Как

How to make effects in after effects

21.08.202221.08.2022 admin 0 Comments how, how to made, как, как сделать, как создать, совими руками

How to make effects in after effects

Stylize effects

Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects:

CC Block Load effect (CS6 or later)

CC Burn Film effect

CC Glass effect

CC Kaleida effect

CC Mr. Smoothie effect

CC Plastic effect (CS6 or later)

CC RepeTile effect

CC Threshold effect

CC Threshold RGB effect

Brush Strokes effect

The Brush Strokes effect applies a rough painted look to an image. You can also use this effect to achieve a pointillist style by setting the length of the brush strokes to 0 and increasing the stroke density. Although you specify the direction of strokes, they’re scattered randomly by a small amount to give a more natural result. This effect alters the alpha channel, as well as the color channels; if you masked out a portion of the image, the brush strokes paint over the edges of the mask.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The direction in which the strokes are made. The image is effectively shifted in this direction, potentially causing some clipping at the layer boundaries. Applying the Grow Bounds effect before the Brush Strokes effect effectively extends the boundaries of the layer to prevent this clipping.

The size of the brush in pixels.

The maximum length of each stroke, in pixels.

Higher densities result in overlapping brush strokes.

Creates nonuniform strokes. The more randomness, the more the strokes vary from the brush and stroke settings you’ve specified.

Specifies where brush strokes are applied:

Paint On Original Image

Puts the strokes on top of the unmodified layer. This setting is the default.

Paint On Transparent

Causes only the strokes themselves to appear, leaving the layer transparent between the strokes.

Paint On White/Paint On Black

Applies strokes over a white or black background.

Blend With Original

The transparency of the effect. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with the effect result composited on top. The higher you set this value, the less the effect affects the layer. For example, if you set this value to 100%, the effect has no visible result on the layer; if you set this value to 0%, the original image doesn’t show through.

Cartoon effect

The Cartoon effect simplifies and smooths the shading and colors in an image and adds strokes to the edges between features. The overall result is to decrease contrast in areas with low contrast and increase contrast in areas with high contrast. The result can be an image that resembles a sketch or cartoon, or the result can be more subtle. You can use the Cartoon effect to simplify or abstract an image for stylistic purposes, to call attention to areas of detail, or to obscure the poor quality of the original footage.

An advantage that the Cartoon effect has over some other effects and techniques that provide a similar result is the superior temporal coherence that the Cartoon effect provides. This means that the result of applying the Cartoon effect does not vary greatly from one frame to the next if the two frames are very similar.

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

The Cartoon effect works in three stages:

It smooths the image and removes minor variations with a blurring operation similar to that used by the Bilateral Blur effect. Modify the Detail Radius and Detail Threshold properties to control this phase.

It finds edges in the image and applies a stroke to them, similar to the Find Edges effect. Modify properties in the Edge and Advanced property groups to control how the edges are determined and how the strokes are drawn.

It reduces the variations in luminance and color in the image, simplifying the shading and coloring. Modify properties in the Fill property group to control this quantization (posterization).

Begin with Render set to Fill Only, and first achieve the result that you want for the colors of the image. Next, choose either Edges or Fill & Edges, and establish the basic appearance that you want for the edges. Use the properties in the Advanced property group to fine-tune the appearance after you’ve established the basic appearance using the other controls.

As with any other properties, you can animate the properties of the Cartoon effect. Settings that work well for one part of a scene may not be optimal for another part of a scene. For example, you may want fewer colors and thicker edge strokes for a close-up of a face than for an action scene with many subjects and a lot of detail.

Before applying the Cartoon effect, consider either setting the composition to a lower frame rate or using the Posterize Time effect on the layer if you’re trying to make a movie look like a cartoon. Consider that cartoons have much lower frame rates than live action footage.

Cartoon effect properties

Fill, Edges, or Fill & Edges. Determines which operations to perform and which results to display.

The radius for the blurring operation that is used to smooth the image and remove details before the operation to find edges. A larger radius for a blur means that more pixels are averaged together to determine each pixel value, so increasing the Detail Radius value increases the blurriness.

The blur operation that the Cartoon effect performs is similar to that used by the Bilateral Blur effect. (See Bilateral Blur effect.) The radius of the blur is automatically decreased in areas where an edge or other prominent detail exists. The Detail Threshold value determines how the Cartoon effect decides what areas contain features to be preserved and what areas should be blurred by the full amount. A lower Detail Threshold value causes more fine details to be preserved. A higher Detail Threshold value causes a more simplistic cartoon-like result, with fewer details preserved.

The luminance values in the image are quantized (posterized) according to the settings of the Shading Steps and Shading Smoothness properties. If the Shading Smoothness value is 0, then the result is very similar to a simple posterization, with sharp transitions between values. A higher Shading Smoothness value causes the colors to blend together more naturally, with more gradual transitions between posterized values, preserving gradients.

The smoothing phase considers the amount of detail that exists in the original image so that areas that are already smooth (such as the gradient of a sky) are not quantized unless that Shading Smoothness value is low.

These properties determine the basics of what is considered an edge and how the stroke applied to an edge appears.

Determines how different two pixels must be for the Cartoon effect to consider them to be one either side of an edge. Increase the Threshold value to cause more areas to be identified as edges.

The thickness of the stroke that is added to the edge.

Increase this value to soften the transition between the edge’s stroke and the surrounding colors.

The opacity of the stroke applied to the edge.

Advanced settings related to edges and performance.

Positive values sharpen the edges; negative values spread the edges. The enhancement distorts the entire image by warping pixels toward or away from the edges, which has the result of sharpening or spreading the edges.

Edge Black Level

When this property is 0, only the pixels that have been identified as being part of an edge receive a stroke; when Render is set to Edges, the image is white except in areas with a pure black stroke. Increase the Edge Black Level property by a small amount to add shades of gray in the Edges phase of rendering. Increase this property by a larger amount to approach a result that resembles white strokes on a black background.

The contrast in the grayscale representation of the edges.

If your computer includes a display card with a GPU that supports OpenGL, the Cartoon effect can use the GPU to accelerate its processing.

Color Emboss effect

The Color Emboss effect works like the Emboss effect, without suppressing the original colors of the image.

This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.

Unsure how to use Adobe After Effects? Start here

Looking to get started with Adobe After Effects? For those beginning their video editing journey, there might not be anything scarier than opening AE for the first time. There’s a lot to take in.

But, don’t let Adobe’s visual effects, motion graphics and compositing software freak you out too much, underneath its complex-looking interface there is actually a quite intuitive design that is surprisingly easy to learn.

So, before you dive into After Effects for the first time, take a deep breath, fill your lungs with willful and positive air, and follow along with this ultimate guide to getting started with Adobe After Effects…

How do I get started in After Effects?

As with any video editing platform, the trick to learning After Effects is to simply understand why it exists and what makes it so unique. After Effects is indeed a very powerful application, however its main functionalities are all centered around empowering visual creators with enough tools and controls to quickly and easily create video compositions which can be both quite basic as well as advanced.

A brief introduction to the Adobe Creative Cloud

If you aren’t familiar, After Effects is a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud. (This is what the CC stands for in case you were wondering.) To use After Effects you will either need to purchase it directly, or you will need to subscribe to the Creative Cloud – which is how most of its users pay for the app.

Joining the Creative Cloud will allow you to instantly access, install and even jump between the different Adobe platforms like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Media Composer. Looking specifically at After Effects, having this cross-functionality is especially key for the creation and editing of different assets which you might need to move across apps.

What sets After Effects apart from Adobe Premiere Pro?

As we’ve covered in the past, Premiere Pro is another legacy video editing software offered by Adobe which is a true mainstay in the film and video industry. (And if you’re curious, here’s a helpful guide to Premiere Pro from the pros which you should bookmark for future reference.)

However, while Premiere Pro is a great NLE (non-linear editor) for editing your video projects on a straightforward timeline and with some basic effects, After Effects is a far superior editing system that offers much more in terms of visual effects, motion graphics and compositing.

Why should I try After Effects?

To be honest, After Effects is not for everyone. At least not when you’re first starting out in film and video. For many video professionals, apps like Premiere Pro, or Apple’s Final Cut Pro, or Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve might be just fine.

However, for anyone who truly wants to up their game with some stunning visual effects and motion graphics, After Effects is by far one of the most powerful – as well as accessible.

A few more After Effects frequently asked questions

Unlike other NLE (non-linear editing) apps, After Effects is one of the best programs for crafting more sophisticated visual effects, motion graphics and other animated compositions.

While you can certainly edit video in Adobe After Effects, it is mainly used for visual effects, motion graphics and basic animation. If you’re looking strictly for video editing you might want to explore more basic softwares like Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.

After Effects can be a bit tricky to learn for those opening it up for the first time. However, if you follow along with the many learning resources available to you online you can learn the basics pretty quickly.

It all depends on how much time and energy that you plan to put in, but with the right commitment you can learn After Effects in anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

After Effects is one of the best tools for editing visual effects, motion graphics and animation. When used in conjunction with other NLE apps like Premiere Pro, there is really no limit to your video editing capabilities.

How to add keyframe in After Effects

Let’s start by taking a look at adding keyframes, one of the most fundamental building blocks to any After Effects composition. Here are the quick steps you’ll need to follow to begin to craft your compositions.

Once you’ve made a selection, you’ll be able to move and adjust the keyframes as you see fit as you add in further effects.

How to make a gif in After Effects

After Effects is also one of the best programs around for creating animated GIFs. You can create these GIFs either from scratch, or from pulling in previous video assets. Follow along with the video above as you try out these steps:

Crafting GIFs is very much an artform unto itself, if you’d like to learn a bit more about the process you can read up on turning videos into GIFs by using several different Adobe programs as well.

How to import media into After Effects

To help you get started, you’ll also want to make sure you know how to import media files into After Effects. These files can include an array of video and audio clips and assets. Here are the two basic ways to add media files into AE:

You can also simply drag and drop any media files into the Project Panel as well. Pretty easy right?

How to export video from After Effects

Exporting footage is a little more complicated on the other hand as you’ll have many more options to consider. However, don’t worry, the basic commands for exporting a video in After Effects are as follows:

Once everything has been selected, your entry in the Render column will automatically be selected and changed to Queued and ready to render and export.

How to animate type in After Effects (in just 8 steps!)

It’s easier than you think to create timeless type animation that will immediately up the value of your video — and help increase your view count in no time.

By using the animate functions within type layers in After Effects, you can copy and paste your animation to any other titles you wish. Let’s get started.

Bonus: If you’re already an After Effects pro, you can go into the speed graph to get the timing just right. Make sure to go through and fiddle with all of the different options in the Animate drop down — chances are you’ll stumble upon something awesome.

How to mask in After Effects

Adding an animation behind an object in your video can give it that extra character in an otherwise static scene. To achieve this snazzy look, you need to mask out the object from your video, and then you can add in graphics or words behind it. Today we’ll intro you to basic masking (or rotoscoping), using the pen tool and animating a path.

Let’s get started.

How to make a mask in After Effects (in 9 steps)

For this very basic overview, we will be masking the beautiful Vimeo HQ building as it has a unique shape that will require us to use curves.

Make sure your alpha inverted matte is on, and play it back to see your animation in action!

Pro-tip: To edit your path, click outside the path the nodes will become tiny filled-in circles. Now when you click on them, you can move them and adjust the handles as you please.

