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TUTORIAL: Demon Face Warp

In this frightening tutorial you will learn a powerful technique called “Reverse Motion Tracking” to perform demonic facial reconstruction.

This was going to be on a tutorial DVD but I’m a nice guy ; )

Here is another example of this same technique:

Don’t forget to buy a DVD from our online store!
We appreciate it!

454 RESPONSES TO "TUTORIAL: Demon Face Warp"
Mark
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:25 am

FIRST COMMENT!! WATCHING NOW!!

    April 3rd, 2011 @ 1:59 am

    Yeah, those were the times, trying to get the first post :)
    Please see this video http://vimeo.com/20035797 I’ve learned everything in AE from Video Copilot!

Joey
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:25 am

SECOND!!! WHOOOO!!!!! THIS LOOKS AMAZING!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    November 29th, 2011 @ 12:27 pm

    Love the copilot, if it were not for Andrew I would be lost.He material always looks amazing as stated, whooo http://blip.tv/TheMayFiles everything I do has alittle of Andrew in it Thanks Andrew.

Gary
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:26 am

SWEET looks so cool

Andrew
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:27 am

haha, sweet… this is better than day to night

Chip
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:28 am

Wait. So which pic is the “Special FX” shot?

Jacob Behunin
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:28 am

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude

IFS
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:31 am

thanks to clarify as were the demonic one because the two scare xDD is joke, sorry with your friend xDD. Thanks for the tutorial are amazing.

Sorry by my English

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:31 am

Woohoo!

-Scott

Clarky104
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:31 am

Hay, first post on this website. Think what your doing is great. And another great tutorial. Purchased Riot, DSFX, AME, SEC, really helpfull Andrew.. Thanks

Arvid
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:34 am

Wow super!

THX!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:37 am

NICE :D

Magnusfaz
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:38 am

So cool!!! like Angel or Buffy!!!! Thx Man!!!

S. Gilbert
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:41 am

Very Cool!!!

Jon Sands
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:46 am

why didn’t you just track the points on his face, then change the target of the motion tracker to the effects position, or even a null object, which you could then parent all the effects position to? thats how I do it, and it seems a lot simpler.

anyhoo, thank you so much for all the great tutorials, i check this page like 10 times a day to see if there is a new one. I can never go back to monotone boring tutorials again!

Pogma
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:47 am

Errr where is it O_o

it’s not in the tutorial section

Mark
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:51 am

Just finished, and Andrew, I didn’t understand anything haha.

Would it be possible to take your project and just plug in my own footage, retrack it, and it would look good?

Mark
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:51 am

Oh wait, but let me add, IT WAS AMAZING!

michi
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:52 am

masterpiece.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:52 am

jesus man this is scary stuff, sam as a demon when i saw it i was like hollysh**t you have no idea andrew what i have in mind after seeing this .like you said this is the kind stuff we are looking for . I salut you .

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:54 am

LOL, Just keep watching it until you get it. Or go film your own scene and just start following along using your own footage. You will learn from simply running into problems.

Think about it simply like this, once you track, follow the reverse track recipe and then everything you do to the face from that point on will stick. (just remember to parent)

Migha GC
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:55 am

This tutorial is AMAZING folks! I actually got scared when I saw it.. I just startet looking right when he transformed! Scared the s***t out of me!
Really amazing!!

Some Guy
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:55 am

Speechless
Thank you

Pogma
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:57 am

wheres the tutorial !!!!???

:( looks like it’s not in the tutorial section andrew halp !

minilem
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:59 am

ermm… wheres the tutorial? looks great AK
buh where is it? =(

help!

Pogma
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:59 am

nevermind now there is

Alexander
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:59 am

O.O Amazing

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:00 am

Jon, the reverse tracking is essential to making the liquify “stick” to the shot. The other effects can be links to a null but not the liquify. The liquify filter does have a distortion offset but would require some expressions to get it to link to the null data properly. Also I really wanted to explain the reverse tracking function as a great roto technique.

By reverse tracking you can add static masks and make slight adjustment when using faster moving footage without having to change mask keyframes erratically.

Chris
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:00 am

Amazing as always! I´ve been away for 10 days and havn´t had access to the internet, and of course the first thing I did when coming home was to visit your site and see what´s new here, and I´m amazed of all new things, new tutorials, new blog entrys!!

You´re the best Andrew, keep it up!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:01 am

hey andrew.. why dont u just parent the tracking info to a camera?

