TUTORIALS FOR VFX & MOTION GRAPHICS
Free After Effects Tutorials & More Hosted By: Andrew Kramer
January 23, 2009
• Sure Target has been updated with several new features
• 3D Falloff preset also updated to use with Sure Target
 
 
TUTORIAL NOTES:
Before applying Sure Target 1.5, the Null and Target must be 3D first.
Auto-Rotate feature is tied to the rotation of a layer but not the orientation. Please manually adjust the XYZ rotation in the transform settings for each layer by hitting R.
Running Time: 10mins.


WATCH MORE TUTORIALS:
Real world projects
1,019,283 Views
1,218,039 Views
858,650 Views
1,304,846 Views
364 RESPONSES TO "PRESETS & MORE"

by edin m. / salzburg 02/07/2010
hi andrew - many thx for sharing your knowledge. AE is an outstandig possibility for me to combine my field of work (photography
by Thomas 02/01/2010
heyyy dude this is awesome!!! sos el mejor!!
by DIGANTA GOGOI 01/31/2010
Hey Andrew...
I lik the way u talk most... U r doin a great job Man... Kip Rock dis World lik dis... May u live long.. Tak care Man

Wit best Regards
DIGANTA GOGOI (ALEX)
http://www.myspace.com/digantagogoi
Mumbai, INDIA
by comexy 01/30/2010
andrew thanks for the awesome tutorial you are amazing.
by ii iml0sto1 01/25/2010
Hi andrew it seems like when im downloading the project i just download the ``Presets
by iiiml0sto1 01/25/2010
Hi andrew first i wanna thank you for being such a huge help but it seems like when im making my ``sure target`` too 2 or above nothing happens.. and the key frames are as they supposed to be :(
by akshay 01/21/2010
hi dude u r tuts is amesing ......but i have one problem .....
when i out the particle its not stable its emmitnig what i can do plzzz help me ..
by edwin 01/14/2010
hai freinds AE workspace or project
by lca 01/14/2010
im going to try to attempt this...i need a intro to my portfolio dvd
by George 01/09/2010
Hi,I understand by the comments that your name is Andrew,so Andrew I just wanted to thank you for these tutorials, I just Got AE less than 4 days ago and I didn't know it was this practical once I watched your tutorials.My friends said this was a hard software to work with, and of course it looks hard when you see it for the first time and have no idea what the hell the buttons do or represent, but your tutorials make it so easy to create something that looks amazing. So, cheers for that and thanks for sharing the knowledge :D
by Leo 01/07/2010
hi Andrew

Wish you Happy New Year pal. You are the genius in this after effects thing. I tried one of your tutorial the sure target thing everything went perfect but when it came for Effect-Simulaion-cc particle thing i did not find this particular effect. So i was able to put the background with particles. Hope you will help me out

Regards
Leon
by Andy 01/01/2010
@Jacob

It sounds like you applied suretarget to your null before making it a 3D layer. This means that the expressions for y and x rotation won't be appllied. Always make your null 3D first.
by Andy 01/01/2010
I find an easy solution for autofocus is to simply add an expression to the cameras focus distance. I simply subtract the focus distance from the camera's z position and it works a treat for me.
by Jacob Meyer 12/24/2009
the sure target camera movement worked but the auto rotate and auto ease would not work and i dont know why btw your tutorials have saved my life
by Clint 12/24/2009
Would it be possible to add an auto-focus control?

Dan Ebberts demonstrates a great auto focus expression on his website:

target = thisComp.layer("target");
v1 = target.toWorld(target.anchorPoint) - toWorld([0,0,0]);
v2 = toWorldVec([0,0,1]);
dot(v1,v2)

I'm not a coder, but would it be possible to integrate something like this and make it keyframeable between targets like the SureTarget? You could even have a checkbox that locks it to the current SureTarget.
by Ion 12/18/2009
Hey Andrew, your tutorials and presets are awesome, but i´ve problems with sure target, position and rotation gives error..i´m working with aftr fx in spanish. I need help please!!
by nekyon belgrave 12/15/2009
AE is just awesome. You've open my eyes to a whole new world of video interfacing. I can now set my scopes on higher ground. Thanks a bunch.
by Larry 12/11/2009
Andrew, Your tutorials are the best, the effects pack here on this site has made learning how to use after effects extremely easy compared to other tutorials that I have viewed.

I just don't know how to thank you enough, the first actual tutorial after the basics was of course the lightsaber tutorial as everyone wants to know how it was done.

