Adding 3D Text to Live Action Footage in After Effects

1. Introduction: 3D Text in Live Action: Hi, My name is Alex Bradley. I've been working as a graphic designer for over 20 years, and I now live in Los Angeles, where I do motion graphics and animation for reality television shows and independent film projects. Today we're gonna learn the technique that you may have seen in reality television shows or in movie trailers that are very proud of their rotten tomatoes scores. I've included project files so you can follow along as we learn how to use after effects without any plug ins to track live action footage and in bed animated three D text in it. 2. Tracking Live Action Footage with 3D Camera Tracker: how? Okay, let's get into tracking live action video with after effects. First, we'll import the video footage we're going to track. Go to the file menu, scroll down to import, then select file. Use the file browser to find the folder where you downloaded the project files for this class. Open the footage folder and select class footage dot MP four in your project window. Select class footage and drag it down to the new composition icon here. This creates the composition or comp we will be using to build our effect with all the video settings intact from the footage file so you don't have to change any settings by hand. Now you can see the video footage in the composition window, and you have control over the timeline. Here in the timeline window, we can start tracking this footage right away. Select track camera from the animation menu. So now in Step one of two after effects analyzes the footage. It sets track points on various parts of the image and calculates their coordinates in three D space. For every frame of video, Step two of two solves the camera. It calculates where the camera was in the scene when it was shot, as well as some camera settings. When it's done tracking, you get all these colorful exes these air the track points before we do anything with them , notice where they cluster on edges of objects in the picture or parts of the image that are high. In contrast, you won't see them as much on blurry or low contrast images. And if attract object moves off camera, that point will stop being tracked. If after effects can't track your footage, you'll get a red banner message saying So you don't want that. You'll want some hand held camera wobble to get that cinema verite a look, but it's much harder to track with pans and crash zooms. Think about including easily tracked objects in your camera view. When you're shooting your short video for your class project. The default settings air fine for this project. But for future projects, you may want to look at the settings for the three D camera tracker Effect controls. If the footage doesn't zoom in her out and keeps a consistent camera view, keep the shot type as fixed angle of view. If it does, um, in her out or move around a lot. Try changing the setting to variable zoom. Notice that aftereffects will solve the camera again with this in mind. Now, I have never known the specific angle of view for a shot. So unless someone can tell you what it is, you can skip this setting. The exes are easily visible here, but if they're so small, they're hard to see or so big that they obscure the screen. You're gonna just the track point size here. I'll get to target size and creating the camera in just a moment. For now, 12 down the advanced settings and take a look at the average error. This measures how confident after effects is of how well points were tracked. Anything under one pixel is fine if it gets too high, like two pixels or more objects might start slipping around the screen so you can adjust the solve method or try a detailed analysis to calculate more track points. So what do you do with those colorful exes? You scrub through the timeline and noticed that some points flicker in and out in some stay on screen pretty consistently. You want to focus on the ones that stay onscreen for the whole shot if possible. What we're going to do is insert solid, which is just a two D layer made of one solid color into the three D space. Aftereffects is calculated roughly where we want all our text to go. Think of it as sticking a temporary post it note into your seen to remind you where to stick your text. You'll need to select at least three track points to define a plane for a solid. If you only pick one or two points, you risk pinning everything on one wonky track point. You can grab a whole bunch of points in the area you want, and in general, this tracks better. But don't get out of hand. So let's move the timeline to the point where I get hit in the head. Go lunk, click and drag a balloon around this cloud of points that indicate a spot near my head, like maybe this tree over here. When you let go of the mouse button, a target image appears. If it's hard to see used, the target size property and the effects controls window to adjust it. This also affects the size of the solid you'll create the target is actually a circular image, but most likely what you'll see is the circle turned in three D space toe some other orientation. You could hunt around for a collection of track points that gets a target facing the way you want. But it's not that critical for this project. Now, right, click and select. Create solid and camera. We won't cover the other options in this lesson. Okay, look at your timeline. You now have a track solid and a three d