interpolation, 58, 104, 105,

225 Interpret Footage dialog.

16-20,91-95 interpretation rules, 348 Intersect mode, 102 inverse square law, 377 Invert effect, 153 Invert Selection, 48 inverted layers, 48 Inverted toggle, 102 items. See elements

J key, 68, 69 JavaScript, 313 JPEG2000 format, 21 JPEG format, 21

K K key, 68,69 Keep Colors option, 191 Key Color eyedropper,

190-191 keyboard shortcuts. See also

shortcuts brush tools, 239,241 context-clicking, 10-1 1 E key, 67 Easy Ease keyframe

assistants, 58-59 J key, 68,69 K key, 68,69 keyframe navigation,

68-69 layers, 48-49

Timeline navigation, 46-47

transforms, 51 U/UU, 67-68

keyed layers, 187 KeyEd Up script, 143 keyframe eases, 58-59 keyframe marker, 251 keyframes

adding, 69, 228 animating, 51-53, 237 controlling in Graph

Editor, 54-66 converting to Auto-Bezier

mode, 69 copying/pasting, 64-66 deleting, 69, 228 deselecting, 69 editing, 57-58 effect of time

measurement on, 75-80 finding, 67 between frames, 56-57 history of, 222 Hold, 60 linear temporal transitions

between, 58 mask, 104105,228,229 navigation, 48,68-69 nested time and, 128 nudging forward/

backward, 69 offsetting values of, 69 Opacity, 233 preset transition types, 64 putting rotoscope mask in

motion via, 230 reversing, 57 rotoscope masks, 229-230 roving, 64 selecting, 69 smoothing, 328-330 snapping current time

to, 51 spatial data/curves for,

61-64 temporal ease, 104 Temporal Interpretation,

66 wiggling, 328-330 working with multiple, 69

Index

keying. See color keying Keylight, 197-213

basic steps, 194-197 Bias settings, 207 choking, 210-211 clean-up tools, 207-213 decision-making

comparisons, 205 fringing, 210-21 1 methodology, 197-203 noise suppression,

208-210 optimizing, 203-21 3 overview, 197 Preblur option, 208-210 Screen Balance, 206-207 Screen Gain, 206 spill suppression in,

21 1-213 uses for, 193 working with blue/green

screens, 197-203 working with core/edge

mattes, 207-208 Keys column, 44 Kodak 5218 profile, 348 Kronos tool, 80

L Label Colors command, 44 Label Defaults command,

44-45 labels, 44-45 Layer Bar view, 69 Layer column, 44 Layer Controls, 32 layer index numbers,

330-333 layer markers, 45,48,51, 57,

334-337 layer stack, 131 Layer Switches column, 43 Layer view, 66 layers

2D, 42 3D, 27,131,135 adding at specific time, 48 adding items as, 48 adjustment, 129-130,132,

169

aligning, 243 applying effects to, 33 applying motion tracks

to, 229 blending modes and, 107 child, 70 collapsed, 126-128, 289,

292 color-coding, 44-45 comments in, 44-45 coplaner 3D, 131,292 dimensions, 125 duplicating, 48-49 duration, 76 effects within, 132 guide, 30-31, 120,

130-131 hiding, 45, 46 highlighting masked, 97 including static elements

in, 47-48 index number, 48 inverted, 48 keyboard shortcuts for,

48-49 keyed, 187 length, 47-48 locked,'46, 121 mattes, 130 modifying motion blur for,

259-260 moving, methods for, 52 moving In point to

current time, 49 moving up/down in stack,

48 names, 44, 322 navigating, 47-49 nudging forward/

backward in time, 49 order of, 115-116 parenting to single layer,

70 Photoshop, 22 pixel, 129 placeholder, 121 positioning, 48, 49 precomping, 124-129 preset, 120 properties, 131, 132

black-and-white images, 379

CC Light Rays effect, 388-389

color, 392 color timing effects,

380-381 day-for-night effect

379-380 daylight, 172-1 77 diffuse, 214, 215 dramatic, 177-181 exposure to film, 359 flares, 385-387 glints, 386-387 God rays, 388-389 halos, 383, 388 hard vs. soft, 375 hotspots, 376-377 indirect, 392 inverse square law, 377 light wrap, 382-384 location/quality of, 375 multipass 3D compositing,

