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March Meeting Notes
Entry posted on Apr 02 by Trent Armstrong

We talked about several exciting things at the March meeting of the Dallas After Effects User Group:

•  SEXY OFFSETS: An interesting transition option based on this from Mattrunks.com

http://mattrunks.com/en/tutorials/after-effects/sexy-offsets-graphic-lags

•  EXPRESSIONS to help with random offset delay from MotionScript.com

Work Smarter, Not Harder: Solids and PreComps
Entry posted on Jan 02 by Trent Armstrong

Create Only the Solids You Need
Something that can be confusing and frustrating is having too many assets in your project. Every time you create a new solid or null or adjustment layer, it’s added to your Solids folder. Not all solids will be the same size or color, so you can frequently spend time looking for a layer that is just the right size. It’s also overwhelming to me watching that list grow and grow as I keep adding solids to my project.

Create solids with purpose: when creating a solid, name it with it’s size like 1920×1080 or 500×500 or 4000×4000. You can see what color it is, so you don’t have to include that in the name.

Tip: I usually drop a Fill effect on the layer to alter its color when I’m using it in a composition. Why would I do that? So I can use the color’s expression option if I want to change the color of several solids at once! It’s much easier to attach each color to one main Fill effect that to go back and change the color of each of the solids one at a time.

Pre-Render
Effects like Particular, Form, Shatter, etc. can start to bog down your renders when you start to add other things into the mix. When you realize your render times are compounding with every effect or layer you add, go through your project and pick out layers that you can render and bring back into your project. Usually, pre-rendering an element will not take very long but will DRAMATICALLY improve your final render times. Of course, if you make changes to those layers, you will have to pre-render again. But, even then, pre-rendering will still probably save time in your final render.

As always, make sure to add any of your tips to the comments section!

Happy After Effect-ing!
@AETrent

(Reprinted from EchoHub.com : http://echohub.com/posts/video/work-smarter-not-harder-in-after-effects. Used with permission.)

Holiday Break
Entry posted on Dec 20 by Trent Armstrong

Hi everyone!

It has been a great year for the Dallas After Effects User Group!  We have covered a vast number of different subjects and met a ton of new people!  Because of how Thanksgiving and Christmas fall each year, we usually take that time off to spend time with family and gather our inspiration for a big start to the new year.

The next meeting of our User Group with be Jan 24, 2013!  I hope to see you all there!  Until then, have a safe and happy Christmas with lots of After Effecting!

Sincerely,

Trent : @AEtrent

Work Smarter Not Harder: CODECS and Project Organization
Entry posted on Nov 26 by Trent Armstrong

Use Interframe codecs as often as possible
Intraframe codecs are compressed codecs that take up less space but have to be reconstructed during playback from the information in the file. There is one i-frame that has the full image data and then a series of b-frames that include information that changes until the next i-frame. The computer has to spend extra processing power to decode the in between frames to rebuild the video. These are codecs like h.264, MPEG 1, AVCHD, and HDV.

Interframe codecs give a discreet image for each frame. Codecs like ProRes, AVI, and Animation have a stand-alone image for each frame so After Effects just loads that image instead of having to rebuild it.

Intraframe clips won’t always cause your render times to lag, but if you use a large number of this clips, think about transcoding those clips to an inter-frame coded to speed up your render times.

Organize Your Projects As You Go
Keeping things tidy helps you find the things you’re looking for quickly. It’s almost essential when you share projects with others, as well. It’s good housekeeping, and a sign of a good professional workflow.

The moment you start a project, create the folders you know you will need. I always have:

• FINALS (A space at the beginning helps this folder “float” to the top of the list.)
• Assets
• PreComps
• Solids (AE automatically creates a Solids folder when you start adding solids, nulls, and adjustment layers)

As you work, you should create subfolders and precomps and keep up with naming and organization as you go. Please set a naming convention that works for you, of course, but you can also follow mine. Make sure everything has a simple, yet descriptive, name so you can easily locate items in your project. This will also make it easier for someone else if you have to pass your project along to another animator at any point.

As for my naming convention, Nothing but the comps I will render go in my FINALS folder.  All precomps typically get the word “precomp” at the end so I never accidentally confuse those comps with my finals.  And I will use the same word in several precomps to group them and make sure I know their precomping order.