I did get frustrated with the masking and moving, but it was so much easier with the effects preset.

I did try to use tracking and parenting to help with the movement, and it did work a little. so proof there that I have learned something in the 2 days of using your tutorials and after effects.

great job man.
by danny 12/10/2009
how do i get the particles and stuff because i don't have the auto rotate project?
by Safda 11/27/2009
Thanks Doogle, I scrolled down to your comment about only the Z rotation working and having to copy and paste it to Y and X rotations and then changing some of the properties and it fixed it up nicely!
by dp 11/27/2009
Hi! First I'd like to say that your tuts is the sh*t! just love em'. But I have a problem, when I set the slider the text slides sideways, so half of the text gets outside the picture. Plz help!
by vijay 11/26/2009
Really great stuff man it helps the guys to animate things very very very easier
by Rodrigo 11/25/2009
Hi Andrew. I´m from Venezuela. I´ve been using your presets and they are awesome. Thanks a lot and congratulations to the Video Copilot team. Today i started work with Sure Target 1.5.1. and i´m having some problems. It seems like the preset lost his auto rotate parameter and every text goes out of the frame with no apparent reason . By the way, i´m using is a intel based iMac with AF CS4. Thanx again, sorry for my english
by totomo 11/24/2009
Hey Andrew,
I don't know how you do this, but you are doing GREAT!!! I learned so much from u. Thank you!
by GUSTAVO DORNHOFER 11/14/2009
Hi Andrew!
I have just seen the videos and they are amassing!
I am looking for some help, how may i get those presets in spanish i'm from Argentina and I find your website and I want to buy it or something?
I hope you may help me I wait for your information
and thank you very mach and congratulations for your job!
Gustavo
by Michael 11/12/2009
Thanks Andrew for these great PlugIns. You saved my Day ...again.
Greetz from Germany
by Rich Keel 11/09/2009
Great Plugin. I did the quick tutorial last night and the control itself is so time saving!!!! I hate to say it but you should be selling this plugin - so useful!!!!

But I'm glad it is free.

Thanks,
Rich
by Doogle 11/05/2009
Hi, I've been working through this tutorial as I'm wanting to use this effect for a DVD menu, but the AutoRotate only effected the Z axis. I had to copy and paste the code onto the X and Y rotations and modify the properties a little to get it to work, is this a known problem?
by mango 11/02/2009
Thanks Andrew.
by Bernis 10/14/2009
Nice great stuff! dramatic time spend!!!!
by Reno 10/02/2009
He's talking about the Comp from the previous tutorial (#82) Louis. By missing settings, the only thing that would be missing is Sure Target settings if you have an older version of Sure Target installed. Everything else is standard.
by Louis Lienhøft 09/30/2009
i don't get it.. i do exactly what you are doing in this tut, but suddenly you use things from "the previous comp", but we didn't make another comp! and you use some settings that i don't have.. i don't get it...
by VeeMAX 09/28/2009
This is awesome.. AK rocks... :)
Thanks from India
by Junesun 09/27/2009
It's very nice !
After Effice is very good!
by Shaq 09/16/2009
Pretty good stuff u've got here. thanx
by Holly 09/14/2009
Um, I love you and your videos are so helpful and awesome. You're a god for making these free for anyone. Please have my babies.

Thanks.
by Enemy 09/13/2009
Very good explained Andrew :)

Thanks for releasing those auto features because i didnt get the 1.0 of Sure Target
by Daniel 09/09/2009
Amazing what you do on this site! I have just got action essentals, impressed ass hell! Hope you make many more tutorials, I'm the only one in my class that knows after effects, they are shocked.. I'm not gonna tell them where I learned it x)

Thanks from Sweden!
by sman118 09/06/2009
For anyone that was having trouble with the auto-rotate (like i was for hours) "ngambles" on the forum pointed out that the null object must be a 3d layer before you apply the sure target to it. He is my new hero. Hope that helps people like it helped me.
by der tobi 09/01/2009