392-396 neutralizing direction of,

376-377 ordinary, 172-1 77 reflected, 386-387,

392-396 scattered, 388-389 shadows and, 375-376,

390-392 source/direction of,

374-377 volumetric, 388-389

Light mode, 1 10 light sources, 381,383-392 Lighten mode, 103 Lightning effect, 425,

427-428 linear blending, 342, 365,

369-370 Linear Color Key, 189,

190-191 Linear Dodge mode, 108 linear floating-point HDR,

362-370 linear keyers, 188-192 linear keys, 188-192

Linear mode, 110 linear pixels, 362 linearized working space,

108-1 10,365,369 links, 312 Liquify effect, 410-412 Live Update, 26 lock icon, 65 Lock Source Time, 243 Lock toggle, 46 locking

layers, 46, 121 masks, 103 placeholder layer, 121

logarithmic curve, 357-359 logic, 313 looping

in expressions, 325-328 previews, 29, 39

lossless compression, 20, 21, 38

lossless output, 38 lossy compression, 21 low-loss output, 38 Luma Key, 189 luma mattes, 132, 189, 190,

192 Luma Track Matte, .1%2 luminance, 189 Luminescent Premultiply

mode, 1 13 LZW compression, 20,38

Mac 0s-based systems F9 key caution, 58 forcing a crash, 144 memory and, 143-144 QuickTime format and, 40 rendering and, 139-140

Magic Bullet plug-in, 170-171,309

magnification settings, 24 markers

aligning, 45, 11 1 comp, 45,50-51 keyframe, 251 layer, 45, 48, 51, 57,

334-337 names, 51

numbers, 51 placing, 51 tracking, 192

Mask context menu, 225 Mask Expansion option, 98 Mask Feather property, 98 mask keyframes, 104-105,

228,229 Mask Opacity property, 102 Mask Path stopwatch, 229 mask paths, 98-100, 104105 Mask Shape dialog, 97 mask shapes, 97, 226, 229 mask trackers, 228, 229 masking motion blur,

229-230 masks, 96-106

Add, 132 Add mode, 101,102 animated, 222, 228 auto-tracing, 86-87 Bezier, 99 color, 102, 103, 227 combining multiple,

101-103 converting to Rotobeziers,

225 copying/pasting, 104-105 density of, 103 deselecting, 99 determining points with

First Vertex, 235 disabling, 96 drawing, 224,226 feathered, 98 flipping, 97 highlighted, 97, 105 holdout, 213 interpolation, 104, 105 Intersect mode, 102 inverting, 102 limitations of, 228-230 locking, 103 managing multiple,

101-103 Mask Expansion option,

98 masking motion blur,

229-230,259-260 modes for, 101-102

Index

Index

masks (continued) moving, 104-105 multiple, 226 names, 103,232 opacity, 102 overlapping, 226, 227 rotoscoping, 102, 104-105 setting up to track, 228, 229

shortcuts, 226 target, 231, 235 temporal keyframes, 104-105

track mattes and, 270-272 transparent, 103 Vertex, 105-106 workflow for, 96-98

Master comps, 120, 123, 125, 133

match moving, 192 Matching Softness setting, 190

Matching Tolerance eyedropper, 190-191

matrix, 316 Matte Choker, 216 mattes

articulated, 223-227 avoiding holes in, 218 choked, 210-211,216 combining with blending

modes for selections, 88 core, 207 detecting flaws in, 187 difference, 191-192 double, 207 edge. See edge mattes fringing around, 219 garbage, 194-195,201, 271-272

high-contrast, 85, 188-192 holdout, 196, 197, 201 improving, 203-204 layers, 130 luma, 132, 189, 190, 192 problems with, 204205, 216-219

