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Dave Scotland’s 5 Handy Workflow Tips

Dave Scotland’s 5 Handy Workflow Tips

on Feb 15th 2011 with 24 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Requirements: Just After Effects
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Run Time: 29:40min

Today I really wanted to share some workflow tricks that I use on a daily basis in a production environment. Many of you might be familiar with these techniques, but there will be a lot of people that will definitely benefit from these tips. With the exception of the Reel Smart Motion Blur plug-in, all of these processes are built into After Effects. Whether you’re a newcomer to After Effects or a seasoned veteran, you will definitely get something out of these great timesavers…

Tutorial

Download Tutorial .mp4

File size: 155.2 MB

 
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Dave Scotland has over 12 years of CG production knowledge and experience, working for some of the biggest clients in the entertainment industry including, Disney, Warner Bros. and Plastic Wax, just to name a few. He is the creator of CG Swot and is dedicated to bringing CG knowledge to anyone interested in learning... Dave started out, in production, as a 3D Animator and Technical Director before moving into the world of Compositing, Digital Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. Throughout his career, Dave has been drawn to the process of sharing his knowledge with others and has a definite gift for teaching quite technical procedures and techniques to both experienced and novice operators.  

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  • http://www.behance.net/mohdumer Umer

    made my day… again. so generous of you dave.

  • http://ace5education.com Aleksey

    nice tutorial, but what are the advantages of RPF over EXR?

    Very handy editing tips though =)

    for RSMB pro, add an adjustment layer on top of your comp and apply RSMB to that, then you get realistic motionblur on whole scene.

    Very useful scaling tip man. =)

    • http:www.cgswot.com Dave
      Author

      RPF and RLA files are recognized by AE without having to use any plug-ins. To use EXR files you will need to use certain plug-ins in order for AE to use the relevant channel data….

      (http://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3E78212A-C902-4d74-9FE6-C0E98E602AAA.html)

      As for the Adjustment Layer motion blur suggestion. The only thing to be weary of is if you have a cut in the footage and it jumps to a new piece of footage (in the same comp), you will get a single frame where the blur is extreme. It then returns to normal. So as long as you are aware that this could happen, you suggestion is certainly valid. Thank for sharing your knowledge Aleksey….

      DaveS

      • http://ace5education.com Aleksey

        Cool, cool. Yeah I only used Exr’s in nuke, in AE i’ve always just exported tiff sequences, so i can re-render the ones that I forget, or stuff up.

        re: moblur, yeah that makes sense, good thing to keep in mind. Thanks.

  • zuza

    Nice tips!

  • JONAS

    why cant you just select all the layers and rightclick, fit to comp once?

    jonas

    • http:www.cgswot.com Dave
      Author

      Sounds good in theory. But what if you have text layers or layers that aren’t the full comp size. In fact it’s rare to have a comp with every layer the same size. Plus if a layer is a different dimension to the comp it will be stretched or squashed to fit the comp dimensions….

      • JONAS

        Thats true. that scrips is a nice one then! thanks for the reply.

  • xsid

    there are alot of good tip and tricks posted on aetuts, as it is a very valuabe resource for 3d or post artists, i think this is if not the best but one of the best tips i have seen here. real solid professional work. well done.

  • 5p1r17

    Agreed with xsid!

    About RPF files:
    I don’t remember, did you mentioned this or not, but file size is 10x-15x larger that .png.

  • http://videohive.net/user/benandaim/portfolio Ben

    The Extractor plugin comes with CS4 & up. I’ve been using EXR’s out of Max for ages and I haven’t had to install any extra plugins,

    Ben ;)

  • Ryan

    Great tutorial Dave!
    Would it be possible to show in a future tutorial how to setup ID’s to your 3D objects so that we can use the the post 3D effects in AE?

  • http://www.think360studio.com/ Think360 Studio – Web Design Company

    really nice tips :)

  • pedro soto

    really great tutorial…the worst part was whem you say “that´s all”…to much apreciate for this great tutorial…from soouth america..if u want a margarita..just tell me

    • http://www.bing.com/ Dillanger

      Thanks for your thguohts. It’s helped me a lot.

  • arimo

    so nice, so sweet tutorial…I love it :) thank you

  • http://www.graphiics.com Graphiics

    Reel Smart Motion Blur is just cool I’ve used it

  • http://cgmotionbox.bloogspt.com/ CG motionbox

    Cool Tips :)

    Thanks for this !! :)

  • Tim S

    Really useful and unusual points. Keep them coming! Cheers.

    • Tim S

      On another note… It’s incredibly annoying that the whole AE Tuts webpage refreshes when you post the comment, as I now have to restart the video to continue watching…!!?

  • http://www.facebook.com/sampad01 Tauhidul Iqbal Sampad

    WOW! Super duper helpful stuff! Thanks!!

  • Bobby

    Hi Dave

    Thank you for your tutorials. You mentioned in your “Power of the RPF” tutorial that the velocity channel can be used in post for motion blur. I’ve got an RPF sequence with velocity channel stored but can’t seem to find any way to use it in AE. I also have RSMB4 and can’t see any options there. Would it be possible for you to give me some suggestions on how I can use the velocity channel in AE?

  • http://entertainmentmesh.com/ Zavera Farid

    Excellent Learning!