Advanced Angel Wings in After Effects - Part 1

[ymaj89]

Great tutorial, I was actually looking for this exact effect. However I would like to add animation inside the wings. My background will be black and wings white with simple animations inside. Can you think of any way to this?

Thanks!

[Iaenic]

@ymaj89 You could try making your animation layers 3D, binding them to the null object, and then using the wings as a trackmatte for them.

[aelita6020]

Good tutorial! And nice effect ;3

[ce05cp2]

Great tutorial!!! I have only one question... What did you change to have that wing movement at the beginning? I am new at After Effects.. Thank you in advance!

[Iaenic]

@ce05cp2 It's mostly the bend modifier in the 3D stroke options.

[ce05cp2]

@Iaenic Thank You very much!

[SCARandEMMA]

im sooo late on commenting! XD But this is like so awesome!

[justgene53]

@SCARandEMMA u call THAT late look at me!

[tjc360]

Great stuff...thanks.

[oscarfilmscut]

I'm using CS5 and downloaded all the presets, I can't find trap code like you did on the drop down menu. Help!  Also, I can barely hear you

[Iaenic]

@oscarfilmscut Trapcode is a set of third party plugins you have to get seperatly. The site for redgiantsoftware has demos you can download : Sorry for the audio levels. They sounded good in my headset but were super low in the edit. =(

[oscarfilmscut]

@Iaenic Great tutorial, I hope you have some other ones.... I have one here for you...Can you figure out some way to isolate a similar colored foreground from a similar colored background??? For example, I have a subject wearing a white shirt and the footage was shot against a white wall outside. Trying to not rotoscope or to rotoscope as little as possible. Is there a key or some way to determine which is the subject color to leave and the background to delete???

[Iaenic]

@oscarfilmscut Unfortunatly there generally isn't. The software rarely has any "magic-bullet" solutions when it comes to keying or rotoscoping area's with such little contrast. In that case, the contrast would be so low between your forground and background that you would end up losing alot of the edges of your subject. In that case, rotoscoping is the only option.

Rotoscoping tips following:

[Iaenic]

@oscarfilmscut When rotoscoping, avoid setting keyframes on every single frame. One technique I like to do is to create a keyframe for my rotomasks on the first frame of the action, and then the last frame, and then subdivide it by setting a keyframe in-between. Then I keep subdividing the gaps as many times as neccessary. Also, avoid using just a single mask. Divide up the body into different parts, and have one mask for the torso, one for the head and neck, one for a hand and so on.

[Iaenic]

@oscarfilmscut When rotoscoping, avoid setting keyframes on every single frame. One technique I like to use is to create a keyframe for my rotomasks on the first frame of the action, and then the last frame, and then subdivide it by setting a keyframe in-between. Then I keep subdividing the gaps as many times as neccessary. Also, avoid using just a single mask. Divide up the body into different parts, and have one mask for the torso, one for the head and neck, one for a hand and so on.

[CoreEditHD]

ilovethewings.jpeg

[Renierainyday]

this is awesome! thank you for sharing! I hope i will have to do something like this someday!

[SilverDragon7109]

so wait you made a mask for each feather. like separately?

[Iaenic]

@SilverDragon7109 Yes, all open paths. A good shot of them can be found around 3:50. It can get a little crowded, so I found it best to color code the masks and work from top to bottom.

[SilverDragon7109]

@Iaenic haha thank you very much. I actually got kinda confused on some parts of your video but I think i just need to watch it slower. Kept getting parts wrong and stuff. Thank you!

[JamesLeeVS]

Hi this is so freaking awesome dude.... but can someone help me out, I only got a trail of 3D stroke and it shows and X on it, can someone just render the project file for me. There's a vid on my channel where I jump/float for a few secs it would be so prefect!!!

[aghaanantyab]

are you whistling?? i cant hear anything.....

[Iaenic]

@aghaanantyab My audio levels are very low, but you should be able to hear me speaking.

[DioLan08]

I LOVE U MEN!! this is an awesome TUTORIAL!! and thank you very much to The sample project file..!! YOU ROCK!!

[stIncMale]

wow, excellent idea! nice tutorial

[SEPHIROTH802]

I must have them

[angelicbaby92]

As a suggestion for my previous comment, you can duplicate the solid with the pen marks of the wings and make the color white and thinner compared to the black solid layer of the wings. Then use the mask to make that solid very transparent and increase feathering. This creates the illusion that there are highlights on the dark or black wings.