Thats much easier!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:02 am

Oh, and the liquify doesn’t have a rotation function so it wouldn’t follow the footage correctly if it rotates…

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:02 am

Are fruit roll-ups and cheezits the preferred foods of the undead? (Besides of course for human flesh)

Jon Sands
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:03 am

ah, makes sense, I figured there was something I was missing, I knew you’re too good and innovative to miss something as simple as that

keep up the great tutorials

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:03 am

Thanks for keeping me honest Jon ; )

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:05 am

Morten, I hope your kidding… Cameras require 3D tracking data for proper function. I’m sure I’ll get into 3D tracking one day. But little by little I suppose.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:06 am

hey again… Now i got u here andrew!

Isent this technique with the reverse tracking thingy, the same as just adding a camera to the comp, and then parent the cam to the tracking info?

Motski out!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:08 am

Mark Christiansen from FXphd shows a cool way to do this! I think its possible!

Check it out!

koppa
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:10 am

sweeeeeet!!!!!!!!

Black_dust
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:10 am

Woah thats amazing, defo going to try it out this weekend, http://youtube.com/watch?v=wpBPi4CjDMQ reminded me of this video, least i know how Chris did it :D

Thanks Andrew!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:11 am

I’ve never done it that way and I don’t think it would work… A cameras view depending on zoom, angle of view, etc. 2D tracking info would not match up when applied to a camera. A 3d camera has 3 coordinates and tracking only creates 2. I know Dan Ebberts has a script that calculates all the parameters to create a cool 3D corner pin, but for practical uses this isn’t necessary for this 2D effect. I’d be curious about this technique though perhaps I’ll look into it.

AK

Jamsta
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:13 am

awesome!!!

Ta.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:13 am

Well now im starting to get alittle nervous, but i really think its possible in this case!

i will look into it, i might post a tutorial here on the blog!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:14 am

Morten! I think I know what you are talking about now, but for this effect precomposing is essential to the liquify filter working correctly and sticking to the face.

minilem
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:19 am

wowie! AK you done it again! i coulda used this when i made my video..

oh well! thanks alot AK!

Chip
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:20 am

It would be nice to know what all this jibber jabber is about since I cant find the tute. But hey, at least I coined a new phrase: Jibber Jabber.

Jon Sands
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:20 am

long live cunningham!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:21 am

Okay just a quick tutorial here then

- Track the footage
- Create a Null
- Edit to target (Null) (or just paste the tracking data to the null)
- Create a 55mm CAM
- Make the two layers 3D layers (the footage and the null)
- Parent the cam to the Null

Now you should be able to add elements that sticks to the place u add it..

But i think ur right Mr. Andrew. I just though it was slightly the same, but after writing this i think ur right!

Anyways, this is also a nice technique! :)

Peace!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:21 am

Refresh the Tutorial page it should be there….
AK

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:21 am

that was beyond cool

Valentinos Demetriou
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:25 am

COOL Tutorial Andrew as always!!!! Everyday i check the blog and the comments and i have an advice for you!!!! Why dont you create a forum for this website instead!!! It would be really useful!!!!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:25 am

Cool find Morten, I’ll have to remember that for an upcoming tutorial. This would be perfect… I still need to get my head around it. It’s too simple ; )

Darrell
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:25 am

I’m halfway thru it and it’s amazing, just one thing… Do you sleep Andrew?

Arvid
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:26 am

Andrew say’s: Also I really wanted to explain the reverse tracking function as a great roto technique

That was a realy nice technique! But is there some motiontracking technique where you can track or use the trackdata on mask shape points or with some expressions to make rotoscoping al less time consuming job?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:26 am

hehe np mate!

Just remember to make a shoutout to me then ;)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:30 am

“future tut”

And now to this exclusive tutorial, where im going to show u how to track footage and add a picture to a wall! And this was a technique i got from Morten Christensen from Denmark. Thank you Morten :)

Im still dreaming! :D

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:30 am

Roto sucks! there are tools and things but at the end of the day it still sucks. Just remember this do it once and do it right.

zector
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:30 am

Andrew: you rock, this is by far the best tutorial!!
thanks for all the free knlowegde!!!!

James
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:32 am

wow, i never expected this,

Arvid
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:32 am

ok thanks.

