Effects Compositing!

For this project, we had to demonstrate compositing skills by piecing together rendered elements in a suitable order and applying creative effects onto them.  I found this aspect easy to do as it was a lot like using Adobe Photoshop but key-framing it which is what I am used to.  We had to use a minimum of four creative effects. 

At first, when importing the different rendered parts of the sequence, I felt confused as I initially thought that there were parts missing.  Once I had looked at the different importing settings for alpha using tga files (ignore, straight - unmatted and premultiplied - matted with colour), I had finally achieved finding all of the sequence files and importing them all correctly.   This enabled me to re-order them so that they made a mini clip of a city with aircrafts.  The Beauty Windows layer were not in sequence with the rest of the layers therefore I decided to split these up and adjust it so that the timing was correct.  I noticed that there wasn't a background for a sky therefore I had used my own sky image which has an orange colour to it.  I immediately decided to use this as a theme for the city which leads me on to my first creative effect I used.

My first creative effect I used was colour finesse.  This enables you to re-colour elements of the sequence by picking out colours to change.  I used the full interface of this as it was a lot easier and had more options to use such as the secondary colour option where you individually pick different colours in the given scene and you can do this for a lot of the scenes.  I decided to give my city an evening orange/ red/ yellow effect which coincided with the cloud background.  This gave the city a completely different look and made it more calmer and serene.

The second creative effect I used were both glow styles.  One was a layer effect and the other a transitional glow.  I used these to enhance the effect of the trail.  This gave it a stronger glow to it and it differentiated the trail from the car lights. 

I applied the Z-Depth to the different layers such that needed it such as the billboards layer, city layer and city extra layer.  This meant that it provided depth of field and you can transition between the blurring of the layers.  Although this aspect takes up more rendering, it is a useful tool to use as it gives things a more realistic look by not always being fore fronted in the camera's focus.  I had to apply the camera lens blur onto its corresponding layers and map it to the Z-Depth layer then sorted its features out by adjusting the Blur Focal Distance and key-framing it where necessary. 

Next, I applied CC Light Rays and Lens Flare to the billboards as this enhanced the features of them being screens and to exaggerate them more.  The Lens Flare showed the aspects of there being sunshine somewhere in the scene.

This project has given me more insight into compositing and enhancing each animation I do especially in terms of the Z-Depth and colour enhancing.  It has made me realise that within the games industry or the film industry for example, I will have to use these aspects to make everything look more "spot on" therefore I will be taking more time in using After Effects and creative effects to ensure that my animations look to a professional level which is what these do.