Creating a Short Film- 10 VFX Effects

On July 22, 2019

Release date:2019, June 19

Duration:04 h 51 m

Author:Chad Perkins

Skill level:Intermediate

Language:English

Exercise files:Yes

Get a practical look at the world of visual effects (VFX). In this installment of the 13-part Creating a Short Film series, filmmaker Chad Perkins focuses on how to tackle the effects in the VFX portion of the post-production workflow. Throughout the course, Chad demonstrates how to create the visual effects seen in The Assurance, the short film featured throughout the series. Chad goes over a variety of common VFX tools and how to really sell effects shots. He digs into how to create magical effects with Trapcode Particular, Trapcode Form, and with native After Effects tools, as well as how to create a cool explosion shot by compositing live action fire footage, create swirling particles in Cinema 4D, build a custom lens flare using Optical Flares, and much more.

Topics include:
Selling effects shots with sound design and practical lights
Making magical effects with Trapcode Particular and Form
Building a custom lens flare with Optical Flares
Making a 3D magic ball from 2D Fractal Noise textures
Rebuilding shots digitally
Creating an explosion shot
Using dust footage to make fiery embers
Creating swirling 3D particles in Cinema 4D

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0 – 1. Introduction
E0 – About this training series
E1 – The Assurance
E2 – Introduction to this course
E3 – About the third-party plugins used
E4 – Dealing with the exercise files

1 – 2. The World of Effects
E10 – Why the VFX were done in 4K
E5 – An overview of common VFX tools
E6 – The importance of sound design in effects
E7 – Using practical helps
E8 – Utilizing contrast to enhance effects shots
E9 – Using 32 bits per channel

2 – 3. Ta’ani’s Off-Screen Light
E11 – Approaching VFX shots
E12 – Supplementing the practical light
E13 – Anatomy of the lens flare
E14 – Enhancing with Particular dust
E15 – Removing the background bird
E16 – A quick look at the reverse shot

3 – 4. Making Ta’ani’s Magic Eyes
E17 – Painting the eyes in Photoshop
E18 – Tracking the eyes in After Effects
E19 – Creating depth and movement with Fractal Noise
E20 – Coloring the effect to composite better

4 – 5. Forming the Little Ball
E21 – Preparing the shot
E22 – Making the little ball with Trapcode Form
E23 – Adding particles with Form and Particular
E24 – Making the tiny swooshes
E25 – Simulating a rack focus effect
E26 – Simulating the ball being blown away

5 – 6. Creating an Explosion Shot
E27 – Combining live action explosion shots
E28 – Creating a realistic glow in front of objects
E29 – Compositing branches over the explosion
E30 – Adding embers created with Trapcode Particular
E31 – Rotoscoping the characters
E32 – Freezing areas of the frame in time
E33 – Simulating camera shake

6 – 7. Forming the Big Ball
E34 – Examining the original plan, and why it changed
E35 – Creating the textures with Fractal Noise, part 1
E36 – Creating the textures with Fractal Noise, part 2
E37 – Making the textures equirectangular
E38 – Assembling and compositing the ball components
E39 – Coloring the ball
E40 – Creating the fiery top in Trapcode Form

7 – 8. Effects in the Finale Sequence
E41 – Custom lens flare, part 1- Streak
E42 – Custom lens flare, part 2- Glow
E43 – Custom lens flare, part 3- Multi-iris 1
E44 – Custom lens flare, part 4- Multi-iris 2
E45 – Gathering the ball with Element 3D
E46 – Creating Golhatns eyes
E47 – Using dust footage to make embers
E48 – Creating swirling particles in Cinema 4D
E49 – Compositing live action fire footage
E50 – Adding heat distortion