protecting edge detail, 187 pulling, 85 roto, 197 sharing, 114

softening, 209-210 tips for, 186-188 track. See track mattes using, 194195

Maya 3D scenes, 274-275 Media Encoder, 140 Mediacore, 342, 347 memory. See also RAM entries

management of, 143-1 44 preferences, 28 Texture Memory, 27

Memory & Cache, 136-137 Merge to HDR feature, 357 mesh, 237 Mesh Warp effect, 409-410 Microsoft Windows systems

memory and, 143-144 QuickTime format and, 40 rendering and, 139-140

midtones, 172, 176 Minimal workspace, 6, 7 Minimax, 21 6-217 mist, 405-408 monitors. See also displays

color calibration, 344 CRT, 160 external broadcast, 344 Mac vs. PC, 36b maximizing screen, 8 video space of, 360-362

morphing, 230-235 motion blur, 71-74

adjusting settings for, 73-74

collapse transformations and, 126

described, 71-72, 283 masking, 229-230 premultiplication settings

and, 92 removing, 260

Motion Blur toggle, 71-72 Motion Source menu, 259 Motion Tracker Options

dialog, 256-257 motion tracking, 248-276

2.5D tracking, 262-268 3D tracking, 272-276 accuracy of tracker, 259 alpha track mattes, 270-272

clone operations, 318-3119 Confidence settings, 256 Corner Pin, 253-254 editing tracking target, 252-254

essentials, 248, 249-262 matching motion blur, 259-260

nulls, 261-262,272-275 overview, 248 paint strokes, 245, -$ 317-320

problems with, 258-259 reference point for, 252 reverse, 255 rotation/scale data for, 254255

rotoscoping and, 222, 270-272

search/feature regions, 250-251

search regions for, 250, 251

setting up to track rn* 229

smoothing moving camera, 265-268

stabilizing layers, 253, Stop Tracking option subpixel positioning, SynthEyes 3D, 272, 275-276

tracker options, 25 tracking data, 267 a transform tracking; E 261-264 1.1

types of tracks, 2 5 M uses for, 248-249

motion tracks applying to layers, 28 deleting, 259 . 7

reapr scalin types Gf, 253-2SA

mouse, 25, 50,203 >d movies, QuickTime, 4

3

Index

MPEG video, 137 multi-channel OpenEXR

plug-ins, 21 multipass render layer types,

394-395 multipass rendering, 393-396 Multiply mode, 109-110, 364 Multiprocessing option, 28,

136

naming conventions, 39,60 navigation

compositions, 46-47 frames, 46-47,50 keyframes, 48,68-69 layer markers, 48 layers, 47-49 Timeline shortcuts, 46-47

negatives, film, 353, 357-359 nesting

compositions, 67,68,78, 121-129

frame rates and, 78, 128 preserving resolution, 129 switches and, 126 time, 128-129

network renders, 137-14" node view, 68 noise

averaging grain and, 331-333

blurring and, 298 Fractal Noise effect, 110,

325,406-408 as grain, 301 reducing with spill

suppression, 212 noise suppression, 208-210 non-square pixel formats,

18-20,22 None mode, 102 Normality tool, 396 Notepad, 142 NTSC format, 308 Nucleo Pro, 135 nulls, 261-262,272-275 number fields, 47

numbers layer index, 330-333 markers, 51 random, 330 version, 39

online review, 38 opacity

applying expressions to, 313-315,326,332

settings for, 91 Opacity keyframes, 233 Opacity setting, 129 opaque pixels, 11 3 Open Parent Composition

button, 123 OpenEXR format, 368 OpenEXR plug-ins, 21 OpenGL feature, 27-28 optical compositing, 106 Optics Compensation effect,

286-288 optimizing

Keylight, 203-21 3 output, 38 previews, 132-137 projects, 140-14.f renders, 132-137

Option key, 25,26 Options section, 36 orientation, 282,290-291 Out points. See In/Out points output

linear floating point and, 370

lossless, 38 low-loss, 38 optimized, 38 Render Queue, 35-38 simulation of, 347-350 video, 93