How to start animating Illustrator files in After Effects

Animating graphics is an essential skill to keep in your filmmaking wheelhouse. Whether you’re refining some beautiful bumpers or creating compelling lower thirds, you will undoubtedly cross paths with After Effects during your animating journey.

In order to properly execute in After Effects, you’ll want complete control over the elements within your graphic. The best way to achieve this is to design your graphic in Adobe Illustrator first, and then import it into After Effects as separated layers. We’ll walk you through the process below.

Why Illustrator over After Effects?

It’s not really one over the other. It’s more: Illustrator first, After Effects second. While you could use After Effects for some of your design needs, the truth is that Illustrator is just easier, more intuitive, and more functional.

For simple shapes and text animations, designing in After Effects might be the quicker route, but for more complex graphics, Illustrator will save you time and sanity.

Creating your graphic

To begin, create an artboard in Illustrator that’s the same size as your video. In our example, we use 1920×1080. The final version will be a vector image that you can scale infinitely, but it’s nice to design in the same frame size as your video for perspective.

After creating your graphic, consider which pieces of it will need to be controlled in After Effects. You may find that you want control of every single element, or it might make more sense to keep certain elements together. Once you’ve decided what you want to control, you’ll need to separate them out into their own layers.

Layers on layers on layers

To create these separate elements, you’ll have to create new layers (click on the box with a folded corner). Each will function as its own separate layer in After Effects, so create as many as you need and then begin dragging the elements you want to control into each new layer.

Be sure to keep your layers in the order you designed them, so the correct elements are on top. As you drag your elements into their own separate layers, give them a name. This will help you stay organized and keep track of them all. Bonus: these names will carry over when you move your work to After Effects.

Transferring to After Effects

Open the composition and boom your layers will appear, nicely separated, organized, and ready to be animated.

Before you begin animating, make sure to check your Anchor Points. This is good practice since Anchor Points can get messed up, creating problems with scaling animation, in addition to other types of animation. You can move your Anchor Points around using the Pan Behind tool (Y).

If you want the ability to scale your layers infinitely, turn on Continuously Rasterize for each layer. You can also right click on a layer and choose Create Shapes from the Vector Layer to give yourself even more control over your layer(s).

Simulation effects

Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects:

CC Ball Action effect

CC Bubbles effect

CC Drizzle effect

CC Mr. Mercury effect

CC Particle Systems II effect

CC Particle World effect

CC Pixel Polly effect

CC Rainfall effect

CC Scatterize effect

CC Snowfall effect

CC Star Burst effect

CC Rain and CC Snow are obsolete effects. CC Rainfall and CC Snowfall are the newer versions.

Common Lighting controls and Material controls

Several of the Simulation effects have some common controls. The Card Wipe effect also shares many controls with the Card Dance effect.

Lighting controls

Specifies which type of light you want to use. Distant Source simulates sunlight and casts shadows in one direction, where all the light rays strike the object from virtually the same angle. Point Source is similar to a light bulb and casts shadows in all directions. First Comp Light uses the first light layer in the composition, which can use a variety of settings.

Specifies the power of the light. The higher the value, the brighter the layer. Other lighting settings affect the overall light intensity as well.

Specifies the color of light.

Specifies the position of the light in x,y space. To position the light interactively, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the effect point for the light.

Specifies the position of the light in z space. Negative numbers move the light behind the layer.

Distributes light over the layer. Increasing this value adds an even illumination to all objects and prevents shadows from being completely black. Setting Ambient Light to pure white and setting all other light controls to 0 makes the object fully lit and eliminates any 3D shading from the scene.

Material controls

The Material controls specify reflection values.

Gives objects form-defining shading. Shading depends on the angle at which the light strikes the surface and is independent of the position of the viewer.

Takes into account the position of the viewer. It models the reflection of the light source back to the viewer. It can create the illusion of shininess. For realistic effects, you can animate this control by using higher and higher values to mask the transition from filtered to nonfiltered versions of the layer.

Controls shininess. Shiny surfaces produce small, tight reflections, whereas duller surfaces spread the highlight into a larger region. Specular highlights are the color of the incoming light. Because light is typically white or off-white, broad highlights can desaturate an image by adding white to the surface color.

In general, use the following process to adjust lighting: Set Light Position and Diffuse Reflection to control the overall light level and shading in a scene. Then adjust Specular Reflection and Highlight Sharpness to control the strength and spread of highlights. Finally, adjust Ambient Light to fill in the shadows.

Card Dance effect

For information on properties shared by several of the Simulation effects, see Common Lighting controls and Material controls.

This effect creates the appearance of card choreography by dividing layers into numerous cards and then controlling all geometric aspects of the cards by using a second layer. For example, Card Dance can simulate an extruded pin sculpture, a crowd doing the wave, or letters floating on the surface of a pond.

Chris Zwar provides an example project on his website that uses the Card Dance effect and a shape layer with the Repeater operation to simulate a halftone color separation for any image or video.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Apply Card Dance to the layer to use for the front of the cards. To set the view, use the rotation or perspective controls, or match the perspective of the effect in any scene by corner-pinning.

For example, select a vertical grayscale gradient layer (black on top, white on bottom) from the Gradient Layer 1 menu, and then select Intensity 1 from the X Rotation Source menu. Card Dance uses the intensity of the gradient to animate the x-axis rotation of the cards. It assigns a numeric value to the center pixel of each card on the gradient layer, based on the intensity of the pixel. Pure white equals 1, pure black equals –1, and 50% gray equals 0. Card Dance then multiplies that value by the X Rotation Multiplier value and rotates each card that amount. If X Rotation Multiplier is set to 90, the cards in the top row rotate almost 90° backward, the cards in the bottom row rotate almost 90° forward, and cards in middle rows rotate by lesser amounts. Cards in the 50% gray area don’t rotate at all.

If you want half of the cards in a layer to come in from the right, and the other half to come in from the left, create a gradient layer that is half black and half white. Set the gradient as the source for X Position, and set X Position Multiplier to 5, and animate it to 0. The cards in the black area initially appear at the left, and the cards in the white area initially appear at the right.

Rows, Columns, Layer, and Order controls

Specifies the interaction of the numbers of rows and columns. Independent makes both the Rows and Columns sliders active. Columns Follows Rows makes only the Rows slider active. If you choose this option, the number of columns is always the same as the number of rows.

The number of rows, up to 1000.

The number of columns, up to 1000, unless Columns Follows Rows is selected.

Rows and columns are always evenly distributed across a layer, so unusually shaped rectangular tiles don’t appear along the edges of a layer—unless you use an alpha channel.

Gradient Layer 1

The first control layer to use to make the cards dance. You can use any layer. Grayscale layers produce the most predictable results. The gradient layer acts as a displacement map for animating the cards.

Gradient Layer 2

The second control layer.

The order in which the cards rotate around multiple axes when using more than one axis for rotation.

The order in which the transformations (scale, rotation, and position) are performed.

Position, Rotation, and Scale controls

Position (X, Y, Z), Rotation (X, Y, Z), and Scale (X, Y) specify the transformation properties you want to adjust. Because Card Dance is a 3D effect, you can control these properties separately for each axis of the cards. However, because the cards themselves are still 2D, they have no inherent depth—hence the absence of z scaling.

Specifies the gradient layer channel you want to use to control the transformation. For example, select Intensity 2 to use the intensity from Gradient Layer 2.

The amount of transformation applied to the cards.

The base value from which the transformation begins. It is added to the transformation value (a card’s center pixel value times the Multiplier amount) so that you can start the transformation from some place other than 0.

Camera System and Camera Position controls

Specifies whether to use the effect’s Camera Position properties, the effect’s Corner Pins properties, or the default composition camera and light positions to render 3D images of the cards.

X Rotation, Y Rotation, Z Rotation

Rotate the camera around the corresponding axis. Use these controls to look at the cards from the top, side, back, or any other angle.

Where the camera is positioned along the x and y axes.

Where the camera is positioned along the z axis. Smaller numbers move the camera closer to the cards, and larger numbers move the camera away from the cards.

The zoom factor. Smaller numbers zoom in.

The order in which the camera rotates around its three axes, and whether the camera rotates before or after it is positioned using the other Camera Position controls.

Corner Pins controls

Corner Pinning is an alternative camera control system. Use it as an aid for compositing the result of the effect into a scene on a flat surface that is tilted with respect to the frame.

Upper Left Corner, Upper Right Corner, Lower Left Corner, Lower Right Corner

Where to attach each of the corners of the layer.

Auto Focal Length

Controls the perspective of the effect during the animation. When Auto Focal Length is deselected, the focal length you specify is used to find a camera position and orientation that place the corners of the layer at the corner pins. If this isn’t possible, the layer is replaced by its outline, drawn between the pins. When Auto Focal Length is selected, the focal length required to match the corner points is used, if possible. If not, it interpolates the correct value from nearby frames.

Overrides the other settings if the results you’ve obtained aren’t what you need. If you set the Focal Length to something that doesn’t correspond to what the focal length would be if the pins were actually in that configuration, the image may look unusual (strangely sheared, for example). But if you know the focal length that you are trying to match, manually setting Focal Length is the easiest way to get correct results.

Caustics effect

For information on properties shared by several of the Simulation effects, see Common Lighting controls and Material controls.

This effect simulates caustics—reflections of light at the bottom of a body of water, created by light refracting through the surface of the water. The Caustics effect generates this reflection and creates realistic water surfaces when used with Wave World and Radio Waves.

Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website in which he demonstrates how to use the Caustics effect with the Wave World effect.

The Caustics effect ignores masks and alpha channels on the layer to which it is applied. You can precompose the layer with the effect and apply the mask to the precomposition layer, or you can precompose the layer with the mask and apply the effect to the precomposition layer, depending on what result you want to achieve. (See Precomposing, nesting, and pre-rendering.)

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

To get the most realistic results from Caustics, render the Bottom layer separately, with Render Caustics enabled and Surface Opacity at 0. Then precompose, and use the resulting layer as the Bottom layer for another Caustics effect with Render Caustics off. With this process you can offset, scale, or otherwise manipulate the Bottom layer in the precomposed composition, and thus simulate lighting that doesn’t come from straight overhead.

Bottom controls

The Bottom controls specify the appearance of the bottom of the body of water:

Specifies the layer at the bottom of the body of water. This layer is the image that is distorted by the effect, unless Surface Opacity is 100%.

Makes the bottom layer larger or smaller. If the edges of the bottom layer show, because of the refraction of the light through the waves, scale up the bottom layer. Scaling down is useful for tiling a layer to make a complex pattern.

Specifies how a scaled-down bottom layer is tiled. Once uses only one tile, basically turning tiling off. Tiles uses the traditional tiling method of abutting the right edge of one bottom layer tile to the left edge of another bottom layer tile. This option works well if the bottom layer contains a repeating pattern, like a logo, that needs to read a certain way. Reflected abuts each edge of a bottom layer tile to a mirrored copy of the tile. This option can eliminate a hard edge where the two tiles meet.

If Layer Size Differs

Specifies how to handle the bottom layer when it is smaller than the composition.

Specifies the amount of blur applied to the bottom layer. To make the bottom sharp, set this control to 0. Higher values make the bottom appear increasingly blurry, especially where the water is deeper.

Water controls

Specifies the layer to use as the surface of the water. Caustics uses the luminance of this layer as a height map for generating a 3D water surface. Light pixels are high, and dark pixels are low. You can use a layer created by using the Wave World or Radio Waves effect; precompose the layer before using it with Caustics.