Jon Sands
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:35 am

yea I agree with whoever said earlier, you should really get a forum andrew. myself and I’m sure a whole lot of other people would be active, and it would be a commonwealth of excellent knowledge and good people.

think about it man, it’d be great

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:37 am

Omg, that is one crazy cool tutorial! Really awsome!

MM.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:37 am

Get an intern from the local university to do your roto for you. They love doing a lot of boring work for no pay. I agree Andrew it sucks big time.

Henry_B
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:39 am

thanks for another awsome tutorial Andrew!!!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:39 am

This is without a doubt the COOLEST tutorial ever. I think I’d want to use this to create something for a horror movie. It actually looks SO awesome! Thanks!

P.S – The only part im not sure about is what if we dont have any fruit roll-ups for the zombies. Is there something we can substitute that with?

Thanks,
Alex

Sandy
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:43 am

Beauty!!!! thats our Andrew Kramer.

Thankyou! was waiting 4 a new one.

Superb TUT. Keep up da gud wrk.

Thnx & Regards
Sandy

Yva
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:45 am

wow, this is I must say one of my favorite effects of all times, can’t wait to try it myself on myself offcourse.

You are the best A.

Chip
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:49 am

“Just remember this do it once and do it right.”

Thats what she said.

Tyler
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:50 am

Don’t tell me this means there will be no Serious FX 2

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:53 am

You said ‘you don’t want to die alone, trust me’. This comment begs the question : do you have experience of dying alone? The followup question will then be : Are you one of the undead yourself?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:55 am

I honestly can’t see the tutorial, i refreshed, rebooted, emptied cache etc

i keep getting this page.

anyways i guess its a good one again ;)

Moca MX
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:55 am

GREAT
AWESOME
COOL
VFX allways
How about ading fire to his eyes that would be cool

Kyle Shields
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:02 am

Cool.

Martin
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:03 am

Realy cool tutorial Andrew, thanks! :)
I think ill will us this on in my next movie.

Johnny B Goode
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:09 am

This is awesome it reminds me of the Evanesence Music Video called Going Under… Thanks Alot Andrew!!!!!!!!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:14 am

This is going to be sweet for my “Run” short film Im going to eventually get to about a zombie cornering a victim in a room. I cant wait to get to work on it now that I know I can do this sort of thing to give the zombie a look without even using make up!!!!

Bones

Mats
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:16 am

awsom tutorial and really powerfull and great funn.
good work.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:17 am

Andrew,

When you talk about bringing in an adjustment layer to the “Precomp Face” layer and it NOT tracking with the shot – couldn’t you just PARENT the “adjustment layer” to the “PRECOMP Face” for it to work and track properly?

Patrick
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:19 am

just watch the video and started laugh how easy you made this look :) , right were my cam I’m off to make a face hee hee great work Andy

Cheers
Patrick

Matt, UK
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:22 am

Play it backwards you end up with Sam….. Aaaaaagggghhhhhh ;)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:23 am

My god! This tutorial is really useful ! Now I know how to make a cellular regeneration like Heroes :p
Thank You very much Andrew !!!
Question: How to show expression controls, clicking on the watch ? When I click, nothing appears. Do I need to press a key ?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:33 am

This was as good as you promised! These techniques are incredibly useful and I can see many different applications for this. The reverse track is the key point of the whole tutorial and I really appreciate it. Ive done things like this before but it didn’t go well and was way more work. This is a brilliant technique. Thanks!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:35 am

jepp, ALT

OceanFlowingMotion
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:49 am

Great stuff but….. i can’t track it right it goes all over the place, how come your track stays perfect,whats the diff, better quality picture?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:54 am

In regard to my earlier post – adding more info :

To be exact : at 9:20 in the tutorial, in the PreComp Face comp, you said NOT to put an adjustment layer because it would not track – but can’t you just link the Adjustment layer to the PreComp Face comp (from 9:20->10:00) won’t this work to track with the comp?

m.abulazm
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:58 am

Andrew… i can”t say anything >>>
this is amazing one >>>
can you give us a brief of how can i think in something like this to achive it.
you try everything or you know from the beging what you going to do and how ?

thanx for everything you did for us
i”m stuck @ 19.30 …. is there anything wrong or just traffic.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:59 am

Looks good AK! =)

Greg Hooker
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:09 pm

How about a tutorial that kills the demon and they die like the Vamps in Blade or Buffy the TV show. This TUT is my favorite so far. It also was @ a perfect time, I am about to do a couple of test shots and was wondering how to do it without make-up. Mr. Kramer you are amazing.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:14 pm

Awesome tut! I really like cool stuff like in this one :) thx

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

loved the tutorial :D

Jacob Aaron
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:19 pm

Wow this one was awsome!! Thanks!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:20 pm

Try beating Sam up with that face… yeah, didn’t think so.

