TUTORIAL: Advanced Sky Replacement
July 16th, 2007

In this tutorial, learn how to replace a blown out sky with a nice sky image. You will also learn to create a procedural matte and perform position and rotation motion tracking.

UPDATE: Here is the footage

NOTE: This technique can also be used on blue skies as well. Instead of creating a matte, just use the Keylight plug-in instead.

Andrew Kramer
POSTED:
18 years ago
239 Comments
I have used this technique so many times. This was the first exposure I had to track mattes.
18 years ago
Nice work. I am amazed time and again at the weird uses of Colorama and how it is used in such unexpected ways. I would have used levels to create the matte, but your method is so much more elegant.
18 years ago
hey andrew, is it possible to save your tutorial to my computer? just wondering cuz i use my laptop for editing sometimes and its not hooked to the internet. wanted to download some of them and put them on it.
danny
18 years ago
I love Andrew Kramer
Ryan
18 years ago
Pretty cool trick to do sky replacement. Do you have a project file, because I can't get lucky enough to have a day with a nice solid color sky.
Walker
18 years ago
What sould I do if the sky isn't completely white in my shot?
bE
18 years ago
hey andrew....i used your sky prelacement tutorial for these halloween prop videos that i was doing for this costume shop...

and a problem that i ran into when creating the matte from using the colorama plugin was bringing back in some of the highlights in the subject. essentially, there will be some bright spots on the actual subject, and when the subjects are stationary, it's not a problem i just use masks to bring back the highlights, but when the subjects are moving, I don't want to have to rotoscope highlights back in if i don't have to.

i'm not sure how clear or unclear i'm being, so if you need more clarification, let me know.

all the best,

bE
18 years ago
andrew's tuts don't cure cancer... only chuck norris can do that. but, AK's tutorials do clear chuck norris' sinuses. that's how badass they are.
Bigred
18 years ago
Awesome. Been trying to work out how to do this (mostly with keying) with no great luck.

Thanks man! Keep up the good work.
Oliver
18 years ago
me parece un tutorial fantastico, como siempre asombrando a la gente, gracias por ense??±ar tus conocimientos andrew... really awesome, thanks
Some Other Guy
18 years ago
there it is, dident notice it
18 years ago
It's in the blog entry.
Some Other Guy
18 years ago
When is the footage coming ???
Villo
18 years ago
Great tut man, thanx from Mexico. However I've got a problem, for some reason AE won't let me apply the track info to the null object it's there in the drop down list but won't let me select it (its grey). Help... anybody?
18 years ago
No Camera is totally useless, Andrews right in saying a 3ccd camera is better. (3ccd pick up better colors, less blocky edges) but if that's all you can afford then thats fine.

My suggestion is find some prosumer cameras and do some research on some older models. DVX 100A is a good example of an older one with some problems but is fairly cheap on Ebay. Try researching a few and checking ebay. Make sure you pick from a great buyer when buying camera.

good luck!
18 years ago
I would reccomend the Canon HV20... $1000
Zony
18 years ago
Hello all
i just have a little question, do anyone of you guys know if this camera is totally useless for playing around with AE n' suff? http://www.pixmania.com/dk/dk/544201/art/jvc/videokamera-minidv-gr-d76.html?itag=5891#

Cuz i dont have alot of money, but i really wanna get started with creating something.

And the reason im asking here, is that i dont know anything a abou camera specs

Cheers guys
Daniele
18 years ago
hey andrew, great tutorial, thanks from Italy
I was wondering how it could works on footage with a movement of the camera from left to right, and to add a reflection of the new sky on the windows of a building in the background of the footage.

Thanks again
18 years ago
Ð???а, кла????Ð½Ð°?? ?????або?????а. Ð???ал???? ??????????о ??ÐºÐ°?????а????????? нел????з??, п?????и?????оди????????? кажд?????й ?????аз ??Ð¼Ð¾??????????е????????? заново, а ???????о дополни?????ел????н?????е за??????????а?????????? ин?????е?????не????? ??????????а?????ика
Ernesto
18 years ago
hey Andrew can you show us the basics of the green screen effects ...i want to get a green screen but not sure how to use it
Ernesto
18 years ago
thank you Andrew... good stuff

nice color effects wow

keep it up more turtorials

cool CS3
18 years ago
Great's job again
Thanks from the belgium
Lucky
18 years ago
Okay! definitly great tutorial and perfect result

But own me delete the sky on the original video? we do that frame by frame? :s

Okay i'm a noob.
Joao Paulo Monari
18 years ago
VEry Very Great Man...I am a big Fan from Brazil.....

