From the book
Getting started
In this lesson, you will create a mask for the screen of a desktop computer and replace the screen’s original content with a TV news promo. Then you’ll adjust the positioning of the new footage so that it fits the perspective of the shot. Finally, you’ll polish the scene by adding a reflection, creating a vignette effect, and adjusting the color.
Begin by previewing the movie and setting up the project.
- Make sure the following files are in the AECS5_CIB/Lessons/Lesson07 folder on your hard disk, or copy them from the Adobe After Effects CS5 Classroom in a Book DVD now:
- In the Assets folder: news_promo.mov, office_mask.mov
- In the Sample_Movie folder: Lesson07.mov
Open and play the Lesson07.mov sample movie to see what you will create in this lesson. When you are done, quit QuickTime Player. You may delete the sample movie from your hard disk if you have limited storage space.
When you begin the lesson, restore the default application settings for After Effects. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 3.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) while starting After Effects CS5 to restore default preferences settings. When asked whether you want to delete your preferences file, click OK. Click Close to close the Welcome screen.
After Effects opens to display a new, untitled project.
- Choose File > Save As, and navigate to the AECS5_CIB/Lessons/Lesson07/Finished_Project folder.
- Name the project Lesson07_Finished.aep, and then click Save.
Importing the footage
You’ll import two footage items for this exercise.
- Double-click an empty area of the Project panel to open the Import File dialog box.
- Navigate to the AECS5_CIB/Lessons/Lesson07/Assets folder, Shift-click to select the news_promo.mov and office_mask.mov files, and then click Open.
In the Interpret Footage dialog box that appears, select Ignore, and then click OK.
There’s an alpha channel in the news_promo movie, but it isn’t needed for this project.
You’ll start by organizing the files in the Project panel.
- Choose File > New > New Folder to create a new folder in the Project panel, or click the Create A New Folder button (
) at the bottom of the Project panel.
- Type mov_files to name the folder, press Enter or Return to accept the name, and then drag the two movies into the mov_files folder.
- Click the triangle to expand the folder so that you can see the footage items inside.
)
)
Creating the composition
Now, you’ll create the composition based on the aspect ratio and duration of one of the footage items.
Select the office_mask.mov footage item in the Project panel, and drag it to the Create A New Composition button (
) at the bottom of the panel.After Effects creates a composition named office_mask, and opens it in the Composition and Timeline panels.
- Choose File > Save to save your work so far.
)