This is freakin’ amazing! Thanks Andrew

see4d
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:22 pm

I am also stuck few minutes before end. Great tutorial though.

vandaliko289
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:23 pm

wou wou wou jajaja k miedo muy buen efecto adrew
exelente
salu2

Chef Tony
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:30 pm

Well… you got lucky… this really is the best tutorial ever!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:35 pm

YES!!! Thanks for the horror tutorial! Halloween is coming……I WANT MORE!!

Charles P
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:38 pm

Hey do you know if it’s able to be done on After Effects 6.5? Andrew? Anyone?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:40 pm

lol this looks great, as soon as I get this video uploaded i’m going to watch it

editing can wait ;-)

Craig Woolhouse
July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:48 pm

WOW! This is by far the coolest AE tutorial online right now!

SAM; you are a great sport! But, I do think the ‘boss’ owes you a big fat bonus in this weeks pay cheque for this comment and I quote “or you could just use the regular face, that’s pretty scary alone!” haha. ok I know I’m taking it out of context but it did make me chuckle :)

Hay AK, did I read a comment from your good self above this one stating that you don’t like roto-scoping? Because I was hoping you would one day teach us how to create this effect: http://youtube.com/watch?v=VTSbcdhBHuA

I know it all depeds on the footage and how it has been shot, but I’m thinking a mixture of your previous lesson on creating a matte from the colorarma effect and a maybe some motion tracking it could be made easier than just painting and keyframing it all by hand, frame by frame?

Any suggestions Andrew?

Thanks again for the eye-opening insight into After Effects often overseen yet powerful tools!

Peace.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:53 pm

This has to be one of the best AfterFX tutorials I have ever seen! I was totally amazed by this one. How the heck do you figure out where too start??? Excellent stuff, would love to see more like this

Wayne from the UK

July 23rd, 2007 @ 12:57 pm

Love this tutorial Andrew, keep up the great work. You’ve got a great site!

rjf
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:06 pm

if Andrew was a math teacher…
“Hi Andrew Kramer here and today I’m going to show you how to divide by zero…”

if Andrew was a mechanic…

“Hi Andrew Kramer here and today I have a fun one for you… we’re going to take this ’71 Gremlin and soup it up so that it outruns this ’03 Dodge Viper SRT-10…”

Awesome job as always Andrew!

Daniel Gomez
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:10 pm

for some reason i cant get a good track for the life of me

Patryk Duk
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:16 pm

wow! this is my favourite tutorial! i luv this

Chip
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:25 pm

Now for Part 2 to this tutorial….Dusting FX.

Greg Hooker
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:27 pm

Chip Says:

July 23rd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Now for Part 2 to this tutorial….Dusting FX.

I agree big time

Ben
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:34 pm

AWESOME NEW is right!

Jacob Behunin
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:45 pm

Awesome tutorial.
More stuff like this!
It’s going to be a sad day if VCP ever goes down….

July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:46 pm

THIS IS STHE BESTT ONE EFFER !!!!!!!!

Chris
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

Absolutely amazing, this will definately put to use in our Zombie/Monster feature! Thx so much…

And yes, a forum would be so cool!

Daniel Gomez
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:54 pm

quick question, for the first track can you track the inside of the eyes other than the outside?
i cant seem to track the outside

Mehrad
July 23rd, 2007 @ 1:57 pm

woooooooooooow , awsome!! that’s tutorial man ,
i love u andrew , i mean love love not love love :D
u r great .
thanks , i think tutorials r going to the next level .
and thanks again for making cool tutorials andrew .

July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:01 pm

Lol, wow very creative AK can’t wait to try it out…now where did I put those sun glasses beacuse I think we all know the sun never sets on a zombie from hell ;-)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:03 pm

Sweet tutorial, I even blowed my head off
http://www.kmsolution.net/blood.mov
Love this Andrew keep going.., and going with new tutorial.

