Need to remove black background from your VFX footage? Often with overlay video effects such as snow, fog, glitch and flash fx the files will have black backgrounds. This is due to pre-keyed video formats (which include transparency) having incredibly large file sizes and issues with software compatibility. Sometimes you might have green screen backgrounds, where you would need to use keying effects to create transparency, but in cases where you want to remove a black background the simplest way to achieve this is to use blending modes. Blending modes change the way your effect layer displays over the footage beneath by, in short, only showing the bright or the dark areas depending on the setting. Add or Screen modes will only display the light areas, effectively keying out the blacks. This is useful for VFX overlays which are generally bright elements on dark backgrounds. Conversely, Multiply or Darken blending… read more
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Image Source : Parallax Corporate Promo Perfect for beginners, handy for professionals Whether you’re a seasoned motion graphics designer or just starting out in video production After Effects templates are enormously helpful in getting the job done quickly. Using an After Effects template will cut out hours, if not days, of legwork – for the price of dinner! After Effects’ professionals can utilize these time-saving projects to speed up their work rate, or perhaps explore some new techniques. As ‘source’ files, these projects can often be totally deconstructed, revealing magical expressions and keyframe trickery. Handy, also, for those with an beginner’s interest in motion graphics and video production. If time is of the essence or you need some inspirational motion graphics techniques take a moment to see what ready-made After Effects templates have to offer and read our 5 Steps to After Effects templates. Try After Effects for Free Use… read more
Image Source : Adobe What’s so good about After Effects anyway? When I first encountered After Effects, as part of Adobe’s Creative Suite (around 2004) I was staggered by how much you could create inside the program itself. The name ‘After Effects’ suggested it would only be useful for applying effects on top of (after) video video footage had been produced. Though, with a little exploration I found it housed some of the best text/object animation tools, plus a totally intuitive non-linear Timeline (the simplicity of the Timeline was a revelation to me as I was, at the time, struggling with Flash’s finicky animation techniques!). A joy to create simple animations in mere minutes! After Effects has at its core a very instinctive animation system, the basics of which which can be picked up in just a few hours. Keyframing of position, scale, rotation and transparency (opacity) values comes naturally… read more
Image Source : Simple Lower Thirds Pack Here’s a great tutorial for speedy lower third elements Simple lower third After Effects templates are all the rage right now and you can see packs of these elements becoming popular on template sites such as Enchanted Media. But how easy is it to create this sort of thing from scratch? Matt Jylkka shows how you can use After Effects to create some simple animated lower thirds in minutes. Tutorial : 5 Minute Lower Thirds in After Effects Video Source : Mt. Mograph Don’t even have five minutes? If you’re still stuck for time why not just download our Simple Lower Thirds Pack right away! Try After Effects for Free Use the link below to access a trial version of Adobe’s incredible motion graphics software. Share with someone!
