After Effects

After Effects is the software used to make edits on the video and add different effects to the film to give it more creativity. The task that was given was to add an introduction to the video that was provided, adding a background and making the video have the person on the screen appear twice like they are talking to each other. Firstly starting with the video it is shot on a green screen so add the background layer onto it and then proceed to delete the green screen so the background layer shows. Furthermore with the video duplicate it and for the first video track keep the start but delete the rest once he first leaves the screen. Then with the second video track edit out the start until the man comes back into the frame again so fits in the sequence and looks natural. This part is simple once you know what you are doing, it just takes a little bit of time to learn what does what. The effect that is created with the video turns out really good because it is so different to the normal look of video and a really cool effect. The next part would be doing the introduction, this is just adding a block colour and then adding a title; with the title you will have to add an effect of any kind, this is found on the side panel on effects and there is many to choose from and some are better than others but it is easy to add just need to find the right one, that is nice and doesn’t look silly. In similar fashion with the background in the video you have to add effects to it so it looks nice and creative rather than just a standard background, the way to add affects to this is the same place as the effects for the words used at the start of the video; again there are so many effects to choose from so it is important to test a few out because finding the best one is essential to make your piece of work the best it can be. Additionally the main part of the task was to place the video so it looks like it is playing off of a mobile phone, this bit is tricky because you cant just resize the video because it doesn’t look flush with the phone screen; so you need to transform the video layer so it is over the phone screen and flat against the phone screen so it looks just like it is being played on the phone. Finally adding the subtitles, this is done by adding the sentence that is said in the timeline when it is said so the viewer is able to know what is said at what time. There was not many problems that occurred with this project apart from editing the effects instructions was a bit tricky to get them all right.

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Animate

Adobe Animate is the software used to make animated content for cartoons, advertisements and interactive content for example South Park. The task at hand was create a little piece that gets across Cartman from south park and Kenny from south park walking up to a gas canister and Kenny getting set on fire and turning into ash. All of the images seen in the animate sequence is all for the internet as there is a tool on animate that allows to you break and image up to make them all separate and this is how the eyes are able to blink among with other features in the sequence. Using the South Park background obviously set the scene for this task as well as using the characters from South Park. It is important to make every separate part of the animation have its own layer, for example one layer for Cartman, one layer for the background and one layer of the ash. It is also important to remember that you have to set a key frame for which ever frame you want something to appear because other wise it will be there when you don’t want it to, the easiest way to do this is to paste the image in to the software by already clicking on the frame you want it to appear on. If you want something moving, you have to set a key from on the frame you want it to start from and then set another key frame on the frame you want it to end up at and then it should move to where ever you placed it. During the work of this graphic there was some issues that occurred. The issues that where apparent where with mainly the sound and the button. With the sound issues the problem was importing the sound into the software, as this was not simple and a problem, Furth more the importing audio was grayed out for a some time but then eventually it became clickable and worked. The next issue was with the button, this was a struggle, as you have to follow every step work for word because otherwise it will not work and you will be stuck on it. Throughout learning a Imation the tips and tricks taught came into play very much so and they are needed to fulfill the task at hand.

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Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D is a part of after affects that allows you to create new 3D elements for motion graphics. The task that was given was to create a 3D trophy in cinema 4D and place it on the right spot to make it stay in one place once merged with the video of the empty office pan movement. To create the trophy you need to proceed by getting the image of the trophy provided and importing it into cinema 4D lite, then start tracing one of the side’s of the main part so not including the wooden block or the handles on the trophy; but do not go past the edges, this is because the process will not work if there is inserts in the side, then you will need to make the ends connect; this process will make the line you made make a 3D shape. This will be your trophy cup, in addition the block on the bottom will need to be made, to make this you will need to make a block and whether you want to make the edges of the block rounded or slightly rounded this will be possible just by adjusting the details of the shape. Then the plaque at the front will need to be added, the shape that will need to be created is a wall and then you will need to edit the shape so it is just smaller than the front of the block and very thing so it just sticks out of the block; the lucky thing about using cinema 4D is the use of using the all the different directions because it makes it really accurate so its perfect to use all this to your advantage when assembling the trophy. On the plaque it would be nice to have something written on it like winner or number 1 for example. The next part is to make the sticky pad for the trophy is after effects, this is a certain place in after effects that will stay and keep anything placed in it still for the whole video, so for this piece of work in particular it is a must. You must create this and then save and then go back to cinema 4D and it should appear in cinema 4D. You must place the trophy on this plate and it will then make it stay when the video of the empty office plays. There was a couple issues when doing this as on some of the view windows in cinema 4D it showed up as it was placed on the plate, but on one of them it actually wasn’t; the only problem is that sometimes when you move the object in one view window it moves somewhere else in another. But trail and error is the best way to overcome this as it may take time but always works in the end.

