Wheel – Turns a layer into a “wheel” that rotates based on the layer’s position.There are control scripts, animation scripts, randomization scripts, and much more! I’m going to list a few here and then describe how I use DuIK in my workflow. I hope I didn’t lose you with all the talk of kinematics because the other features that come with DuIK are what make it a hidden gem. Of all the 3rd Party Plugins I use, Particular is the one I use the most! Particular also interacts with After Effects 3D Camera and lights as well as motion blur and depth of field. You can use them as-is or apply and tweak to get what you’re looking for. This WYSIWYG editor is, however, a giant leap forward with the product because of the immediate feedback it gives when tweaking the settings.Ī number of presets can be found in your Effects & Presets pane in After Effects, but there are also a lot of click-and-see particle effects that can be applied right in the Designer. I say “mostly” because it’s possible to go deep enough into the settings to bog down the real-time view. The Designer interface is sort of a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor that reveals the producer, particle, and effector settings with a (mostly) real-time view so you can see what you are building with every little tweak. This is due to a set of presets that come with Particular and a new Designer interface that was introduced in Particular 2. There is a little bit of a learning curve to get to some of the really outlandish particle simulations, but you can get up and running with Particular fairly quickly. If you do an image search online for “Trapcode Particular”, you will be amazed. Particular makes possible the creation of snow, rain, dusty rooms, streaks, fireworks, and so much more. It is a full replacement for the simple particle generators that ship with AE. Since the early days of Trapcode Particular, this 3rd party plugin has been a must-have. Now that we have a good understanding, here is my list of essential After Effect plugins and where to get them: Check out to check out a lot more examples. Scripts are run by the user and alter something-or multiple things-all at once instead of calculating each frame. They do not function like plugins, effects, or expressions on a frame by frame basis. There are a few included with your installation of AE, but you can create them yourself with the ExtendScript application or download them from the web. SCRIPTS are like separate little applications that can be run in After Effects. I’ll be writing a post about some of my favorite expressions and where you can learn more about the expression language. Most properties can accept expressions therefore, most properties are able to reference each others’ values across multiple layers or compositions in a single After Effects project. BUT they can be very useful.ĮXPRESSIONS are bits of Javascript code that can be used to do math or link properties and even create dynamic animation in After Effects on a per property basis. These are not very easy to create, so they tend to cost money. PLUGIN refers to a 3rd party effect that can be downloaded and installed to show up in the Effects Menu. These include things like Fill, Displacement Map, Set Matte, and Beam. If you feel like you are all caught up on these things, please feel free to skip ahead.ĮFFECT is used to refer to a built-in effect that can be applied from the Effects Menu right inside After Effects. I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to talking about these things before moving forward. EFFECTS : PLUGINS : EXPRESSIONS : SCRIPTSĮven if you are not all that new to After Effects you may have confusion about what the differences are between Effects, Plugins, Scripts, and Expressions. Please include those in the comments and let us know why you use them and what you use them for. that you say are essential to what you do. There may be some things I have not run across yet, and there may be some plugins, etc. Through my experience I’ve come across some essential plugins and scripts that enhance the already robust offering of effects and scripts built into After Effects, and I would like to share some of those with you here. I’ve been using Adobe After Effects since 1997, and at some point between then and now I started working in AE just about every day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |