After Effects: Creating a Vignette with a Solid
Solids in Adobe After Effects have an endless amount of uses. Having the ability to make almost anything with a Solid in After Effects makes them very powerful and you will find that almost all of your compositions will have at least one if not several Solid Layers. One of the most utilized Solids is one that you turn into a Vignette. This effect will add focus to your composition and most of the time will make an average sequence look rich. In our After Effects Training class I teach how to make this popular effect but I have many requests to post it as a tutorial for future reference. So, simply follow these steps and you will have the ability to make your own custom Vignettes in After Effects. Regardless if you are using CS3 or CS4 these steps will be identical.
1. Create a new composition in either 720X480 or whatever size your project calls for. I created this example in 1920X1080 because this particular project was high-definition shot on a Sony EX-1 camera.
2. Go to Layer>New>Solid or type cmmd+Y for Mac and cntrl+Y on Windows.
3. Create a pure black solid and make sure it is your composition size by clicking on the make comp size button. Name your solid layer Vignette; this will help keep you organized as you build other solids.
4. Make sure that the Vignette layer is on top of your other layers.
5. Click on the Vignette layer in your timeline and make sure it is selected. If you do not select that layer After Effects will automatically make a new shape layer. Select the Ellipse tool from your tools palette and simply double-click the ellipse tool once it is selected and you will have a perfect ellipse. You do not want to try and draw it with your mouse, it takes longer and it will never be perfect. What you have created is a mask. This mask cuts an oval shape in your solid layer. You will notice at first that it is subtracting the outside of the solid, not the inside which is the desired effect.
6. To change the solid mask simply select Subtract from the Mask layer. Now all you have to do is adjust the mask setting.
7. I have found a great formula for creating a great looking mask is to change the opacity setting to aprox. 25% and the feather amount around 45. This is great starting point and you can adjust to flavor from here.
2. Go to Layer>New>Solid or type cmmd+Y for Mac and cntrl+Y on Windows.
3. Create a pure black solid and make sure it is your composition size by clicking on the make comp size button. Name your solid layer Vignette; this will help keep you organized as you build other solids.
4. Make sure that the Vignette layer is on top of your other layers.
5. Click on the Vignette layer in your timeline and make sure it is selected. If you do not select that layer After Effects will automatically make a new shape layer. Select the Ellipse tool from your tools palette and simply double-click the ellipse tool once it is selected and you will have a perfect ellipse. You do not want to try and draw it with your mouse, it takes longer and it will never be perfect. What you have created is a mask. This mask cuts an oval shape in your solid layer. You will notice at first that it is subtracting the outside of the solid, not the inside which is the desired effect.
6. To change the solid mask simply select Subtract from the Mask layer. Now all you have to do is adjust the mask setting.
7. I have found a great formula for creating a great looking mask is to change the opacity setting to aprox. 25% and the feather amount around 45. This is great starting point and you can adjust to flavor from here.
Listed below are 0 links to blogs that reference this entry: After Effects: Creating a Vignette with a Solid.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.geniusdv.com/weblog/mt-tb.cgi/1282