Output Module Settings, 36-38,92,133,134

output profile, 350-351 Outside Mask control, 201 Over Range preset, 354 overlay grids, 31 Overlay mode, 110

P padding, 217 Page Up/Page Down keys,

27,224 Paint on Transparent option,

244 Paint panel, 239 paint strokes, 222,241-246,

317-320 Paint Workspace, 239 painting

fundamentals of, 239-242 guidelines for, 222 Paint on Transparent

option, 244 Photoshop vs. After

Effects, 240 uses for, 222, 239 vector paint tools, 241, 246

Pan Behind tool, 53 panel groups, 5 panel menus, 10 panels, 5-8, 10. See also spec@

panels PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio),

19-20,22 parallax effect, 323 parent-child relationships,

70,71 Parent column, 44 parenthesized comp, 128 parenting layers, 70 particles, 407, 415-416,

428-430 particulate matter, 399-402 pasting masks, 104-105 paths

animating, 322-323 mask, 98-100, 104-105

patterns expressions, 312-31 3,

325-333 repeatable, 100-101

PDF files, 140 pen, stylus, 241 Pen tool, 99, 225, 226 performance

enhancing, 26-28 motion tracking and, 251

Index

PF Track, 272 Photo-JPEG, 38 Photoshop

brushes, 240 file format, 21-22 footage, 246 layers, 22 PSD files, 21-22

Photoshop video, 246 pickwhip, in expressions, 317,

318,320 Pickwhip icon, 133, 134 pins, 236-238 pixel aspect, 37 Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR),

19-20,22 pixel dimensions, 126 pixel layer, 129 Pixel Motion mode, 77,

80-81 pixels

blended values, 106-1 13 Cineon log encoding,

359-360 fringing, 210-21 1 linear, 362 multiplying background

into edge, 90,92 non-square formats,

18-20,22 opaque, 1 13 preserving positions, 242 problems translating

images into, 89-90 semitransparent, 11 3 square, 20 subpixel positioning, 259 transparent, 11 3

plate footage, 23 plate image, 149 plug-ins

AdvantEdge, 193 Colorista, 170-171, 309,

38 1 Depth Cue, 295 effects, 33 Furnace, 80 Magic Bullet, 170-1 71,

309 OpenEXR, 21

ProEXR, 396 Reel Smart Motion Blur,

75 Ultimatte, 193 Unmult, 95, 219 ZBornToy, 396

PNG format, 20-21 point of interest, 290-291 points

anchor, 70-71,253 animated masks, 228 attach, 251, 252, 318 deleting, 259 drawing, 225 In/Out, 47,49,76,126 reference, 251,252 setting First Vertex for

aligning, 105-106 start/end, 126 track, 251-258,263-265,

269 Post-Render Action, 134 pre-flight checklist, 35-36 Pre-render option, 135 pre-rendered elements, 135 pre-rendering, 133-135 precipitation, 414-418 Precomp Proxies, 135 precomping, 121, 124-129 Precompose command, 124 preferences

defaults, 141 display, 24, 141 editing, 142-143 general, 141 grids/guides, 31 imports, 94-95 memory, 28 previews, 26, 29-30 projects, 140-143 restoring to defaults, 141 saving as text files, 141 "secret," 141 setting, 140-143 spatial interpretations, 58,

61-62 UI colors, 141 undo levels, 141 user interface color, 102

premultiplication, Preserve Frame R

128-129 Preserve Resolution When

Nested toggle, 129 Preserve Underlying

Transparency option, 1 I presets, 32-35

animation, 3435,321-322 2 brushes, 241 1 clones, 243 cloning, 243 creating, 23 j layers, 120

Presets folder, 34 preview settings, 29-30 previews, 24-32

Draft quality an keys, 195, 196 1

HD footage, 8 looping, 29, 39 o p e n G ~ , 27 preferences, 26 RAM. See RAM 1 Redder Final in work