tracker camera. Now, if you scrub through your video, you can see that the solid is just stuck there in three D space. One last thing. If you don't love where you're tracked, object wound up. You can create another one or two, lead the new objects and start the tracking job over from scratch. But to get those useful exes back, you need to select the video footage layer and click on the three D camera tracker effect in the effect controls window. And there you have it. One cool way to track live action footage. When I first saw this effect work, I flipped out. This may as well be magic, as far as I'm concerned. Okay. Next up, making your three D text 3. Creating Basic 3D Text: In the last video we tracked live action footage. Using after effects is three D camera tracker. In this video, we're going to generate some three D text. Open up the AFTEREFFECTS project file from the last lesson. Click in the timeline window now in the layer menu mass over new and select text layer. Type in three D text after effects. Keeps the text settings from the last text layer you made. So you may need to adjust the font, font size and color to what you want for now, making a size you can easily see on screen. Okay. And the timeline Lear. Find this three D box and toggle it on. The text layer is now a three D object. But where did it go? Your text didn't move with the three D world around. It is now arranged according to the camera trackers coordinates, try scrubbing through the video and you may be able to find the text again. This is what this three D camera recognizes as the text original location. Well, now we'll put that text where you left your post it note, So select your track solid and type the peaky to open its position data, Click the word position and copy the position data with command or control. See then selected text layer and paste the position data with command or control V. So now you should see the text where you want it to be tracking with the points you selected earlier. But you may need to address the scale by typing s and changing the size of the text. Now is also a fine time to turn off the track solid layer so that you can focus on the text with no distractions. Okay, let's find the frame where the text is supposed to hit me and adjust things so that it all lines up. Okay, you don't want to mess with a carefully tracked position data, but you can adjust where the text appears to be by changing the anchor point data, Type A with the text layer selected and slide those numbers around to line the text up with my head. The first number is the exposition and slides objects left to right. The second is the Y position that moves things up or down in the 3rd 1 is easy depth moving things in or out. You can also adjust the orientation of the text so that it doesn't appear square to camera and looks more three dimensional type. Are for rotation data and fiddle with the 1st 2 values of orientation. To get the look you want rotating the text on the X and Y axis. If you change orientation on the Z access, the third coordinate the text may no longer read is horizontal. That's an artistic choice, but try to leave it at zero for this exercise. Okay, leave the values for X, Y and Z rotation alone. For now, we're creating a default orientation for the three D text. Later will use the other parameters to animate with the last step. To make your text look more three dimensional is to extrude it or give it depth. 12. The settings for the text layer closed and open again to see all of your settings for the text layer. You want geometry options, but it may be great out right now, so click on Change Renderers, which brings up settings for this composition with the tab for your three D render, were open. Use the drop down menu to change the renderers from classic three d to cinema 40. Some computers are set up better for Ray Trace three D. But the cinema 40 render will work for most computers and hit OK to close this window. Now you can use the geometry options to change the extrusion depth. Who? That looks pretty bad. It's all one flat color. That doesn't look three d at all. I'm sorry, everyone. I guess I don't know what I'm doing. Well, uh, Lisa, Nice feedback on my profile page. Thanks. Bye. I'm just kidding. Actually, a lot of the magic of C g i and three D graphics comes from how it's lit. That's pretty much the same is true for live action cinematography to. So in the next video, we're going to take a quick look at lighting. 4. Lighting Mini Lecture: you can tell a film production is amateur if the lighting isn't very good, kind of like this video right now, and the same is true for three D animation as well. Sometimes in life action, you can get away with using natural lighting, but there's no such thing in three D graphics. So let's take a look at lighting. Here's a diagram of a subject being shot with a camera against a flat backdrop. The most important light you need is called the key light, and it provides the main illumination for your subject. Depending on how this is positioned, you can go from a natural look to a more sinister look to this kind of dramatic, stylish look. But a typical lighting set up puts a key late above the subject and off to one side to provide some form defining shadows. If you're using natural daylight outside, then the sun is your key light. The next most common light is called a fill light. It's more diffuse and usually softens shadows to pull a shot back from super dramatic to