@ cayle, about the particles
watch this: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/energetic_titles/
by David 08/31/2009
omg !!! your freaking asume andrew is the freaking man in the town !!
by josue 08/30/2009
hey guys im making all the steps but i jus cant get de autorotate to actually rotate i activate it an it just keep the same.. dont rotate.. can someone help me... appreciate da tut
by Cayle 08/28/2009
Can you or anyone explain to me how you make particles freeze so that you can do cool camera motions and so that the particles fly around the camera and stuff?
by julio 08/26/2009
thanks for teching after effects
by Atena 08/24/2009
where can i take this 2 back grounds of this tutorial ?
by Muhammad Zubair 08/22/2009
thanks yaar this website can solve my all problems.Thanks for teching after effects
by Timmah 08/21/2009
Mr Kramer.. You really are a very useful, occasionally funny
by mike@completeedits 08/17/2009
Awesome. Really useful! Thanks!
by AndreiRozhin 08/16/2009
that is sick!!!!!!!!!! I love this preset alot, but I'm having a problem with it, everytime select the target it moves that text out to the side and I can't see that text. I am using AAE CS4 can you help me?
by dapk 08/13/2009
My 3d layer thing (the arrows with x, y, and z) are to the left of my word.. how do i make it in the middle
by erbse 08/13/2009
AWESOME DUDE!
by Jan Brune 08/12/2009
I tried the preset and my German CS4 has problems with the word Kontrollk‰stchen. Thanks for all this great Tutorials
by ITE in Singapore 08/11/2009
I hope that the video must be provided with the English subtitle for understanding..

Thanks
by markllee 08/10/2009
admire you,and I want to be you
by Shandro 08/03/2009
Where i can download projekt file?
by DarkEntity 08/02/2009
Awesomeness...The best!
by Alex 08/02/2009
Is there anyway to download these final products so i could just customize it because I mess up when I do it????
by Jeremy 08/02/2009
Andrew, if you weren't already married...
by hakimovesky 07/31/2009
you are creative
by Johan 07/27/2009
Andreeeew your are KING!!!
by Edward 07/24/2009
Thanks Andrew, now i know alot about Sure Targets and particle systems etc..

You've been a BIG help!
by DarkEntity 07/24/2009
Pretty cool....Thanks Sir!
by San 07/14/2009
Woooo !!! *dead* That's awesome man !
Thanks a lot Andrew ! :)
by drfranken 07/07/2009
Thnaks Andrew for all! Excellent!
by Marcello 07/02/2009
LEGENDARY ANDREW, had a really "difficult" client but one i applied the methods from this tut he was beyond happy!!! I was honest though and said "dont thank me... thank Andrew"
by Darkfaced 06/30/2009
I'm from the Philippines..you're amazing man!!!!!!
by Isaac Alonzo 06/27/2009
this is awesome! i tried on some projects for comercials here and check the demo i did all based on the sure target preset

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jbq-Hr3bfQ
by deeo mitarockerz 06/24/2009
so nice !!!
How it the download ???
by tobi 06/15/2009
There is a problem with the German version. The check box under the easetargets-option is called "Kontrollkästchen" there, but somehow int the expressions the a-Umlaut in that word was replaced by the "per-mille-character" (‰). So this has to be manually fixed once in the expression at "Position" and twice in the expressions at "X-Drehung", "Y-Drehung" and "Z-Drehung".
But after that it works fine, thanks!
by jetpogi 06/15/2009
nice! thanks a lot andrew!
by Everett Bowes 06/11/2009
Andrew- Your tutorials are a key learning tool to so many! Please keep up the quality work.

Bro- for some reason I can't get the auto-rotate feature to work. I'm using AE CS4 on a Mac. Man, I can't figure out what the problem is!

Any help?
Thanks!
e~
by Fawaz 06/10/2009
Hello, this is the F.O.M BROTHERS A GRAPHIC DESIGNING GROUP AND WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY GREAT WORK IN REGARDS TO YOUR DESIGNS
by Neo 06/09/2009
AWESOME...
Deutsch: Unschlagbar :D...
by tanbeen_sobhaan 06/08/2009
Excellent tutorials. It's realy super.
by Lance 06/05/2009
Do these presets work with Mac?
by Ren 06/03/2009
Andrew,

You are the best, a mentor of note... Please keep it up!
by H2H3F 05/30/2009
oOoOoO.. excelente.!!!!!! increible este efecto felicitaciones ...
by asd 05/30/2009
Hi i wonder how i make the partical background the orange thingy.
by soso 05/28/2009
more,more,more,more,more,more
i'm come form china
by BugJoon 05/21/2009
Thanks a lot, pretty good job
by gaspar 05/18/2009
Hey Andrew, you are the one. Regards from Torreon Mexico
by Edi 05/17/2009
Andrew your work is soooooo great. I was about to purchase book teaching AE, but with your tutorials I may not need it.
Greetings from Japan
by caicai 05/12/2009
So good, man! I'm stoked!
by HaLo2FrEeEk 05/11/2009
Hey man, great tutorials, great preset. I love that you make this stuff free!

