USER GUIDE FOR LOUPEDECK CT & ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CC€¦ · effects cc. table of contents getting...
Transcript of USER GUIDE FOR LOUPEDECK CT & ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CC€¦ · effects cc. table of contents getting...
USER GUIDE FOR LOUPEDECK CT & ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CC
TABLE OF CONTENTSGETTING TO KNOW LOUPEDECK CT 3
CONNECTING & SETTING UP LOUPEDECK CT 4
LOUPEDECK CT & AFTER EFFECTS 5
General Elements 5
Workspace Elements 5
KEYBOARD MODIFIERS 7
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS DEFAULT PROFILE 8
AFTER EFFECTS DEFAULT WORKSPACES 10
Accessing Workspaces 10
WORKSPACE 1: HERO ACTIONS 11
1.1 HERO ACTIONS - TOUCH PAGE 11
1.3 TOOLS PAGE - TOUCH PAGE 12
Dials 13
Navigation 14
Wheel 14
WORKSPACE 2: ANIMATION & EFFECTS 14
Keyframes 15
Keyframe INTERPOLATION 15
WORKSPACE 3: COLOR 16
Curves 19
Vignette 20
WORKSPACE 4: 3D 20
TASKBAR OPTIONS 23
UPDATING LOUPEDECK 24
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 24
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 2
GETTING TO KNOW LOUPEDECK CT
Loupedeck CT is the perfect companion to all creators from passionate hobbyists to experienced
professionals. It’s a highly customizable hands-on device that extends your creativity to a whole new level.
Loupedeck CT is designed to be the perfect addition to your creative process. No more jumping in search of
right shortcuts – Loupedeck CT is for you!
We recommend you to read through our general user guide for Loupedeck CT HERE, before getting familiar
with Loupedeck Creative Tool and all that it offers for Adobe After Effects,
Current operating system support for Adobe After Effects CC (minimum requirements):
• Windows 10
• MacOS 10.13 or later
• Adobe After Effects (most recent version)
• Loupedeck Software version 3.1 or later
TIP! For up-to-date support information, please visit www.loupedeck.com
1. Mac TIP! Remember to install applications into application folder – otherwise Loupedeck Setup may
not be able to detect supported applications correctly. Loupedeck CT does not work on MacOS 10.11 or
older.
2. Win Tip! Remember to install Loupedeck Software with Admin account to prevent software privilege
issues! Loupedeck CT does not work on 32-bit Windows versions. 64-bit Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 versions
are not supported, but Loupedeck Setup software may work if .NET Framework 4.5.1 (or later) is
installed.
DON’T TOUCH THAT USB CABLE JUST YET
We know that you might be impatient to get started and are about to connect Loupedeck CT to your
computer. However, before you connect Loupedeck CT to your computer, you must download the
Loupedeck software. You need an Internet connection to download the software.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 3
CONNECTING & SETTING UP LOUPEDECK CT
Setting up Loupedeck CT with After Effects is as easy as 1-2-3.
1. Download the Loupedeck software from www.loupedeck.com/en/setup and install the software (Note!
OS user account must have admin rights!).
2. Connect the USB cable to the USB port of your computer.
3. Start editing!
Note! Your computer keyboard should be using UK or US keyboard settings (you can change this in your
OS preferences). For the time being, this has to be done for CT to work within Adobe After Effects. Some
actions do not work properly with Scandinavian and German layouts, for example.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 4
LOUPEDECK CT & AFTER EFFECTS
GENERAL ELEMENTS
All of the Round Buttons and some of the Square
Buttons are customizable. These control elements
are generally used across all areas of your editing
software and their function remains constant and
fixed and does not change alongside the editing
software used.
All buttons are equipped with RGB color backlight,
which is used to indicate the type of action
assigned to the button.
WORKSPACE ELEMENTS
The content of Dials, Touch Buttons and The Wheel
changes based on the current workspace and all
content is fully customizable.