normal because it's used to soften the key lights shadows. This light is placed at about the same height. But on the other side of the camera, this light is more spread out in less intense. If you have a dark background and you don't want your subject to blend into it, you will place a room light. This one generally matches the key light in intensity, but is placed directly opposite the subject from the key light. Notice how the rim light defines the edge of the subject. There are other lights used in film, usually to light the background independently of the subject, but we don't need to worry about that. In this class and after effects. There are four types of lights you can use to simulate real world lights. Parallel spot point in ambient. You'll choose which type when it's added to the composition. The parallel light simulates the directional light of the sun. Since our scene takes place outside, this will be the light we use. The spotlight is more like a typical studio light used indoors. It also points in a direction, but it's concentrated into a cone shape and usually leaves a ring of shadow around the subject. This is often used as a key light in three D graphics a point. Light is like an unshaded light bulb, sending light in every direction. They're used in graphics toe. Add subtlety, the lighting in three D. We'll add one later so you can see what I mean. And the ambient light simulates light, reflecting off of objects in the environment. This is what will uses a fill light. We'll get more into placing lights in after effects in the next video. 5. Lighting 3D Text: now that we've explored lighting in general, let's go back to after effects and see how we apply it to our project. Take a look at the video footage. You'll do this again for your own class project. Okay, where is the key light? Look for where my shadows fall on the ground. They land here, so that means the sun must be appear. So let's put in a key light and match it to the live action light. Go up to the layer menu and select new and light. Rename this key light and use the drop down menu to select parallel. Leave the light pure white and the intensity at 100%. For now, you can experiment with these values later. You may not be able to see your light object, but you should already see the effect on the three D text. Let's make this light easier to work with. You have to position values to work with Type P for the position of the light itself and shift plus A to add the data for the point of interest or where your parallel light is pointing. Select a track solid and tight P. Click the word position in control Command. See, To copy this data, go back to your key light. Click on point of interest and control Command V to Paste, and then do this again for the key light position. Now your light is in a place where you can easily find it. But to establish a direction for your light, the position and point of interest have toe have different values. Remember where the light is in the footage. We want to change the key light position data to imitate the sun's position. Adjust the X, Y and Z coordinates of the key light position to match it to where the sun is. Start with the middle number. Why and make it negative, moving it up. The sun is definitely above me in the shop. Now think about whether the sun is in front of the subject or behind to the right or left of it, and adjust the light position accordingly. This adjustment can be kind of fiddly, and you actually want to balance total accuracy with being able to read the text. If the light on the Texas too bright or doesn't seem bright enough, change it's intensity, either. By opening up the light settings from the menu or type tea with a light layer selected so you want to adjust the intensity until the text is only as bright as the brightest spots on my body. Let's add a slight bit of yellow sun, like 10 to this light for funds, even though it may not be 100% accurate. Twele up the late options, setting on the key light layer and then 12 them back down. To get the rest of your light settings, click on the color picker and pick a light yellow. Or I suppose you could do fuchsia. But let's just do like yellow. For now. These other settings can also help get a more natural looking light. Fall off refers to the distance from the light's position before it fades out. Normally, it's set to none, so you can see the light no matter how far it is, a way that makes sense when imitating the sun. It's quite far away, but still seems to get like all the way to everything on Earth. But try changing the fall off, setting to smooth. You'll have to increase the fall off distance for the light to appear again. Think of the radius is the size of the light bulb you're using. Its effect here is kind of like changing the intensity. Inverse square clamped. Fall off is most accurate to the way light really travels. But don't worry about that for this project. Where if you're letting her go, have fun. Okay, We'll see in the next video where I talk about how to add some details for realism. 