Adjusts the relative height of the waves. Higher values make the waves steeper and the surface displacement more dramatic. Lower values smooth the Caustics surface.

Specifies the roundness of the waves by blurring the water surface layer. High values eliminate detail. Low values show imperfections in the water surface layer.

Specifies depth. A small disturbance in shallow water moderately distorts the view of the bottom, but the same disturbance in deep water distorts the view greatly.

Affects the way the light bends as it passes through the liquid. A value of 1 does not distort the bottom. The default value of 1.2 accurately simulates water. To add distortion, increase the value.

Specifies the color of the water.

Controls how much of the bottom layer is visible through the water. If you want a milky effect, increase the Surface Opacity and Light Intensity values; a value of 0 results in a clear liquid.

Set Surface Opacity to 1.0 to perfectly reflect a sky later. With a suitable texture map, you can use this technique to create the effect of liquid mercury.

Displays the caustics, the concentrations of light on the bottom surface, caused by the lensing effect of the water waves. This control changes the way everything looks: The dark spots of the waves get much darker, and the light spots get much lighter. If you don’t set a value for this control, the effect distorts the bottom layer when the waves pass over it, but it doesn’t render the lighting effect.

Sky controls

Specifies the layer above the water. Scaling makes the sky layer larger or smaller. If the edges of the sky layer show, scale the layer up. Scaling down is useful for tiling a layer to make a complex pattern.

Specifies how a scaled-down sky layer is tiled. Once uses only one tile, basically turning tiling off. Tiles uses the traditional tiling method of abutting the right edge of one layer tile to the left edge of another layer tile. This option works well if the layer contains a repeating pattern, like a logo, that needs to read a certain way. Reflected abuts each edge of a layer tile to a mirrored copy of the tile. This option can eliminate a hard edge where the two tiles meet.

If Layer Size Differs

Specifies how to handle the layer when it is smaller than the composition. Intensity specifies the opacity of the sky layer. Convergence specifies how close the sky and the bottom or water layer appear, controlling the extent to which the waves distort the sky.

Foam effect

This effect generates bubbles that flow, cling, and pop. Use the controls for the effect to adjust attributes for the bubbles such as stickiness, viscosity, life span, and bubble strength. You can control exactly how the foam particles interact with each other and with their environment, and specify a separate layer to act as a map, controlling precisely where the foam flows. For example, you can have particles flow around a logo or fill a logo with bubbles.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

You can also substitute any image or movie for bubbles. For example, you can create swarms of ants, flocks of birds, or crowds of people.

On a frame-by-frame basis, Foam renders quickly, but the slightest adjustment in the initial settings is likely to result in very different output a few seconds into the simulation. When making adjustments to Physics controls, the farther into the simulation you are, the longer the adjustments take to render, because each adjustment results in the simulation being recalculated all the way back to the beginning. Not every frame takes this long to calculate; once Foam adjusts to the change, rendering speeds up again.

View controls

Displays the bubbles without fully rendering them. Using Draft mode is a fast way to preview the behavior of the bubbles. Draft mode is the only way to preview the universe edges, the Flow Map alignment, and the Producer location, orientation, and size. Blue ellipses represent bubbles. A red ellipse represents the Producer Point. A red rectangle represents the bubble universe.

Draft + Flow Map

Displays the Draft view wireframe superimposed over a grayscale representation of the flow map, if selected.

Displays the final output of the animation.

Producer controls

The Producer controls specify the location where the bubbles originate, as well as the speed at which they are generated:

The center of the area from which the bubbles can be produced.

Producer X Size, Producer Y Size

Adjust the width and height of the area from which the bubbles can be produced.

Adjusts the rotation (orientation) of the area from which the bubbles can be produced. Producer Orientation has no noticeable effect when Producer X Size and Producer Y Size are identical.

Zoom Producer Point

Specifies whether the producer point and all of its associated keyframes remain relative to the universe (selected) or to the screen (unselected) when you zoom in or out on it. For example, if you set a position for Producer Point in the upper-left corner of the layer and then zoom out on that layer, the producer point stays in the upper-left corner of the screen if you don’t select Zoom Producer Point. If you select Zoom Producer Point, the point moves with the universe as it is zoomed out, and the point ends up closer to the center of the screen.

Determines the rate at which bubbles are generated. This control does not affect the number of bubbles per frame. Rather, the rate is the average number of bubbles generated every 30th of a second. Higher numbers yield more bubbles.

If a large number of bubbles appear in the same point at the same time, some may pop. If you want a lot of foam, increase the values for Producer X Size and Producer Y Size so that the bubbles don’t immediately pop each other.

Bubbles controls

Specifies the average size for adult bubbles. Size Variance, Bubble Growth Speed, and Random Seed also affect the size of a bubble in any particular frame.

Specifies the range of possible bubble sizes. This control uses the Size value as the average and creates smaller-than-average and larger-than average bubbles by using the range you specify here. For example, a default bubble Size of 0.5 and default Size Variance of 0.5 generate bubble sizes ranging from 0 to 1 (0.5 –.5 = 0 and 0.5 + 0.5 = 1).

Specifies the maximum life of a bubble. This value is not absolute; if it were, the bubbles would all pop after the same lifespan, as if they were hitting a wall. Rather, this value is a target lifespan; some bubbles pop early, and others may last until the end.

Bubble Growth Speed

Specifies how fast a bubble reaches full size. When a bubble is released from the producer point, it generally starts out rather small. If you set this value too high and you specify a small producer area, the bubbles pop each other, and the effect generates fewer bubbles than expected.

Influences how likely a bubble is to pop before it reaches its Lifespan limit. Lowering the Strength for a bubble makes it more likely to pop early in its life, when forces like wind and flow maps act upon it. Lower values are good for soap bubbles. The highest value is recommended for flocking animations.

Set this value low, and set Pop Velocity high to create chain reactions of popping bubbles.

Physics controls

The Physics controls specify the motion and behavior of the bubbles:

Sets the speed of the bubble as it is emitted by the producer point. The other Physics parameters affect this speed.

Low Initial Speed values in conjunction with the default producer size don’t affect the results much because the bubbles bounce off each other. For more control over initial speed, increase the values for Producer X Size and Producer Y Size

Sets the initial direction in which the bubble moves as it emerges from the producer point. Other bubbles and other Physics controls also affect the direction.

Sets the speed of the wind that pushes the bubbles in the direction specified by Wind Direction.

Sets the direction in which the bubbles blow. Animate this control to create turbulent wind effects. Wind affects bubbles if Wind Speed is greater than 0.

Applies small random forces to the bubbles, making them behave chaotically.

Randomly changes the shape of bubbles from perfectly round to a more natural elliptical shape.

Controls whether bubbles bounce off each other, stick to each other, or pass through each other. At a value of 0, bubbles don’t collide; they pass through each other. The higher the Repulsion value, the more likely bubbles are to interact with each other when they collide.

Controls how popping bubbles affect each other. When a bubble pops, it affects other bubbles around it by leaving a hole that other bubbles can fill, pushing other bubbles away, or popping other bubbles. The higher the value, the more popping bubbles affect one another.

Specifies the rate at which bubbles decelerate after being released from the producer point, and controls the speed of the flow of the bubbles. A high Viscosity value creates resistance as the bubbles get farther away from the producer point, causing them to slow down. If Viscosity is set high enough, the bubbles stop. The thicker the substance, the higher the Viscosity. For example, if you want to create the effect of bubbles traveling through oil, set Viscosity fairly high, so that the bubbles meet resistance as they travel. To create the effect of bubbles floating in air, set Viscosity fairly low.

Causes bubbles to clump together and makes them less vulnerable to other Physics controls like Wind Direction. The higher the Stickiness, the more likely the bubbles are to form clusters and cling. Use Stickiness and Viscosity to create a bubble cluster.

Zoom and Universe Size controls

Zooms in or out around the center of the bubble universe. To create large bubbles, increase the Zoom value instead of the Size value because large bubble sizes can be unstable.

Sets the boundaries of the bubble universe. When bubbles completely leave the universe, they pop and are gone forever. By default, the universe is the size of the layer. Values greater than 1 create a universe that stretches beyond the borders of the layer. Use higher values to make bubbles flow in from outside the frame, or make it possible to zoom out and bring them back into the picture. Using a value lower than 1 clips the bubbles before they reach the edge of the layer. For example, when you want to confine bubbles to a specific area, such as inside a mask shape, set Universe Size a little larger than the mask size to remove all the extra bubbles and speed up the rendering process.

Rendering controls

The Rendering controls specify the appearance of the bubbles, including their texture and reflection:

Specifies the relative transparency of bubbles as they intersect. Transparent blends the bubbles smoothly together, allowing you to see the bubbles through each other. Solid Old On Top makes a younger bubble appear to be underneath an older bubble and eliminates transparency. Use this setting to simulate bubbles flowing toward you. Solid New On Top makes younger bubbles appear to be on top of older bubbles and also eliminates transparency. Use this setting to make bubbles appear as if they are flowing downhill.

Specifies the bubble texture. Use a preset texture, or create your own. To see the texture, make sure that View is set to Rendered. To create your own texture, select User Defined, and from the Bubble Texture Layer menu, choose the layer you want to use as the bubble.

The preset bubble textures are prerendered 64×64 images. If you zoom in above 64×64, the bubble appears blurry. To avoid this blurriness, use a higher-resolution custom bubble.

Bubble Texture Layer

Specifies the layer you want to use as the bubble image. To use this control, choose User Defined from the Bubble Texture menu. If you want the layer to appear only as a bubble, turn off the video switch for the layer in the Timeline panel.

You can use any file type that After Effects supports. If you plan on zooming in or using a large bubble size, make sure that the resolution of the layer is high enough to avoid blurring. Remember, the item doesn’t have to be a normal bubble. You can make blood cells, starfish, insects, space aliens, or flying monkeys. If it’s a layer in your composition, it can be a bubble.

Determines the direction that the bubble rotates. Fixed releases the bubble from the producer right side up and keeps it that way. Use this control if the bubble has built-in highlights and shading, as all of the preset bubbles do. Physical Orientation buffets and spins bubbles around by the forces on them, creating a chaotic scene. Bubble Velocity faces the bubble in the direction of its motion. This setting is the most useful for flocking-style animations.

Specifies the layer that is reflected in the bubbles. If you want to use this layer only for the reflection, turn off the video switch for a layer.

Controls how much of the selected Environment Map is reflected in the bubbles. The higher the value, the more the reflection obscures the original bubble texture. Reflections appear only on opaque pixels, so bubbles with high amounts of transparency, such as the Spit preset, don’t reflect much.

Controls how much your Environment Map is distorted as it is mapped onto the bubbles. A value of 0 projects the map flat on top of all of the bubbles in the scene. As the value increases, the reflection distorts to account for the spherical shape of each bubble.

Flow Map controls

The Flow Map controls specify the map that the flow of the foam follows:

Specifies the layer used to control the direction and speed of the bubbles. Use a still image layer; if you select a movie as the flow map layer, only the first frame is used. A flow map is a height map based on luminance: White is high, and black is low. White is not infinitely high; if a bubble travels fast enough, it can travel past a white obstacle. Make sure that the map is a little blurry; sharp edges can create unpredictable results. For example, to make bubbles flow through a canyon, create a flow map with a white canyon rim, a black canyon, and blurry gray walls. Use wind to blow the bubbles in the direction you want them to flow, and the walls of the canyon contain them. You can also use a gentle gradient on the floor of the canyon to control the flow direction.

