AExtensions

my new website: mamoworld.com

2010-11-30T13:00:00.001-08:00

Today I launched my new website

mamoworld.com - Tools and Tutorials for After Effects

You find there many new tutorials and updated versions of all my scripts. I also plan to post there new information more frequently than I did here. I won't continue blogging here anymore, so be sure to bookmark the new website and subscribe to its feeds.

New Tracker2Mask Tutorial by Steve Cocklin

2010-06-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Steve Cocklin has published the following tutorial on Vimeo.
It shows how to add depth of field to a scene and uses Tracker2Mask to speed up the tedious rotoscoping task.

Using After Effects to create DoF from Steve Cocklin on Vimeo.

Mocha AEv2 update: support of RG warp functions

2009-11-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Imagineer Systems has published a new point release of Mocha and MochaAE v2. As the main new feature it now supports the Red Giant warp plugin and in particular the Red Giant warp functions of my script MochaImport.

Since you have now so many different formats you can export from MochaAE v2, I prepared the following sketch that shows what export format you need for which function of MochaImport:

Chameleon - The Adobe Kuler Color Theme Browser

2009-10-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

Note: This is an old description of Chameleon. More infos and tutorials about the current version are available on mamoworld.com

download the script (version 1.0) at aescripts.com/chameleon
(pay what you want - I suggest 10$. Here is more info about the pay what you want system)

Tutorials

You find a tutorial about Chameleon on aetuts+.

There is also a Spanish tutorial kindly provided by Jose M. Arrebola on his website aftereffects.260mb.com

Description

With my brand-new script Chameleon you can use color themes from Adobe kuler conveniently in After Effects.

The workflow is as follows.

Load a bunch of kuler color themes

Apply one of them to your composition

Dynamically link color properties of your composition to theme colors

If you now apply another color theme, all dynamically linked color properties update automatically.

Once your color properties are connected to the theme, they automatically update as soon as you apply another color theme to the composition. This allows you to quickly try out different color variations of your project. Design your motion graphics, for example, with some dark, cold, blue colors and once you are finished, check with just one click, how your project would look in warm orange and yellow tones. What has been a tedious process before, namely to change the color of each text, solid, ramp, light, whatever manually, can now be done in just one click by simply applying another color theme.

What is Adobe kuler?

Adobe kuler is a website where you can browse, create and download color themes (i.e. sets of colors that fit nicely together) for free. There is a huge amount of ready to use color themes and you can, for example, upload images to let kuler generate a color theme that fits to the colors of your image.
For more information see here.

What color properties can I link to a color theme in Chameleon?

You can link any color property of any effect, animator or shape to a theme color.
In the tutorial I show how you can even color correct footage according to the theme.
The color of solids and texts is technically no color property, therefor you need the following tricks to link them to the theme:

To link the color of a solid to the theme, apply the fill effect in the solid layer and link the fill-color to the theme

To link the color of a text to the theme, either also use the fill effect or add an animator that sets the fill or stroke color (depending on what you want to connect).

Related Work

If you work with kuler, the following tools might also be useful for you. The script Swatch you want from Jeff Almasol allows to load a single ase file in After Effects and Maltaannon has published an AE project file that allows to import color themes from Kuler desktop to After Effects. Both approaches are more lightweight and basic than Chameleon since they just allows you to pick the colors from the loaded theme manually.

Mocha and Perspective Distortion

2009-08-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

Both my Mocha Import explained in 3 Minutes video and my tutorial on Red Giant TV have caused some confusion concerning the question whether Mocha can track perspective distortion and in what cases Red Giant Warp is needed in addition. So here are the facts:

(1) Mocha AE can track perspective distortion, even without Red Giant Warp. This happens if you enable the shear and perspective options.
(2) If you tracked perspective distortion with Mocha, it only ends up in After Effects if you use the corner pin data from MochaAE and not the transform data.

Now, if you want to use the MochaImport script to create a stabilized precomp, you have two options: Either you do it with transform data, or you do it with Red Giant Warp and corner pin data. Hence, point (2) implies that

(3) If you want to create a stabilized precomp with MochaImport, you only get the perspective distortion with Red Giant Warp .
(4) If you just want to do a corner pin or want to use the Mocha Shape plugin, you get perspective distortion and don't need Red Giant Warp.

Take home message:

If you track with shear/perspective enabled, don't use the transform data to get the track into After Effects.