For example:

FINALS (Folder)
         Snow Scene

PRECOMPS (Folder)
         SNOW LOOP (Folder)
                   Snow Particle Loop Precomp
                   Snow Particles for Loop PreComp
                             Snow Particle PreComp

When I have more than two precomps that are used for a specific purpose, like to animate a loop or create a certain effect, I will create a subfolder in my PreComps folder.

Also, if I’m going to have duplicate precomps that do slightly different things like three or four different particle effects, I will add the number to the end of the name.  That way After Effects will increment the number for me when I duplicate the precomp. Particles Precomp 1, Particles Precomp 2, Particles Precomp 3, etc.

There are times when I have the appropriate name for a Final or PreComp when I create it, but don’t be afraid to go back and change the names of your project items to keep things up to date.

I will delete assets and precomps I’ve added that I know I won’t be using as I go to keep the project as clean as possible. Do this manually or select the final compositions you wish to keep complete and choose File> Reduce Project to automatically remove all unnecessary files.

Happy After Effect-ing!

@AETrent

(Reposted from EchoHub.com)

Work Smarter Not Harder: Using Images
Entry posted on Nov 12 by Trent Armstrong

The phrase "Work smarter, not harder" might be a little cliché, but it really does pay off to use smart techniques in your workflow. I've collected a few of my processes and tricks here to help you in any way I can. I will talk about a few at a time and will look for your thoughts in the comments!

Keep Image Size Low

When working with Photoshop files, it can be tempting to just use the full sized 4000x4000 image. The problem is that After Effects has to deal with every bit of that image even if you don't need every bit. Also, If you don't need all the layers, just save the image out as a JPG or PNG to reduce file size.

It can also just be cumbersome to keep large files laying around on your computer and taking up space. After Effects only needs 72 DPI images, so if you aren't going to zoom way in on an image or a PSD, save the file to only the maximum necessary DPI. That will reduce the size of the file on your disk.

Freeze Frame Your Stills with PreComps

Another trick with still images is to precompose the still, and freeze-frame the precomp. 

When After Effects reads a still image in your composition, it analyzes the image for each and every frame when it’s rendering. If you precompose the still, then freeze frame it in your final comp, AE only looks at the image on the first frame, and remembers it for subsequent frames. Depending on the size of each still, and how many you have in your composition, this could actually save hours in render time.

Another step you can take to reduce render time is to set the composition size to only the area necessary for that still. Open up the Composition Settings and change the frame size. As long as you keep the layer set to 2D, After Effects will not look at the information outside the bounds of the comp frame.

Stay tuned!  There are more thoughts to come on how I work smarter and not harder!

Trent

@AETrent

August 2012 Meeting Notes : Financial Matters
Entry posted on Aug 30 by Trent Armstrong

PREFACE:  This is not a technical post, but I say you should read it.  Financial matters are important and can make or break your dreams of doing what you love!

Of course, being the Dallas After Effects User Group, we tend to spend a lot of time talking about After Effects. However, for our August meeting we had a financial advisor speak to the group on things that would help set our members up for some financial success so we can all continue to do what we love, motion graphics!

We looked at wide range of topics from budgeting and emergency savings to retirement and risk management. Here are a few thoughts from the meeting in case you weren't able to make it.  

PERSONAL BUDGETING

The first piece of advice I can give you is the groundwork that everything else is built on. Create a budget. I don't mean a budget for a motion graphics job what I'm talking about is a budget for the money that comes in and goes out from your daily life. 

Budgeting Checklist:

1. Monitor Your Cashflow

2. Set Limits on Spending

  • Groceries

  • Eating out

  • Recreational Activities

  • Any Non-Essential expenses

  • Subscription Services like phones, internet, TV

   Note: Be sure to contact these providers every 6 months or so

   to make sure you are getting the best rates.