Titso
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:22 pm

Hahahaha you have done it again Andrew, you are brilliant and i love sam, he is the best:)

Riko FX
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:28 pm

I am happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ara Hollisian
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:31 pm

Can’t seem to get passed 4:10. It freezes. Tried refresh and nothing. All other tutorials work fine.

peter
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:35 pm

really good ideas about how to realize this kind of effects. tonight i came back home from work late and switched on tv and my pc but your totorials are a lot more entertaining (+a lot more interesting) than any tv-show oder dvd.
great stuff !!!

Mikael Toxen Worm
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:48 pm

The tutorials “crashes” on both my laptop, and my normal PC… after a couple of minutes it just stops!

I’ve never had such a problem with any of the other tutorials.
Oh why is this such a cruel world :(

Orhan
July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:50 pm

Although this is awesome, I don’t think it’s really one of your best.
I guess it’s a taste thing.

I’ll go watch now :)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 2:52 pm

I would mess around with your tracking points. Try the eyebrow maybe, or mess around with the bounds of the tracking point. Also his footage was HD, so he was tracking high quality footage, which makes for a better track.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:00 pm

VERY VERY NICE. This is by FAR the best tut you have ever done. Still waiting on that Zat tut tho :P For all of us stargate fans, bug AK for a zat tut. But any who, very well done, love the face you made Sam.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:01 pm

This is my first reply here, so first things first:
Andrew, you’re the man! Your tutorials are a big step in learning After Effects. It’s like you’ve read my mind, only 2 days ago i thought of a crazy plan to show my “evil side” in a small movie, using the Liquify effect. This tutorial is a great help to me, thanks for putting this and all the other tutorials online for free!

Docteur Maboul
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:05 pm

What an amazing tutorials ! Fantastic !

Tom
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:05 pm

Andrew you are a genius :) thx a lott!!

giri
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:15 pm

your tutorials very helpfull to me thanq andrew

July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:16 pm

I found after trying the tutorial twice that the liquify still moves around slightly – so it doesn’t stay on the nose.
It is parented and the data is tracked, but maybe it is the way I shot the original footage because it does move slightly and does not stay centered on the nose completely. Any ideas?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:19 pm

This effect opens up so many doors! Thanks for teaching!

Elhora
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:29 pm

Wow ! Impressive ! i didn’t even know it was possible to do this in AE !

Just add a bloody body desintegration and Buffy won’t have anymore secret for us ! :)
You rock Guy !

minilem
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
Dennis
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:33 pm

I just downloaded the project, then After FX said, it couldn´t find the Liquid Filter.
I have the German After Effects Version and in German, the Liquid Filter is called “Verflüssigen”. Now…how do i add the effect again, without adding all of the keyframes etc.??
And, does anyone know where to get the deamon-sound??:P
Well, i´ll have to go to bed…here in Germany it´s already 00:33 am
Good night@all^^

Dennis
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:34 pm

Ahh…and Andrew….Great Tutorial!!!
You were right…better than Day to Night.

Darth Italy
July 23rd, 2007 @ 3:43 pm

so if i understand correctly this wont work if the face rotates?

M20
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:02 pm

Andrew, one word awesome!
Again so insightfull!

If you were a girl i would marry you!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:05 pm

Hey Andrew,

Im still a bit confused with all this tracking info and all. I was just wondering, would there be an easier way if i kept the camera still?

Kind Regardss
-Dave

P.S. You are my idol. Haha.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:05 pm

loved it, i so know my friends are gonna ask “how the hell did you do that” if i make a vid like that. I guess thats how they did that scene in lord of the rings 1 with bilbo baggins, when he gets tempted by frodos ring at the beginning and his face goes demonic for a second.

However I always admire how you know how to type in all the expressions and stuff, I do hope to learn how they work and how to understand them, but you said they are easy, yet they do look confusing to know when to use them and with what effects.

Ernesto
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:21 pm

nice effect Andrew thanx for the tutorials and mm i going to get some dvd’s but a lil later iam saving money for this

what type of camara did you use to get high quality videos?

or how did you get it into your pc ?

i got the Sony handycam DCR-TRV280 but i only records them into the pc by using movee autoproducer 4.5 and it kinda little resolution ;(

any body got another method ill appreciated thanx in advance

and thanx again Adrew

Soroush
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:31 pm

Hello Mr. Kramer,

It was about time I dropped you a line and thank you for all of these amazing tutorials. Im a frequent visitor to your site and I just cant thank you enough for all this free knowledge that you are sharing with us.

