SETTING UP THE COMPOSITION
Bring the art assets into After Effects. Remember to check your import preferences so that they match the frame rate that your project is in. See Figure 4.33 for an example.
To keep things neat and orderly, create a folder for the levels that are individual .tif images. For example, the arm and the arm rim light levels would have their own folder. We will make a “precomp” of each of those levels. First, make a composition of the arm level by selecting arm.0001.tif through arm.0050.tif and dragging them onto the Create a New Composition button. This will open a dialog box. To get the images to show up one after the other, you need to select Sequence Layers and make sure that the Still Duration is one frame: 0:00:00:01. See Figure 4.34 and Figure 4.35 for examples.
FIGURE 4.33 Import preferences should match the frame rate of the project.
FIGURE 4.34 Creating a precomp of the arm level.
FIGURE 4.35 Arm composition.
Create a new composition and drag in the levels in the following order starting from the bottom level to the top: background, olul, Jam. Do not drag in the arm and arm rim light just yet. See Figure 4.36 for an example of how the composition should look at this point. You’ll note that Jam is overtop of the table. That is great for her hands, but her body needs to be behind the table. We’ll have to matte that out. We’ll tackle mattes later on in this topic.
FIGURE 4.36 Levels in After Effects.
3D ARM WITH RIM LIGHT
The 3D arm is going to take just a little bit of working with to get the rim light on it. The great thing about using mattes to adjust lighting is that in this comping stage, you can see the arm level in relationship with all of the other levels.
1. Create a new composition by clicking the Create New Composition icon.
2. Give the composition the name 3DArm. Make sure that the composition is the correct size, and watch out for frame rate!
3. Drag the Arm composition that we made earlier into this new composition.
4. Right-click in the timeline and add a New > Adjustment Layer above the 3D arm.
5. Drag in the Arm Rim Light composition and place it above the Adjustment Layer.
6. Select the Adjustment Layer and from the top menu click Layer >Track Matte > Luma Matte. You will be able to see the arm level again. You’ll notice a matte icon next to the Adjustment Layer and the Arm Rim Light level.
FIGURE 4.37 Arm and Arm Rim Light put into their own composition.
7. Right-click on the Adjustment Layer and add EFFECT > Color Correction > Color Balance (HLS).
8. Bring Lightness up to the desired level.
FIGURE 4.38 Rim Light matte level used to adjust the color of the arm.
Another great thing about having this rim light matte is that you can adjust the color of the painted object. Some tutorials might have you make a black-and-white matte, adjust the opacity, and just lay it overtop of the arm level. That is a valid method but does not give the most color correction capability.
Let’s work with that matte just a little bit more.
9. Select the Arm Rim Light Layer and click Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Gaussian Blur.
10. Blur the matte by changing blurriness to a desired number. Ours is set to 3. (Make sure the visibility of the layer is off.)
Back in the main composition, drag in the 3D Arm composition that we just completed. You should now have a 3D arm with rim light on top of your 2D character.
FIGURE 4.39 3D arm with rim lighting added to main composition.
MASKING OUT BODY
One last thing to do with the body is to add a matte to mask out where the table is so that the arms stay on top of the table but the body is not visible. The easiest steps to create a mask are to select the layer you want to mask out and then click on the pen tool and draw the mask. There are other ways to do it, but this way requires the fewest number of clicks.
1. Select the Jam level.
2. Near the top of the application, choose the pen tool (or hit G).
3. Draw a mask along the edge of the table. Take care to draw around the 2D elbow on the table. Click on the beginning point when you are done, and the mask will complete.
4. And it will mask out everything else but the bottom of the body. In the timeline, open up the Mask attribute that has been added onto the Jam level. Click Inverted. Your mask should now be masking out the bottom of the body as you want.
Random Note
The words are bugging me here, in case you couldn’t tell. In my vocabulary, a matte is a noun; it is what you draw. The verb is mask. Using these terms, a matte masks out things. However, After Effects calls the mattes masks. Oh, bother.
FIGURE 4.40 Body masked out so that it is not visible overtop of the table.
You might have noticed that the 3D arm is overtop of the hair at the beginning of the animation. Repeat the same steps above for the 3D arm level to make it look like the hair is on top of the arm. Something different you will have to do is make it a traveling matte; in other words, animate it moving along with the hair. Simply use the Selection Tool (or press v) to move the points around. After Effects will auto keyframe for you.
FIGURE 4.41 Traveling matte created to hold out the arm where the hair should appear on top.
At every stage that we have gone through, there is room for being meticulous. To not be so is to create errors that will show up in the final stage. You can imagine in a large production, or even in your small group project, many of these steps are carried out by different people with no idea what the other people are going to do with their images when they are done with them and no idea of how the whole pipeline fits together. At every stage, you want to look for areas where you can plus the image and understand how those before and after you are going to work with the asset you create so that you can help and not hinder them with your work. You’ll have to make mistakes to figure that out. My suggestion is to do group projects, often. This will help you see those costly mistakes before your paycheck is riding on it.
FIGURE 4.42 Final comp.
PROJECT: 2D LEADS 3D
For this topic’s project, you are to take a 2D animation and replace an appendage or accessory with a 3D counterpart.
Here are your choices:
2D animation. You can use your own 2D animation or use the 2D animation that is in the companion data for this topic. If you choose to create your own 2D animation, keep it short. You will want time to experiment and find your way around in the 3D and compositing stages. The 2D animation can be found in jam looks at picture_CU.psd.
3D appendage. Feel free to use your own creation for an appendage. You will also find an arm rig that you can use in the companion data for this topic. The 3D arm to import into your scene is ArmRig_v1.mb.
Follow these steps. Take your 2D animation, scan it in if needed, add a 3D element of your choice, render the 3D element, composite in the package of your choice, and turn in a completed avi or movie file.
You will want to have the following levels:
1. 2D character
2. 3D element
3. Rim light (can be hand drawn or a diffuse pass)
4. 2D background (a sky card is fine)
5. Shadow pass
For my students, you must try to match a style. This will help you achieve a higher aesthetic goal (styles to match: Treasure Planet or Triplets of Belleville).
You are assessed on the following skills:
1. Ability to match 3D animation to 2D character and achieve a cohesive character animation
2. Technical use of 3D application
3. Technical use of compositing tool
4. Overall appeal of the shot
5. Matching of style
