10 votes
Accepted

What determines video orientation (landscape or portrait) during playback?

If the video is meant to be played in a different orientation than its stored representation, then a rotation flag is set in the stream metadata. A compliant player uses that tag and rotates the video ...
Gyan's user avatar
  • 32.6k
7 votes

Layer dimensions in after effects

To find the pixel dimensions of a layer in AE, Hit 's' that brings up scale, then right-click Scale to bring up the Edit-Value dialog, then set units to pixels.
alexh's user avatar
  • 703
7 votes

Is it possible to export a Video with transparent Background? (No Image Sequences!)

Production codecs with alpha channel support Apple ProRes 4444 / Apple ProRes 4444 XQ From the Manual: Apple ProRes 4444 and Apple ProRes 4444 XQ are ideal for the exchange of motion graphics ...
p2or's user avatar
  • 2,314
6 votes

After Effects distance between two points

Hate to spoil all your good work, but it's a lot easier to use the built-in length() function: length(pointa, pointb) e.g. length(thisComp.layer(1).position, thisComp.layer(2).position) or ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
6 votes

Is it possible to "Blur a Transparent Background" in Adobe After Effects?

It's not possible. A generic blur effect relies on a function which smooths out pixel values within a specified radius. A mask combines the value of a pixel in the top layer with the pixel of the ...
Gyan's user avatar
  • 32.6k
6 votes
Accepted

How do I resize a image preserving aspect ratio in After Effects?

Click on a layer name. You should see the control points on its border. Click on one of the border points but don't drag it yet. Hold down Shift key and then drag it. Release the mouse button when ...
Gyan's user avatar
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6 votes
Accepted

How to upscale a 480p video to a 1080p with minimal quality loss?

You can upscale Premiere Pro footage using the Detail-preserving Upscale effect in After Effects via Dynamic Link. The results will never be as good as actual HD footage, but the Detail-preserving ...
RoobyRoo's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

How to remove Tracker points from green screen footage

You don't need to use greenscreen. You need to track markers, and put your footage above the markers and greenscren. Just lock position on markers points. Like in ...
Shultc's user avatar
  • 1,729
5 votes
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Cropping a Video based on a motion track

Here's one way to do it. I'll assume you have basic motion tracking knowledge already for the sake of brevity. AfterEffects Turn on 3D space for your footage layer. Track the player in your ...
snomsnomsnom's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Separate all layers every "X" interval of time in After Effects

No scripting or expressions are needed, it's built-in to After Effects: Drop all your frames into a comp… go to the 5 second mark… with all layers selected, hit alt] or option] to trim the end of ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
5 votes

How to import 2D position data into After Effects

Found the answer here. Copying any positional keyframes out of After Effects generates a text file like this: Adobe After Effects 8.0 Keyframe Data Units Per Second 25 Source Width 100 ...
tomh's user avatar
  • 7,585
5 votes
Accepted

How to delete a gap in an After Effects timeline

There's a script that does it for you (I just wrote it). You can get it (free, open source, WTFPL license) here on my blog. With the playhead in a gap, run the script and it will pull the layers after ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
5 votes
Accepted

Best and easiest way to remove tracking markers from green screen video

You can do this quite easily without content-aware fill or anything like it. I'd tackle this by doing the following: create a rough shape for each tracking-point (the color doesn't matter) track each ...
Florian Claaßen's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Sci-Fi intro logo animation

In the example given, typical motion graphics techniques are used. There are several ways to achieve this animation in After Effects. Probably the easiest way is drawing a mask shape per letter on top ...
p2or's user avatar
  • 2,314
4 votes
Accepted

Is it possible to export a Video with transparent Background? (No Image Sequences!)

File > Add to Render Queue > Output mode > Format 'Quicktime' / Channels 'RGB + Alpha' See if that works for you!
alt-5's user avatar
  • 116
4 votes

Is ffmpeg the solution to automate video building from multiple files

You can do this with ffmpeg using either the concat filter or the concat demuxer. Which one to use depends whether or not your inputs have the same parameters or not. If they do not, you may have to ...
llogan's user avatar
  • 9,904
4 votes
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Automated rendering of After Effects or similar

After Effects can be automated using the Adobe extendscript scripting language, and can be run from the command line, meaning that it can be integrated into other processes. Extendscript is ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes

Extend duration of imported static layers in After Effects

Open the imported comps. Not in the layer source window, just as comps (i.e. double click from the project panel). Go to the composition settings menu and change the duration to whatever you want. ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes

Extend duration of imported static layers in After Effects

If I'm understanding your situation correctly... two options: Place your cursor over the very end of the layer bar in the timeline. It should be a horizontal double ended arrow cursor. Drag to the ...
Mike Abbott's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

After effects Timeline display: frames into milliseconds

Here's a workaround: Create a left aligned text layer - type a zero. Format to the size and colour of your choice. Twirl down this layer, twirl down text, ALT click the stopwatch on the Source text ...
Mike Abbott's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

After Effects on Mac: Use touchpad to scroll like in PS or Illustrator

It's so weird the way all the Adobe apps require different muscle memory to do the same thing. Even things that are the same like panning around a work area or zooming. I understand it's because of ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes

How do I resize a image preserving aspect ratio in After Effects?

…and because there's always two ways of doing anything in After Effects: Select the layer. press s to reveal the scale property of the layer. Note that you don't need to hold any modifier keys like ⌘ ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes

Why do a lot of animation videos have wiggly lines?

This seems to typically be called 'Squigglevision', it's even patented. There do seem do be ways to replicate this in After Effects.
etskinner's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
Accepted

After Effects: Make beam effect go over end/beginning

You can't do it with the beam effect as it stands. But… A workaround would be to move your start and end points further out along the line that they define. A bit of maths and an expression will do ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes

How are motion graphics like this created?

Totally doable using After Effects as it comes out of the box. I'd be making each letter a separate layer, turning that layer into a matte for the colour, which would be provided by the gradient ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes
Accepted

After Effects preview with decreased image quality

You're probably using "Fast Draft" as your preview. This is a new preview mode which uses the GPU to provide "fast"* rendering for previews. This mode will generally look pretty bad, with less or no ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes
Accepted

edit after effects projects with aerender and extend script

Aerender does what it says on the tin: it just renders. It can save a comp after rendering if there's a post-render action like setting proxies, but AFAIK it has no other capability to modify projects ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k
4 votes
Accepted

Screenshot - what is this on my layer?

That means there's extra media after the end of the clip. If you hover the mouse over the intersection of the semi-transparent part and the opaque part, it will turn into a double arrow <-->. If ...
Jason Conrad's user avatar
  • 4,444
4 votes
Accepted

How can I recreate this overexposed effect from the last scene in 'The Lighthouse'?

You can tell by the shadows that light's illumination was increased. However, you can acheive a similar result (though not perfect) by just keyframing the 'Curves' effect in After Effects. (I had ...
Clif's user avatar
  • 196
4 votes

random copied and being truly random

The random number generator in AE seems to be linked to the layer index, but generates the same results for every composition. To demonstrate here's a comp with a shape layer where the vertices of the ...
stib's user avatar
  • 13.7k

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