02/11/12 After Effects

We are carrying on with our After Effect tutorial that i participated in last week. I really enjoyed the whole lesson. We were concentrating on animating sequences on After Effects. The first task was to download a image from Google of a top of a tin can and animate it rolling too and from two positions. We first started by making the tin image move from one side of the frame to the other. However, it was not rolling, it was just the image moving across from one side of the page to another. We then had to animate the can rolling as the image moved, to make it look more life like. Again, it did not look quite right, so i added in some cushioning effects so the can looks like it slows down before it reaches each point, and when it leaves each point.

The Tin Roll

(THE SCREEN COMES UP WITH MULTI COLOURS, IT DOES PLAY IF YOU PRESS PLAY.)

From watching the clip back i think that i should have maybe added more rotation when the tin returns to its start position, and maybe i could have made the tins return slower. But on the whole i am really exited about it, cant wait to animate more things!!

The next task was to animate a clock, we were told to down load a folder off of the UCA website and open the files to After Effects. I saved the folder to my desktop and opened it to Photoshop where i could see all of the layers - print screen demonstrates below.ju

I then opened After effects and imported the photoshop file as a new composition. Due to saving it as a photoshop file it meant that i could see all of the different layers on After Effects as well as photoshop which makes it much easier to animate. Once i had opened the folder onto after effects and re-names the composition we used the 'shape tool' and made a thin rectangle to imitate the second's arm. We then had to use a 'anchor point' so that when i go to animate the layer it rotates around one point, which in this case it obviously the centre of the clock. Once i had gone this, i duplicated the layer by selecting the layer and using 'cmd+d'. This meant that i had three second's hands which all had the same anchor point, so i renamed on 'hour hand' and the other 'minute hand' and manipulated the rectangles accordingly.

The image above is a screen shot of the short animation to display the different handles.

Once i had made all of the different 'arms' for the clock i then started the animate. The duration of the animation was 6 seconds long, which is the task is to animate a clock at 5 seconds to five o'clock.

I moved the curser to 1 second on the duration time, and then rotated the second hand to 4 seconds too five and 'key framed' the image. This means that the second hand will move to the key frame after 1 second. I did this until i had animated the second hand to end at number '12'. I then did the same process to the minute hand and the hour hand, (moving the hands accordingly).

However, instead of looking like a clock, it looked more like a stop watch, the play back was so smooth it did not look right. So Jon showed us a really good way of adding some character to our clocks. On After Effects, it will make a smooth transition from key frame to key frame. I had to change this, so i copy and pasted the beginning key frame and pasted it just in front of the second key frame; i then copy and pasted the second key frame and put it in from of the third key frame. So the sequence looked like this... 1 - 1,2 - 2,3 - 3,4 - 4,5 - 5. This created a sightly jolted movement rather then a smooth movement - i only did this on the second's arm. 

Still it didnt look quite right, so we i added more 'key frames' into the animation. Instead of going from keyframe 1 to key frame 2, i made the second key frame go slightly past key frame 2 and then made the third key frame, the original number two. So the sequence looked more like...

1  -  2.5,2  -  3.5,3  -  4.5-4  -  5.5-5. 

I ended up with this short animation.

 Mick Mouse Clock

(THE SCREEN COMES UP WITH MULTI COLOURS, IT DOES PLAY IF YOU PRESS PLAY.)

DJ Disco Task

Pretty Keep Out Sign

19/10/12 Lesson three

Today we were shown an example Photoshop image of a 'Keep Out' sign that Jon created for his bedroom door. The aim of the class today is to make our own door design using various images that Jon uploaded to the myUCA website, and other images that represent us.

 The images we were given to use are the three images to the left and the one above to the right. We opened Photoshop with the standard settings, film/video, square pixels/widescreen, this means that we can see the guidelines.  We then opened all of the image files Jon uploaded onto Photoshop and added the Wood as the background layer to act as the door. From practicing with Photoshop at home i feel like i have learnt a lot in the last three weeks and felt comfortable enough to go ahead of the class and find other images that i could include, e.g. other signs and some nuts and bolts maybe a coffee cup stain and other textures that could be really interesting.

Techniques that i have learnt in this lesson : Drop shadowing. fx at the bottom of the tool bar and scroll down the list until you get to Drop shadow, you can then play around with the height and depth of the shadow and the intensity of the colour.







This is a image of the one i created in class but I DON'T LIKE IT. Its too manly, so i am going to recreate another one which is more girly and me.

12/10/12 Lesson two

(i forgot to press publish)

Like last week we were doing Photoshop exercises today which was extremely welcome due to my lack of computer skills. Our first task was to open and download a file from the UCA website and put it on our desktop. We had to open the file and import it onto Photoshop. The file was a image of some fruit and vegetables and a cutting board.

The main aim of the day was to rearrange the image above, but the images out and rearrange them onto the cutting board. Jon went through various techniques that we could use of Photoshop to do this. I decided that i would use the magic wand tool to delete most of the background and then the magnetic pen tool and the other pen tool. I was actually really happy with myself as i managed to actually do what was asked with out asking too many questions. This is what i came up with.

I am sure they will be many people out there that are complete whizzes of Photoshop and think what i did is a bit naff but i'm really happy with the outcome. I am feeling more and more confident every week and i am looking forward to next Friday for my next lesson!

Based on her landscape and skull work

First Photoshop tutorial

This is the first photoshop image for my mood board. I am completely new to photoshop so i am actually quite pleased. I worked with three different laters and i also used a magic want, erasers and other tools. Im going to keep experimenting with different compositions, colour pallets and layering to see what other interesting images and mood boards i can come up with. O'Keeffe was famous for three subjects, shells, skulls and flowers. I could do a mood board to represent each subject and relate it back to her. I cannot guarantee how successful this will be but I'm willing to give Photoshop a good go.