Dials are separated into two banks (located on the
left and right). Dials control variable values and
are prioritized for the most used adjustments (e.g.
Zooming). Dials also have a press function, which is
usually assigned to resetting the value back to zero.
Dial information is displayed on the left and right
bars of the Touch Screen (next to the dials).
Tip!: If you don’t need resetting a value, you can
assign a different press function to dials.
Loupedeck CT’s control elements are: Six rotatable Dials (with a press function), Touch Screen (with
Touch Buttons), eight Round Buttons, twelve Square Buttons and a rotatable Wheel (paired with a
touch-sensitive Wheel Screen). These five elements have been divided into two groups.
Group 1: General Elements
Group 2: Workspace Elements
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 5
•
Touch Buttons:
Are used to activate different functions (e.g.,
tools, macros, presets, and actions). Touch
buttons have back-colored icons which
indicate the type of the function assigned –
icon colors match with the buttons’ backlight
color.
The Wheel:
Combines both dial and button functions and
can be used to control both variable values
and to activate functions. The Wheel has a
number of different kinds of templates (e.g.,
lists, “action cakes”, etc.) and widgets (e.g.,
color wheel and clock), which are selected
based on the functions needed.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 6
KEYBOARD MODIFIERS
As some editors love their keyboard modifiers, e.g. to copy a clip, we have them available on CT,
too. Pressing the keyboard modifier button, makes them accessible on the round buttons.
*The round buttons will turn white when keyboard modifiers are enabled.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 7
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS DEFAULT PROFILE
Loupedeck CT has a pre-configured profile for Adobe After Effects, which contains most common After
Effects adjustments and actions utilizing all three workspace elements: Dials, touch buttons and the wheel.
Default Actions: The default profile that you get with Loupedeck CT may not be 100% fitting for your
needs and workflow, but don’t worry, you can customize it to your likeing!
Buttons 1-8 DEFAULT ACTIONS
1 Change Workspace to Hero Actions
2Change Workspace to Animation and Effects
3 Change Workspace to Color
4 Change Workspace to 3D
5 -
6 -
7 Copy
8 Paste
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 8
ARROW BUTTONS A B C D E: With ABCDE arrow buttons, you can jump to next/previous layer, go forward/
back 1 Frame, and play current preview.
Tip! Remember that pressing the Fn button gives you a second layer of actions. So for example, behind
the Undo button, you will find a Redo action by pressing Fn + Undo. Esc can be found when you press Fn +
Enter.
BUTTONS ARROW BUTTONS: A B C D E, Undo, Save, + Fn
A Select Previous Layer
B Select Next Layer
C Go Back 1 Frame
D Go Foward 1 Frame
E Play Current Preview
UNDO Save
SAVE Undo
A + Fn Previous Blending Mode
B + Fn Next Blending Mode
C + Fn Go to Previous Keyframe
D + Fn Go to Next Keyframe
E + Fn Add Render Queue
UNDO + Fn Redo
SAVE + Fn Save as
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 9
AFTER EFFECTS DEFAULT WORKSPACES
Loupedeck CT has a pre-configured profile for Adobe After Effects, which contains most common After
Effects adjustments and actions utilizing all three workspace elements: Dials, touch buttons and the wheel.
Default Workspaces: To get you editing with your Loupedeck CT and After Effects right away we have
provided 4 default workspaces.
You can of course have more workspaces: you can have sub-workspaces that you access with the Fn key.
This could be handy, for example, for creating a sub-workspace for your favorite macros under the main
editing workspace.
DEFAULT AFTER EFFECTS WORKSPACES
HERO ACTIONS
ANIMATIONS AND EFFECTS
COLOR
3D
ACCESSING WORKSPACES
Access the workspaces directly using the dedicated round buttons. If you double-tap the home button,
you will see a “home screen” that has links to workspaces. The order the workspaces are on the pads of the
home screen reflects the order they are on the physical workspace buttons. These can be set by the user. If
you are viewing a page of a workspace that is not its first one, the first tap of home button takes you to the
first page for touch pads and dials of that workspace.