Doing these things helps you see where your money is going and can give you ideas on how you can make sure to have money for charitable giving and savings. There are a number of tools you can use to keep a budget: a pad and pencil, an Excel spreadsheet, and even online and mobile apps like Ace budget Quicken and mint.com. You can even set money aside in envelopes if you want to budget the analog way. If you are married, be sure to do your budgeting at least initially, with your spouse. Then sit down each month and go over the budget so you are each informed.  It is always best to be on the same page with your spouse so no money does not become an issue between you.

EMERGENCY FUND

Your Emergency Fund should have at least three months of salary set aside in case times get hard or you lose your job. It is even a good idea to work toward having six months worth of savings set aside. When you do this, make sure you don't tie your money up. Keep the savings in a liquid fund that can be accessed quickly and without penalties.

RETIREMENT SAVINGS

Save.  Save.  Save!  While you are building up these emergency savings you will still want to be putting into some form of retirement savings like a 401(k). Many employers set up 401(k) plans for their employees and even match contributions. As soon as possible I recommend getting into the 401(k) plan offered by your employer. If you are self-employed you can either set up a Roth IRA for a self-employed 401K plan. The most important thing is to get this going as soon as you can so any money you put in will be able to grow as long as possible.  Don't ever think to yourself, "I'll start saving when I have a little more money or when I get married." Start now!  Do as much as you can and increase as often as you can.

Many people enjoy working even through their later years, but the goal of all the saving is so eventually you can be financially in a place where you don't have to work.

LIFE INSURANCE

The next part of this equation may seem morbid but is still very important.  Get Life Insurance, especially if you have a spouse.   You should have life insurance to take care of any financial responsibility that is left after you die.

Something that is a potentially confusing issue is how much life insurance to plan for. It is not necessary to have million-dollar life insurance plan. You really only need a plan that will cover as much as you need it to cover like paying off a home mortgage, student loans, cars, and then providing enough for your spouse to live on for a while. Just for a bit more info, Whole Life plans cover you until you die or stop paying.  Term Life plans are less expensive but are only good for the life of the "term" (for example, ten years).  Check with your insurance agent and get life insurance!

LAST WILL & TESTAMENT

It sort of sounds goofy to talk about having a Will since many of us only really hear about them in movies and TV and it's always a super-old guy who just died.  However, life is not a guarantee.  What is a guarantee is that when you die without a Will, things get really sketchy for those you leave behind-- spouse, children, other family member. 

It is very important to have a Will-- even a simple one. Take the time to write on a sheet of paper who you would leave everything to, name a secondary beneficiary, then sign and date it.  Put that piece of paper in a safe place and tell someone else where it is.  Of course, that is really just a quick, precautionary thing to do.  To really take it seriously and make sure everything is taken care of, make the time to work with an estate planning attorney so you can be sure to name beneficiaries, primary and secondary, as well as guardianship if you have children so there is no confusion. 

Again, it is very important to let someone know where all your stuff is. When you start working on a 401(k) or any stocks for life insurance or any sort of retirement savings and your will, someone needs to know how to get to and access that information if you were to die. Otherwise, no one will know what to do with all this wonderful stuff you have set up.

FINAL NOTE

This is not a financial blog.  There are a vast number of other things to consider.  I was just looking to get the ball rolling for you on this.  Also, I only am lightly versed in any of this stuff, so please start working with a financial advisor even if it's just someone you trust to give you pretty solid advice for free.

MATERIALS AND CONTACTS

If you would like some materials that can support you in some of these areas or to contact the gentleman who spoke to our group, please email me, and I'll get the information to you:  dallasaeug[at]gmail.com

Cheers!  ~Trent

July - August 2012 Animation Challenge
Entry posted on May 29 by Trent Armstrong

The Animation Challenge for this month looks to be a fun one.  The theme is: white square on a black background.  The idea here is that we will each animate the square over 3 SEC, but the square will start and end in the same position.  This will allow each animation to blend into the next!!

SPECS:

Frame Size - 1280x720

Frame Rate - 30 fps

Length - 3 sec

Design - A 200x200 px white square in the very center of the comp.

Codec - ProRes 422 preferred (h.264 also acceptable)

Due Date: 23rd of August

Deliver to: Send a download link from Dropbox or service of your choice to dustinrbailey[at]gmail.com.

THE RULES:

1)  The animation starts and ends with the 200x200 white square in the center of the comp.