If the bubbles don’t follow the map, use the Simulation Quality control. Also, try blurring the flow map a little to make sure that it does not have excessively abrupt edges.

Flow Map Steepness

Controls the difference between white and black as they are used to determine steepness. If the bubbles are ricocheting randomly off the flow map, decrease this value.

Specifies whether the flow map is relative to the layer or to the universe. The flow map resizes itself to fit whichever you specify. This control is useful when you want to enlarge the universe but the flow map is designed for a particular layer, or when you want the bubbles to start outside the frame and be affected by the flow map as they arrive in the frame.

Increases the precision, and therefore the realism, of the simulation. However, the higher the value, the longer the composition takes to render. Normal generally produces good results and takes the least amount of time to render. High returns better results but takes longer to render. Intense increases the rendering time but produces more predictable bubble behavior. Use this option if the bubbles aren’t following the flow map. It often solves problems of erratic behavior that can occur with small bubbles, high bubble speeds, and steep slopes.

Particle Playground effect

The Particle Playground effect lets you animate a large number of similar objects independently, such as a swarm of bees or a snow storm. Use the Cannon to create a stream of particles from a specific point on the layer, or use the Grid to generate a plane of particles. The Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder can create new particles from existing layers or particles. You can use any combination of particle generators on the same layer.

David Van Brink provides a video walkthrough and downloadable example project on the omino website that show several things that you can do with the Particle Playground effect, including how to use the Kinetic Friction ephemeral property mapper.

Brian Peterson provides a tutorial on the Videomaker website that shows how to use the Particle Playground effect to create a flock of birds.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Start by creating a stream or plane of particles, or by exploding an existing layer into particles. Once you have a layer of particles, you can control their properties, such as speed, size, and color. You can replace the default dot particles with images from an existing layer to create, for example, an entire snowstorm from a single snowflake layer. You can also use text characters as particles. For example, you can shoot words across the screen, or you can create a sea of text in which a few letters change color, revealing a message.

Use Cannon, Grid, Layer Exploder, and Particle Exploder controls to generate particles. Use Layer Map controls to specify a layer in place of each default dot particle. Use Gravity, Repel, and Wall controls to influence overall particle behavior. Use Property Mapper controls to influence particle properties. Use Options to set options, including options for substituting text characters in place of dots.

Because of the complexity of Particle Playground, you may experience long computation, preview, and render times.

Use Particle Playground

The Particle Playground effect renders with anti-aliasing when the layer to which it is applied is set to Best quality. It also applies motion blur to moving particles when both the Motion Blur layer switch and the Enable Motion Blur composition switch are on.

When you use a layer as a source for particles, Particle Playground ignores any changes you’ve made to that layer within that composition, such as changing the Position values. Instead, it uses the layer in its original state. To keep changes for a layer when you use it as a particle source, precompose the layer and use the precomposition layer as the control layer. (See Compound effects and control layers.)

Particle content and particle generators

Particle Playground can generate three kinds of particles: dots, a layer, or text characters. You can specify only one kind of particle per particle generator.

Create particles by using the Cannon, the Grid, the Layer Exploder, and the Particle Exploder. The Grid creates particles in an organized grid format with straight rows and columns. The exploders create particles randomly, like firecracker sparks.

The particle generators set the attributes of particles at the moment they are created. After creation, Gravity, Repel, Wall, Exploder, and Property Mapper controls influence particle behavior. For example, if you want particles to stick to grid intersections, you might use the Static Friction option in the Persistent Property Mapper to hold particles in place. Otherwise, as soon as particles are created, they begin moving away from their original grid positions.

Cannon controls

The Cannon is on by default; to use a different method to create particles, first turn off the Cannon by setting Particles Per Second to zero. The Cannon creates particles in a continuous stream.

Specifies the (x,y) coordinates from which particles are created.

Sets the size of the barrel radius for the Cannon. Negative values create a circular barrel, and positive values create a square barrel. For a narrow source, such as a ray gun, specify a low value. For a wide source, such as a school of fish, specify a high value.

Particles Per Second

Specifies how often particles are created. A value of 0 creates no particles. A high value increases the density of the particle stream. If you don’t want the Cannon to fire continuously, set keyframes for this control so that the value is 0 at the times when you don’t want to create any particles.

Sets the angle at which particles are fired.

Direction Random Spread

Specifies how much each particle’s direction deviates randomly from the cannon direction. For example, specifying a 10-degree spread sprays particles in random directions within +/–5° of the cannon direction. For a highly focused stream, such as a ray gun, specify a low value. For a stream that widens quickly, specify a high value. You can specify up to 360°.

Specifies the initial speed of particles in pixels per second as they emanate from the Cannon.

Velocity Random Spread

Specifies the amount of random velocity of particles. A higher value results in more variation in the velocity of particles. For example, if you set Velocity to 20 and Velocity Random Spread to 10, particles leave the Cannon at velocities ranging from 15 to 25 pixels per second.

Sets the color of dots or text characters. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Sets the radius of dots, in pixels, or the size of text characters in points. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Grid controls

The Grid creates a continuous plane of particles from a set of grid intersections. The movement of Grid particles is completely determined by the Gravity, Repel, Wall, and Property Mapper settings. By default, the Force control of Gravity is on, so Grid particles fall toward the bottom of the frame.

With the Grid, a new particle appears on every frame at each grid intersection. You can’t adjust this frequency, but if you want to turn off the Grid or make the Grid stop generating particles at specific times, set the Particle Radius/Font Size control to 0, or use keyframes to animate the value of the Particles Across and Particles Down controls. To make more particles appear in each frame, increase the values for Particles Across and Particles Down.

By default, the Cannon is on and the Grid is off. If you are using the Grid and want to stop the Cannon from generating particles, turn off the Cannon by setting its Particles Per Second value to 0.

Specifies the (x,y) coordinates of the grid center. When a grid particle is created, it is centered over its grid intersection, regardless of whether it is a dot, a layer, or a text character. If you’re using text characters as particles, the Use Grid option in the Edit Grid Text dialog box is on by default, placing each character on its own grid intersection, so normal character spacing, word spacing, and kerning do not apply. If you want text characters to appear at the grid position with normal spacing, use a text alignment other than the Use Grid option.

Specify the dimensions of the grid, in pixels.

Particles Across, Particles Down

Specify the number of particles to distribute horizontally and vertically across the grid area. Particles are generated only when the value is 1 or more.

If the Width, Height, Particles Across, and Particles Down controls are not available, the Use Grid option has been turned off in the Edit Grid Text dialog box.

Sets the color of dots or text characters. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Particle Radius/Font Size

Sets the radius of dots in pixels or the size of text characters in points. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder

The Layer Exploder explodes a layer into new particles, and the Particle Exploder explodes a particle into more new particles. In addition to explosion effects, the exploders are also handy for simulating fireworks or for rapidly increasing the number of particles.

The following guidelines can help you control particles resulting from an explosion:

A layer is exploded once for each frame. By default, this creates a continuous shower of particles for the duration of the composition. If you want to start or stop a layer explosion, animate the Radius of New Particles control by using keyframes so that its value is zero at times when you don’t want particles to be created.

If the source of the layer is a nested composition, you can set different Opacity values or In and Out points for the layers within the nested composition to make the exploding layer transparent at different points in time. The Layer Exploder does not create particles where the source of the layer is transparent.

To change the position of the exploding layer, precompose the layer with its new position (use the Move All Attributes Into The New Composition option), and then use the precomposed layer as the exploding layer.

When you explode particles, the new particles inherit the position, velocity, opacity, scale, and rotation of the original particles.

After layers or particles explode, Gravity, Repel, Wall, and Property Mapper controls influence the movement of particles.

Some Persistent Property Mapper and Ephemeral Property Mapper options can make explosions more realistic. For example, change Opacity to make the resulting particles fade out, or change the Red, Green, and Blue color channels to make resulting particles change color as they appear to cool.

(Layer Exploder only) Specifies the layer you want to explode. To make the video disappear the moment the particles appear, either turn off the video for the layer or trim the Out point of the layer.

Radius Of New Particles

Specifies the radius of the particles resulting from the explosion. This value must be smaller than the radius of the original layer or particle.

Specifies, in pixels per second, the maximum speed of the range within which Particle Playground varies the velocity of the resulting particles. High values create a more dispersed or cloudlike explosion. Low values keep the new particles closer together and can make the exploded particles resemble a halo or shockwave.

Specifies which particles the Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder affect.

Layer Map controls

By default, the Cannon, Grid, Layer Exploder, and Particle Exploder create dot particles. To replace the dots with a layer in the composition, use the Layer Map. For example, if you use a movie of a single bird flapping its wings as a particle source layer, After Effects replaces all dots with an instance of the bird movie, creating a flock of birds. A particle source layer can be a still image, a solid, or a nested After Effects composition.

A multiframe layer is any layer with a source that varies over time, such as a movie or a composition. When you map new particles to a multiframe layer, use the Time Offset Type control to specify how you want to use the frames of the layer. For example, use Absolute to map an unchanging image onto a particle, or use Relative to map an animating sequence of frames onto a particle. You can randomize both Absolute and Relative across particles.

When you choose a layer for Layer Map, Particle Playground ignores any changes that you made to that layer within that composition. Instead, it uses the layer in its original state. To keep transformations, effects, masks, rasterization options, expressions, or keyframe changes for a layer when you use it as a particle source, precompose the layer.

Specifies the layer you want to use as the particles.

Time Offset Type

Specifies how you want to use the frames of a multiframe layer. For example, if you are using a layer of a bird flapping its wings and you choose Relative for Time Offset Type with a Time Offset of 0, the flapping wings for all the instances of the bird are synchronized. While this may be realistic for a marching band, it is not realistic for a flock of birds. To make each bird start flapping its wings from a different frame in the layer, use Relative Random.

Starts playing the layer at a frame based on the Time Offset you specify, relative to the current time of the effect layer; then advances in step with the current time of the Particle Playground layer. If you specify a Time Offset of 0, all particles show the frame that corresponds to the current time of the effect layer. If you choose a Time Offset of 0.1 (and your composition is set to 30 fps), each new particle displays the frame that is 0.1 seconds after the previous particle’s frame. Regardless of the Time Offset you specify, the first particle always displays the frame of the source layer that corresponds to the current time of the effect layer.

Displays a frame from the layer based on the Time Offset you specify, regardless of the current time. Choose Absolute when you want a particle to show the same frame of a multiframe source layer for its entire lifespan, instead of cycling through different frames as the effect layer advances in time. For example, if you choose Absolute and specify a Time Offset of 0, every particle shows the first frame of the source layer for its entire lifespan. If you want to show a frame other than the first frame, move the layer earlier in time until the frame you want to show corresponds to the In point of the Particle Playground layer. If you specify a Time Offset of 0.1, for example, each new particle displays a frame that is 0.1 second after the frame of the previous particle (or every third frame of a 30-fps animation).

Takes a frame at random from the layer, by using a time in the range from 0 to the Random Time Max you specify. Choose Absolute Random when you want each particle to represent a different single frame of a multiframe layer. For example, if you choose Absolute Random and specify a Random Time Max of 1, each particle shows a layer frame from a random time between 0 seconds and 1 second into the duration of the layer.

