Keyframing

[USLatin]

How do I see my key frames? I can't find them.

I figure that once I see where they are I'll be able to make new ones etc etc... but not if I can't locate the darn things. :)


EDIT: A jump to the conclusion, here is a before and after.

http://www.zumovalusa.com/DELETE/dof.jpg http://www.zumovalusa.com/DELETE/bar_CU_DOF.jpg

[FS Pro]

hitting "u" with a layer selected will show all of its keyframes

[USLatin]

How do I open up the masking tools? I want to cut an actor to create an artificial shallow focus effect by blurring the background

[brinks]

http://tinyurl.com/cpmy2f

[USLatin]

http://tinyurl.com/cpmy2f

Wow... Google?!?! VVTF is that?!

[USLatin]

I still haven't found one that helps me clearly see how to use the vectors to make curves, set the transparency so on and so forth. So if there is someone with a good link please share.

[brinks]

Maybe a little better explanation other than "How do I open up the masking tools? "

You could also try the manual that comes with AE , that is if you paid for it. Sorry if this is to harsh but these are the typical types questions someone that didn't pay for the program asks.

[brinks]

google link to depth of field tutorials in after effects
http://tinyurl.com/cewulx

[USLatin]

Maybe a little better explanation other than "How do I open up the masking tools? "

You could also try the manual that comes with AE , that is if you paid for it. Sorry if this is to harsh but these are the typical types questions someone that didn't pay for the program asks.

Ok... well I never looked at that thing. But I suggest you don't continue posting if all you want to to is hack a thread to vent your frustrations. But if you are going to try to help me out I will appreciate it.

Like I said:


I want to cut an actor to create an artificial shallow focus effect by blurring the background

I thought this would be an easy answer.

[USLatin]

http://www.zumovalusa.com/DELETE/dof.jpg

[SamKnecht]

Okay, put your footage on the timeline than duplicate it. select the pen then make your masks arround the person you want to mask depending on if you are blurring the person or the background you will need to check the inverted box if you are blurring the background. Than go to effects>blur and sharpend>pick a blur of your choice (i reccomend glaussian). Then hit E and mess arround with the settings of the blur.


Hope that helped let me know if you need any extra help.

[oneinfiniteloop]

I think the problem here, US Latin, is that you're asking a question without doing your due diligence to get the answer. A simple search probably would have turned up the answer you were looking for, which, even if it didn't help you, at least you can ask a more educated question rather than the innane "how do I do (such and such)". That gets old quick for people that have the answers you're looking for and certainly dissuades said people from answering.

With that being said, Sam pretty much explained it. If there's a lot of movement you'll have to keyframe the Mask Path, and I would use the Lens Blur plugin rather than Gaussian for a more realistic blur.

[USLatin]

I figured it out. Mostly watching VideoCopilot. Thank you SO much Sam for taking the time to answer. What you said to do is what I ended up doing! It worked great. I created a duplicate and put it below. Rotoscoping is SO much better in AE! It took me a while but I dialed in the cut quite well, and I blurred the by 2 pixels. Then I applied a gausian (also my favorite) on the bottom layer.

One, I think the issue was that someone thought I stole AE and they took out their frustrations on the wrong guy. Either that or you guys are assuming I know my way around AE, which I don't at all. Though I do understand that people get sick of the same questions being asked over and over again... then again I also get sick of having to wait 60 seconds for each search, and I don't even know the correct names for the tools to begin with...

IMO, if you don't want to help don't post. Let the thread go unanswered and drop to the bottom... I won't take offence.

Thank you however for thank you for your input on the way you would do it. I did have to annimate the lines and it worked like a charm. I need to start getting more milage out of AE, but it has quite an annoying GUI IMO... I guess the learning curve is exponential though... once you get used to it and you know wher the stuff it you begin to pick up speed.

I'll post the clip.

[USLatin]

I'll post the clip if someone wants to see it, but here is a grab. Thanks for the help.

If someone knows how to move a mask from one layer to an other please let me know. I made both hers and his masks on the same layer but they already are two separate masks... so I couldn't get him a tinie bit blurred but it would help make it a bit more realistic. That and maybe I should bring in the edges a bit... it is decent though... The shot is just under 3sec so it doesn't matter much.

http://www.zumovalusa.com/DELETE/bar_CU_DOF.jpg

[brinks]

Select the mask you want to move in the timeline, hit control C to copy, then with the mask still selected hit delete. Now select the layer you want to move the mask to and hit control V to paste the mask to the new layer.

[USLatin]

Simple enough! Thanks! I did have to copy the keyframes sepparately by dragging a box around them and Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V over onto the new mask before I deleted the original but once I figured it out it worked like a charm. A tinie bit of gaussian migh have helped sell it bit more. Not something noticeable since the guy's face is cropped at the start of the take and I am pushing on her, but it is nice to figure out how to do these things. Thanks to all who helped me out!

[Mickey Munday]

i dont know how i would have gotten the hang of AE without videocopilot. this is the type of program where video tutorials are a lot easier for noobs than a manual.

if you're trying to get even deeper into AE later on check out lynda.com they have tons of AE tutorials starting from scratch and an outline summary list of the various video tutorials for every software...i use this on a regular basis for the tons of software i have. rarely do i crack open the manual.

[USLatin]

i dont know how i would have gotten the hang of AE without videocopilot. this is the type of program where video tutorials are a lot easier for noobs than a manual.

I don't know how people don't see that... ALL Adobe GUIs are arse-backwards... I use Dreamweaver a and Photoshop... hope I never have to use Premiere


if you're trying to get even deeper into AE later on check out lynda.com they have tons of AE tutorials starting from scratch and an outline summary list of the various video tutorials for every software...i use this on a regular basis for the tons of software i have. rarely do i crack open the manual.

I'll check them out if I am feeling lucky :) But for now VideoCopilot seems to have everything I need... they just take forever to watch through and through to find the one little click you were hoping to figure out only to see that he did it super fast and you have to back up a hundred times to catch it, or that he did it with a short-cut without spelling it out... I guess I should watch them in order wether I need the particular effects or not... the 101 video helped a bit

[Mickey Munday]

yea i know, the lynda.com videos are like 2 or 3 mins a piece because they're broken up into so many sections. it's worth a look (free 30 day trial) if you ever wanna dig in deeper.

dreamweaver, illustrator, flash and photoshop stay pretty much the same in all versions thank GOD. premire i dont know either. some guys swear by it that its so easy, i guess its all in preference.

i remember when i first started out on FCP thinking it was rocket science though, so i guess its just a matter of knowing what you're looking at.

[USLatin]

i remember when i first started out on FCP thinking it was rocket science though, so i guess its just a matter of knowing what you're looking at.

Well yea, at first anything is a pain, once you know what you are doing it is all about figuring out where it is and what they call it. I like AE though... I think I'll be trying to get more out of it in the next few months.