TIP!: For more information on Workspaces please see our Loupedeck General User-Guide HERE.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 10
WORKSPACE 1: HERO ACTIONS
1.1 HERO ACTIONS - TOUCH PAGE
• This first page is filled with shortcuts that
most designers would use frequently
throughout the editing process, along with
two blue page links for “Organize” and
accessing “Tools.
Tip!: In case you don’t recognise an icon
right away, a long press on the touch display
will show the action name on the wheel. This
might be useful if you want to try out other
applications that you are less familiar with
or Windows/Mac/System Apps
1.2 ORGANIZE PAGE - TOUCH PAGE
With the actions on this page, you can:
• Organize your project by adding layers and
comps (Timeline or Composition View-er
needs to be the selected Panel)
• Import materials
• Toggle Rulers to composition viewer
• Jump between viewer resolutions
• View composition settings
Tip!: Whenever a dialog window opens, you
can confirm your selection by pressing Enter
or close the window by pressing Fn + Enter
(= ESC).
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 11
1.3 TOOLS PAGE - TOUCH PAGE
Here you can access quickly all TOOLS so that
you can either reduce your mouse usage or
keep your hands on the device.
Pressing the blue page link takes you back to
“Hero Actions” touch page.
Tip!: You can also access the touch pages that
are linked under “Organise” and “Tools” with a
horizontal swipe on the touch display instead
of clicking the page link button. If you need
more space for your favorite actions on the
first page, remove the page links and free two
buttons that way.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 12
DIALS
We have implemented rotate functions for CT dials that replace selecting a tool and dragging with mouse.
For example, to adjust Scaling, Rotating, Opacity or Positioning, simply select desired layer with the
“Select layer” dial and start rotating the dedicated dial. It gives you a very precise feel of adjustment, as
one tick corresponds to one pixel or degree (unless stated otherwise in action name).
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 13
NAVIGATION
There are several ways of navigating within your
timeline and compositions. You just need to find
what feels best depending on the situation and
controls needed.
WHEEL
Wheel controls both rotary adjustments (the outer
dial) and touch button actions on the central
screen.
Wheel doesn’t have a second layer when pressing
FN button, but it can have, like dials and touch
buttons, multiple pages. Wheel pages are changed
by swiping the wheel screen horizontally.
Wheel screen swiping can be locked by pressing
both FN keys simultaneously. Wheel screen swipe
is also locked when entering a wheel widget with
a variable that is controlled by swiping A rotary
action is assigned to the wheel is indicated by
light blue line and an active adjustment has a
brighter color indicator (normal actions do not
have any color indicator).
The active adjustment is changed on Wheel
widgets by pressing FN and rotating the wheel.
TIP! 1: For precise control, we suggest using
the pre-defined NAVIGATION WHEEL with the
navigation functions to move “1 Frame”, “10
Frames” and “Select keyframe”. The activated
function is indicated with blue circle line.
TIP! 2: Alternatively, use the square buttons (Fn +)
C and D, or assign 1 frame navigation to a dial of
your liking.
TIP! 3: Pressing E-button activates “Play current
Preview”.
TIP! 4: With the Zoom dials “Zoom Timeline” and
“Zoom Comp”, you can zoom in and out your
timeline or composition. By pressing the Zoom dial,
all material is fit into timeline / viewer.
Note! English keyboard layout must be selected for
Zoom dials to work.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 14
WORKSPACE 2: ANIMATION & EFFECTS This workspace is dedicated to animate layer properties using keyframes. You can animate a layer or an
effect on a layer by making one or more of its properties change over time. Any property with a stopwatch
button to the left of its name in the Timeline panel or Effect Controls panel can be animated.