2)  The background can change.  It does not have to be black.

3)  Again, keep it to 3 seconds.

4)  Have fun!

April 2012 Notes: Cinema 4D to AE 2
Entry posted on May 09 by Trent Armstrong

Dustin Bailey did a great job walking us through his Cinema 4D/After Effects project during the April meeting.  Here are some links to information that helped him succeed at his project.

Please take the time to check these links out before the information gets cold in your head!  And provide any other links you think might be helpful in the comments!

Cinema4d to After Effects
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5FyK9YD5wI

Cinema4d to After Effects
http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2009/10/how-to-export-your-scene-from-cinema-4d-to-after-effects/

Free iPhone 4 model
http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2010/06/free-iphone-4-model-for-cinema-4d/

RPF and After Effects
http://lesterbanks.com/2011/06/using-the-rpf-id-matte-in-cinema-4d-after-effects/

May Motion Graphics Challenge
Entry posted on May 01 by Trent Armstrong

The Dallas After Effects User Group is starting a monthly motion graphics challenge.  Any of our group members may participate, but the guidelines for each challenge must be followed.

Auto-Typing for Expressions
Entry posted on Apr 16 by Trent Armstrong

I animate with keyframes when I'm using After Effects, but I totally respect the power of expressions.  I've been studying expressions since around 1999, and I have realized that there are so many problems that can be solved through expressions and math.

AAAHHHH!!!!  MATH!!!  I know.  I almost panic every time I even think that I'm learning math-- more math than I ever knew in school.

The problem is that frequently there are things math and expressions can solve that aren't practical with keyframes.  I'll set up an analogy for you.

AN ANALOGY:

There are times when I'm walking through my house and see a bit of dirt on the floor, I pick it up.  However, that is not a very efficient way to clean the whole floor.  Some very smart folks spent a lot of time and energy to create a vacuum cleaner. If I disregard this magical invention and clean my carpet by hand, I am not taking full advantage of my time and the technology.

DON'T FREAK OUT!

I'm not going to force you to learn expressions or go back to school for math.  But I do want to give you some tools that can help you in your adventure into expressions.  The biggest tool I can give you is a way to make expressions a little easier to access.

I frequently use expressions that others have created or expressions that are just useful for a wide variety of projects.  Something I had done for years was to either keep these expressions in a "notes" application like Evernote-- web-based so it follows you wherever you go-- or by just doing web searches and visiting sites I know that already have expressions built for certain purposes.  

Motionscript.com is a great place to find expressions and learn how to write them yourself.  And it's not the only site out there so I've included some links below.

I found myself going back time and time again to certain expressions like simple position expressions, inertial bounce, and a nifty bit of code that makes a layer invisible when facing away from the After Effects camera.  At that point, it became clear that I was spending far too much time searching for or rewriting code that I used frequently.  The answer was to get an auto-typing application.

AUTO-TYPING

TextExpander for Mac ($35 USD) from Smile Software-- and other apps like it-- can insert blocks of text based on simple text triggers.  TextExpander isn't the only Auto-Typing app out there.  Kissphrase (http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/kissphrase/) is a FREE auto-typing tool for the Mac. It's not as full-featured as TextExpander, but it works pretty well.  And I'm sure there are some good Windows equivalents.  I'll provide a list, but can't really vouch for the Windows apps.  Anyone who has any suggestions should feel free to leave those in the comments.

At this point I feel like I should offer up some practical uses for these Auto-Typing applications.  For example, if I were to type "xxy", I would get this:

x = value[0];

y = value[1];

[x, y]

If you've started to lose consciousness from all the nerd-speak, be encouraged.  Auto-typing apps can help you in other ways, too.  They are great for long email signatures, web addresses, and other things you find yourself typing frequently-- and you can use them as auto-correct!  So when you type "wierd" it would always be corrected to "weird" or "thot" would be expanded to "thought".  When I type "tA" on my system, TextExpander removes the "tA" and replaces it with "Trent Armstrong".  

A great tip I learned from the TextExpander blog was to put a little identifier with each trigger.  It's best to not have your triggers actually spell words that you might use in other contexts, of course.  So all of my email signatures are a 3-4 letter prefix with the suffix "sig".  

