Have you ever felt that theres something wrong with this world? Have you ever felt you know something, and that what you know you can’t explain? Now you can. Sort off…

Click here to watch the video tutorial

Some time ago I needed to create the raining code look as seen in “The Matrix” movie, so I started to google for ready to use projects, but found nothing of value that I could use in my work… So I had to create my own. Watch this tutorial to learn all about it.

My first instinct was to use Trapcode Particular along with some custom particles to create the look I was after, but I quickly found out, that it’s just not going to cut it. The raining code has some very distinct look to it and the key to making it look good was to really pinpoint what was happening with the falling letters. Here’s what I found out after watching the original design as seen in the movie:

• There are two types of letters: leading, and following (after vision letters)
• The leading letters are brighter than the others
• The letters fall down in columns at different speeds
• One column can have multiple leading letters falling at different speeds
• Both leading and following letters change chars at random points in time (out of sync)
• The amount of the following letters is random (tail length)
• The letters always move a given amount of pixels (letter height)

As far as everything on the list above could probably be achieved using Particular to create the look, the last point would be really hard to do. In theory all of the points above could be done, however it would take a lot of calculation to get the parameters of Particular just right, so I figured to change the approach a bit, and instead of having a “leading letter particle” spawn “after vision particles”, I decided to build a grid of letters, and then use Particular and Mosaic effect to reveal them. That way I could focus on the look, speed, timing and other “artistic” aspects of the work, and not think about how to set up Particular.

At the end of the tutorial you will also see how to change the color of the leading letters using the Threshold effect. What I forgot to mention is that you can of course play with the Threshold parameter changing the range of letters that are being treated as “leading letters”. Give it a try. It can create some really awesome looks.

Download: Tutorial project file (After Effects CS4)

Since more and more people were asking me how I was putting my face onto my desktop and broadcast that I thought it would be really cool, if I had a webcam panel for my After Effects. I used a different technique for my LIVE broadcasts, however I finally got around to do a proper panel, so now I can even do regular tutorials with my lovely face in them.
I provide the Webcam Panel as a free download for all you tutorial guys out there. If you want to use it please remember to shut down all other webcam applications that might be “linked” to your default camera. Also – you will need to go into the Flash Player Settings (accessible by right clicking on any flash content and choosing “Settings”) and set the Global Settings for the “local” website to “always allow”. Once that is done simply extract the contents of the ZIP file into the “Scripts/ScriptUI Panels” directory. Enjoy.

Download: malty_Webcam (After Effects CS4)

I’m editing a DSLR green screen footage in Premiere Pro CS5, and once everything is in place, I use Dynamic Link to key out the footage. Why not use Ultra Key? Well… Ultra Key is fantastic, fast, and GPU accelerated, however the footage needs to be close to perfect in order for it to work – which is not the case here. I had a lot of wrinkles, bad lighting that I couldn’t make any better due to space limitations in the room I was shooting in, and, as I mentioned before, I used a DSLR to record the footage so I had no control over the compression settings. All of this caused the footage to be a wee bit too difficult for Ultra Key to pull a decent key. Not to mention garbage mattes and adding Lightwrap to create the final look.

I’ve set up a nice workflow using Dynamic Link and a keying template I made for the project for quickly and efficiently replacing source footage to be keyed out, so now everything works smoothly, however it takes some time to render. I should mention this is 1080p @ 23,976fps. Eventhough the workflow is flawless, the footage was very demanding and required adjustments on every shot, digging through precomps, resampling colors, and doing a long RAM Preview to make sure nothing was missed.

Still… I couldn’t stand the fact, that having Premiere Pro CS5 with GPU accelerated keyer I was forced to use After Effects to do something that goes around as a “simple key” – as you see on the attached images, it’s just me sitting in front of a Mac (and yes – this is just a prop – I use PC’s for work).

So I thought to myself – would it be possible to use the same techniques I use in After Effects to pull a decent key out of “nothing” in Premiere Pro? As I learned about half an hour later – yes!

I created a super tight garbage matte, that I then applied to the original footage treated with Ultra Key, I’ve nested that in it’s own Sequence, which I’ve then put in a new Sequence along with the background, and even created a Lightwrap effect… in Premiere! Sweet!

I ended up having three Sequences for my final composite: one for background, one for the key, and one for putting them together and adding a lightwrap. I grabbed a piece of paper and started counting layers and effects applied.

This is where you should make sure you’re sitting down – I ended up with 9 video layers (1080p @ 23,976fps) with a total amount of 26 effects (including multiple copies of Guassian Blur and Ultra Key).

Guess what… it works in realtime. Thank you Mercury Engine.

In the second part (which did not get recorded) we’ve created a Christmas tree using Trapcode Particular and 3D Serpentine. Also – I gave away a copy of Zaxwerks Serpentine, Toolfarms AE Camera Training, and my very own Youveelizer plugin.

It was much fun. See you next year.

If you ever struggled with your After Effects 3D camera than this tutorial is for you. Learn to rig your camera in seconds or buy a my script that will do it for you.

Click here to watch the video tutorial

Get Simple Camera Rig Script 1.0 (CS3) for only 14.90 USD

I don’t know about you my friends, but each time I’m thinking about using After Effects camera I get the shivers. It’s good for panning and zooming, but once you start to make a more classy and smooth motion, or you want to sex it up a bit with some curves you get into trouble. You need to keep track of zoom, point of interest, position, orientation and rotation keyframes all at once. We should be very grateful for Separate Dimensions feature in After Effects CS4, but it does not solve all the problems.

In this tutorial I will show you a technique that is widely used in camera animation by many artists that work in 3D Studio Max, Cinema 4D, or any other 3d application. I hope it will open your eyes on the subject of camera animation, and that you’ll start making your own more complex rigs. Good luck. Enjoy the tutorial.

And for those of you who don’t have time to build the rig each time you need to use it here’s a handy script that will set up the camera and the rig for you. Enjoy!

Get Simple Camera Rig 1.0 (CS3) for only 14.90 USD