6. Adding Realism: by now, you all know that I didn't actually get hit on the head by a C. G got block of text. So why do I bother wearing this bandage? Well, I find that it's the little extra details that make the final composited shot more convincing. Anything that reinforces the existence of that fake block of text, even on a subconscious level, helps to sell it. Israel. This is where motion graphics goes from a job toe in art. Fair warning. This is a play zone where you can get into a lot of trouble spending time, tweaking settings and moving things around when you've technically already finished the project. I guess I don't need this bandage anymore. Look, I'm fine. Magic. There's one step you can take that instantly makes the three D text look more like a real world object. Select the three D text layer and open up the geometry. Options change the bevel style from none to convex. In real life, nothing has an edge as crisp and sharp as an object generated by a computer. Adding a bevel simulates the imperfection of reality, but you don't need much of it. You can lower the bevel size down to one or even 10.5, and you can try the other bevel styles on your own. Let's refine the lighting by adding a fill light at a new light from the layer menu. Rename it fill light and changed the light type toe ambient. You don't need to worry about positioning this light because it simulates light coming from every direction to hit the subject. But right now it's bombarding your subject with light that's too intense. So select a fill light layer and open up the light options. This light has only two things. You can change intensity and color. Let's change the color. First click on the color picker, then select the eyedropper tool and in the image over here, look for the color that's brightest, catching the most light from the sun. It's probably the grass here. Select that color directly from the image. Now dial down the intensity a bit. You're aiming to make the darkest part of the shadow on your text on Leah's dark as the darkest shadow in the scene, Here's where infinite tweaking begins. You may want to pop back and forth, adjusting key light and fill light intensity to get to look just right. Honestly, this lighting is good enough for what we need, But let's pretend this tree has leaves that are blocking some of the direct light of the sun usedto layer menu to add a new light. Rename it complex arrow fluid IQ simulator. Just kidding. That's not a thing. Make it a point like copy and paste the position data from the track solid to this point. Like now, let's make adjustments to the position, intensity and color of this light to add the illusion of a hot spot on the text. Again, you'll want to tweak the key and fill lights along with us to get a balance that looks good . It's time to make that text move, and that's what we'll do in the next video. 7. Animating 3D Text: well, if we leave the video the way it is now, I look pretty dumb because I should have been able to see that text coming the whole time. So let's add some animation so the text can at least take me by surprise. Go to the frame where the impact happens. Here's a hint. You can select a video layer in the timeline and type L L to open up the audio wave form. There should be a spike in audio where clunk sound effect has been added. There it is. Select the three D text layer and open up the position in rotation data with P shift our you're gonna click on the stopwatch icons for position and X y and Z rotation. What you've just done is set key frames that tell the three D text they need to be at this location facing this direction At this point in time, if you look at the timeline, you see these key frames look like diamonds. Now go back 20 frames by holding shift and hitting the page up key twice. Or just move the play head a bit to the left. Okay, Now you adjust the position in the rotation numbers to send your three D text offscreen facing any direction, notice that new key frames have appeared on your timeline. For this frame, select a mall and right click on them. Choose Key Frame assistant and select Eazy E's. Note that your mouse needs to be over an actual key frame to get this menu. Otherwise, we'll get a different situational menu we don't need. What Eazy E's does is start your animation gently, and then it will stop abruptly when the text it's my head. One more thing to add that little bit of Genesis Dickwad, Turn on motion blur for the text layer by clicking this icon, then enable the motion blur for this composition by clicking the same icon up here. Okay, now hit zero on your number Pad that runs a ram preview on might take a little Ah, a couple seconds to load here, but enjoy the results. So if the text seems to come in too fast or too slow, select the left most key frames in the timeline and slide them left to right to speed up or slow down the animation. The next video is totally optional, but I hope you give it a try because it's gonna be pretty cool. I'm gonna add some leaf shadow falling on the text, but the techniques for it are a little more advanced, so feel free to skip the video. If you don't want to do that, you're actually already done. 8. Adding Leaf Shadows (Advanced Technique): this'll video is totally optional. You can skip it entirely if you want, but in it I'm gonna show you a cool technique to add some, like gently bobbing leaf shadows to the animated text. And really give it that extra pop of realism. Help you give it a try. We need to do some housekeeping in our project to make this possible, and we do that with a powerful technique called nesting or pre compositing. Go to the Project window and select the class footage. Comp. Duplicate this with a controller, command D and reading Name this duplicate Camp three D text. Now duplicate this comp and rename the new one Leaf Shadows. So the nice thing about the cinema 40 Renderers