Area, 48 rendering, 132-12

speeding up, 24 updating external deviw ,i

for, 30 Primatte Keyer, 193 Process Before Match optin@

ProEXR plug-in, 396 profiles, color, 344

370 Project panel, 6-7, Project Settings diz projects. See also compm

analyzing, 67-68 ,A

automatically savir backups of, 12 *'- 2 color-coding layersk ,

compositions, 4.1- . combining, 13 g comments in, 46-45d copying, 12 ,d Flowchart view of, E moving, 12

Index

multiple, 118-123 naming conventions, 39 optimizing, 140-1 44 organizing, 10, 119-121 preferences, 140-143 relationship to

compositions, 122-123 removing items from, 13 renaming, 44 reverting to previous, 14 saving, 14 settings for, 15-16,

140-143 templates, 119-121 versions, 14, 39

properties animating, 51-53 defined, 51 layer, 131, 132 selecting all keyframes

for, 69 showing in Graph Editor,

55-57 proxies, 134135 PSD files, 21-22. See also

Adobe Photoshop Pulldown, 18-19 pulling mattes, 85 Puppet Overlap tool, 237-238 Puppet Pin tool, 236-237 Puppet tools, 236-238 push, 59,282,291-292 PV Feather, 228 pyrotechnics, 420-436. See

also smoke

Q quality/resolution settings,

2425 quantization, 160-1 61 QuickTime

color management issues, 350-351

compression, 38 gamma, 342,351 overview, 40

QuickTime movies, 40

R rack focus shots, 295-296 Radial Blur, 127 Radiance format, 368 radiometrically linear color

data, 366 RAM buffer, 224 RAM cache, 28,136-137,223.

See also cache; memory RAM previews

caching, 28-29,223 frame rates, 29 full-screen mode, 8 multiprocessing and, 136 options for, 29-30 resolution/quality and,

24-25,29 skipping frames, 24 switching to alpha

channels, 204 Ramp controls, 158 Ramp effect, 31, 150-151,

157 Ramp gradient, 156 Random Numbers submenu,

330 raster image formats, 20-21 raw tracks, 25'4 '*%

rd-Commentronljsx script, 45

Record Options, 237 rectangles, 96-97 red channel, 189 Redefinery folder, 45 Reduce Project command, 13 Reel Smart Motion Blur plug-

in, 75 Reference graph, 56 reference points, 251, 252 reflected light, 386-387,

392-396 Region of Interest (ROI) ,

24,25 Reload Footage command, 12 Remove Color Matting

option, 95,219 Remove Unused Footage

command, 13 render networks, 137-140 render pipeline, 131-140

Render Queue, 6,8,35-38 Render Queue panel, 133 render settings, 35-36 Render Settings section,

35-36 rendering, 131-140

2D layers, 42 Adobe Media Encoder,

140 considerations, 118 guide layers and, 131 multipass, 393-396 multiple applications and,

139-1 40 Multiprocessing option,

136 performing final render

in Work Area, 48 post-render options,

133-134 pre-rendering, 133,

134-135 proxies, 134135 render order, 116,

124125,132 render queue, 138,

139-1 40 Rush Render Queue, 138 Watch Folder for, 138

Replace Footage File dialog, 11-12

Replace Usage option, 135 Reset Levels option, 152 Reshape tool, 231-235 resolution

display, 24-25 film, 24 half, 24 nesting and, 129 RAM previews, 2425, 29

Reveal in Composition option, 122,123

Reveal Layer Source in Project option, 123

Revert command, 14 RGB color, 189, 257, 342, 346 RGB histogram, 158 RGB images, 189 RGB values, 342, 346, 347 rig removal, 245

Index

ROI (Region of Interest), 24,25

Rosco Ultimatte colors, 206 Rosetta, I36 RotAE script, 228 Rotate tool, 53 rotation

camera, 290-291 elements, 413-414 layers, 70-71 masks, 97, 104 motion tracking, 254-255

roto-mattes, 197 Rotobezier shapes, 224-227 rotoscoping, 222-246. See also

painting articulated mattes and,

223-227 cloning and, 239,241-246 color keying and, 196 complex shapes, 226-227 described, 222 dust removal, 246 guidelines for, 222 history of, 222 masking motion blur,

