The Runner - VFX R&D (02) - Action Essentials test 03

[BlackDProduction]

That was actually insane!

[nontrovounusername]

wow!

[algildea]

superb!

[MegaCharlieUnicorn]

rotoscoped? ouch :P

turned out great

[firerider117]

hey are you using After effects7 or the CS5 or what ever??

[lhtdihsl]

which the program should i use for Action Essentials 2 ?

[lhtdihsl]

which the program should i use for Action Essentials 2 ?

[hapmoriarty]

@lhtdihsl Hi there, Action Essentials 2 is a collection of elements that you use in your shots. To composite you'll need something like After Effects (which is what I used here), but there are other programs out there too.

[MrKlay]

Absolutely amazing, my only critque is that the helmet looks a little feathered from the rotoscoping, but i'm sure it was a pain in the ass to do.

This goes to show you that with little props and budget, you can make a killer athmosphere and style.

I'll be watching you! (not in a creepy sense)

Keep up the killer work.

[hapmoriarty]

@MrKlay Thanks! It's a fair critique. I even forgot to roto inbetween the scope and the rifle, but in my defence, I spent less than 8 hours on the whole shot (filming and compositing) as a test to see how many shots I could feasibly do for a short film.

Thanks again for the comment

[hapmoriarty]

@superbroombroom the most extreme response i've ever had! i love it

[nacolydude]

to tell you the truth in the video where you mention shell casenings

I didnt really noticed them in the final composition

also how did you do it

did you rotoscoped it using a bullet image from google

please respond in my future videos i want to make shell castings

thanks

[hapmoriarty]

@nacolydude well the shell casings are moving fairly fast and are motion blurred as a result. They have been ejected at high pressure from a gun barrel after all! :)

They may be a bit hard to notice in this compressed version, but trust me when I say that you notice when they aren't there.

As for how, Action Essentials 2 comes with a few casings. I grabbed the right looking casing (not 9mm) and animated it with a slight arc, leaving the gun and exiting screen. Mo-blur it and viola

[hapmoriarty]

@hapmoriarty also, as the casings (like all the AE2 elements) are pre-keyed, there was no rotoscoping involved, just a quick bit of colour correction.

[nacolydude]

that must've been pretty darn hard to make

considering the fact that you actually had to rotoscoped

the little gap between the scope

That Sir is dedication

this is very awesome

one more thing. the muzzle flash in the essentials pack isnt that you know what i call feathered. how did you do it so it can look a little bit blured. did you mask it?

[hapmoriarty]

@nacolydude thanks for the comments :) if memory serves me right, I would have applied it in screen mode, and then with the animation (as it tracks with the barrel) i turned on motion blur. There's a slight possibility I put on a fast blur (no more than value of 1), but I doubt it.

In this one i used the element that is a burst of muzzle flashes. This allowed me to animate and get the mo-blur. You could always pre-comp a bunch of muzzle flashes then animate and get a similar effect.

[nacolydude]

@hapmoriarty alright thanks alot this like really helped because in one of my videos the muzzle flashes are more than one frame and that looks totally BAD

in my videos.

also thanks for taking your time to actually respond.

usually people dont respond to comments specially people with awesome special effects and hard work like you

im subscribing just for that

[hapmoriarty]

@nacolydude i'm always happy to help (karma is awesome) and try to take the time to respond to all questions. If I miss one, feel free to private msg me and I'll be more sure to respond.

Thanks for the sub, there'll be plenty more breakdowns coming after I complete the epic short film that is 'The Runner'.

[NightRider2k8]

Woah this is epic. Good job.. I hope to one day learn VFX using After effects and final cut. I Want to make short films and music videos like joehands0me <.<

[LRWKProductions]

that was AWESOME! i am getting that for my b-day!

[cody2oo]

pretty beast. rotoscoping ftw.

[JabutiTV]

you're awesome.

[hapmoriarty]

@JabutiTV haha, thanks a lot :)

[D2daDH]

9.9 out of 10

[coldfyre18]

For a 3 second scene, that was pretty awesome!