[]s
Paulo Mateus
18 years ago
Another great tutorial, thanks from Portugal.
18 years ago
any one here
18 years ago
andrew no matter what i do even am doing exactly what you doing i cant get to make the sky white and the rest black and on the 2 footage i cant find the luma matte thing to change it .whats going on ami a butthead or what.
John Hannan
18 years ago
Wow!! I loved your first sky replacement tutorial but always had trouble fixing the edges. This tutorial was awesome and now i am able to use your cool "real cloud" footage and have it look great.

I also enjoyed the extra tutorials on color correction, very useful!!

Thank you!
cami2k
18 years ago
cool men, many thanks
1943
18 years ago
Excuse me,but I already work that out.The dang Null object.Thanks what ever..............
jannes
18 years ago
Sky Replacement is not that big of a deal, but nice use of colorama!
especially for advanced color correction!
18 years ago
You know just do like the slider control or somthing similar.
1943
18 years ago
Hi,Andrew.I have a little question that,If I add a wiggle expression for a camera,how could I take control the value? Seems camera can't get a Experession control.
18 years ago
Check out the Deleted Scenes for that answer...
Andre
18 years ago
Andrew, please solve the mystery of the "GIRL" compostion in your tutorial
John Paite
18 years ago
@ Sassy if u shoot ur actors infrnt of greenscreen, maybe around 10 actors, u can easily increase their number to how many u want 200-2000 u call it..using particular..I can sent u a brief tutorial write me and email johnpaite@gmail[dot]com
newlc
18 years ago
oops a mmean "keylight" exactly!!!
newlc
18 years ago
hey what 's up everybody!
where can i find thd "keying plugin" for realise the tuto number 10

Thx guys!

i prepare a videoclip ....
Elhora
18 years ago
Nice Tut ! I was expecting something like this for ages i was dreaming about it, Andrew did it !
sassy
18 years ago
it is awsome work. keep it up.
please show the tutorial how to clone one person to many
thanks
Rich
18 years ago
Question: can you obtain a "tighter" faked dof using the lense blur within an adjustment layer + colorama/luma matte trick as your depth matte instead of your handy-dandy ramp(I still use that lovely trick to fake people out)...haven't tried it yet but was wondering if this is possible. BTW, would love more dvd tutorials on anything, especially some advanced 3d! Keep up the killer work!
bruno
18 years ago
hahahaha surely they are very proud to know origami.

you rule men, wish i have time to do this stuff.
18 years ago
THANK YOU SO MUCH Andrew!!!! great tutorial and reli helped me alot.

really needed the track motion thing! thankz
18 years ago
@ some guy

we could all watch hours of andrews tutorials, even if he kept saying irrelevent things, but the thing is it takes him so much more longer, to render out the final results, to export the tutorial(it takes almost as long as it actually is), to upload the tutorial etc.

keeping tutorials short and to the point is the way to go, that way less time is wasted when it comes to getting it up on the site
18 years ago
Hi!

Loove your tuts, Andrew! Every tutorial is just super! Higlight of the week!

btw, what do you guys think of this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fE3_ARYQSw

(ye, i know i forgot to make a fake shadow..)
Ryan
18 years ago
Could you please upload the project files, ive been checking every 2 minutes to see if ther up would be a big help

p.s thanks for giving us these great tutorials and taking time out of your daily routine for us
18 years ago
Yeah, I'm quite curious about said lightwrap tip as well
18 years ago
Sam

Richard Boone played the man called "Paladin"
Have gun Will travel!
CBS 1957.
Some Guy
18 years ago
@Andrew Kramer: "I had a lightwrap tip that I cut for timeâ???¦"
Can you describe it here in the comments?
Why are you cutting stuff? For time? Do you say "Well, this one is gonna be 17 minutes, 24 seconds and 3 frames"? I can watch hours of your tutorials, because they really help me and other people in the world. I heard they even cure cancer. So, why cutting something that help people? Please don't cut anymore. Or at least don't say us that you did it... This knowledge cause headache.
18 years ago
Hey, a quick question to Andy Candy (??©2007 Kenjamin Industries).