You are one of a kind and I wish you the best in life!

Keep up the great, no, superb work and PLEASE keep them coming! =)

Regards
Soroush

Conor
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
Orhan
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:33 pm

It will work if the face rotates, you just gotta do some precomposing in a few places.

Orhan
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:34 pm

Also, You could add some fractal to get that boiling skin effect instead of a grunge graphic!

Zumez
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:37 pm

This is awesome, but I have to wait till I get home untill I can give it a shot.

Brian
July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:43 pm

hah, Very cool. I’ll definitely use tracking/reverse tracking now for other projects.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:50 pm

wow, just brilliant, watching now

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:53 pm

YOU ARE A GENIOUS

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:57 pm

great tut, but i was wondering…can this tut be combined with the tutorial #07. Advanced Blemish Removal?

think that would help to color corect only the face, dont know, have to try, it is late… =P

grat video once more, cant wait day to night tough =P

July 23rd, 2007 @ 4:57 pm

amazing!

Morten Enoksen
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:01 pm

Hey Andrew! I got one question for you.

If your footage is steady(with a tripod) what part can i skip of this?
I want the effect. But i dont need to steady it. So please explain!

Thanks!

BTW. Sam, ur looking cool as a fashion demon with black sunglasses xD

Niros
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:02 pm

Hey Andrew,
I have a question, more of a problem actually.
I can’t get to apply the tracking on the movie layer.
How did you apply it?

Shirel
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:02 pm

Hey andrew,
if our goal is to track the face, won’t it be a good idea to set some tracking points like white dots on the face so it will be easy to track it?

John Paite
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:03 pm

holy shit…love the vfx tuts..keep them coming andrew!!! great job …

July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:21 pm

Try tracking from the middel out like I mention at one point in the tutorial for a possible better track. You can use other parts of the eye to track but the further the points the better.

If you parent a null, the effect won’t work properly, because the adjustment layer will still use the comp size as the reference and the liquify will just stay where it was put and not follow the face.

Tracking can be tricky, try increasing the size, and the search area…

Nice Videos guys!

Morten Enoksen
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:23 pm

Conor. Nice man. BTW. Im stokmarkes, commenting your video:)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:25 pm

What the —-
Omg.. Awesome..

Fabio
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:25 pm

# Morten Enoksen Says:
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm

Hey Andrew! I got one question for you.

If your footage is steady(with a tripod) what part can i skip of this?
I want the effect. But i dont need to steady it. So please explain!

Thanks!

BTW. Sam, ur looking cool as a fashion demon with black sunglasses xD

———————————————————————–

Yeah. what if we got a shot of the actor making a face on a tripod? What can i NOT do to ombtain this?

Badweather Baka
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:26 pm

thanks a lot for the great free tutorial best one yet no doubt dog

Alex Joyce
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:26 pm

Andrew im making an angel and demon movie… youve just taken it to a whole other level man thank you so much for this tut dude this is SO PERFECT!!!! thanks man keep up the goodwork

July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:28 pm

Trust me you need to track, even the slightest movement will ruin the effect. In theory it is possible but, unlikely difficult.

Orc Master
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:46 pm

Oh, come on, you should have released it EARLIER – Now I’m all covered in graveyard dirt, candle wax AND cheese! Also, the demon ate all my snacks. And I couldn’t film it!

Well, anyways, great tutorial, man. Keep them coming! Oh, and you REALLY read our comments! You made a joke on the tinfoil hat comment from the “New Tutorial” entry! Next time, make a joke with one of mine, pleaseeee :P

Thanks for the AWESOME tutorial!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:47 pm

Your are right, I stole that one…

vman
July 23rd, 2007 @ 5:54 pm

I had some unstable track points which created a flickering effect which actually added more intensity to the expression.. almost like a Camera Shake Effect.. but just for the face..

This is great stuff.. I love the relationship between Anchor Point and Position.. it sort of plays of that cool rotoscope tutorial on duplicating Vans on Creative Cow

Keep up the awesome work.

Orhan
July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:00 pm

I just wanted to ask, who’s the guy in the second picture?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:05 pm

Awesome tutorial man! :D

The “This is raw footage”-part, that one was for me right? ; )

Love this tutorial. Can use the morph effect such a huge amount of things!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:27 pm

who is that guy in the bottom picture .and i want to say that i got my wish in this tut cause in the vfxwhen it started few weeks ago when andrew asked guys you want vfx or gfx my comment was do somthing like from Xmen 3 where that girl changed her face to dark the one huge jackman likes .so i think i got my wish.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:28 pm

this took me 13 minutes from start to finish…….wow….i would have never thought it was that easy!