By pressing the blue link “Effects”, you find some common effects displayed. You can apply them with one
press to selected layer(s). Please modify this page according your needs with your favorite effects.
KEYFRAMES
Keyframes are used to set parameters for motion, effects, audio, and many other properties, usually
changing them over time. A keyframe marks the point in time where you specify a value for a layer property,
such as spatial position or opacity. Values between keyframes are interpolated.
KEYFRAME INTERPOLATION
• By changing and adjusting keyframe interpolation, you gain precise control over the rate of changes
in your transitions (or other effects).
Ease In
• Slows down the value changes entering a keyframe. You can manually adjust the handles in the graph
editor.
Ease Out
• Gradually accelerates the value changes leaving a keyframe. You can manually adjust the handles in
the graph editor.
Easy Ease
Creates an evenly-paced change from one keyframe to another, with each in-between frame given an
equal share of the changed value.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 15
WORKSPACE 3: COLOR
GETTING STARTED WITH THE COLOR WORKSPACE
The Basic Corrections Adjustments are laid out to Dials and the Wheel, so you can start adjusting values
right away
Tip!: You need to “Add Lumetri Color” effect to selected layer(s) before adjustments can take effect. Always
the last applied Lumetri effect is being manipulated by CT.
This workspace is dedicated to the color grading tools that After Effects offers. Using CT dials and the
wheel is intuitive and gives you very precise control.
You can access the sliders and curves of Adobe After Effects Color Panels:
• Basic Corrections
• Creative
• Curves
• HSL Secondary
• Vignette
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 16
Dials: ROTATE to adjust
• Temperature
• Tint
• Contrast
• Saturation
Wheel, SWIPE up and down to an adjustment of
your choice and ROTATE the Wheel to adjust
• Blacks
• Whites
• Exposure
• Highlights
• Shadows
Changing between Adjustments works also by
pressing Fn + rotating the wheel.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 17
When you open one of the blue links, you can choose
which controls you want to have displayed on CT.
Some controls are assigned to dials and others to the
wheel. Simply open the page link for dials or wheel,
and most After Effects color controls are already
laid out for you, ready to be adjusted by wheel / dial
rotation.
As an alternative to pressing page links, you can
access all wheel and dial pages again by swiping the
displays up / down & left / right.
You can undo your changes by pressing the dial,
double-tapping on wheel, or removing the whole
effect by pressing the touch button “Remove All FX”.
Tip!: For Fn + wheel rotation of color and tint wheels, we have
pre-defined “10 Frames” Navigation, so you can quickly check
applied adjustments throughout the whole clip, or copy and paste
Attributes with the round buttons 7 and Fn + 8 to another clip.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 18
CURVES
Accessing Curves inside After Effects is fast and
easy, as rotating the wheel automatically sets a
point on the curve when you have navigated the
cursor close enough to the curve.
You can manipulate curves either inside Lumetri
effect or “Add Curves” as its own effect layer.
Start rotating the wheel, and you will find out
how smoothly and precisely it works, as there
are separate controls for horizontal and vertical
movements. You can add as many points to a
curve as you want
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 19
WORKSPACE 4: 3D
Make sure to enable 3D on a layer to position 2D layers in 3D space. You
can then adjust the parameters of any 3D layer with dials or wheel. Let’s
take a Camera as an example.
VIGNETTE
Applying a Vignette has never been faster. Once you have
added a Lumetri effect, you only need open the Vignette
Wheel Page (blue link) with one click and start rotating the
wheel.
Additional Vignette controls can be activated with a tap on
the wheel or by pressing Fn and rotating the wheel. If you want
to reset your Vignette, make sure you double-tap on the wheel
on the area of the action you want to reset.
Tip!: Pressing Fn + Rotating the wheel jumps to the next action
on wheel pages with several actions (list, cake layout etc.)
