Effects.
Effects in after effects are acessed from the top of the screen, at the ‘effect’ menu, or on the right of the screen at the effects and presets menu.
To add an effect, you need to select a layer that you want to apply the effect to, and then choose the effect from one of the menus.
effects are categorized in after effects based on their function to the video. blur, channel, colour, generate, keying and time are included in these categories.
adjustment layers
effects can be applied to adjustment layers. layers > new > adjustment.
an adjustment layer is an empty layer that you can add an effect to for it to apply to all of the layers beneath the adjustment layer in the compositon panel.
they are useful for adding effects in after work has already been completed
effects experimenting – group task
here is our group’s slide that shows a few basic effects.
Adding a diffusion filter effect.
first, add in an adjustment layer. this will apply the effect to the all of the layers of footage. Then, apply a levels effect (by going to effect, colour correction, and levels). the levels effect is used to change the balance between black and white in the footage. adjust the input black until there are no harsh lights in the image and it is mostly dark. then, go to effect again, blur and sharpen, fast box blur. this is used to blur the image and add a haze to the effect. change the blur radius until the image is very blurry, but you can still make out vague shapes, and make sure to tick the box repeat edge pixels. then go to toggle switches/modes at the bottom of the layers panel and click it. now, change mode of adjustment layer to add. this will add the effect onto the footage.
