Simulate a Realistic Sniper Scope Perspective – AE Premium
Tutorial Details
- Program: After Effects, Photoshop or Illustrator
- Difficulty: Beginner
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
We have another AE Premium tutorial exclusively available to
Plus members today. If you want to take your Photoshop and After Effects integration skills to the next level, then line up your cross hair, we have an exciting tutorial in sight for you.
My tutorial deals with a VFX shot that’s easy to attempt but hard to master: A convincing looking sniper scope view.
I will outline the assets that I provide in Photoshop and the principles of accomplishing the intended outcome. In After Effects I’ll make use of pre-compositions, motion tracking and some easy expressions. For clarity’s purpose I’ll get into details about optical phenomena when necessary.
Additionally I mention and highlight keyboard shortcuts I use to speed up the work, so this tutorial is not intended for absolute beginners who still struggle with the interface but for users already somewhat familiar with getting around, although I mention every step clearly and make it easy to follow.
Requirements are:
After Effects CS3
And for custom made assets, additionally:
Photoshop or Illustrator
A photo camera
A small video camera
This is a Premium Tutorial. To view you must Join Premium.
Once you’ve joined, log-in to the Tuts+ Dashboard with your username and password to immediately access your Premium Content. Navigate to Ae Premium via ‘Premium Categories’ in the sidebar. You’ll be able to grab the tutorial videos, project files and assets in the members’ area.



I think I’ll pay for that membership now.
Very well done!
Looks nice, I may have opted to make the scope bigger so that you see less of the view from outside of the scope! Also, nice job on over exposing the area outside of the scope.
I really don’t like the idea of paying for memebership. The new AE users usually do not have enough money for monthly subscriptions, and this will really lag in our learning capabilities. If we had to pay for products, that’s fine. But for tutorials??
I agree with you. But prepare yourselves as the wealthy elite will be bashing you for complaining about paying. I still have not paid for a membership and I don’t plan on it anytime soon.
Please note I am not ruling out paying. I would rather just wait until I see a tutorial that has information that I can’t find elsewhere for free.
but dont forget they give you access to all other envato sites… i think
i may be signing up… any feedback from members would be great to see if its really worth it! THANKS!
I think the Plus membership is great, it only costs $9! (Whats $9 a month?)
incredible tutorials! Keep them coming!
And it’s worth paying for
I a gree With Topher!! i’ll wait a few months then do it haha
ehhhhhhh mathematic…
9 monthly = 108 dollars x 1 year
u still think its not much?
they have to find some way of paying the tutorial makers. this site is a business and to ask somebody not to make money from their business is naive. everybody has to pay the bills some how.
instead of moaning about the plus membership be grateful that they also provide ones for free. $9 that’s the price of a coffee right? come on guys let give them a hand. the more people that will pay for membership will mean the better for us viewers. also the plus membership is for ALL the plus sites.
Hope some of you are ashamed and sign up.
Do you drink a 5 shot, white coffee, soy, white chocolate-vanilla-almond-caramel, blended 32 ounce coffee? Cuz, I have never spent nine bucks on coffee… hahahaha
two super duppa, extra large coffees then. lol
Dude…jeez… “lag learning capabilities”….??? WTF. With that mentality – why do we have to pay for college? What about the people that can’t afford college?
What is with people bitching about $9/month? That is not gonna break anyone’s bank. I hate it so much when people feel entitled to free stuff.
“That is not gonna break anyone’s bank…”
You obviously haven’t seen my bank lol.
I buy a crap gas station coffee on the way to work every morning, it cost $1.50. That is roughly $30 a month and around $360 a year.
It is all relative.
yeah if you really wanna budget for buying this… cut out your morning coffee, or your beer drinking for one night every weekend. Its simple.
Slick. I’ve thought about doing something similar but never could get it to look right.
very cool!
nothing plus about this one… infact very very simple
I think what makes it Plus is that it ideals with that nasty word to beginners “expressions”
The only problem with that to me is that this can all be replicated without using expressions.
But, its all about learning new techniques, not always the final product. Learning is learning, copying is copying. People need to stop focusing on the end product and see that you will be learning useful techniques, the effect you create is just the gateway for those techniques to be taught.
“This is so disqualified to be a plus tuts “. And the easiest of all the tuts i have seen till now in aetuts :-p
Though this effect may come across as just being some simple animation of still elements, there’s a lot to it. If you were to actually view the tutorial, you’d find it stocked full of incredibly helpful content and. Not me mention the presentation is quite entertaining.
not to mention you get the project file if you are lazy… haha
if you think THIS is the easiest tutorial, you obviously haven’t seen the jib-jab puppet mouth tutorial. it’s easy as al hell. I love it, but it’s still easy. this one doesn’t even look all that great…
Nicely done, Phil!
Remember, gang, your $9 a month is for the ENTIRE tuts+ network, not just aetuts+.
its hard to get used to aetuts going plus
One more thing that I probably should have mentioned in the description is that with what Phil created, you can change out the footage instantly to anything you want and generate the same zoomed effect. It’s not just a “one shot” specific example.
Take Kramer’s business model. Free tutorials, get a ton of people to your site, then make content, plug-ins, effects for people to buy that are actually good and are relatively inexpensive. $9/month isn’t a lot, but it can add up.
The vast majority of people whining about $9 a month are not buying products.
Also just because a business model works for someone, does not mean everyone should do things the same way. The price of one Video Copilot product can get you all the tutorials and other bonuses from 9 sites covering 3d work, AE, photoshop, webpages, etc…
The internet has almost completely destroyed a generations concept of value and trade.