[Iaenic]

@angelicbaby92 Excellent suggestion! I haven't tried this yet. The only thing I would add for people that want to experiment with your technique would be to mind the rendering order limitation. Since the highlights would always be drawn on top, if the wings overlap (especially if seen from the side) both highlights from both wings will be drawn. You should be able to fix this by duplicating the original wing layers, hiding them, and using them as track matte for the opposite wings highlight

[angelicbaby92]

@Iaenic Your welcome and thanx for that suggestion too!

[angelicbaby92]

this is awesome but, it's missing highlights for your black wings. White wings don't need highlights, but darker ones do.That's a way to make it more realistic. Thanks for your tutorial!

[pcnerd1010]

THANK YOU! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A TUTORIAL LIKE THIS FOR A WHILE! I appreciate it! =D

[Iaenic]

@pcnerd1010 Happy to help!

[Animos02]

did you goto new york film academy

[Iaenic]

@Animos02 Nope! Wrong side of the country for me =)

[Animos02]

@Iaenic dude like how did you learn all this :P

[Iaenic]

@Animos02 Just by spending lots and lots of time in AE experimenting. =)

[hiddepolen]

Hi,

First of all, this is great! Well explained, and great tutorial! You got skills :D

I've got one problem. When you get to the camera part, the wing doesnt show. Only the camera and the control layer. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance,

Hidde

[Iaenic]

@hiddepolen The most common things are that either "Comp Camera" is unchecked in the 3D stroke settings, or the Solid layers that 3D stroke is on are scaled or a different size than the composition you are working in. You might also check the transform settings for both 3D stroke and your camera.

If you have lots of trouble troubleshooting, feel free to send me your file, and I can give a quick glance and recommend a solution.

[hiddepolen]

@Iaenic Thanks for the reply, I'll look into it!

[ZAGREB77]

who made this.can he made me wings for my film.

[yuriiipider]

IS THAT YOU??

[Iaenic]

@yuriiipider I'm not sure what you're asking?

[brokenmetal]

is it possible that could receive your project folder for this, it looks so Amazing and I would like to see everything better

[Iaenic]

@brokenmetal Send me an email and I can send you the link to the project file. (It won't let me post the link directly for some reason) Address is in video description.

[brokenmetal]

@Iaenic I emailed you, n thanks

[SpitFire816]

how did u scale it horizontally in the begining could not find that out at all

[Iaenic]

@SpitFire816 First hit the "S" key to reveal the scale attribute of the layer. Then to the left of where it says "100.0, 100%", click the link icon to allow you to scale non-proportionally. Then type in a value of -100 on the left value to reverse the layers horizontal scale.

[SpitFire816]

@Iaenic thanks

[koseitekifilms]

I'm going to give this a try, being that I'm still a beginner at after effects this will be tough for me but This is so cool.

[Luka1180]

Great! They should have usen it for 'Absalons Hemmelighed' ('The Secret of Absalon') a GREAT TV Advent Calendar in Denmark :D

[AamirHussein]

Superb tutorial!! Love it :-)

[MrGoo189]

great tutorial! but just a little complain, and no offence, may be next time, you can raise your voice a little but? i find t really hard to catch your voice...i am not an English speaker, may be that is my problem...

[Iaenic]

@MrGoo189 Your critique is spot on, my levels are definitly low! I will boost the volume for the next tutorial.

[TokyoZeplin]

Why are your two videos on this not more commented? Awesome stuff!

[xxKetunschkaxx]

in my effects there ist no "trapcode" so i can't do this..or is there an other way to make those wings?

[Iaenic]

@xxKetunschkaxx This tutorial requires the third party plugin "3D Stroke" from Trapcode. It can be found at the red giant software website.

[xxKetunschkaxx]

@Iaenic thanks I'll try it

[HummadJ]

ty but can u link to the wings?

[Iaenic]

@HummadJ The wings can be found on Anghellic7s deviantart page. (Usage subject to creative commons 3.0 license)

[RejectedSoulInc]

This tutorial is freaking awesome! I am going to try it out this week. Can you upload HD version of this tutorial by any chance?

[Iaenic]

@RejectedSoulInc Youtube should have a 720p version available. You can upgrade the resolution by clicking the button that says "360p" next to the closed captioning button. Otherwise, you can find and download the HD version at vimeo.

[taniamogutnova]

I FOUND THE EXACTLY SAME WING IN THE INTERNET!!!! O_e

*O*

ty ALOT for the tuttorial))))

[MegaHanzlo]

i love it, its awesome :) thx for sharing man !! ^_^

[Iaenic]

@MegaHanzlo Thanks for watching!

[extraordinarioman]

no podrias pasarme las alas ya hechas es que esta bien dificil hacer la compocision porfis no seas malo.

bye y buen tutorial. eres mega bueno.

[Iaenic]

@onlybrian Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.