Specifies the frame from which to start playing sequential frames from the layer.

Simulation effects

Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects:

CC Ball Action effect

CC Bubbles effect

CC Drizzle effect

CC Mr. Mercury effect

CC Particle Systems II effect

CC Particle World effect

CC Pixel Polly effect

CC Rainfall effect

CC Scatterize effect

CC Snowfall effect

CC Star Burst effect

CC Rain and CC Snow are obsolete effects. CC Rainfall and CC Snowfall are the newer versions.

Common Lighting controls and Material controls

Several of the Simulation effects have some common controls. The Card Wipe effect also shares many controls with the Card Dance effect.

Lighting controls

Specifies the power of the light. The higher the value, the brighter the layer. Other lighting settings affect the overall light intensity as well.

Specifies the color of light.

Specifies the position of the light in x,y space. To position the light interactively, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the effect point for the light.

Specifies the position of the light in z space. Negative numbers move the light behind the layer.

Material controls

The Material controls specify reflection values.

Gives objects form-defining shading. Shading depends on the angle at which the light strikes the surface and is independent of the position of the viewer.

Card Dance effect

For information on properties shared by several of the Simulation effects, see Common Lighting controls and Material controls.

Chris Zwar provides an example project on his website that uses the Card Dance effect and a shape layer with the Repeater operation to simulate a halftone color separation for any image or video.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Apply Card Dance to the layer to use for the front of the cards. To set the view, use the rotation or perspective controls, or match the perspective of the effect in any scene by corner-pinning.

Rows, Columns, Layer, and Order controls

The number of rows, up to 1000.

The number of columns, up to 1000, unless Columns Follows Rows is selected.

Rows and columns are always evenly distributed across a layer, so unusually shaped rectangular tiles don’t appear along the edges of a layer—unless you use an alpha channel.

Gradient Layer 1

Gradient Layer 2

The second control layer.

The order in which the cards rotate around multiple axes when using more than one axis for rotation.

The order in which the transformations (scale, rotation, and position) are performed.

Position, Rotation, and Scale controls

Specifies the gradient layer channel you want to use to control the transformation. For example, select Intensity 2 to use the intensity from Gradient Layer 2.

The amount of transformation applied to the cards.

Camera System and Camera Position controls

Specifies whether to use the effect’s Camera Position properties, the effect’s Corner Pins properties, or the default composition camera and light positions to render 3D images of the cards.

X Rotation, Y Rotation, Z Rotation

Rotate the camera around the corresponding axis. Use these controls to look at the cards from the top, side, back, or any other angle.

Where the camera is positioned along the x and y axes.

Where the camera is positioned along the z axis. Smaller numbers move the camera closer to the cards, and larger numbers move the camera away from the cards.

The zoom factor. Smaller numbers zoom in.

The order in which the camera rotates around its three axes, and whether the camera rotates before or after it is positioned using the other Camera Position controls.

Corner Pins controls

Corner Pinning is an alternative camera control system. Use it as an aid for compositing the result of the effect into a scene on a flat surface that is tilted with respect to the frame.

Upper Left Corner, Upper Right Corner, Lower Left Corner, Lower Right Corner

Where to attach each of the corners of the layer.

Auto Focal Length

Caustics effect

For information on properties shared by several of the Simulation effects, see Common Lighting controls and Material controls.

Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website in which he demonstrates how to use the Caustics effect with the Wave World effect.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Bottom controls

The Bottom controls specify the appearance of the bottom of the body of water:

Specifies the layer at the bottom of the body of water. This layer is the image that is distorted by the effect, unless Surface Opacity is 100%.

If Layer Size Differs

Specifies how to handle the bottom layer when it is smaller than the composition.

Water controls

Adjusts the relative height of the waves. Higher values make the waves steeper and the surface displacement more dramatic. Lower values smooth the Caustics surface.

Specifies the roundness of the waves by blurring the water surface layer. High values eliminate detail. Low values show imperfections in the water surface layer.

Specifies depth. A small disturbance in shallow water moderately distorts the view of the bottom, but the same disturbance in deep water distorts the view greatly.

Affects the way the light bends as it passes through the liquid. A value of 1 does not distort the bottom. The default value of 1.2 accurately simulates water. To add distortion, increase the value.

Specifies the color of the water.

Controls how much of the bottom layer is visible through the water. If you want a milky effect, increase the Surface Opacity and Light Intensity values; a value of 0 results in a clear liquid.

Set Surface Opacity to 1.0 to perfectly reflect a sky later. With a suitable texture map, you can use this technique to create the effect of liquid mercury.

Sky controls

If Layer Size Differs

Foam effect

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

You can also substitute any image or movie for bubbles. For example, you can create swarms of ants, flocks of birds, or crowds of people.

View controls

Draft + Flow Map

Displays the Draft view wireframe superimposed over a grayscale representation of the flow map, if selected.

Displays the final output of the animation.

Producer controls

The Producer controls specify the location where the bubbles originate, as well as the speed at which they are generated:

The center of the area from which the bubbles can be produced.

Producer X Size, Producer Y Size

Adjust the width and height of the area from which the bubbles can be produced.

Adjusts the rotation (orientation) of the area from which the bubbles can be produced. Producer Orientation has no noticeable effect when Producer X Size and Producer Y Size are identical.

Zoom Producer Point

Bubbles controls

Specifies the average size for adult bubbles. Size Variance, Bubble Growth Speed, and Random Seed also affect the size of a bubble in any particular frame.

Bubble Growth Speed

Set this value low, and set Pop Velocity high to create chain reactions of popping bubbles.

Physics controls

The Physics controls specify the motion and behavior of the bubbles:

Sets the speed of the bubble as it is emitted by the producer point. The other Physics parameters affect this speed.

Sets the initial direction in which the bubble moves as it emerges from the producer point. Other bubbles and other Physics controls also affect the direction.

Sets the speed of the wind that pushes the bubbles in the direction specified by Wind Direction.

Sets the direction in which the bubbles blow. Animate this control to create turbulent wind effects. Wind affects bubbles if Wind Speed is greater than 0.

Applies small random forces to the bubbles, making them behave chaotically.

Randomly changes the shape of bubbles from perfectly round to a more natural elliptical shape.

Zoom and Universe Size controls

Zooms in or out around the center of the bubble universe. To create large bubbles, increase the Zoom value instead of the Size value because large bubble sizes can be unstable.

Rendering controls

The Rendering controls specify the appearance of the bubbles, including their texture and reflection:

The preset bubble textures are prerendered 64×64 images. If you zoom in above 64×64, the bubble appears blurry. To avoid this blurriness, use a higher-resolution custom bubble.

Bubble Texture Layer

Specifies the layer that is reflected in the bubbles. If you want to use this layer only for the reflection, turn off the video switch for a layer.

Flow Map controls

The Flow Map controls specify the map that the flow of the foam follows:

If the bubbles don’t follow the map, use the Simulation Quality control. Also, try blurring the flow map a little to make sure that it does not have excessively abrupt edges.

Flow Map Steepness

Controls the difference between white and black as they are used to determine steepness. If the bubbles are ricocheting randomly off the flow map, decrease this value.

Particle Playground effect

Brian Peterson provides a tutorial on the Videomaker website that shows how to use the Particle Playground effect to create a flock of birds.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Because of the complexity of Particle Playground, you may experience long computation, preview, and render times.

Use Particle Playground

Particle content and particle generators

Particle Playground can generate three kinds of particles: dots, a layer, or text characters. You can specify only one kind of particle per particle generator.

Cannon controls

The Cannon is on by default; to use a different method to create particles, first turn off the Cannon by setting Particles Per Second to zero. The Cannon creates particles in a continuous stream.

Specifies the (x,y) coordinates from which particles are created.

Particles Per Second

Sets the angle at which particles are fired.

Direction Random Spread

Specifies the initial speed of particles in pixels per second as they emanate from the Cannon.

Velocity Random Spread

Sets the color of dots or text characters. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Sets the radius of dots, in pixels, or the size of text characters in points. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Grid controls

By default, the Cannon is on and the Grid is off. If you are using the Grid and want to stop the Cannon from generating particles, turn off the Cannon by setting its Particles Per Second value to 0.

Specify the dimensions of the grid, in pixels.

Particles Across, Particles Down

Specify the number of particles to distribute horizontally and vertically across the grid area. Particles are generated only when the value is 1 or more.

If the Width, Height, Particles Across, and Particles Down controls are not available, the Use Grid option has been turned off in the Edit Grid Text dialog box.

Sets the color of dots or text characters. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Particle Radius/Font Size

Sets the radius of dots in pixels or the size of text characters in points. This control has no effect if you use a layer as the particle source.

Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder

The following guidelines can help you control particles resulting from an explosion:

When you explode particles, the new particles inherit the position, velocity, opacity, scale, and rotation of the original particles.

After layers or particles explode, Gravity, Repel, Wall, and Property Mapper controls influence the movement of particles.

(Layer Exploder only) Specifies the layer you want to explode. To make the video disappear the moment the particles appear, either turn off the video for the layer or trim the Out point of the layer.

Radius Of New Particles

Specifies the radius of the particles resulting from the explosion. This value must be smaller than the radius of the original layer or particle.

Specifies which particles the Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder affect.

Layer Map controls

Specifies the layer you want to use as the particles.

Time Offset Type

Specifies the frame from which to start playing sequential frames from the layer.

Generate effects

Third-party effects in this category included with After Effects:

CC Glue Gun effect

CC Light Burst 2.5 effect

CC Light Rays effect

CC Light Sweep effect

CC Threads effect

4-Color Gradient effect

The 4-Color Gradient effect produces a four-color gradient. The gradient is defined by four effect points, the positions and colors of which can be animated using the Positions & Colors controls. The gradient is composed of four solid-color circles blended together, each with an effect point as its center.

This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.

Higher values create more gradual transitions between colors.

The amount of jitter (noise) in the gradient. The jitter, which reduces banding, affects only those areas where banding could occur.

The opacity of the gradient, as a fraction of the Opacity value for the layer.

The blending mode to use in combining the gradient with the layer.

Advanced Lightning effect

The Advanced Lightning effect creates simulations of electrical discharges. Unlike the Lightning effect, Advanced Lightning doesn’t self-animate. Animate the Conductivity State or other properties to animate the lightning.

The Advanced Lighting effect includes the Alpha Obstacle feature, with which you can make the lightning go around designated objects.

Chris Zwar provides a detailed description on his website of how he used the Advanced Lightning effect to simulate blood vessel capillaries.

Eran Stern provides a video introduction to the Advanced Lightning effect on the Motionworks website.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Specifies the characteristics of the lightning.

note: The type determines the nature of the Direction/Outer Radius contextual control. In the Breaking type, the branches are focused toward the Direction point as the distance between Origin and Direction increases.

Specifies the point of origin for the lightning.

Direction, Outer Radius

This control changes depending on the Lightning Type:

The Direction or Outer Radius control is not available if Lightning Type is Vertical.

Specifies the distance that the lightning travels from its origin. This control is enabled if Omni or Anywhere is selected as the lightning type. Use it to terminate the lightning at a defined distance from the origin.

Specifies the direction that the lightning travels. This control is enabled if any of the following lightning types are selected: Direction, Strike, Breaking, Bouncy, and Two-Way Strike.

Changes the path of the lightning.

