After Effects Compositing: 3 Advanced Matching and Looks

Course details

Compositing is all about matching, and in this course we go beyond the fundamentals of matching foreground and background, into the realm of the truly cinematic. Learn how to use the Curves control to surpass what is possible with any other color-adjustment tool in After Effects. Discover how to match the full conditions of the shot as the camera sees it, including back lighting, lens distortion, and other lens and frame-rate artifacts. To make a shot or sequence that belongs in your movie, you need to know how to flatten the shot so that you can use tools such as Magic Bullet Mojo or Looks to make it look truly cinematic. But even beyond making it flat, it's best for it to have the full depth and response of color as we see it in the natural world, and that requires the use of 32-bit-per-channel HDR. And for maximum drama, you want to be able to play with time itself, and motion blur as well. In this course, Mark Christiansen takes you through all these scenarios and the next step in After Effects compositing: matching a shot and making it look not only realistic, but cinematic.

Learning objectives
Advanced color correction with multiple objects and Curves
Adding a light-wrap effect to composite into a backlit scene
Compositing into lens distortion
Recognizing and fixing rolling shutter
Matching motion
Working in HDR
Create cinematic color contrasts with Mojo
Customizing a film look with Looks

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome

1. Basic Color Correction Tools

02 - Understand what Curves can do like no other color corrector
03 - Advanced adjustment with multiple objects and Curves
04 - Set guide layers to solve workflow problems
05 - Set guide layers to freely add a nonrendering reference
06 - Create a color look with Curves

2. Working with Light

07 - Add a light-wrap effect to composite into a backlit scene
08 - Study a reference then bend the rules of lighting
09 - Automate the light-wrap process with rd LightWrap

3. Understanding Artifacts of the Camera

10 - Understand lens distortion
11 - Composite into lens distortion
12 - Recognize and fix rolling shutter distortion
13 - Match the softness of natural edges

4. Motion Through the Camera Lens

14 - Shutter speed vs. frame rate
15 - Match motion blur - Animated keyframes
16 - Set up the retime shot
17 - Match motion blur - No keyframes
18 - Use Time Remap
19 - Fix sloppy precomps with the Preserve frame rate when nested option

5. Taking Advantage of High Dynamic Range

20 - Understand why After Effects has three bit depths
21 - Know the fundamental differences between HDR and LDR
22 - Work in HDR, even when beginning in LDR
23 - Be deliberate when establishing and breaking the 32-bit-per-channel pipeline
24 - Freely work in HDR and render in LDR
25 - Avoid the 32-bit-per-channel slowdown
26 - A brief word on color spaces and linear light

6. Introducing Color Grading

27 - Determine a starting point - Make it flat
28 - Know your color-grading options and approach
29 - Create cinematic color contrasts with Mojo
30 - Customize a film look with Looks
31 - Create a film look with common lens flaws