About a job in the VFX field, as far as you know about the hiring practices in the field, would a company hire strictly based on education most of the time over a great portfolio, or would they rather see an awesome portfolio and just not worry about the degree?
18 years ago
(Singing) "Have gun, will travel reads the card of a man A knight without armor in a savage land."
Zach B.
18 years ago
Great tutorial, Andrew, like always. Love te different ways to make different skies, and the color correction was just great.

Savvy
Chip
18 years ago
Is it me or does the main pic for the Advance Sky Replacement on the Tutorial page make you think of "Stand By Me"? And if so, is Sam playing the role of Corey Feldman?
18 years ago
Great work on your tutorials!! Easy to follow along and clearly spoken. I look forward to many more. Thanks
Arvid
18 years ago
It is getting nicer, better en also bigger the tuts of Andrew. Awesome Job. Its now the sfx time, thats great, can't wait to see that! but next, maybe you can show us some tuts about dynamic/advanced animations? I know AE has some nice feature build in as velocity's, decay's etc..
18 years ago
Very useful for enhancing footage!

MM.
Derrick van Niekerk
18 years ago
Man this is an awesome tutorial.

It has usefull methods for pulling off many things!

Thanks,

Derrick
PorT
18 years ago
2 Lorenzo:
thats probably right
mail : PorT_99@centrum.cz - thx
marco
18 years ago
Thats a rather ingenious way of creating your matte for the clip. I was wondering, when you are shooting the footage are you intentionally blowing out the sky to try and get it as even toned as possible? It seems like this wouldn't work at well for matting the scene otherwise.
yukon_28
18 years ago
Lorenzo Di Rienzo - i impressed by your work. Tell me please if i also can email you.
Moca MX
18 years ago
Great tut Andrew!
Now next tut is BULLET!!
i know i am boring
18 years ago
@ Port

Write me down an email, i think it's not correct to post' em here
PorT
18 years ago
Nice clips Lorenzo ... really impressive ! Could you write down those "inspire links" that you??´ve mentioned
Travis McRae
18 years ago
I love this site so many helpful hints andkeep it up andrew i would be no where in ae without you. im only in high school and hopefully gonna open up a studio like alot of the guys in here. do you guys have any tips for me, cameras i should buy that kind of stuff. im working on a promo trailer now. if you guys have any tips let me know(includingyou andrew) lol
thx guys
18 years ago
@ChaRLeS x

The rjf technique could work but the best to archieve that effects sould be using a stock video footage of a sky (i've discovered the America ehehe)
Jeffrey
18 years ago
Thanks for the tutorial dude, it looks great.
rjf
18 years ago
Andrew,

If you're still reading this after 160+ comments, can I persuade you to have a 42.5 tutorial where you finish your thought on the light wrap? I think it would be super valuable to go along with the matte technique. Beggars can't be choosers of course... but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

rjf

p.s. ChaRLeS x, I once did that by applying the corner pin effect to the clouds, stretching the top pins out greatly from the center (giving perspective) and animating the top points right to left (to get the sensation that the clouds were moving right to left, again in perspective).
18 years ago
ChaRLeS x:

Use a video instead of a still image as your cloud layer.
18 years ago
Adrew, te felicito por tu trabajo, es excelente, te has vuelto uno de mis gur??ºs, saludos desde M??©xico.
18 years ago
@ Charles

I'd like to open a tutorial section but nowaday i got not so much time to spend with it, but if you write me a mail i could answer, where possibile, to your questions. I got also some useful links to inspire yourself.

Let me know
ChaRLeS x
18 years ago
the tut is very useful, but, can anyone tell me, how can i make the clouds move ?? like in this video, http://youtube.com/watch?v=zc4PEyRCkmw, tnx.