These controls adjust various characteristics of the core of the lightning.

These controls adjust the glow of the lightning.

note: To disable the glow, set Glow Opacity to 0. This setting can speed up rendering time greatly.

Specifies the influence of the alpha channel of the original layer on the path of the lightning. When Alpha Obstacle is greater than zero, the lightning attempts to wrap itself around opaque areas of the layer, seeing them as an obstacle. When Alpha Obstacle is less than zero, the lightning tries to stay inside the opaque areas, avoiding the transparent areas. The lighting can cross the boundaries between opaque and transparent areas, but Alpha Obstacle values further from zero cause the crossing to happen less often.

note: If Alpha Obstacles is set to a value other than 0, it’s not always possible to preview the correct result in less than full resolution; full resolution may reveal new obstacles. Be sure to check the result in full resolution before final rendering.

Specifies the amount of turbulence in the lightning path. Higher values result in a more complex strike containing more branches and forks, and lower values produce simpler strikes with fewer branches.

Specifies what percentage of a branch is forked. Turbulence and Alpha Obstacle settings influence forking.

Specifies the amount of continuous decay or dissipation of the lightning strength and influences where the opacity of the forks begins to fade.

Decay Main Core

Decays the main core along with its forks.

Composite On Original

Composites the lightning with the original layer using the Add blending mode. When deselected, only the lightning is visible.

Specifies the complexity of the turbulence in the lightning.

Specifies the minimum pixel distance between new forks. Lower values create more forks in the lightning. Higher values result in fewer forks.

Specifies the level at which a path terminates, based on resistance in the atmosphere and possible alpha collision. At lower values, the path terminates more easily when encountering resistance or alpha obstacles. At higher values, the path more persistently moves around alpha obstacles.

note: Increasing Turbulence or Complexity values causes resistance to increase in some areas. These areas change as conductivity changes. Increasing the Alpha Obstacle value causes resistance to increase at alpha edges.

Main Core Collision Only

Calculates collisions only on the main core. The forks aren’t affected. This control is relevant only if you select Alpha Obstacle.

Specifies the type of fractal turbulence used to create the lightning.

Specifies the percentage by which the core strength is drained when creating a new fork. Increasing this value reduces the opacity of the core where new forks appear. Because forks draw their strength from the main core, decreasing this value reduces the opacity of the forks as well.

Specifies the opacity of the new fork. This amount is measured as a percentage of the Core Drain value.

Specifies the amount of variation in the opacity of the fork and determines how much the fork opacity deviates from the amount set for Fork Strength.

Audio Spectrum effect

Apply the Audio Spectrum effect to a video layer to display the audio spectrum of a layer that contains audio (and optionally video). The effect displays the magnitude of audio levels at frequencies in the range that you define using Start Frequency and End Frequency. This effect can display the audio spectrum in several different ways, including along a mask path.

Jerzy Drozda, Jr. provides a demonstration of the Audio Spectrum effect on the Motionworks website.

Audio Spectrum uses the audio source footage without time-remapping, effects, stretch, or levels. To display the spectrum with such effects, precompose the audio layer before applying the Audio Spectrum effect.

To prevent other masks on the layer from clipping the output of the Audio Spectrum effect, set their mask modes to None. (See Mask modes.)

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

The audio layer you want to use as input.

Start Point, End Point

Specifies the position at which the spectrum starts or ends if Path is set to None.

The mask path along which to display the audio spectrum.

The path starts from a single point and appears as a radial graph.

Start Frequency, End Frequency

The lowest and highest frequencies, in hertz, to display.

The number of frequency bands into which to divide displayed frequencies.

Maximum height, in pixels, of a displayed frequency.

Duration of audio, in milliseconds, used to calculate the spectrum.

Time offset in milliseconds used to retrieve the audio.

Thickness of the bands.

How feathered or blurry the bands appear.

Inside Color, Outside Color

Inside and outside colors of the bands.

Blend Overlapping Colors

Specifies that overlapping spectrums are blended.

If the value is greater than 0, the frequencies displayed rotate through the hue color space.

Dynamic Hue Phase

If selected, and the Hue Interpolation is greater than 0, the Start color shifts to the maximum frequency in the range of displayed frequencies. This setting allows the hue to follow the fundamental frequency of the spectrum displayed as it changes.

If selected, and the Hue Interpolation is greater than 0, the start and end colors are the same. This setting allows color continuity on closed paths.

Specifies whether to display frequency as Digital, Analog Lines, or Analog Dots.

Specifies whether to display the spectrum above the path (Side A), below the path (Side B), or both (Side A & B).

Specifies that audio frequencies are averaged to reduce randomness.

Composite On Original

If selected, displays the original layer with the effect.

Audio Waveform effect

Apply the Audio Waveform effect to a video layer to display the audio waveform of a layer that contains audio (and optionally video). You can display the audio waveform in several different ways, including along an open or closed mask path.

note: Audio Waveform uses the audio source footage without time-remapping, effects, stretch, or levels. To display the spectrum with such effects, precompose the audio layer before applying the Audio Waveform effect.

To prevent masks on the layer from clipping the output of the Audio Waveform effect, set their mask modes to None. (See Mask modes.)

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

The audio layer you want to display as a waveform.

Start Point, End Point

The position at which the waveform starts and ends, if Path is set to None.

If set to None, the audio waveform is displayed along the path of the layer.

Number of samples to display in the waveform.

Maximum height, in pixels, of a displayed frequency.

Duration of audio, in milliseconds, used to calculate the waveform.

Time offset, in milliseconds, used to retrieve the audio.

The thickness of the waveform.

How feathered or blurry the waveform appears.

Inside Color, Outside Color

The inside and outside colors of the waveform.

Mono combines the left and right channels of the audio layer. Nonstereo audio layers play as Mono.

Digital displays each sample as a single vertical line connecting the minimum and maximum source sample. This option simulates the display used on digital equipment. Analog Lines displays each sample as a line connecting the previous and next sample from either the minimum or maximum audio source sample. This option simulates the retracing seen in the display of an analog oscilloscope. Analog Dots displays each sample as a dot representing either the minimum or maximum audio source sample.

Composite On Original

Composites the audio waveform with the original layer using the Add blending mode. When deselected, only the audio waveform is visible.

Beam effect

The Beam effect simulates the movement of a beam, such as a laser beam. You can make the beam shoot, or you can create a wandlike beam with a stationary start or end point. The beam looks best when motion blur is enabled and the shutter angle is set to 360.

John Dickinson provides a video tutorial and example project on the Motionworks website that demonstrate the use of the Beam effect.

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

The Length control specifies the length of the beam based on a percentage of the Time specified. For example, a setting of 100% means that the visible beam length is at its maximum when the Time control is 50%. Time specifies the time of the beam’s travel from start to end as a percentage. The 3D Perspective control uses 3D perspective based on start and end thickness if Time is animated.

Cell Pattern effect

The Cell Pattern effect generates cellular patterns based on cellular noise. Use it to create static or moving background textures and patterns. The patterns can be used in turn as textured mattes, as transition maps, or as a source for displacement maps.

John Dickinson provides an example project on the Motionworks website that demonstrates the use of the Cell Pattern effect in a seamlessly looping background animation.

Richard Harrington provides additional information and examples for using the Cell Pattern effect on his website.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The cell pattern to use. HQ denotes high-quality patterns that render with more definition than their unmarked counterparts. Mixed Crystals is available only as a high-quality option.

note: The Static Plates option is identical in appearance to the Plates option. However, when evolving, the static plates retain a uniform lightness value, whereas the plates shift the lightness of the cell pattern.

Inverts the cell pattern. Black areas become white, and white areas become black.

Specifies the contrast of the cell pattern when you use the Bubbles, Crystals, Pillow, Mixed Crystals, or Tubular cell pattern. The control specifies sharpness for any of the Plate or Crystallize options.

note: The option chosen from the Overflow menu affects the contrast.

How the effect remaps values that fall outside the grayscale range of 0-255. Overflow isn’t available if sharpness-based cell patterns are chosen.

Values above 255 are mapped to 255. Values below 0 are mapped to 0. Contrast amount controls how much of the image falls outside the range 0-255; higher contrast amounts result in a mostly black or white image, with less gray. Therefore, less subtle cellular detail appears at higher contrast settings.

Remaps grayscale values to fall inside the 0–255 range. Contrast appears reduced; cells are mostly gray with few areas of pure black or white.

Values above 255 or below 0 are reflected back into the 0-255 range. For example, a value of 258 (255+3) is reflected to 252 (255-3), and a value of ‑3 is reflected to 3. With this setting, Contrast values above 100 increase complexity and detail.

How randomly the pattern is drawn. Lower values cause more uniform or gridlike cell patterns.

note: If you set the Disperse value above 1.0, set the layer to Best quality to avoid artifacts.

The size of the cells. The default size is 60.

Determines the portion of the fractal shape used to create the pattern.

Choose Enable Tiling to create a pattern built of repeating tiles. Cells Horizontal and Cells Vertical determine how many cells wide and how many cells high each tile is.

Animating this setting results in changes of the pattern over time.

note: Although the Evolution value is set in units called revolutions, it’s important to realize that these revolutions are progressive. The Evolution state continues to progress infinitely at each new value. Use the Cycle Evolution option to return the Evolution setting to its original state at each revolution.

Evolution Options provide controls that render the effect for one short cycle and then loop it for the duration of your clip. Use these controls to pre-render cell pattern elements into loops, and thus speed up rendering time.

Creates a loop that forces the Evolution state to return to its starting point.

The number of revolutions of the Evolution setting that the cell pattern cycles through before it repeats. The amount of time between Evolution keyframes determines the timing of the Evolution cycles.

note: The Cycle control affects only the state of the cell pattern, not geometrics or other controls, so you can get different results with different Size or Offset settings.

Specifies a value from which to generate the cell pattern. Animating this property results in flashing from one cell pattern to another (within the same cell pattern type), which is not usually the result that you want. For smooth transition of the cell pattern, animate the Evolution property.

note: Create new cell pattern animations by reusing previously created Evolution cycles and changing only the Random Seed value. Using a new Random Seed value alters the cell pattern without disturbing the Evolution animation.

Checkerboard effect

The Checkerboard effect creates a checkerboard pattern of rectangles, half of which are transparent.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The point of origin of the checkerboard pattern. Moving this point offsets the pattern.

How the dimensions of the rectangles are determined:

The dimensions of each rectangle are the dimensions of the rectangle with opposite corners defined by the Anchor and Corner points.

The height and width of a rectangle are equal to the Width value, meaning that the rectangles are squares.

Width & Height Sliders

The height of a rectangle is equal to the Height value. The width of a rectangle is equal to the Width value.

Thickness of the edge feather within the checkerboard pattern.

The color of the nontransparent rectangles.

The opacity of the colored rectangles.

The blending mode to use to composite the checkerboard pattern on top of the original layer. These blending modes work identically to the ones in the Timeline panel, except for the default None mode, which renders the checkerboard pattern only.

Circle effect

The Circle effect creates a customizable solid disk or ring.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

None creates a solid disk. The other options all create rings. Each option corresponds to a different set of properties that determine the shape and edge treatment of the ring:

The difference between the Edge Radius property and the Radius property is the thickness of the ring.

The Thickness property sets the thickness of the ring.

The product of the Thickness property and the Radius property is the thickness of the ring.

