Metaball Effect - Quick Tricks for Adobe After Effects

1. Adobe After Effects Shorts - Metaball - Intro: Super quick to make a morphi bowl effect in after effects. 2. Adobe After Effects Shorts - Metaball - Tute: All right. So to make some morphing circles, first you need some circles. Unbelievable staff, k. So I'm just going to grab my shape tool and hold control and shift to get it a nice smooth circle. And once I've got one, I can just control D to make another put it out of the way and change the color, something that works well with Ralph Bre. Now, by default, if I drag them over the top, there's no morphi. There's no magic there. So what we're going to do is chuck in some adjustment layers. I'm going to leave them together so you can see it happen in light. So layer, new and adjustment layer. The adjustment layer will affect everything underneath it. So I need to find my effects and presets. I'm going to chuck a blue on it. Now, there's a whole bunch of them. My preference is Gorgon Blur. Box Blur is also great. I don't know. They're all bloody blur. Pick a blur, any blur. And then I'm going to alert it. Crazy. Crazy stuff. You'll notice by default, if you're using Gorgon Blur, some of the others as well. It's got a straight edge. That looks stupid. So I'm going to turn off repeat edge pixels. Now, it's blurry all the way around. That's the magic that we want. There's no magical number that we need, but just blur it until you feel that's a bit right. Then I'm going to search for an effect called simple choker. And just plunk that on, and again, pump up the value and you'll see it cutting away. Oh, my good goodness, it's happening. If I lock this layer so I can grab my shapes easily. There it is. There's the magic step. That's where it happens. The blur is I don't know a better way to explain it. It blurs the shapes crazy. And then the choker averages it out. That means when these two are overlapping, the average is a little bit more smoothly in between. If I want these two to blend colors as well, I can check a blend mode on there. Boom. I don't know if that's quite the right color. If I switch the order, that looks a little bit nicer. Olay is fine. I multiply, depends on the vibe you're after. I don't. I. Attle bit t. Maybe I'll make you a little bit brighter, hey, ale bit more, we go, then you can see a difference. That's nice. That's it. Little adjustment layer with a blur and a choker on it, and that's how you can get a little morph. So I'm just going to quickly animate this so you can see it. I atm. 3. Adobe After Effects Shorts - Metaball - Wrap Up: This is a very specific tool that has got some limitations, but I encourage you to explore and see how far you can push it. It can be a really handy tool if you want to do some semi realistic liquid. So you've got something dripping from something else. If you use Gagan blur and a simple choker, you can get two objects pulling apart and sticking back together. Super handy. But just keep in mind that if, for example, if you wanted to blend some logos together, because you start with a blur, it is going to blur everything. So if you've got emblems or details on top of that image, anything other than just a simple shape, you're going to need to be aware of your layers. So you can just pop everything above the adjustment layer that you don't want to blow. Or you might want to pre comp things, it might be a little combo of some pre comping magic. But again, I encourage you to explore, see what you can do. Have a go at trying out this little technique, render out a little gift and I'd love to see what you guys are creating. It doesn't have to be finished. It doesn't have to be a completely successful experiment. That's the whole point it's all about experimenting. Share it with your team with your classmates with me. I'd love to see what you're making.