229-230 masks, 102, 104-105 morphing, 230-235 motion tracking for,

270-272 Puppet tools, 236-238 rig removal in, 245 setting up to track masks,

228,229 wire removal in, 245 working with Rotobezier

shapes, 224-227 roving keyframes, 64 RPF files, 272, 396,402 rulers, 31 Rush Render Queue, 138

s Scurve adjustment, 1 b I Safe Margins, 31 sample rate, 15 Samples Per Frame setting,

73

sanityCheck.exr file, 366 sanityCheck.tif file, 344-346,

366 saturation, 111-112,257 Saturation mode, 11 1-1 12 saving

advanced options for, 14 Auto-Save, 14 preferences as text files,

141 projects, 14 workspaces, 7

scaling brushes, 241 layers, 324 motion tracking, 254-255 proportionally, 57 Transform Box, 57 values, 57

scene-referred color data, 366 screen. See also display

full-screen mode, 8, 29 maximizing, 8

Screen Balance control, 199, 205,206-207

Screen Colour eyedropper, 197

Screen Colour seqt?Ing, 197-198

Screen Gain control, 200, 201,205,206

Screen Grow/Shrink control, 210-211

screen matte, 205 Screen mode, 108-109 Screen Preblur option,

208-210 Screen Shrink/Grow value,

202-204 Screen Softness control, 209 Screen transfer mode, 364 scroll wheel, 25, 50, 207 SDTV NTSC profile, 346,348 SDTV PAL profile, 346 search regions, 250, 251 searches. See finding items Selection tool, 53, 226, 242

selections, 83-1 16. See also blending modes; compositing; masks

alpha channels/ preniultiplication, 91-95

bitmap selection channel, 88-89

blending modes as, 87 calculating opacity setting

for, 91 combining techniques to

make, 88 considerations, 84 creating masks for, 86,

96-105 edge mattes for, 216218 4 feathered alpha, 89-90

.- - -

pulling mattes, 85 transparency selections 6

from effects. 88 i

using alpha channels for, * 85 J

vs. blending modes, I

106-113 g

SeF;rnlnn I . \ L-TT Kf l ""L"'"" \,, I\Lj, .,"

Separate Fields setting, Seauence Footaee Fran u

per Second option, 128 i seauences

importing, 128 fnr mn~linu fnntaup A-L ,,A&., ,.-* 5 '----+5-, -- . multiple, 9-10 r ?i n~lmh~r ino 97 A'"" Y .

Set First Vertex commaj 105

Set Proxy option, 133 Set Prnvv s~ttino 1x4 - - *--- J w-"--AU3 -- - . shadows, 390-392

cast, 391, - - - color matchiso 174-1 +%%! contact, 391- t e r h n i m ~ ~ c fnr rrerrfina, LLLALLLAy--- -"- -----

390-392 Shake, 201 Shape layers, 96, 100-$( Shape tools, 96, 100

I

Index

shapes animated, 102 BPzier, 58, 225 complex, 226-227 layers for, 100-101 mask, 97, 226, 229 Rotobezier, 222-227

sharpening images, 302,304 Shatter effect, 435 Shift Channels, 190, 216, 301 shortcuts. See also keyboard

shortcuts mask, 226 navigation, 47-49 U/UU, 67-68

shortcuts file, 141-142 shots. See camera shots Show Animated Properties

toggle, 55 Show Channel pulldown,

156-157 Show Graph Editor Set

toggle, 55 Show Graph Tool Tips, 56 Show Properties menu, 55 Show Reference Graph

option, 56 Show Selected Properties

toggle, 55 shutter, camera, 73-75 Shutter Angle setting, 72-74 Shutter Phase setting, 72-74 shutter speed, 7 6 7 5 Shy toggle, 46 Silhouette Alpha mode, 112,