Thickness & Feather * Radius

The product of the Thickness property and the Radius property is the thickness of the ring. The product of the Feather property and the Radius property is the feather of the ring.

The thickness of the feather.

Inverts the matte.

The blending mode used to combine the shape and the original layer. These blending modes behave like the blending modes in the Timeline panel, except for None, which displays only the shape, without the original layer.

Ellipse effect

The Ellipse effect draws an ellipse.

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

Eyedropper Fill effect

The Eyedropper Fill effect (formerly the Color Picker effect) applies a sampled color to the source layer. This effect is useful for quickly picking a solid color from a sample point on the original layer or picking a color value from one layer and using blending modes to apply this color to a second layer.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The center of the sampled area.

The radius of the sampled area.

Average Pixel Color

Which color values are sampled:

Samples the average RGB color values, excluding the color values of transparent pixels.

Samples the average of all RGB color values, including color values of transparent pixels.

Samples the average of all RGB color values, premultiplied with the alpha channel.

Samples the average of all RGB color and alpha channel values. This setting results in the sampled color also containing the average transparency of the sampled pixels.

Maintain Original Alpha

Maintains the alpha channel of the original layer. If you choose Including Alpha in the Average Pixel Color menu, the original alpha is stenciled over the sampled color.

Blend With Original

Fill effect

The Fill effect fills specified masks with a specified color. If you want to add both a stroke and a fill to a closed path, the order in which you apply the stroke and fill determines the visible width of the stroke: If the fill is applied before the stroke, the full stroke brush size is visible; if the stroke is applied before the fill, the fill appears on top of the stroke, obscuring the half of the stroke that falls inside the path.

This effect works in 32-bit color.

Fractal effect

The Fractal effect renders the Mandelbrot or Julia set, creating colorful textures. When you first apply the effect, the picture you see is the classic sample of the Mandelbrot set; the set is the area that is colored black. Any pixel outside the set is colorized, depending on how close it is to the set.

This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.

Specifies the set used. Mandelbrot is the typical Mandelbrot set. Mandelbrot Inverse is the Mandelbrot set mathematically inverted. Julia always changes depending on the center point from the Mandelbrot set and can produce the set of all possible Julia sets. Julia Inverse is the inverse of the Julia set. To see a Julia set, you may want to set the magnification to a negative value, because these sets tend to fill up the complex plane outside the normal boundary. Mandelbrot Over Julia is the same as Mandelbrot, except that it changes when the Julia center point changes. Mandelbrot Inverse over Julia is the same as Mandelbrot Inverse, except that it changes when the Julia center point changes.

Specify the settings for the specified set. X (Real) and Y (Imaginary) specify the pixels at the center of the image for either the Mandelbrot or Julia set. Magnification specifies the magnification of the effect. Escape Limit specifies how many times the calculation looks for a color for a given pixel before it assigns the color black. It also sets the maximum number of line segments the Selection tool can use when tracing the path of a point. Higher numbers require longer render times.

Specifies the color of the effect:

Displays a ghosted version of the opposite set. For example, when viewing the Julia set, use this control to display a ghosted version of the Mandelbrot set. When you select Overlay, a white cross hair with a black drop shadow appears so you can see the exact point at the center of the opposite set. This control is useful because the Julia set depends on the center point of the Mandelbrot set.

Specifies whether black pixels are transparent. If you choose Solid Color from the Palette menu, this control specifies whether everything inside or outside the set is transparent.

Specifies the palette to use when drawing the set. Lightness Gradient creates a gradient that ranges from black to white, passing through the hue specified by the Hue control. Then it applies the same gradient eight more times, each time using the hue 45° away on the color wheel. The Cycle Steps control specifies the number of colors in the gradient. Hue Wheel uses all the color from the Hue color wheel, with maximum brightness and saturation. Black And White uses alternating bands of black and white. Solid Color turns everything transparent except the inside of the set, which uses the color specified by the Hue control. Select Transparent to get the opposite result.

Specifies the hue for solid colors and the starting hue for color gradients. This control works well for creating smooth color changes or for cycling through the palette. Cycle Steps specifies the number of bands of different color that appear before the cycle starts over. Cycle Offset specifies where, other than the beginning, a cycle starts.

Highlights the edges between color bands. This control requires low-quality mode. If you want to use high-quality edge highlighting, use the Find Edges effect instead.

High Quality Settings

Specify the oversampling settings for the effect:

Specifies the method used to oversample the effect: Edge Detect-Fast-May Miss Pixels performs a simple edge detection and oversamples only those pixels. This option is the fastest, especially in areas with a lot of solid color, such as black, and it generally produces results indistinguishable from Brute Force. Brute Force-Slow-Every Pixel oversamples every pixel in the image. It is slow but precise.

Specifies the amount of oversampling to perform. For example, a value of 4 specifies that each pixel is sampled 16 times (4×4=16) and that the average color is used. Higher values produce better quality output but require longer render times.

Use tools with the Fractal effect

When the Fractal effect is selected in the Effect Controls panel, you can use After Effects tools in the following way. (If you don’t want the Fractal tools active, deselect the effect before using tools.)

Gradient Ramp effect | CC

The Gradient Ramp effect creates a color gradient. You can create linear or radial ramps, and vary the position and colors of the ramp over time. Use the Start Of Ramp and End Of Ramp properties to specify the start and end positions. Use the Ramp Scatter control to disperse the ramp colors and eliminate banding.

This effect works with 8-bpc, 16-bpc, and 32-bpc color.

Ramps often don’t broadcast well; severe banding occurs because the broadcast chrominance signal doesn’t contain sufficient resolution to reproduce the ramp smoothly. The Ramp Scatter control dithers the ramp colors, eliminating the banding apparent to the human eye.

Grid effect

Use the Grid effect to create a customizable grid. Render this grid in a solid color or as a mask in the alpha channel of the source layer. This effect is good for generating design elements and mattes within which other effects can be applied.

John Dickinson provides a video tutorial on his Motionworks website that demonstrates the use of the Grid effect.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Use Grid with the Advanced Lightning effect to create lightning forks that follow a grid pattern.

The point of origin of the grid pattern. Moving this point offsets the pattern.

How the dimensions of the rectangles are determined:

The dimensions of each rectangle are the dimensions of the rectangle with opposite corners defined by the Anchor and Corner points.

The height and width of a rectangle are equal to the Width value, meaning that the rectangles are squares.

Width & Height Sliders

The height of a rectangle is equal to the Height value. The width of a rectangle is equal to the Width value.

The thickness of the grid lines. A value of 0 causes the grid to disappear.

note: The anti-aliasing of the grid borders may cause the visible thickness to vary.

The softness of the grid.

Inverts the transparent and opaque areas of the grid.

The color of the grid.

The opacity of the grid.

The blending mode to use to composite the grid on top of the original layer. These blending modes work identically to the ones in the Timeline panel, except for the default None mode, which renders the grid only.

Lens Flare effect

The Lens Flare effect simulates the refraction caused by shining a bright light into the camera lens. Specify a location for the center of the flare by clicking anywhere inside the image thumbnail or by dragging its cross hair.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Paint Bucket effect

The Paint Bucket effect (formerly Basic Fill effect) is a nondestructive paint effect that fills an area with a solid color. It works much like the Paint Bucket tool in Adobe Photoshop. Use the Paint Bucket effect for colorizing cartoon-type outlined drawings or replacing areas of color in an image.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The effect fills an area that contains the Fill Point. The area is determined by analyzing pixels that neighbor the Fill Point and expanding the fill area by adding matching pixels. How far the fill color spreads depends upon the Tolerance setting, as well as the option you choose from the Fill Selector menu.

Which values to operate on:

Specifies that the effect fills the RGB and alpha channels of the fill area with the new color.

Specifies that the effect fills only the RGB channels of the fill area with the new color.

Specifies that the effect fills only the transparent areas near the fill point. You must set a fill point in a transparent area for this option to work.

Specifies that the effect fills only the opaque areas near the fill point. You must set a fill point in an opaque area for this option to work.

Specifies that the effect fills either the opaque or transparent areas in the whole image, depending upon the alpha channel value at the point you set the fill point.

How far the color values of a pixel can be from the Fill Point color values and still match. Higher values expand the range of pixels that the effect fills.

Shows what pixels match—that is, which pixels are within the Tolerance value of the color values of the Fill Point pixel. This option is especially useful in tracking leaks. If a small gap exists, the color can flow over and fill areas not intended to be filled.

How the effect treats the edges of the filled area:

Anti-aliases the edges of the filled area.

Creates a feathered edge for the filled area. Feather Softness values create a more gradually disappearing edge.

Expands the area of the fill color. The Spread Radius value indicates the number of pixels the fill color extends beyond the edge of the fill area.

Contracts the area of the fill color. The Spread Radius value indicates the number of pixels the fill color shrinks from the edge of the fill area.

Confines the fill to only the border of the selected area. The Stroke Width value indicates the width of the stroke, in pixels.

Opacity of the filled area.

The blending mode to use to composite the result of the effect on top of the original layer. All of these blending modes operate like the blending modes in the Timeline panel, except for Fill Only. Use Fill Only to show only the fill.

If you apply multiple instances of Paint Bucket to a layer, be sure not to set more than one to use the Fill Only blending mode. If you set more than one instance to use this blending mode, only the first application of the effect is shown.

Radio Waves effect

The Radio Waves effect creates radiating waves from a stationary or animated effect control point. You can use this effect to generate pond ripples, sound waves, or intricate geometric patterns. Use the Reflection control to make the shapes bounce off the sides of the layer. You can also use Radio Waves to create realistic wave displacement maps that work well with the Caustics effect.

Satya demonstrates animation of the mask that the radio wave shape is based on. He also demonstrates that you can get smooth, organic contours (rather than discrete waves) by using a very high value for Frequency, together with carefully chosen Fade-in Time and Fade-out Time settings.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

The point from which the waves appear.

Parameters Are Set At

Specifies whether parameters can be animated for individual waves. Birth specifies that each wave maintains the same parameter settings over time. Each Frame specifies that the waves change as the parameters change. For example, if you create a star wave with an animated rotation property, select Birth to offset each star from the previous one to create a twisting tunnel, or select Each Frame to make all the stars rotate in unison as the rotation property changes.

Controls the quality of the output. Radio Waves creates smooth, anti-aliased shapes by rendering high-resolution versions of the shapes and then scaling them down by oversampling. For example, to create a 100×100-pixel image, it may generate a 400×400-pixel image and then scale it down using 4x oversampling. Oversampling provides high-quality results but results in long render times. This option works only with Best quality mode.

What to base the wave shape on.

What kind of polygon to use for the wave shape. These controls are available if Polygon is chosen for Wave Type.

Three sides create a triangle, four create a square, and so on. Size values above 64 result in a smooth circle. You can also approximate a circle by setting Sides to 3, Curve Size to 1, and Curvyness to about 0.62.

Specifies how much of each side is curved at each point.

Specifies how extreme the curve is at each point of the wave.

Specifies that the polygon is shaped like a star. To change the number of points on the star, change the number of sides.

Specifies the angles of a star by controlling the distance between inner points and the center of the star.

Specifies the mask used to create a wave. This control is available if you choose Mask from the Wave Type pop-up menu.

Image Contour controls

You can base the wave shape on the contours of an image by choosing Image Contours for Wave Type.

The layer to use as input for the creation of the image contours. Select an animated layer to emit moving shapes. A well-defined outline, high-contrast grayscale layer, or alpha channel works well as a source. The Radio Waves effect detects edges and converts sources into outlines.