(of course i could have taken more time and cleaned things up….but….well…..i have no excuse, i’m lazy)

check out the fangs!
http://www.elswarrohorror.com/demontest.wmv

July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:34 pm

NICE!

Ara
July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:34 pm

Still can’t watch the tutorial. Can anyone explain?

John Paite
July 23rd, 2007 @ 6:35 pm

Hey Andrew,
I have a rather cool concept for videocopilot, Im working on it I will send you once its done..I have an exam tomorrow, suxed so I cant work on it tonight..but Im sure to send you by within this week!!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:04 pm

best tutorial ever!!!

P.S. I don’t understand everyone’s fascination with being the first to post a comment on the blog. Now being the last to post, that’s the real accomplishment. So nobody post any more so I can bask in the glory of being last. :)

Daniel Reynoldsd
July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:12 pm

Jeez…Thats crazy. How did you figure that out?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:27 pm

Elswarro great stuff man. I think u need to work on that texture though. looks like it moves slightly. still, awesome job. love the fangs

Elliott.G.Montello
July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:30 pm

here u go guys and girls my first try at it

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-GlkhQJN8

comment me and tell me what you think :) ! thanks

July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:40 pm

LAWL dat scared me

Anson
July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:42 pm

coolest tut ever!

Ben
July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:51 pm

This tutorial has endless limits! it kinda reminds me of the scean in the rundown, but anyways you can do
a pirates of the carrabieon or dr hyde mr jeckle or what ever! very awsome tutorial (and yes im a bad speller)

July 23rd, 2007 @ 7:52 pm

Haha, that is really cleaver Andrew. Great tutorial. I must try this.

unfiltered
July 23rd, 2007 @ 8:12 pm

Great stuff as always, Andrew!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 8:23 pm

Okay, time for me to sound stupid. I’m trying to get a grip on how the reverse thing works. I understand the *-1 for the roation. I think I understand that the pickwhip of position to anchor reverses the effect of the picture moving around. Is it the pickwhip of anchor to position that makes the liquify stick? I’m so close to getting it I can taste it. It tastes like cheez-its.

help?

July 23rd, 2007 @ 8:32 pm

What? How….? Andrew, do you have a little elf in your pocket that helps you figure this stuff out and if so, can I borrow him? I promise I’ll feed him.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 8:35 pm

Wow!!! That was intense! really bad ASS!!! I am about to shoot an adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe story, and I seriously cannot wait to use that technique! you are the man!!!!

-ryan

July 23rd, 2007 @ 8:45 pm

Everyone was posting their attempts, so I thought i’d post mine.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qEENiAc7LkM

Some of the face changes using the liquify tool apparently too dark to see in the video. Sorry about that.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:13 pm

very nice tutorial. I dont really have any use for a zombie type face, but the info on how to set up the track there will prove very helpful in the future!

Miguel Carrera
July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:14 pm

Here’s my try at this, Haha!

July 23rd, 2007 @ 9:56 pm

I cant lock the footage back .what if my footage not shacky do i still have to do the rotation.and do i track at any point .thnx.andrew did you get my email.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:02 pm

alex thats one ugly dorky zombie ,but you did good.

Alexey Pekarin
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:02 pm

Andrew!
I am going to join guys who asking for the forum on the site.
I’ve seen that many times the questions that you get in forum can be answered by other people (including myself) which will make their, yours and everyone’s life easier. Plus we can then have youpublish tuts based on our findings. I don’t mind if you make money on my knowledge (otherwise I wouldnt share it ;) ) Plus you get to see people with abilities so we can get together under your leadership to make a feature to explode the VFX world. Isn’t that your attention?

Alex

Marcelo
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:07 pm

This tutorial is amazing!

I studied four long years Computer Graphics and 3D and I Never get a lecture like that.

In Real world thats all you need trick from experience artists like you guys.

Thanks again for such amazing knodwlege that you are given to the Web Community.

MCM

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:08 pm

check this out!!

AROUND THE WORLD IN 8 MINUTES!!!

the use ANDREW KRAMERS tutorial for the EARTH ZOOM
and the zoom in and out all over the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5K4k4p8wEY

it’s crazy!!!