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Photoshop

Photoshop is an image editing software that is used to crop colour correct, manipulate and resize on digital photos. The task that was set was to make a picture of your current state and manipulate it to make the person look as old as they could do in 2069. This means of two editing techniques are possible to make this happen; using the dodge and burn tool or using an old photo and taking away the feature and putting yours on there. Depending on the photo one will be easier than the other but this time it was easier to use the external photo of an old man and cutting out his features. The image used was off Google placing it over the face and lowering the opacity and making the faces both the same shape by using the transform tool, this was a massive help as it got everything in right place, and that was just the start. On Photoshop you always need to make a new layer for everything even for every part of the face, as it is easy to accidently move stuff with out knowing. Cutting out the eyes and hair was a tricky task because getting so accurate was the main thing to make it look professional. In this type of image creation there is a lot of cutting and manipulation needed which came from the lasso tool and the transform tool. The lasso tool is to cut things out for example cutting out the old mans eyes so make the young photo show through; whereas the transform tool allows to move certain parts of the image without moving anything else. The ‘Private Eye’ banner and the barcode are also form the internet but the writing of the price and date did need changing so getting the write font took a little bit of time so it looked the same and accurate. In this task not many problems occurred as there was experience using Photoshop in the past. Even though there was experience it wasn’t easy to remember everything and put it in to the piece of work to start with. The main struggles within doing this picture were getting the old face image to show the same features as the young face and getting the whole image look as believable as possible so both images looked like they could be the same person. Overcoming getting the same features was tough but manageable by using the lasso tool and using the transform tool as these were all what was usable to what was thought could do it.

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Illustrator

The layers that were created for the fully made sharpener was; the top, the side, the front, the plastic front and the handle. For all of these there were plenty more sub layers inside these because every part has a separate sub layer. The main tool that was used to make this was the pen tool as this creates straight and accurate lines but there is also a choice to curve the line if you want to and this is helpful because in the sharpener there were a lot of curved edges. To make the screw part of the handle on the sharpener is different to the rest but it looks really good once done. The pen tool is really helpful and easy to use so it’s perfect for this type of work. For each part of the sharpener the way to get each separate defiant part you have to outline that with the pen tool. The reason for this is to make it the outline on sharpener because of the colour difference and obviously a different part of the object so you can tell what is what when looking at it. For the dismantled image of the sharpener, basically all the layers were the same but as there are a few more bits in this picture they were their own separate layer, as this makes it easier to change or make improvements if needs be without changing anything else on the project, so they were the silver ring, black plastic, metal handle and the ruler, and again these all had their own sub layers in the main layer. Finally the wood background retrieved from the internet was added to give it the same effect as the original image.

There was not many issues had when drawing the fully made sharpener, but were more with the dismantled. The issues that occurred when drawing the put together sharpener were, the writing of ‘Swordfish’ was hard to get it placed properly so it looked like it was actually on the sharpener and at the same angle, the other issue with the built sharpener was on the handle getting the definition on the black plastic part and from the angle the picture was taken it has made it all really dark so it was hard to show that on the drawing. When it comes to the dismantled picture there were issues with the twister part, the metal ring and the plastic part of on the main part of the sharpener, the twister was hard to get all the groves in and it look good, where as the metal ring wasn’t allowing the background to show through hole in the middle of it. The plastic part was a bit tricky because as its see through it was hard to see what was part of the object and what was just shadow or the wooden table.

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Final Graphics

I have now completed all m y graphics which i a relived to say the least, it took a lot more time than i originally thought. but looking back at it now i’m glad i got them all done in time and with time to make a few changes or improvements if needed. The reports for them were tough to do, it was hard to talk about them in so much detail. For the illustrator we had to make two drawings of a sharpener, one intact and one fully dismantled. For Photoshop i had to make a Private Eye cover with a picture of myself and then i had to make it look like i was old. The Animate task was to create a SouthPark video of Cartman lighting Kenny on fire with a gas canister and then Kenny turning into ash. Then for the After Affects we had to put a video onto an image of a phone, manipulate the background and add subtitles. Finally for Cinema 4D we had to make a trophy and make it stay in one place whilst in a video that is panning through an office. I have followed all the steps to these tasks and in my opinion i have done well for a first time using these softwares.

Introduction to Graphics

For this unit we are learning lots of different types of adobe software. The software that we are using are Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate, After Effects and Cinema 4D. In the past i have only used Photoshop but hopefully the workshops can give me a few reminders on it as I would not be too confident on it at the moment. I am looking forward to learning these different types of graphic designs and just giving them a go. Hopefully i will pick up all the new ones quickly so i can make my final pieces to a really good standard.

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