One question is left, I guess:

What if you have to use transform data for your task and have a clip with perspective distortion (e.g. if you want a stabilized precomp but don't have RG warp)?

Then do the track whithout shear and perspective enabled. The resulting track will not be as good as with shear and perspective enabled, but at least no shear/perspective information is thrown away during the export to transform data. Hence you will get in total a better result (but don't expect miracles - with shear/perspective enabled and corner pin data or the shape plugin the results will be much better).

New Tutorials

2009-08-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Two new tutorials of mine are now online.

The first is available on AE tuts and explains how to use MochaImport to compose a wound onto a head. I guess the most interesting aspect is how easy it is to cope with the perspective distortion that is going on when the head moves and rotates.
Watch the tutorial on AE Tuts

The other tutorial is available on Creative Cow and Red Giant TV. So far only the first of two parts is online. In the second part I will show in detail how to rotoscope a car with MochaImport. The scene might look familiar to those of you who have seen my Mocha Import explained in 3 Minutes video.

Watch tutorial on Creative Cow
Watch tutorial on Red Giant TV

So now there exist probably enough tutorials about MochaImport. I guess it is time for a new script...

Update: second part is now also online on Creative Cow and Red Giant TV.

Pay What You Want ?!?

2009-08-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

My scripts are now available for download via the online shop system on aescripts.com.
Yes, you heard right, online shop. But don't panic: It is pay what you want - so you decide how much you want to give, and it does not need to be much.

What?
The shop system is on a 'name your own price' basis. I suggest a price of between 5$ and 10$ depending on the script. But this is my opinion about an appropriate price and if your opinion is different or you just want to try it out or have a really limited budget, feel free to change it.

Why?
With aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez has created now one great central place in the web where you can get the most useful After Effects scripts from various authors around the globe. I really liked this idea and wanted to support it. And of course I hope that people are encouraged to donate via the new system. This is also an advantage for you, since it motivates me to put more effort into the script development :-)

Let me know your opinion about aescripts.com and the 'name your own price' system.

MochaImport 2.0

2009-06-24T01:14:00.000-07:00

A new version of my MochaImport script is now online. It contains many bug fixes (yes there where some - if it didn't work for you this is a good time for a second try) and some great new features that make use of the Red Giant Warp plugin. What I didn't like about corner pin so far was that it is so tedious to take care that the thing you want to corner pin has to match exactly the corner pinned area. This is no more necessary now...

Two tutorials explain the new features:

MochaImport 2.0 - New Features from Mathias Möhl on Vimeo.

The second tutorial is available soon on AEtuts.

With the new features you can for example

corner pin something that has a different size that your corner pinned area. Just place the AE layer you want to corner pin where it should be, hit apply and it is pinned without changing the current frame.
create a precomp in which you can perform any modifications of the corner pinned area in an undistorted and stabilized setting. This function is similar to the "stabilize precomp" function of the script but does not only stabilize the footage but also undistorts it.

If you don't have the warp Plugin, download the trial version here. If you plan to spend some money on this plugin, note that I won't get any of this money. If you want to support me, take a look at the Paypal donate button on the right side or donate for my free scripts by purchasing some of them via the pay what you want system on aescripts.

MochaImport

2009-05-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Note: This is an old description of MochaImport. More infos and tutorials about the current version are available on mamoworld.com

download the script (version 2.03) at aescripts.com/mochaimport
(pay what you want - I suggest 20$. Here is more info about the pay what you want system)

I have created a new After Effects script called MochaImport. As you might guess, it simplifies the work with Mocha for After Effects. More precisely, it helps you to apply the Mocha tracking data in After Effects in what ever way you want.

With the script the following tasks can be done as one click operations:
- create corner pin
- create CC power pin
- create AE trackpoints from Mocha track
- stabilize footage
- move layers according to track
- create a precomp in which the footage is stabilized while maintaining the movement in the original composition.

MochaImport Tutorial for After Effects from Mathias Möhl on Vimeo.

MochaImport works with After Effects CS3 and CS4 and with Mocha for After Effects versions 1 and 2. See this tutorial of how to install scripts if you don't know how to do this.

* if you have problems *
If you have problems, make sure you have installed the newest version of the script (currently version 2.02).