WOW a PLUS tutorial for this one ??? How could anybody need a tutorial for such a simple task ?
I guess next tutorial will be how to move a layer from point A to point B…
Seriously? You are talking about the quality? Look at your website…puahhahhahha… and the portfolio..buahhaaha…You just used various stock graphics to make your website and your portfolio looks like student projects.
student projects that grant me 60.000 euros a year for the past 6 years in my country (Greece)
really… try not to be such an ass. it’s completely unnecessary.
We are not all pro like you. I have only these tuts to teach me everything about AE as a hobbie. This tut is more about the creativity more then the skill of it. Lets see you pump more tuts on here that are “hardcore” put in some time and teach us what a real tut is. blow our socks off.
Why can’t we just pay for one and one tutorial instead of paying on monthly bases?
This one seems fun, and its probably packed with lots of info (the tutorial). But the sniper effects lacks something…
I think its the movement which is not correct (sorry if I am picky).
A sniper doesnt shake that much and doesnt move this way (not exactly). I think its the wiggle, perhaps too much. Just a suggestion.
true. i opted for clarity’s sake for a rather fidgety movement so one can see the effects in both the scope and the background.
fear not: it is easily possible to change the movement to anyone’s personal needs for a good shot (pun intended).
hehe, true you are totally right. I kinda forgot the idea of a tutorial doh! You set up the method and people should use their own ideas and creativity to change it.
Nice tut
This tutorial is even less likely to get people to join tuts than Lloyd’s tutorial. Is an OK tutorial….but to pay for it? Hardly…
Well, I think I’m getting Plus now =D
i wont hang out at the puch-trainstation anymore! seems dangerous :S
You have to admit, that was actually really good. I think I might just join PLUS now! (or at least soon)
Looks pretty cool and game-like…maybe some day you’d want to create a game yourself!!!
There is nothing one can say really if a tut maker wants to attempt to sell his tutorial. I commend you as it is something you can do.
There is also nothing one can say if those of us choose to file share all the tuts they attmept to sell that other cretors offer for free. As there are those who comend us – and is something we can do.
And to those elite tut makers that complain about us file sharers
eh eh eeeh… now – What’s that you downloaded on “your” HD?
thats awesome!
9$/ month and i can see the tutorial ?
my last visit here i guess
about the coffee…
if u drink it sitting in p.zza S. marco in venice, u spend around 12 euros for a single coffee
For all you cheapskates that moan about possibly having to pay for a tutorial check out this conversation on Motionworks between John Dickinson and Aharon Rabinowitz. 11.30mins onwards.
http://www.motionworks.com.au/2009/10/unplugged-10-aharon-rabinowitz/
Lot’s of other stuff for you to think about as well!
The most thing that attracted me to AE Tuts that it makes AWESOME tutorials for free but sure if I got the money to support it of course I will.
I think that the idea of downloading the tutorials every 6 months us a cheap way to be grateful to AETuts for all the great tutorials that made.
Finally Thanks for the great free tutorials and I believe that you guys at AETuts Deserve the Support !
Looks like the real thing… its like your’re holding one in your own hands… very very impressive.
There is so much work behind a good tutorial. And there is so much work running a site. If u rather spend $9 on a trip to McDonalds that is your choice, but dont expect every good thing in life to be free. You will be very disappointed. $9 a month….uhuuuuu. Also please lose that attitude that the tuts sites owe you something. They dont.
Uhm, just to distract you guys from your ProPlus/AntiPlus argument for one moment…
I hope I’m not about to be burned for missing something obvious, but I can’t find the tutorial file to download. I have the preview demo and the project files, but I’m missing the tut itself!
Am I just not looking hard enough?
Under the plus content there is a post for project files and another post for viewing the tut itself. You can download it from there. Just make sure you’re on the right tab while on the plus side.
D’oh! Tabs…
Ta.
This stuff is great, and with a little bit of tweaking, can be a part of a good first-person shooter game.
I can’t watch video tutorial. Help me, huhuhu…..
AEtuts Help
Just got Plus… just watched this tutorial… man, this is AWESOME! To all those saying this is easy, this is possibly my favorite tutorial on the site. So well produced, heavily explained theory, and TONS of techniques that I didn’t know… Minor knowledge of expressions needed… this is absolutely an amazing tutorial, and a must see!
Phil… you have to make more tutorials. Seriously.
yay — thanks for the nice words, topher! and no worries, i will create a new one as soon as i have some more time on my hands. glad you like it.
any requests?
My monthly income is 150$ in Serbia, 9$ monthly is to match for me, sorry
Video Co Pilot is still free this is a massive fail IMHO
The decision accepted by you about payment will ruin your fine resource…
IMHO
Awesome stuff keep updating
For a payment it would be possible to download files of projects and additional
Materials to a lesson, instead of lessons… Lessons Should be free!
So it will be fair…
IMHO
That’s like saying you should only pay for the books when you go to college. The people who make the tutorials get paid, so tutsplus has every right to offer paid premium content – they don’t owe us anything.
Come on guys!Because of this tutorial you now talking about membership:)We should be grateful that they make tutorials for us.With all respect to tutorial makers, thanks for your time doing this tutorials for us:)
gotta pay?
lame, this starts the downfall of this site…
Now that’s realistic!
lol… i figured out how to do this just by looking at the preview
quite easy really…
heres my atempt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ3ESnJjDgM
for you cheapskates who dont want plus…
here is my tutorial for this effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydgAlh_iRL4
i hope to see more tutorials from phil he REALLY knows whats going on and it shows
Where are the files? And the tutorial???