[DarthChewyProduction]

please check out my new vid. I used action essentials. the explosion looks really bad I know..i did the best I could :(

[JWHfilms]

Great! The best! Check out freddiew, he has good action films :)

[hapmoriarty]

@JWHfilms Glad you liked. Have been watching freddiew's stuff the past few weeks. Great understanding of action film language. Good call on the recommend! :)

[JWHfilms]

@hapmoriarty Yeah, I think you are better at special FX.

[hapmoriarty]

@JWHfilms wow! thats a big compliment as I really dig their work, so thanks heaps for that!

[JWHfilms]

@hapmoriarty Yeah, I think he leaves WAY to much actual real life video, with your's 90% is special effects, which I like better.

[JWHfilms]

Great! The best! Check out freddiew, he has good action films :)

[meanmrmusic28]

Wow, that's amazing - keep up the fantastic work!

[hapmoriarty]

@meanmrmusic28 will do, thanks! :)

[franfran97]

did you rotoscope every frame by frame in your video? D:

btw that was sweet it looked like a video game /liked

[franfran97]

@franfran97 oh and I was doing some tests, and when you are not facing sideways or in front of the camera, how do you get the flash behind the gun? w/out greenscreen

[hapmoriarty]

@franfran97 this particular clip (which was just a test) was only a few seconds long, so roto-ing the whole thing wasn't too intimidating. But technically, no... keyframing the masks helps save a lot of time. As to how to get a flash behind the muzzle, you'd need to roto the gun barrel and layer it on top of your muzzle flash. Then maybe feather and shrink the mask to give it that 'light wrap' look :)

[joachim2464]

why not use a green screen? Would be much easier than to rotoscope?

[hapmoriarty]

@joachim2464 it absolutely is, but I wanted to test how long it take to do without greenscreen to prepare for a shoot where that would be a specific issue

[smurfkatten]

Great use of after FX (y)

[cbcnate]

You rotoscoped a person?

Oh man. That must have been pain stakingly tedious. I rotoscoped a lightsaber once and I wanted to throw my computer out of a building.

[hapmoriarty]

I remember the days feeling the same way. But in this case it wasn't too hard. The key is to break your roto down into really simple shapes. So in this case I wasn't really roto-ing a person, just a circle for the head, or a rectangle for the gun, etc etc. Simple shapes are easy to animate, making roto easy too!

[cbcnate]

@hapmoriarty Haha. Sweet, man.

[identicalgamers]

How do you get the screen size to look like a real movie? I have after effects and I really want to know how to get it to look like the screen size you have in your final composite video?

By the way 5/5 that was amazing!!!

[hapmoriarty]

@identicalgamers Thanks for the score! As for the screen size, I assume you mean the Aspect Ratio, in this case 2.35:1. For this, I apply a matte box to your comp in after effects (with a black solid and a couple of masks). You should be able to find a preset matte on the net I'm sure. Hope this helps

[identicalgamers]

@hapmoriarty Thank you very much I have figured out now!:D

[DaansMontages]

sick, 5/5 ur pro

[MrNightWork]

wow that was nice

[VFXTests]

WOW!! very nice work!! :)

i like your level of detail ;-)

[shadowblackmagic]

I love your work. tis Truely awesome. Me and a team of guys are putting together a project. i know your gunna be busy with your own stuff. but would be great if you got involved. check out my channel if u want 2 know more.

[dermagicmax]

NICE!!!

[bman332211]

this is awesome work :)

[redepoch76]

This is great. Let us know when you get more up from your movie.

AWESOME STUFF!!!

[hapmoriarty]

I'm currently uploading some more content, included is some more vfx r&d for The Runner.

we shoot the film in a month so I hope you enjoy :)

[hapmoriarty]

thanks :)

Green screen is often ideal. However in this instance the footage was only meant to be a costume test, not a vfx test. Additionally, 'The Runner' is going to be a location shoot that we do heavy matte work to, so carting around green screens isn't an option. or maybe i just like doing things the hard way :-D

[1981z28camaro]

How do Green Screens work?

[whiteentertainment94]

Wow. really nice Work.