There where several problems to paste the tracking data into the textbox. Since this is a bug in After Effects and not in my script, I unfortunately cannot fix it. Therefore I deactivated the cut and paste now. You have to load the data from a text file now instead of pasting it from the clipboard.

*report a bug*
if you encounter any problems, best send me a mail to mmohlREMOVE_THIS_TO_AVOID_SPAM@gmx.de containing the following information
- a short description of what does not work
- the Mocha data you used (e.g. attached as text file; check whether there are differences in the text file you save in mocha and what finally ends up in the textbox of the script)
- the script version you used
- the operating System you use (Mac/Win)
- the AE version you use (CS3/CS4)
- a screen-shot of the AE window while the error occurs (this is not absolutely necessary, but in the bug reports I obtained so far, it helped to find the problem much faster)

Reporting bugs does NOT mean you should feel obliged to donate. By helping to improve the script you also make an important contribution.

*fixed bugs*
Problems with the script on CS3 (unknown UI element type "Group") where fixed in Version 1.1.

The "pasted keyframe data has 29.97 fps but your comp has 29.97fps" error message is fixed since Version 1.2

Some issues with tracked fields/interleaced footage where fixed in 2.0

Some problems with corner pin data (Error Message "Invalid corner pin or transform data") where fixed in 2.02

How to install After Effects scripts

2009-02-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

I have got the impression that many people associate with scripts that they are difficult to use and to install. This is actually not the case. And Lloyd Alvarez even made a video tutorial that shows how to install and use scripts to simplify that even more.

Tutorial:How to Track Live Video to a Postcard

2009-02-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial for aetuts.com I explain how to achieve the effect to put moving videos on postcards. I also show some nice applications of my scripts Tracker2Mask and KeyTweak. My personal highlight is the use of KeyTweak to extrapolate the movement of trackpoints that have left the screen.

Some side note: When I made the music video that motivates the tutorial, KeyTweak and Tracker2Mask did not yet exist. Hence, a lot of manual tweaking was necessary. If I had to do it again today in CS4, I would probably not only use KeyTweak and Tracker2Mask, but also do the cornerpin track with MochaAE, which would simplify the task even more.
It is nice to see so much progress...

KeyTweak

2009-02-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Note: This is an old description of KeyTweak. More infos and tutorials about the current version are available on mamoworld.com

download the script on aescripts.com/keytweak
(pay what you want - I suggest 5$. Here is more info about the pay what you want system)

While Tracker2Mask is useful to create masks, KeyTweak can be used to modify them once they are created. Have you ever animated a mask with 100 keyframes and then modified each of them by hand to correct some errors? With KeyTweak it suffices to modify one or two keyframes and the other keyframes are automatically changed 'accordingly'.

Furthermore, with KeyTweak you cannot only modify masks but any other keyframed property. You can for example also use it to correct a drifting track or quickly refine the keyframed movement of a layer.

Tutorial

KeyTweak Tutorial for After Effects from Mathias Möhl on Vimeo.

KeyTweak works with After Effecs CS2 (7.0) and higher.

Tracker2Mask

2009-02-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

Note: This is an old description of Tracker2Mask. More infos and tutorials about the current version are available on mamoworld.com

download the script at aescripts.com/tracker2mask
(pay what you want - I suggest 10$. Here is more info about the pay what you want system)

Tracker2Mask is an After Effects script that computes the movement of maskshapes based on the movement of trackpoints. It is easy and flexible to use. In particular you don't need one trackpoint for each maskpoint.

The workflow is as follows:

track a few points (something between one and four points is reasonable, even for complex mask shapes) that represent the basic movement of the object which you want to draw a mask around
keyframe the mask by hand in the first and last frame
use the script to predict keyframes in between (the script uses the tracker information for this prediction which is hence much better than the simple interpolation done by after effects itself)

Step 3) can be interleaved with manual corrections which leads to a quite fast, assisted rotoscoping workflow.

Tutorial 1

In this first tutorial I show how to rotoscope the shape of a moving car based on only four trackpoints, for simpler shapes often one trackpoint is sufficient.

Tracker2Mask Tutorial from Mathias Möhl on Vimeo.

Tutorial 2

In the second tutorial I describe some new features of Tracker2Mask that allow local modifications of masks.
Tracker2Mask Tutorial 2 - new features from Mathias Möhl on Vimeo.

Tracker2Mask works with After Effecs CS2 (7.0) and higher.