Fairytale Lighting in After Effects

In Fairytale Lighting in After Effects (below), the prolific Harry Frank shows you how to "how to take a regular, run-of-the-mill shot and turn it into something beautiful and moody, straight out of a fairytale. You'll learn how to set up a down-and-dirty 3D track, add volumetric light and dust to a live action shot, and then finish it with some simulated camera lens blur."

Harry generously notes some alternatives to Red Giant and Trapcode effects he used. But wait, there's more:

• Tilt-shift blurring alternatives to MB Looks can be found at AE Portal.
• Replacing Shine will require a bit of extra work with the built-in Light Burst effect; Harry's previous tip and an alternative can be found in 3D volumetric lights with Shine or Lightburst.
• Dust particles can be generated with AE's built-in tools; Eran Stern offers a free project that creates floating dust using CC Particle World. Additional perspective can be found in 'Light Transmission' + 'Natural Light Effects' by Trish and Chris Meyer.

Red Giant QuickTip #39: Fairytale Lighting in After Effects from Red Giant Software on Vimeo.

Flame 2012 new features: solid lights, way more

The latest Fxguidetv episode #103 covers the 2012 Flame release from Autodesk, with a brief list of other Autodesk program updates described in another article. There's also another two hours of additional and unedited overview videos by Autodesk product designer Philippe Soeiro. A few of the numerous new features are available as 3rd party plug-ins for After Effects, but this stuff is native.

Here's solid lights with a custom "smoker" feature:

Underwater explosion scene with AE & 3D

In Depth Charge!, a new After Effects tutorial video which creates an underwater explosion scene with AE & 3D, Video Copilot aims to help you learn to solve problems and combine techniques to:

• Composite multiple explosions to create a underwater charge
• Build volumetric lighting AND shadows in AE
• Basic concept of a 3D animation pipeline for After Effects
• Combine multiple render passes in AE
• Add glows and camera shake
• Tips for adding realistic bubbles with the Foam plug-in

For some background info see Anatomy of an Underwater Explosion at How Stuff Works.

Add Lux to AE Lights (without Lux)

Satya Meka has a new quick tip After Effects tutorial at AE Tuts, Add Lux To Your Lights (Without Lux):

Here is another QuickTip for those of you who still haven't procured the amazing Trapcode Suite. Though we advise you get the plug-in yourself, here is a handy little tip to to help generate the look of Trapcode Lux.

Both of the fancy AE Lens Flare filters, Optical Flare and Light Factory, have similar control built-in now. Satya also wrote up some background: Pseudo-Volumetric Point Lights; Magic Behind Trapcode Lux.



In addition see a 2007 AEP post, Volumetric lighting with expressions, on a tutorial and the finished script from Peter Torpey on how to create volumetric lighting using expressions (it even responds to camera movement). Chris Meyer had some related general After Effects advice in 'Light Transmission' and 'Natural Light Effects'.

Real 3D, an AE filter

Toolfarm noted a new AE filter from Avidion Media: Real 3D. It's Windows only for now, though the same company's filter Synchronize, which allows you to "synchronize your audio with any aspect of...your project," has a free beta of the Mac version. I'm not sure how it's different from SoundKeys or AE's built-in ability.

Real 3D seems to have been secret since 2-26-07 until it appeared on Download.com and Toolfarm. It "allows you to bend, twist, and shatter your layers in 3D space as well as render them as a grid, surface, spheres, or solids. Also, by using Real3D's unique layer driver, you can simulate other effects within 3D space, including flags and newsprint effects.Features: Bend, twist, and shatter your AE layers, fully integrates into you AE environment including cameras and lighting, supports depth of field and motion blur, fog and material options give even more realism to your AE compositions, and use of Real3D's layer driver allows you to create newsprint effects and 3D flags as well as a variety of other looks." There's web movies explaining some of these features, including basics and volumetric lighting. Toolfarm has additional video examples that are interesting.

Volumetric lighting with expressions

Peter Torpey, often found on AE Enhancers, posted a tutorial and the finished script on how to create volumetric lighting using expressions (it even responds to camera movement).

Check it out at After Effects: Volume Light.