IngWAR
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:14 pm

Cooooooooolllllll!!!! So keep!!!

Johnny B Goode
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:16 pm

So if i wanna have masks to move with the eyes i have to motion track on the corners of the eyes or what?

Joey Winchester
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:21 pm

They actually just used Google Earth.

July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:40 pm

wow this is why I watch your tutorials. They are fun and educational. Keep up the good work Andrew! Andew you need to do a tour of your studio, or have a camera pointing at you while you’re doing a tutorial, that would be cool.

J
July 23rd, 2007 @ 10:59 pm

Haha, i love you man

that was a pretty good scary face from sam, even without the fx. j/k :)

Jason
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:00 pm

Andrew any suggestions on what to use for Demon sounds from DSFX?

Jacob Dyer
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:19 pm

Oh my oh my. What a wonderful tutorial Andrew. I really want to use this for eye colour changing mid shot and things like that, just those subtle scary things!

Cant wait to try this!

Ben
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:32 pm

Excellent work Andrew… By far the best tutorial ever! I feel sorry for Sam

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:34 pm

hmmmm

I’ve been trying this all night…

it doesn’t work for me…

it’s so hard..

July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:34 pm

WOW that LOOKs amazing..it was alil bit confusing for me into expression parts but i know ill get over it..n yeah i m gona do this with my self… :D
keep up the great Work..
cheers

Marco
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:46 pm

You’re simply awesome Andrew… All that I’ve learnt in the VFX world is thanks to your tutorials
(excuse me for my poor English, I’m Italian :) )

Here is my first attempt with the demon trick… When I’ll reach a cool level of quality maybe I send you other works from my portfolio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXrh388Xr08

Thanks again, keep it on!

Zony
July 23rd, 2007 @ 11:56 pm

Heya guys :)
i just spent 2,5 hours last night trying this out :D
and heres my first try hehe http://youtube.com/watch?v=Uti2iuQrBi8

i used the worst camera u could ever imagine to use for this kinda thing, and yeah actually for any kind of AE animaton hehe , the little crappy Macbook WEBCAM lol.

im pretty new to this program, i only just had my 17 birthday, so havent had the change to use all these english programs before now hehe

but what do u think of my first try ?

July 24th, 2007 @ 12:05 am

Really good, I love seeing all the demons;) Everyone has a differn’t unique eye for evil.

Marco, I really like yours the demon face is very well developed, just expand the colorize mask so that the entire face is green, we can see his human flesh.
AK

July 24th, 2007 @ 12:22 am

A very VERY cool tutorial Andrew!

I agree with you on Marco’s. Well done, just the expansion.

Man, I really have to post some of my videos soon Andrew :(

July 24th, 2007 @ 12:23 am

Marco, are you a KISS fan? Your demon looked like Gene Simmons.

BTW, I don’t have a video camera handy so maybe someone else can try this… I’d morph into a Homer Simpson-like character and have wave-warp lips and a burp sound effect. Key in a can of Duff.

Somebody has to do one with a tin foil hat.

Marco
July 24th, 2007 @ 12:36 am

LOL C Light!
However… I thought I could get a more realistic effect by fusing the green mask and the scratchy texture with a bit of human flesh.
I add one more texture before the grungy one, overlaying three psd with organic themes, and put it to cover the entire face. Then I put the grungy one scaling it a bit less than the organic one, and at last played a bit with the colorize mask.
The result is ruined flesh and texturized demon face…
But you know, I’m not famous for my artistic eye…
(If the grammar is all correct can I have a prize??)

July 24th, 2007 @ 12:44 am

this is off topic. but i need help. when i go to load after effects. it reads all the plug ins.. and when it gets to OpenGL 3D it terminates

my video card is a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500

anyone know what could be the deal?

Andre
July 24th, 2007 @ 12:48 am

OMG! Serious, I mean OMFG!!!!

Andrew, thats really the BEST Tutorial I ever saw! You just rised you personal best tutorial level :-)

Thanks a million. Now I will recreate Resident Evil!

Hampus
July 24th, 2007 @ 1:25 am

what can I say??? just that it’s awesome! I should make a zombie movie now, even if I don’t like the genre. this one together with “day to night” would be a pefect match!

Hampus
July 24th, 2007 @ 1:26 am

this one and “day to nigth” would be a perfect match before making a zombie movie :)