One thing, though, I've noticed what seems to be a bug, or maybe it's just me. I'm following the original SureTarget tutorial but I'm using the new version of the preset and for whatever reason when I set the keyframes to Easy Ease (not using the EaseTargets checkbox, but regular AE easy ease) between the first and second keyframe (which are both set to 1) the position of the null jumps from my text's position back to the center of the comp. It does this every few frames and only lasts 1 or 2 frames, so it's like this quick jump effect and I don't like it. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Please, any help would be appreciated.
by Neo 05/07/2009
I love your tutorials
Thanks Andrew, u r great :D
from El Salvador
by ARTURO 05/05/2009
Hi ! , when i do these tutorial ,Andrew i do the same ass you but, i trow a preview , no works but when rendering the composition d assent work
the preset sure target works ? or is broken ?
by Altaf 04/24/2009
hey buddy its me well good going andrew i hope in future you gonna show some more realistic tutorials this is not good but we can make it perfect.
by Cam Kashef 04/24/2009
Hey Marc Samir,
you have to modify the anchor point of the null not the text. just select the null/transform/anchor point and mess around with that until you find something you like. Hope that helps :)
by underdogontop 04/20/2009
If I'm the Fat Kid, you're the cake..
I love this stuff!
Thanks!
by Marc Samir 04/18/2009
Hey man thanks for the wonderful tutorials

I have a little problem, I am using AE CS4 and when i apply the ST 1.5.1 to the Null object and define the first 2 targets as un the tutorial, the words go out of the scene and when i try to move them back to scene only one of them is movable but the other one can't move, all the layers is 3D. what is the solution to this problem?
by mark sanchez 04/13/2009
hi andrew... ehhehhehe,, tnx for this tutorial, i will make this tutorial f0r my new seas0n f0r Big Brother... greetings from philippines(mindanao)
by simran 04/13/2009
thnku .........

u r GREAT
by Chris 04/10/2009
Amazing! Anywhere else a step down from this would cost hundreds (not very appealing for a student), but you've done it free!! Thanks so much Andrew and all of video co-pilot!!
by classpee 04/06/2009
Andrew you are simply the best of the best...since I found this site my interest in after effects has soard beyond limitations. You don't stop to inspire me. No other tutorial site can top what you do...I love Aharon but dude you deliver and you deliver alot...not drawing comparisons here...I know you are have different and are friends as well. I just can connect to you more and I have learned so much from this site. God bless you so much.....check out what I did with your tut...I know there are some obvious problems but I was too lazy to change them after I was done...but anyways the idea is more important...thanks buddy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdUoGuyMcyk
by vinay Gunavante 04/05/2009
thanks Andrew, you are great, You are my GURU
by Riaz HAniff 04/03/2009
hey andrew, great video!
by Colin Rootz 04/02/2009
Hi! Great Tutorial!
Here's one for you:
I'm trying to set out some layers in 3D space, then, using Suretarget, fly between them. so I used 3D assistants to distribute my layers, only to find out that auto-rotate doesn't work! After a little tought, I realized that it's auto ROTATE not auto ORIENT!

Here's the question:
Is there a script or expression to convert orientation to rotation and/or vice versa?

Thanks,
Colin
by Chris 03/30/2009
Man...
this is awesome. Andrew, i love you :)
by Frank 03/26/2009
So I've tried it again... now it works :)
by Frank 03/26/2009
hi Andrew,

Im trying the sureTarget preset .. but it isnt working ok. When I select T1 then T2, T3, .. get the same name... as T1. I dont see this happening in your tut.video. This makes the Null object move while tweening between two compositions. Also the auto rotate doesnt work for me.. Im working with AE CS3.
Currently showing 100 of 364 Comments.
Please Read
If you are having a problem viewing the tutorial or downloading a project file or preset, please start a new thread about it in the Website Support Forum. This section is for commenting on the tutorial, not posting problems. If you post a problem with the tutorial here, it will not get dealt with in a timely manner.
Leave a Comment
  Name (required)

  Email (will not be published) (required)



If you are asking for a certain plugin or are having a problem with the tutorial, please check the forum (button below) for an answer and if you don't find one, start a new topic with your question. If you would like to proceed with posting your comment, click Submit Comment.

Your comment is now in the moderation queue and should appear shortly. Thank you for your comment.