Creating an RGB-Split & Distort Effect

In this tutorial, we'll create an effect that's great for HUDs and tech animation.

Notes

There's many ways to further manipulate this effect to get different looks out of it. Consider:

• Adding a subtle wiggle() to the distort amount slider.
• Instead of tweaking the distortion for the RGB, try messing with the expression multipliers only in the Wave Height.
• Use valueAtTime() in the expressions to vary their timings.

What about other effects?

There's some more effects you could use by connecting them to the distort amount slider in the Null. We can use the linear() expression to remap the null to any other control. Here's some interesting effects to try:

• Color Offset
• Directional Blur
• Transforms

A note on RGB interaction:

You might notice that the method of using Arithmetic doesn't always work, especially on layers with dark areas. You can change the interaction by setting the operation to XOR and changing the blend modes to Multiply.

Hope this helps. Leave a comment on the video or below with any questions and suggestions on what else you'd like to see.

Basics: Layout

Layout is how we arrange elements on the canvas. This can also be referred to as composition. With a good understanding of layout, you can guide your viewer's eye and tell stories effectively.

Basics: Color Theory

The first part of getting into the basics of design is Color Theory. Color has a language of its own in everyone, so first need to learn what each color can mean, and then work on combining them to make our designs.

Whether you're beginning or advancing your skill, check out the videos below to get a better understanding of working with color:

Activity:

• Create your own color scheme for different themes: money, anger, happiness, alerts.
• Explore colors in the real world! Use your camera to capture interesting colors in the world.

HANGOUT | HUD Animation with Text and Shape Layers

Thanks everyone who came through for the Hangout! I think we all had a great time and learned A LOT from the process.

Part 1: PRESENTATION


Part 2: DEMO

The presentation can be viewed here.

Remember, hangouts are a fun interactive way to learn new concepts, and they're free!
I look forward to seeing you at the next one!

HANGOUT | Onward Trailer Animation Study

A few days ago I hosted an Animation Study stream for the animators in my community.

It's a long one, so strap in for some info on Gestures, Principles of Animation and studying existing animation.

AE: Expressions Basics

Get started working with expressions in After Effects. No prior experience with code required, and in a few minutes you'll be ready to work on your own to create new expressions and learn how to use functions you need as you go along.

AE: Using Text Animators

The expression mentioned:
if(textIndex % 2 > 0){selectorValue}else{-selectorValue}

AE: Building a Selection Box shaped by 2 Nulls with Expressions

We'll have 2 null objects in the scene that will define the corners of a box. Just like the clicks in creating a rectangle with the marquee tool, the first null defines the origin, and the other is the direction the box goes in. Take this as an exercise in understanding how expressions work with different properties, and hey, you could learn something useful.

So, let's figure this out.

Expressions Library

Welcome! Here you'll find pre-written expressions that you can copy into your projects. I've done my best to explain how they work! I'll update this post as often as I find new and useful expressions.

And remember to Save before applying.

You have been warned!

AE | Build a Monuments Timeline with Shape Layers and Expressions

Hopefully this has had enough time to load

We'll look at how to build a never ending timeline (or scale) that you can move around to any amount without hitting the edges using Expressions and a built-in effect, how to create the counting time, fast and easy method to extract the monuments and some tips on positioning comps while animating.

AE | 7 Useful Functions in the Render Queue

Ah, the Render Queue. After Effects' method of pushing out your compositions to movies.

It's pretty straight forward to use, but it also has some powerful and very useful features tucked into it. So, let's take a look at the Render Queue.

All About Expression Controls

Expression Controls are effects that don't seem to do anything to our compositions! But they work as UIs for expressions we create. In this post, we'll take a look at each individual control and see what it can do and how to make use of it.

Change Multiple Comps from a Single Master Composition with Expressions

Okay, here's the scenario, an editor has created promotional material for a few shows. The channel he's working on has specific graphics that I need to make. So, I need to make, for each show, a graphic that shows the name of the show and different versions that say "Tonight at [specific time]", "Next Week", "This Week", "Coming Soon" and so on. Here's how one of them looks:

The problem is there's 6 versions and 4 shows, 24 comps in total. I can't keep rendering, changing text, rendering; it is kinda tiresome and is more prone to mistakes!

This tutorial will take a look at how to set-up your project so all you have to do is change ONE composition and create all 6 variations per show in one go. So technically, I only have to change and render 4 times, as compared to 24.
As always, this technique can be used for anything that requires batch editing and rendering, so adjust it for your specific uses.