Did you use any specific technique to rotoscope the FG?

White-Eagle Entertainment

[tom1597530]

WOW, this is very amazing. Great work

[101CiaK]

yes

[VisualDesignFX]

awesome

[waterboardsporter]

Awesome!

[joshthrbc]

wow that was very awesome! is this part of a short film you or working on or just a action essentials 2 test? either way it was still very nice work!

[hapmoriarty]

thanks! its a test shot for a short film we're hoping to shoot in November this year, but also happened to be one of my first tests with that package of elements.

[joshthrbc]

thats awesome...i am also working on a short film but i am waiting for ae2 to arrive in the mail (i just ordered it the other day) to continue...btw do you use mocha to rotoscope? if not its very fast and easy and saves a lot of time...just thought i would let you know.

[MCdeRegt]

Seriously dude, I thought I was watching a piece of modern warfare or something ^-^

[hapmoriarty]

thanks. there's no higher compliment than for somebody to even momentarily believe a vfx shot is reality :D

[hapmoriarty]

Colour Correction was achieved entirely in AE. Final comp first had black/white levels corrected (i tend to use 'levels'). Hue/Saturation took a little of the sat out.

Then I'd duplicate the final comp and change the transfer mode of the top layer to something like overlay (can't remember on this one) and go really severe with the colour using 'tint'. Then once I have a 'Colour Comp' that I'm happy with, I play around with the transfer modes/transparency levels till i'm happy.

[hapmoriarty]

Oh, and I use 'tint' a lot in general in order to get elements (like the dust hits) or the actor to blend in a little more. Try selecting colours from the brighter areas of your BG/surroundings as they would be the areas to actually reflect light/colour back at an object. But that's more compositing than colour correction :)

[mlwrey7792]

You can do everything he did just by watching this.

[hapmoriarty]

*grins*

[DakotaHarbottle]

WOW your so good at that, do yuo think we could see a tutorial? :O or at least how to get just the main charachter on a black background and how to add a photo instiead? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE,

[hapmoriarty]

I never really intended figure out how to do this tutorial business, but seeing as I've had a few requests, might have to have a looksee... will let you know when somethings been posted :)

[DakotaHarbottle]

That would be so sweet.. please :)

[LesPaul2006]

W O W. Simply WOW. This is professional level. Very good job!!!

[rawpowergod]

Brilliant work! you could work for a movie!

[hapmoriarty]

cheers! that's the plan i guess :)

[lukimaxvideo]

you have animated the background by hand ? or have you use the tracking of the original footage ?

[hapmoriarty]

combination - tracked the original footage for its x & y position and then set a couple of keyframes to hand animate its z position.

so the wiggle on the background was from the tracking.

the zoom on the bg is from my animating

[dbmpro]

NICE! Finally good to see someone using these elements the RIGHT way. Very very nice work!

[aflovin]

NICE!!! very good

[NZPunisher2008]

hey, man that looked awseome, please tell me when you have done the actual film =)

[hapmoriarty]

will do! :)

[hapmoriarty]

Thanks, thanks and thanks :)

re: roto... this may be a lil sad but i find it deeply calming, almost like sitting in a zen garden.

[mattutubematt]

woow

must have been a pain rotoscoping! but the end result is flawless great job!

[DaSplooger]

Jaw-Dropping Amazing!

[IxSL4Y4xI]

Looks great! Very nice color correction.

[normanja02]

that was awesome. so you had to pretty much cut the actor from the footage frame by frame?

[hapmoriarty]

Thanks, and yeah, pretty much :) there's a lil more (less?) to it than that. First i'd move a simple circle shape for the head. Then i'd roto the arm, the gun, the body until it was all done. For a 1 second shot it's not too much work. The roto is still incomplete, but i wanted to set a cutoff for 1 days work on the shot.

[normanja02]

would i green screen help? i have never used one before but if you used one would it be easier or not really?

[hapmoriarty]

green screen would make it considerably easier :) Most shots will still need a degree of roto though. This particular shot was never meant to be used this way. I wanted to replace just the sky so the muzzle flashes would stand out a bit better... i got carried away ;)