"aeugsig" equals:

Trent Armstrong

Founder - The Dallas After Effects User Group

http://www.dallasaeug.com

214.695.2623

@AETrent

My expressions all start with "x"!  So that cool expression I referenced earlier where the layer turns invisible when facing away from the camera has the tag "xinv" (invisible when facing away from camera) and produces this block of text:

if (toCompVec([0, 0, 1])[2] > 0 ) value else 0

And "xbounce" is for the Inertial Bounce expression that can be found at : http://mograph.net/board/index.php?showtopic=13954

NOTE:  One really neat thing about TextExpander is that it will drop in the text and then put the cursor where I want it so I can go about quickly updating the expression.

With all that said, I would encourage you to two things:

1)  Check out some of the Auto-Typing applications to see if one might be helpful for your workflow.

2)  Give expressions a chance.  You don't have to fully get expressions to take advantage of them.  And then more you use expressions in After Effects, the more you will understand about them.

TIP: To apply an expression to a transform property in After Effects, opt or alt+click on the stopwatch.

EXPRESSIONS:

Here is a collection of expressions that I use frequently enough to put into my Auto-Typing program.  Yes, I do have a few more that I use, but I don't want to completely destroy your will to live.

Make a Layer Invisible When Facing Away from the Camera

It's great for flipping text, coins, etc. where you need something besides the reverse of your layer to be on the "backside".

Code

if (toCompVec([0, 0, 1])[2] > 0 ) value else 0

EXAMPLE:  http://www.ignitermedia.com/mini-movies/2308/Why-I-Call-It-Good-Friday

Loop a Set of Keyframes

This helps me with looping motion or even time-remapped footage.

Code

loopOut("Cycle",0)

EXAMPLE:  http://www.ignitermedia.com/loops/1893/Red-Paper-Clouds

Inertial Bounce

This guy has become really popular lately.  When a motion reaches the last linear keyframe, this expressions does a sort of rubbery bounce that can be seen in our Igniter Video "It's Not Over".

Code

n = 0;

if (numKeys > 0){

n = nearestKey(time).index;

if (key(n).time > time){

n--;

}

}

if (n == 0){

t = 0;

}else{

t = time - key(n).time;

}

if (n > 0){

v = velocityAtTime(key(n).time - thisComp.frameDuration/10);

amp = .05; // How big is the bounce?

freq = 2; // How fast is the bounce?

decay = 5; // How quickly does the bounce stop?

value + v*amp*Math.sin(freq*t*2*Math.PI)/Math.exp(decay*t);

}else{

value;

}

EXAMPLE:  It's Not Over - http://www.ignitermedia.com/mini-movies/883/Its-Not-Over

AUTOTYPING APPLICATIONS:

Here are the two Mac AutoTyping applications that I can recommend.

TextExpander - http://smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/

Kissphrase - http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/kissphrase/

For Windows users, I did a Google search:

Typinator - http://www.jitbit.com/autotext/typinator-for-windows/

Autotext - http://www.jitbit.com/autotext/

There may be more for both platforms, but that's a good place to start.

EXPRESSIONS REFERENCES:

•  Dan Ebberts' MotionScript - http://www.MotionScript.com

This site has great case scenarios and snippets you can just drop right into your projects, but this is also where I got my basic foundation in understanding expressions.

•  JJ Gifford's Intro to Expressions - www.jjgifford.com/expressions/basics/index.html

This is a great reference for some cool math that can be used in expressions and how expressions can change the way you interact with layers. He has a great quote on there, too!  "When Not to Use Expressions-- Anytime you can avoid them."

•  AEnhancers Forum - http://aenhancers.com/

This site can lean a little more to the advanced side of expressions, but also has some good old standard expressions.

•  Pro Video Coalition - http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/cmg_keyframes/story/after_effects_apprentice_video_tutorial_5

Introduction to expressions by Trish and Chris Meyer

•  Javascript Reference - http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

Expressions are based on the Javascript language with a few extra functions that are built-in specifically for After Effects.  When I have a question about how to make something happen in expressions and there is not a direct After Effects command, w3schools usually has the answer.  It's particularly useful for working with Source Text.

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