Lorenzo... i like very much your work, thats the kind of things i want to know to do, impresive. can u put a tut section in your page?
Tom
18 years ago
PPS

you can of as make the cloud layer a 3D layers and use real perspective, i'm still playing with this, i;m already thinking of lots of ways of doing this....for example you can make the clouds out of fractal noise, and duplicate the layer to act as the shadow of the clouds on the ground......i think I'm going to go home a play with this more... thats what i love about after effects so many ways of doing things.... thanks for inspiring me.....
AnTeK
18 years ago
Nice. Very useful way to get some alpha channels
Tom
18 years ago
Hi there, I have been following your tutorials on many websites, including this one and I have found them a great resource. Whatâ??????s great about them, is that you explain your thinking, kind of showing how you have to program your self to think. This has allowed me to take your tutorials and really improve on them. Take for example this sky replacement. I remember you first version of this with a bike jumping over a hill. This way is much better and has a much better way of keying things.

I found a really great way to add even more control the skyâ???¦.
not all of us have stock footage of they sky, especially if you editing in winter, and you cant go out an shoot any.
So I have often found my self resorting to finding still pictures to replace the sky, this was at first a bit of a pitfall but then I realized this actually gave me greater controlâ???¦.let me explainâ???¦..

I found that some times, in some scenes were I had problems were they were very windy and yet sunny. I found the still sky just didnâ??????t workâ???¦whyâ???¦the clouds werenâ??????t moving. using a still I could animate it to suite the scene.

This is howâ???¦.
Fist take your still of the clouds, and place them in there own comp (make sure this comp is as long as you final scene!! (Call it clouds if you like)

I find the pictures are often shot at the wrong perspective to the scene you want to place them in, I find that if you squish them vertically this solves the perspective problem.

The picture ideally needs to be bigger than your comp, but you can get away with a slightly smaller picture and enlarging.

Next apply effect- Distort- Transform

Set the anchor point to just below the comp, you may need to re position the sky to get it back in the centre

Change the Skew axis to 90 and hit the stop watch on â?????Skewâ?????? while at the beginning of the time line.

Then move the skew to a value of -10 at the begging and + 10 at the end (you can change these fingers depending on how fast you want the sky to move)

Okâ???¦ so if you look at the sky the closest clouds will be moving faster and the clouds far away will be moving slower. were nearly there.

Now they still look like a still, so add color correction and change them to better suit your scene. (effect â?????? color correction - color balance)

Pictures of clouds, are often sharp as the person taking them probably was focused on them. To get round this we add a blur, imitating the depth of focus of the scene.
(effect â?????? blur - lens blur) tweak to your needs (remember you can lock the effects and control them in the main comp later for fine tuning.

One last step

Still look a little clean? thatâ??????s because there isnâ??????t that inherent video noise. So you just need to add some noise to match it up with the source.

Your done, you have some animated clouds that you have full control over. Now you can use the comp just as the clouds layer in Andrews tutorial

Thanks again!!!


p.s i wrote this in a rush, sorry sorry for any errors
18 years ago
Sorry, Lorenzo ^^
I'm french, i don't read english as well as french :p
Gary
18 years ago
That t-shirt idea peter is not so bad. If you had a gift shop i would so buy t-shirts and all that crap!

Ever since you got out DSFX the site is just going crazy!

PS: next time you get out a new product, have a countdown so i can stare at my screen all day without working
yukon_28
18 years ago
Andrew, what a great tutorial, as always. Your tuts is most useful IMHO, i prefer it to Lynda's and some others, because its all real world projects and techniques. I learning AE right now (Sela Youniversity, Israel) and i recommend your site to co-learners as the best AE resource over a whoole web, with plenty of great free tutorials and good priced stock footage (again, best stock i seen).
Thanks a million and keep up a good work!
Superbkriz
18 years ago
Thanks. I've learned a lot from the site. Thank you Andrew. Hoping to see a lot more great tutorial from you.
WesleyCampos3000
18 years ago
Excellent tutorial Andrew Kramer!!!!
Thanks.