is that it lets us create three D text right in after effects. But it does not support other powerful after effects tools like blend modes and track mats , and we're gonna need those for this effect work open the leaf shadows composition by double clicking it in the project window. Open the composition settings using the composition menu or by using The'keeper's word shortcut Control Command K. Now click on the three D Render a tab we got here by a shortcut last time. Change the renderers back to classic three D Noticed that the three D text loses all its depth during that text. Get rid of it. In fact, you don't need the lights here anymore either. Go away, lights. But we do want to keep the camera and the track solid. And the video footage. Okay, Now open the three d text composition in this camp. We want to keep everything but the video layer. So delete that. Or better yet, just turn it off. Now we have just the floating text by itself, but it's still nice and three d. Okay, Now go back to the leaf shadows comp by selecting its tab in the timeline window. Now reach up to the project window, click on the three d text comp and drag it down into the leaf shadows. Timeline. You see, it kind of looks like what we already had before this rigmarole. But now you've nested the three d comp inside the leaf shadows calm. And what that does is allow all the settings from three D text to do their thing without being affected by the renderers setting for the leaf shadows. I don't have time to go into pre compositing much more than that now. But trust me that this is one of the most important features of after effects. Okay, let's add the leaf shadow Goto file and important new file. You can also use control or command. I do this. Locate the Project folder for this class and find leaf shadow dot PNG. Now drag it down from the project window into your leaf shadows. Comp. Turn it into a three D layer by clicking this check box. Copy and paste this position data from your track solid to leave shadow now adjust the scale, position and rotation of the leaf shadow layer so that it covers your three D text for the entire shot, including the parts where is animating into the shot. So scrub back and forth on the timeline to make sure this is happening. Here's why you need this comp to stay in classic three D Render mode to show them mode and track matte columns. Take a quick peek back of the three d text comp of the cinema. 40 Render. Those columns are not available. You can change the blend mode of leaf shadow from normal to multiply and adjust the capacity. A shortcut for that is T for opacity, I guess, to match the darkness of other shadows in the scene. You may also want to add a blur effect here. Leaf shadow, layer effect blur and sharpen and Gaussian blur. Dial that value up a bit. It doesn't look very natural right now because the shadow overlaps the text and you can see the whole decals. The way you clip that toe only appear on the text is to duplicate the three D text layer Control Command E. Drag it to the row above the leaf shadow and select Alfa from this drop down menu for the track. Matte boom. For one more expert trick, let's add an expression to the leaves for some natural looking motion. Open position in rotation data for the leaves. By selecting the layer and typing P shift our now press Ault or the option key and click the stopwatch icon. This text block opens up in the timeline Click where it says transformed dot position and type Wiggle open parenthesis is one comma 10 and it should add it close. Parenthesis automatically What this does is add a random movement at a cycle of once per second, up to 10 pixels in any direction, fault or option. Clicked the stopwatch for orientation and enter another wiggle expression this time 0.5 comma one. This one rotates the leaves one degree in a random direction every two seconds. Now hit zero on your number. Pad to RAM. Preview your comment. This will show you how the wiggle animation looks better than scrubbing the play head back and forth will do so you can sort of watch the movement if it's too fast or slow. You can massage the numbers in those wiggle expressions until the leaves look like they're bobbing in a gentle breeze. I know that was quite a bit more advanced than the rest of this class, but these air some cool tricks that you can have in your tool kit for the future. So I hope you learned something 9. Conclusion: Be Creative!: thanks for staying with me throughout this whole class. I hope you had fun and you learn some cool things about aftereffects along the way. There's a lot more techniques you can use to really make this kind of project shine. But for now, you have the basics. Now it's your turn to experiment and take the techniques you learnt from this class and apply them to your own class project. I really hope you don't just copy the techniques you saw, like step for Step that you really experiment with some of the settings. We covered the technical side, but now it's up to you to bring the artistic side by adding your own personality to the work font choice through color, even how the camera moves or the text moves in the in the project. I really look forward to seeing what you do with your class projects when you post them into the project gallery. Feel free to post in progress work, too. If you want some feedback or just some one on one advice, please leave a review for this class and follow my profile for future classes until next time