After Effects Workshop

The window with the yellow around it is the panel that is selected.

There is a window tab which is the same as other adobe software, if you go to window -> workspace you can set your workspace back to the standard view.

When you want to start a new document you go to compositions -> new composition instead of file -> new.

You can choose the preset to work in on the composition settings, we use PAL in the UK. PAL works at a frame work of 25.

Its important to set the duration of your work, you can always go back and change your time duration.

You can pick the colour of the background, unlike print when working in RGB on screen black means no colour is present.

After Effects works in layers, there are layers in Affect Effects that are unique to this programme.

When you see values in yellow it means you can adjust the sizes.

When you add a new layer there are changes in the project windows, the time line has the shape for the 10 second duration of the project, shown by the red bar.

A layer can only contain one thing at a time.

When you add a new layer you can change the time line so the objects on the layers appear at different time, this is called quick scrub.

If you press the space bar it will play through your timeline and show you how it plays in real time, if you have a lot going on it won't be able to play in real time.

Ram preview is good to play back more complex files.

If you're computer is struggling to process the file you can change it to a lower quality so it doesn't render all the files and plays better but in a lower quality.

You have the different layer and you can change when they cone in and out of the animation depending on where you move and change the time scale.

If you press the tilda key, the key next tot he Z and shift key it will enlarge the window you gave selected to full size.

If you press the triangle by the layer you get all the transform options open down.

If you want to create a key frame click the stopwatch next to the transform setting you are using on your layer and a yellow diamond will appear marking where the key frame is which records the information about that layer at that point.

You can copy and paste key frames onto other layers.

if you want to change key frames but keep them relevant, select them all and hold and alt key whilst moving them and they space between them will remain the same.

If you move the bigger grey bar to the end of the section you are currently working on it will loop that section of your animation.

If you want to show all your layer options at once use the tilda key to expand that section.

Keyboard shortcuts:

P- Opens position option on your layer

A- Opens anchor point

R- Opens rotate

S- Opens size

T- Opens Opacity

SHIFT- Highlights the range

Command- Highlights the ones you choose

Command A- Highlights all

I & O- In and Out

U- Opens all animated properties

To Export-

Change the end point of your work area so that only that section exports.

Go to composition -> Add to render queue, look at output module and output to.

Change animation formate to H.264

Click render to export.

It will save your work as a quick time file.

Here is my final short animation. 

Vimeo

For this module we have to use Vimeo to upload our work onto our blogs as we are doing a lot of screen based work.

We were asked to either set up a Vimeo account or if we already had a an existing account make sure it works.

 I made an account last year so I tried to log on to see if it worked...

 And it was all fine!

Evaluation

 

1.  What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I definitely think my digital skills have improved vastly in this brief, especially my Illustrator skills, I have spent more time practicing an sticking with it where in the past I would get frustrated and move on and try find another way around.

I also think my drawing skills have improved, after the 150 logos task I got back into drawing my ideas and visualising my ideas a lot more. I also found that I do really enjoy drawing my ideas out on design sheets, it helps when you go to put your work on Illustrator or Photoshop.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

Designing on paper before designing on screen is definitely a method I have developed in this module, I have always produced design sheets for projects but I feel in this project I have designed in a lot more depth and tried out many variations of size, colour and layout. I definitely think this helped for when I started designing on screen, it made it a lot easier because I already had ideas and visuals to work from. I have also started to consider how design is printed and what is practical and what isn’t, looking at colours and layout. It is important you check all your settings before printing so that when your design is printed you get it the way you want it, making sure the colours are inside the CMYK gamut and making sure the correct crop marks are in the right places.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I feel I have done a lot of research on design already out that there demonstrates the different type of print processes and finishes we have be learning about so I have developed a good understanding of how they can be applied to design and products. Also when it is appropriate and what type of print process is right to use for what your designing.

I also feel I have spent time developing my work within this project, I think we we’re helped along at the start by the tasks we were set with the logos and packaging. However I feel I carried this on throughout the project and it helped my work develop and lead me to produce a outcome that I am happy with and that I spent time developing to get to this stage.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I think I need to work at a faster pace, I am happy with my outcomes but I feel that if I had worked faster I could have produced more products in my range. I feel it is a weakness I often have with my briefs, I seem to spend too much time on one idea and then forget about other parts of my brief. In this brief I am happy with my final product but I feel more time could have been spent developing the packaging design, but this is something I have to learn to manage within briefs, the amount of time I dedicate to everything I need to do. I also need to improve my layout skills, when designing my top ten manual I struggled to design a layout that was exciting and interesting. I feel like I have not spent a lot of time developing these skills in the past so it is something I need to work on and improve for the future.

 

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1- Make sure I time manage myself better and spread my time more equally between tasks within a brief so all my outcomes are up to the same standard.

2-Practice my layout skills so that I can produce better laid out designs in the future.

3-Stay calm! I have found that I have got very stressed out and worked up about my work during this brief and I have found this does not resolve anything, if anything it makes matters worse. If I stay clam and think logically there is normally a solution.

4-Go out of my comfort zone more, I feel like I have branched out of my comfort zone more than usual during this brief but I think I can still push myself further and try more new things I haven’t done before.

5-

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (Please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					X
Punctuality					X
Motivation				X
Commitment				X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced			X
Contribution to the group				X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

 

 
 

Final Boards

Photography My Product

These are photos I have taken of my final products, I have already photographed my maps opend up which you can see earlier on my blog. It was hard to photograph my product as when my maps are fully open they open up to A2 so take up a lot of room. However I feel that I have some images that I will be able to use on my final boards.

Saving Document as PDF

I need to put my work onto CD to hand in for module submission, to do this I need to changed my files into PDFs. I have done this on all my illustrator files, I have also made sure all my printers marks are in place.