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 20
Add a camera to your composition by pressing
the touch button “New Camera”
The press button “Camera Tool” toggles
between the different Camera tools and lets
you change camera parameters with mouse.
However, by selecting camera layer, it’s
possible to adjust the camera precisely with
dials or wheel.
Tip!: : You can display several adjustments
at the same time when you split them to be
displayed on dials and wheel, e.g. Rotation
/ Anchor Points adjustments on dials, and
Position adjustments on wheel.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 21
Tip!: You can change dial and wheel pages by swiping on the displays.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 22
TASKBAR OPTIONS
Within the Windows taskbar icon or OSX menu bar icon, you can find more options for Loupedeck. Icon
you are looking for, is this:
OPTION NAME ITEM WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT?
Loupedeck Setup (Win)
Open Setup… (OS X)
Click Loupedeck Setup (Win) or Open Setup… (OS X) to access Loupedeck Setup software.
Download Loupedeck update (Win)
Update Loupedeck (OS X)
Opens Loupedeck’s setup web page where downloadable manuals and up-to-date software can be found
https://loupedeck.com/en/setup/
Keyboard Mode (Loupedeck+ only)
Click Keyboard Mode to set Keyboard Modifiers mode ON or OFF.
Works only for Loupedeck+.
Help
Click Help (and OS X User Guide sublink) to open Loupedeck’s Support webpage, where answers to most commonly asked questions question can be found.
Also provided on this page is access to Loupedeck’s support form, which is located at the bottom of the page. Please fill out the support form if you need further technical assistance.
https://loupedeck.com/en/support/
Click User Guide to open
Legal (Win only)
Opens Loupedeck’s Legal Guide web page, which provides all the needed information regarding Loupedeck’s warranty, product and safety information, trademarks, legal rights, etc...
About (Win only)
Version: 2.5.0.981 (OS X only)
Click About to open information about your current Loupedeck Software version (build number) and copyright information.
Example: Version 3.0 (3.0.0.2362) Copyright © 2017-2019 LoupeDeck Ltd.
On OS X, click on Loupedeck icon on top menu bar to see version (3.0.0) and build numbers (2363) in gray text.
Restart Loupedeck (Win only)
Click Restart Loupedeck to shut down and restart both Loupedeck service and software.
Stop Loupedeck (Win only)
Quit (OS X only)
Click Stop Loupedeck (Win) or Quit (Mac) to shutdown Loupedeck service and software.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 23
Enable Debug (Mac only)
Usage of this function is instructed separately by customer service. Enabling debugging for no reason is not advised, as your computer might slow down significantly.
When Enable Debug is activated, the menu item will change to Disable Debug. Click Disable Debug to stop debugging process.
Once debugging process has finished, a loupedeckLogs.zip file will appear on your desktop. That file can be deleted if Customer Service has not requested for it.
UPDATING LOUPEDECK
A small mark appears on the taskbar icon when a new version is available:
Open Taskbar icon and select Download Loupedeck update (Win) or Update Loupedeck (OS X) to open
Loupedeck website www.loupedeck.com. Locate moset recent version from the web page and download
Loupedeck Setup software.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERSEncountered something unexpected? Here are a few helpful hints.
My After Effects doesn’t seem to work with Loupedeck CT.
Check your After Effects version. Loupedeck CT is compatible with Adobe® After Effects® (most recent
version).
I am unable to install Loupedeck Setup.
Loupedeck setup is compatible with Windows® 10 or later and Mac® OS 10.12 or lat-er. Loupedeck software
also requires a 64-bit OS version. Loupedeck software is not specifically developed for Windows 7 or 8, but
it might work normally, as the OS base is very similar.
Some of the actions don’t work.
Make sure you have your keyboard language set to English. Some actions do not work properly with
Scandinavian and German layouts, for example.
You can find FAQs and support at www.loupedeck.com/support.
Copyright (c) 2017 Loupedeck Ltd. All rights reserved. 24
www.loupedeck.com