Pattern backgrounds in After Effects

In Pattern Backgrounds Inside After Effects, Brad Zimmerman shows how to create looping pattern backgrounds inside After Effects. He shows how to use a website like bgpatterns.com to create wallpaper elements to generate a pattern that can be repeated and controlled with the MotionTile and Offset effects. Also, tiling with CC RepeTile is discussed by Alan Shisko in Tiling Strategies In The 21st Century at PVC.

Project files and free background animations are posted on the Church Media Design (CMD) website. More on generating backgrounds, including a particle backgrounds tutorial from CMD, can be found in Looping backgrounds from CMD.

[update: Some Backgrounds in After Effects on AEtuts collects more of the tutorial on backgrounds from CMD. Laurence Grayson has several textured background quicktips videos; some were noted earlier in Carbon fibre+ brushed metal in After Effects. He has some free motion backgrounds.

Later, Colin Smith showed Creating Synthetic Backgrounds in Photoshop on Adobe TV.]

Here's the tutorial from Brad Zimmerman:

Torn cardboard texture tutorial + letters

Shortformvideo has another quick and easy texture tutorial and project for After Effects, Torn cardboard texture, which creates a torn corrugated cardboard texture using just the standard tools in After Effects (CS3, CS4 or CS5).

Related tutorials include the original one from Brian Maffitt of Total Training, the free AE project from Aharon Rabinowitz -- Page Rip, a turorial by John Einselen -- Dynamic Paper Cutouts (with Turbulent Displace effect), and a kinda fuzzy Paper Rip Effect in After Effects from Michael Szabo. The last one, embedded below, uses Photoshop and After Effects (CC Page Turn) filter. The recent "Burning Edges" tutorial seems related too, but there don't seem to be AE tutorials using scans of ripped or torn paper.

BIGMIKEDESIGN: Paper Rip Tutorial from Mike on Vimeo.
Update: Laurance returns quickly wih a sequel, Torn-out cardboard letters,

More this week in After Effects

Here are some AE items new this week that were not already mentioned here:

• Channel effects tutorials on 'luma to alpha' (part1, part 2) from Felt Tips on Vimeo.

• Learning the After Effects Graph Editor by John Kostrzewski on Fuel Your Motionography (more in AE Help, in CMG, and from Mylenium).

• AE Quick Tips #6 Super Smooth Curve from Felt Tips, which also explains the Graph Editor (see Ease and Wiz also, especially Ease and Wizz: alternative keyframe interpolations for After Effects by Chris Meyer).

• Update (pictured) from Mike Cardeiro of his script Trajectory, which lets you align layers in a comp evenly in 3D between 2 nulls, with delay controls for animation.

• ActivateDisabledExpressions, a script by Lloyd Alvarez, will go through selected layers, an entire comp or several selected comps and activate any disabled expressions.

• DuplicateLayers-n-UpdateExpressions, another script by Lloyd Alvarez, will duplicate the selected layers and if any of the layers have expressions referencing any of the layers being duplicated it will update the expressions to point to the newly duplicated layers (watch the demo).

• Update to The LoopMaker script by Lloyd Alvarez, which "loops any layers, footage or comps with one click™."

• Several tutorials and articles on AEtuts.

• OpenEXR workflow in Maya and After Effects CS5 by Guru Vaidya

• A New Trapcode Particular Preset: “Sparkler” – Including Motion Sketch Tutorial by Nick Campbell.

• AE Tutorial – Rusty checkerplate from Shortformvideo

• Both parts of Automatic Animation from Motionworks are up (Auto-Keyframe mode, Motion Sketch, Wiggler and Wiggle expressions, creating motion paths from Illustrator path, Shape Layer Wiggle, Text Wiggly Selector, and various automated effects).

• Dallas AEUG member John Begg put together a few expressions and "imagery to create an easy-to-use CC Sphere project [rendering a planet Earth]. The expressions are hooked to a Comp Light so it appears that moving the light around the scene changes the lighting on the sphere." For similar projects, see AE 3D Earths with & without 'Knowing' lava and Fly around CC Sphered layer in After Effects.

Looping backgrounds from CMD

Church Media Design has developed resources for creating looping backgrounds and so forth in After Effects. They've also covered compositing and keying basics as well as topics like Shape Layer Expressions and Masking Inside Shape Layers. Here's an example, CMD 81: Looping Backgrounds: Particle Effect (if a foreign sound to your ear distracts you, just skip the first few minutes of church chat).

Beyond these and built-in background presets, Motionworks has history in this category, and AE Help discusses how to create a seamless loop using Fractal Noise, as does Adobe's Bob Donlon (but with pictures) in Some Background Information.

CMD 81: Looping Backgrounds: Particle Effect from Brad Zimmerman on Vimeo.

Carbon fibre+ brushed metal in After Effects

In AE Tutorial – Super-quick carbon fibre effect, Shortformvideo shows you "how you can create a realistic carbon fibre texture in After Effects using Ramp and CC RepeTile. It takes a few seconds to create, and works really well in high-tech or motoring videos. You can also download the project file..."



Shortformvideo also posted a video of a classic technique that combines blur, noise and time control settings to create a brushed metal effect.



Update: also check out Deke’s Techniques #4: Creating a hammered metal background,

Omino Stamp: Pixel Bender for stamping & repetition

David Van Brink has made access to his free Omino AE Plugins (CS5 for Mac; CS3-CS4 Mac/Win) easier and via @daleBradshaw has posted another new Pixel Bender filter, Omino Stamp:

'The idea is pretty simple: draw a “stamp image” in a pattern which can be affected by the source image. It’s a little bit like a particle effect, but more mechanical.'