203 Simple Choker, 202-204,216 Single Frame mode, 241, 242 skewing values, 57 sky replacement, 402-405 slamming gamma, 182-184 sliding layers, 49 Smart Mask interpolation,

105,225 smoke, 405-413. See also fire;

pyrotechnics from fire, 431-434 from gun, 422

smooth expression, 267-268, 328-330

Smoother, 267 smoothing

global, 14, 82 keyframes, 328-330 local, 14, 82 moving camera, 265-268

snow, 331-332,415-417 solo layers, 45 Solo switch, 45 sound, 15,137 source clips, 7677,377 Source column, 44 source compositions, 126 source files, 9-13, 135 source folder, 119, 121 source footage, 20-21, 121 source formats, 20-22 source materials, 9-12, 121 Source Time Shift, 244 Spacebar, 25,27 Spacebar previews, 27 spatial animations, 60 spatial interpretations, 58 spatial offsets, 70-71 spatial transitions, 58 Speed graphs; 56 " spill correction, 200 spill suppression, 21 1-213,

219 split-screen wew, 85-86 splitting layers, 49 square pixels, 20 sRGB color, 345 sRGB profile, 346 Stabilize option, 253 stabilizing

footage, 260 layers, 253, 259

Stamp tool, 239 Standard workspace, 5 Starch tool, 238 static elements in layers,

47-48 Stencil Alpha mode, 112, 202,

203,383-384 still images, 10, 18 Stop Tracking option, 258 stopwatch, 69

storage overflow, 36 strokes, 241-246

clone, 318-319 paint, 222, 241-246,

317-320 shapes and, 100 using motion tracker with,

261-262 stylus pen, 241 subcompositions, 78, 133 subpixel positioning, 259 Subtract mode, 101-102 Switches Affect Nested

Comps option, 126 Switches column, 45-46 SynthEyes 3D, 272, 275-276

T target masks, 231, 235 telecine conversions, 19 Telecine process, 19, 353, 358 templates

composition settings, 22 Output Modules, 38 project, 119-121 Render Queue, 35

temporal edits, 244 Temporal Interpretation, 66 temporal split, 213 text layer, 130 Text Preferences, 141 text reminders, 130 TextEdit, 142 Texture Memory, 27 TGA format, 20 three-way blur, 385 three-way color corrector,

170-171,380 TIFF format, 20-21,366 Tilde key (-), 8 time. See also timing

absolute, 75 Current Time Indicator,

50,69,258 display of, 15 in expressions, 330-333 nested, 128-129 remapping for layers,

78-80

Index

Time Controls panel, 29-30 Time Indicator, 48 Time Remap feature, 78-80 time remapping, 78-80,244 Time Ruler, 50 Time Sampling section, 35 Time Stretch, 43, 76-78 timecode, 16 Timecode Base option, 1, Timeline

animation methods, 51-53 backward navigation in,

46-47 cached frames and, 137 eases for animation, 58-59 color-coding layers/

compositions, 44-45 column views in, 42-44 comments added in,

44-45 described, 42 editing track points in,

251-258,263-265,269 finding specific timelines,

50 Frame Blending effects

on, 76-77 frame rate, 16 icons for, 43 Motion Blur, 71-74 navigation keyboard

shortcuts, 46-47 opening, 123 preserving nested

composition frame rate, 78

revealing current track in. 258

reversing timing of layer, 77

spatial data/curves for keyframes, 61-64

tabbed, 121 Time Remap feature,

78-80 Time Stretch, 76-78 Timewarp feature, 80-82 view options for, 50-51

Timeline button, 50-51 Timeline palettes, 121

Timeline panel, 6 Timewarp feature, 80-82 timing. See also time

adjusting, 126 color, 380-381 compositions, 126 retiming footage, 80-82 reversing layer, 77