Specifies the center point of the shape, relative to the source layer. For example, if you isolate a shape that is positioned in the left half of the frame, the shape radiates to the left by default; you can move the source center anywhere on the layer.

The color attributes of the source layer used to define the image contours.

Inverts the chosen value channel option.

Specifies the threshold for the chosen value channel. It determines the percentage value at which everything below it or above it is mapped to either white or black. This control can make a big difference in the shape of the wave.

Smooths out the value channel before the value threshold is sampled. If you have a high-contrast image, such as white on black, and you want the wave to follow the edges very closely, set this option to 0.

Defines how tightly the wave conforms to the layer. A high setting results in sharp corners; a low value can make the wave shape more sensitive to noise.

Specifies the shape in the source layer that you want to use as the emitted wave. Contour numbers the shapes by their order in the frame from top to bottom, left to right. The shape in the upper-left corner is number 1.

Wave Motion controls

Wave Motion controls specify how the wave emits from the center point.

Specifies the number of waves per second flowing out of the producer point.

Specifies the speed at which the wave travels from the producer point once it is born. This option doesn’t affect the number of waves per second.

Specifies the rotation of the shape at birth around its center point. To animate the rotation, use the Spin control.

Specifies the initial direction of a wave if Velocity is greater than 0. By default, particles are emitted from the producer point in an expanding radial pattern.

Specifies the speed at which the wave moves in the specified direction.

Controls the continued rotation of a shape after it is born.

Specifies the time, in seconds (including the fade-in and fade-out times), that the wave exists.

Tip: To prevent waves from abruptly disappearing when their lifetime ends, use the Fade Out Time control.

Specifies whether the waves bounce off the edges of the layer and back into the scene. This option is effective for generating displacement maps for use as water ripples.

Stroke controls

Stroke controls specify the appearance of the stroke of a wave.

Controls the appearance of the stroke that defines the shape. The outline of the shape is animated in the wave that emanates from the effect point. The quality of the stroke is defined as a 3D wave type.

Specifies the color of the stroke.

Specifies the maximum possible opacity of the stroke. The actual opacity of the stroke takes into account this setting in conjunction with the Fade-in Time and Fade-out Time controls.

Specifies the amount of time it takes the wave to fade into view. Fade-in Time is measured in seconds and begins with 0 opacity at birth. For example, if the Lifespan is 3 seconds and Fade-in Time is 1 second, the stroke is completely transparent at birth and fades smoothly to full opacity at 1 second.

Specifies the amount of time it takes the wave to fade out of view. Fade-out Time is measured backward in time from the end of the Lifespan. If the Lifespan is 3 seconds and Fade-out Time is 1 second, the wave begins to fade out at 2 seconds. If the sum of Fade-in Time and Fade-out Time is greater than the Lifespan value, the intersection point of the two fades is calculated so that the wave doesn’t reach full transparency. If either Fade-in Time or Fade-out Time is longer than the Lifespan, that amount is truncated to equal the Lifespan.

Specifies the width of the shape at its birth. End Width specifies the width of the shape at the end of its lifespan.

Stroke effect

The Stroke effect creates a stroke or border around the path defined by one or more masks. You can also specify stroke color, opacity, and spacing, as well as brush characteristics. Specify whether the stroke appears on top of the image, on a transparent image, or if it reveals the original alpha channel. To use a path created in Illustrator, copy the path and paste it into a layer in After Effects.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial on his Video Copilot website that demonstrates the use the Stroke effect to reveal an image as if it is being written by hand on a wall.

Steve Holmes provides a tutorial on the Layers Magazine website that shows how to create and prepare vines, swirls, and flourishes in Illustrator and then import, reveal, and animate them in After Effects using the Stroke effect.

Specifies the edge quality of the stroke, between hard and soft.

Specifies the spacing between stroke segments.

Specifies whether the stroke is applied to the original layer or to a transparent layer.

Vegas effect

The Vegas effect generates running lights and other path-based pulse animations around an object. You can outline just about anything, surround it with lights or longer pulses, and then animate it to create the appearance of lights chasing around the object.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

John Dickinson provides an example on his Motionworks website of an EKG (electrocardiogram) simulation created using the Vegas effect.

What to base the stroke on: Image Contours or Mask/Path.

If Image Contours is chosen from the Stroke menu, you specify what layer to take the image contours from and how to interpret the input layer.

The layer whose image contours are used. High-contrast, grayscale layers, and alpha channels work well and are easy to work with.

Inverts the input layer before creating the stroke.

If Layer Sizes Differ

Determines how to adjust the layers if the size of the input layer differs from the size of the layer to which Vegas is applied. Center centers the input layer in the composition at its original size. Stretch To Fit scales the input layer to match the layer to which Vegas is applied.

The color attribute of the input layer used to define the contours.

The percentage value at which everything below or above is mapped to either white or black. This property is important in determining the location of the edges that the effect strokes.

Smooths out the input layer before the threshold is sampled. Set this option to 0 if you have a high-contrast image and want the stroke to follow the edges very closely.

Defines how tightly the stroke conforms to the input layer. A high value results in sharp corners, while low values can make the stroking sensitive to noise.

Specifies whether to apply the effect to a selected contour or to all contours in the layer.

Specifies the contour to use when Selected Contour is selected from the Render menu. Contours are numbered from upper-left to lower-right; the contour with the highest point is number 1, the second highest point is number 2, and so on.

Shorter Contours Have

Specifies whether shorter contours have fewer segments. By default, the effect breaks each contour into the same number of segments. For example, if you apply the effect to the letter R, the outside contour may look fine with 32 segments, but the inside contour may be almost solid. To resolve this issue, select Fewer Segments.

The mask or path to use for the stroke. You can use either closed or open masks.

Specifies the number of segments used to create each stroked contour. For example, if the effect is applied to the word Vegas and Segments is set to 10, the outline of each of the letters, plus the inner contours of e, g, and a, are broken into 10 segments.

Determines the length of the stroke of a segment in relation to its maximum possible length. For example, if Segments is set to 1, the maximum length of a stroke is one complete trip around the object outline. If Segments is set to 3, the maximum length of a segment is 1/3 of the total outline, and so on.

Determines the spacing of the segments. Bunched puts the segments together like boxcars in a train: The shorter the segment length, the shorter the overall length of the train. Even spaces the segments evenly around the contour.

Animates the segments around the contour. For example, to create the appearance of running lights, start with a large number of segments set to 50% of their length, and then animate Rotation to move the lights around the shapes.

Specifies that the stroke starting point is different for each contour. By default, the effect strokes a contour beginning at its highest point on the screen. In the event of a tie, it starts at the leftmost highest point.

Determines how the stroke is applied to the layer. Transparent creates the effect on a transparent background. Over places the stroke over the existing layer. Under places the stroke behind the existing layer. Stencil uses the stroke as an alpha channel mask, filling the stroke with the pixels of the original layer.

Specifies the color of the stroke, unless Stencil is chosen for Blending Mode.

Specifies the width of the stroke in pixels. Fractional values are supported.

Determines how sharp or blurry the edges of the stroke are. A value of 1 creates a slight blur; a value of 0.0 blurs the line so that few solid areas of color remain.

Start, End Opacity

Specify the opacity at the beginning or end of the stroke.

Specifies the opacity of the midpoint of the stroke. This control works in terms of relative opacity, not absolute opacity. Setting it to 0 makes the change in opacity smooth from the start point to the end point, as if there were no midpoint at all.

Specifies the location of the midpoint within a segment: Lower values move the midpoint closer to the beginning; higher values move the midpoint closer to the end. Use this control to move the midpoint opacity from the center of the stroke.

Write-on effect

The Write-on effect animates strokes on a layer. For example, you can simulate the action of hand-writing of cursive text or signatures.

note: A convenient way to animate Brush Position is to use Motion Sketch to create Position keyframes on a new solid layer and then use an expression on the Brush Position property to link it to the Position property on the new solid layer. (See Sketch a motion path with Motion Sketch and Add, edit, and remove expressions.)

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Other methods of animating paint strokes and text are also available. For example, you can animate text by using the type tools and text animators, and you can animate a paint stroke applied with a paint tool. Paint strokes can have a Write-on Duration setting, which you can use to create similar results as with the Write-on effect. You can also animate shape paths for a similar result with the Trim Paths operation. (See Animating text, Animate and edit paint strokes, and Shape attributes, paint operations, and path operations for shape layers.)

The position of the brush. Animate this property to create a stroke.

Stroke Length (secs)

The duration, in seconds, of each brush mark. If this value is 0, the brush mark has unlimited duration. Use a single, constant, nonzero value to create a snakelike movement of the stroke. Animate this value to make the stroke expand and contract.

Brush Spacing (secs)

The time interval, in seconds, between brush marks. Smaller values produce smoother paint strokes but take more time to render.

Paint Time Properties and Brush Time Properties

Specifies whether paint properties and brush properties are applied to each brush mark or to the entire stroke. Choose None to apply values at each time to all brush marks in the stroke. Choose a property name for each brush mark to retain the value for that property at the time that the brush mark was drawn. For example, if you choose Color, then each brush mark keeps the color specified by the Color value at the time that the mark was drawn.

How the paint stroke interacts with the original image:

On Original Image

Paint stroke appears over original image.

Paint stroke appears over transparency; the original image doesn’t appear.

Reveal Original Image

The original image is revealed by the paint stroke.

Источники информации:

How to make effects in after effects

Stylize effects

Brush Strokes effect

Cartoon effect

Color Emboss effect

Unsure how to use Adobe After Effects? Start here

How do I get started in After Effects?

A brief introduction to the Adobe Creative Cloud

What sets After Effects apart from Adobe Premiere Pro?

Why should I try After Effects?

A few more After Effects frequently asked questions

How to add keyframe in After Effects

How to make a gif in After Effects

How to import media into After Effects

How to export video from After Effects

How to animate type in After Effects (in just 8 steps!)

How to mask in After Effects

How to make a mask in After Effects (in 9 steps)

How to start animating Illustrator files in After Effects

More video editing insights

Simulation effects

Common Lighting controls and Material controls

Lighting controls

Material controls

Card Dance effect

Rows, Columns, Layer, and Order controls

Position, Rotation, and Scale controls

Camera System and Camera Position controls

Corner Pins controls

Caustics effect

Bottom controls

Water controls

Sky controls

Foam effect

View controls

Producer controls

Bubbles controls

Physics controls

Zoom and Universe Size controls

Rendering controls

Flow Map controls

Particle Playground effect

Use Particle Playground

Particle content and particle generators

Cannon controls

Grid controls

Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder

Layer Map controls

Simulation effects

Common Lighting controls and Material controls

Lighting controls

Material controls

Card Dance effect

Rows, Columns, Layer, and Order controls

Position, Rotation, and Scale controls

Camera System and Camera Position controls

Corner Pins controls

Caustics effect

Bottom controls

Water controls

Sky controls

Foam effect

View controls

Producer controls

Bubbles controls

Physics controls

Zoom and Universe Size controls

Rendering controls

Flow Map controls

Particle Playground effect

Use Particle Playground

Particle content and particle generators

Cannon controls

Grid controls

Layer Exploder and Particle Exploder

Layer Map controls

Generate effects

4-Color Gradient effect

Advanced Lightning effect

Audio Spectrum effect