Tint control, 190,378-380 Title/Action Safe overlays, 31 Toggle Hold Keyframe

option, 60 Tolerance option, 191 Track Fields option, 257 track mattes, 114-1 16

applying to other track mattes, 116

considerations, 115 described, 114 duplicating, 48 luma, 132 options for, 114 render order, 11 6 transparency and, 192 vs. alpha channels, 114

track points, 251-258, 263-265,269

tracker controlf;'251 Tracker Controls panel,

248-249 tracking. See motion tracking tracking markers, 192 tracks

fixing, 258-259 motion. See motion tracks as properties of layers, 259 raw, 254 revealing current track in

Timeline, 258 stablizing, 253 system performance and,

25 1 transform, 253

Transfer Controls column, 43 Transform Box, 57-58,70 Transform controls, 51, 53 Transform effect, 53, 132 transforms

concatenation of, 129 described, 51

keyboard shortcuts for, 51 tracking, 253, 261-264

transparency masks, 103 Paint on Transparent

option, 244 pixels, 113 preserving, 112 semitransparent edge

pixels, 11 3 track mattes and, 192

transparency selections, 88 Triangles, 237 triggers, 333-335 trimming, 48 troubleshooting

banding, 160-161,343, - 368

with histograms, 160-161 mattes, 204-205,216-219 motion tracking, 258-259 premultiplication errors,

95 Twixtor, 82

u U/UU keyboard shortcuts,

67-68 uberkey, 67-68 Ultimatte plug-in, 193 undo levels, 141 unlocking layers, 46 Unmult plug-in, 95, 219 Use All Proxies option, 135 Use Comp Proxies Only

option, 135 user interface, 5, 102, 227 User Interface Brightness

control, 5 User Interface Colors

control, 5, 102, 227 &

v vector paint tools, 241,246 version numbers, 39 versions, project, 14 vertex count, preserving, vertices, 105-106 video footage. See footage

Index

video formats, 309. See also formats

video gamma space, 360-362 Video Preview settings, 30 video space, 360-362,

364-366 View menu, 235,244245 viewers, 24-32

creating, 121 customized, 30-32 described, 5, 24 pixel measurements of, 31

views, 67-68, 121 vignettes, 306307 virtual camera, 73, 278-289 virtual camera shutter, 73 virtual cinematography

"film/video look," 304310

formats/aspect ratios for, 304,305,308

importance of color in, 305,310

motion blur/camera shutter settings, 72-75

Vivid Light mode, 110

warping tools Mesh Warp effect,

409-410 Reshape, 231-235 Timewarp feature, 80-82

Watch Folder option, 138 water

precipitation, 414-418 surface reflection, 418 underwater shots, 307

weather conditions, 398-418 fog/smoke/mist, 405-413 lightning strikes, 425,

427-428 particulate matter in air,

399-402 precipitation, 414418 sky replacement, 402-405 snow, 331-332,415-417 wind, 413-414

white levels, 154 White Point control, 190 White Softness control, 190 whites

blown-out, 158-159 color matching, 176

width, Fit to Comp, 49 wiggle expression, 328-330 wind, 413-414 windows, working with, 8 Windows systems. See

Microsoft Windows systems. wire removal, 245 Work Area

performing final renders in, 48

resetting to composition length, 48 +--

trimming duration to, 48 workflow

described, 4 effects/presets, 34-35 masks, 96-98 output with Render

Queue, 35-38 using workspaces/panels,

5-9 working space

Color Management, 345-347

linearized, 108-1 10, 365, 369

workspaces, 5-9 All Panels, 7 customizing, 7-9 default, 7 examples of, 8-9 Minimal, 6, 7 new, 7 saving, 7 Standard, 5

Write On option, 242

X X key, 242

Y Y axis, 291, 319 YUV format, 209, 210, 342,

347

z Z axis, 292 ZBornToy plug-in, 39b Zeno's Paradox, 91 zoom lenses, 305-306 zoom settings, 24 zoom wheel on mouse, 50 zooming in/out

attach points, 252 methods for, 25 with mouse scroll wheel,

50 on Timeline, 50 vs. pushing, 282, 291-292 windows, 8