For, Andrew Krame:
coming soon Tutorial realistic Rain????
18 years ago
Sorry that last comment was supposed to be to John paite. i was watching Lorenzos video while I was typing. Very good work!
18 years ago
@ Lorenzo:

You should message me through my youtube account so we don't cramp Andrew's style with off-topic stuff.

Although if he were to make a matchmoving tutorial it wouldn't be unrelated.... Hint....Hint.....
peter
18 years ago
wow, what a huge videocopilot community.
andrew, you really need a videocopilot t-shirt section in your shop.
18 years ago
@ Mael

I intended that your logo is a little too big for my tastes, not viceversa

Go for adsl Mael
18 years ago
Thx Lorenzo for my logo. It used to be bigger but the 56k protested.
Will
18 years ago
Great things in this tutorial (I thought it was boring ^^) !
Very .. very good idea to crush black shadows; it looks to be a good deal to darken the light of a scene like that. Colorama is definitely a great effect ! This can't be ....

Will - France
18 years ago
@ Marc.B

Thx a lot mate
Marc.B
18 years ago
@Lorenzo:
I had a look at your site, and I like your work Congrats
18 years ago
Hey andrew, i loved this tutorial, it was alot better and gave me some great ideas and theory of better ways to matte certain things, great tutorial man!

also this is a bit offtopic but i decided to try keying with keylight so i did the cruise control tutorial on your DVD and also threw in sam loya dancing in the middle of the street at the end, using only the videos included in the tutorial ofcourse, if you want to see it ill email you a link, personally i think it looks funny but its a subtle dancing effect cuz i couldnt track the background properly, so i just hand animated him in
newlc
18 years ago
@John Paite, yeeeeeeeeeeeah i find the effect, in french version!!! thx ya man!!
18 years ago
@ Dustin James :

I'll write down an email to you as soon as possible

@ wally :

I've just graduated and here in italy motiongraphics is not so followes as abroad is...so i'm lookin for a nice job around the world

Anyway, thx a lot all of you for the appreciations
newlc
18 years ago
@John Paite, may be this standart effect doesn't exist in French version
whatever, boris propose this effect in "BCC MATTE choker" is it the same effect???

thx all
Robin
18 years ago
Andrew
Thanks again. Please keep up the great work. As usual I learnt extra things from the tuts, in this cae how to create an infra red look with colorama!
theo
18 years ago
hi. wen i invert the second layer its ment to go opayic but on my one it gos black! do u no how to solve this ? im working on 6.5 it wud be gr8 if u cud get back to me thanks theo.
VerwulF
18 years ago
Thx Andrew !!!
John Paite
18 years ago
@newlc - matte choker, isnt it a standard effect for ae? came with the standard effect for me as always from 6.5-7.0 to cs3!
18 years ago
woops, post above is full of typos, what I meant to say:
He uses 2 tracking points because he also want to track rotation .
For the matte choker plugin, have you already tried to search in in the little effects and presets box on the right by typing in â?????matteâ?????? or something like that?
18 years ago
He uses 2 tracking points because he also want to track rotation .
For the matte choker plugin, have you already try to search in in the little effects in presets box on the right by typing in 'matte' or something?
newlc
18 years ago
Andrew, great tuto.....
1-you use 1 point with the motion travker on your first tuto and 2 points in this tutorial, why?
2-where can i find the "MATTE choker" plugin ?

Thank you so much man!
Minl
18 years ago
cool thanks
John Paite
18 years ago
sorry to repost this but i went to their site and downloaded the tutorial 1 with the project file and everything and when i track motion with the provided img sequence, the tracking finish in like no time ...previously i was tracking an avi file...i dont know what is going on?? and also how do i use the tutorial when i load the second one it says no source image founded and then when i load the first one just the img sequences appeared once again im lost..lolz
@ Andrew - Sorry I have to discuss it here somethng not related to ur tutorial..dont know anywhere else to ask...my apologies!!
John Paite
18 years ago
ohh i dont want to sound like a snob but money is not really an issue( it wont come out from my pocket ) .. so I went and downloaded the trial, i played around with it, and everything went well until i did the camera smooth tracker, its seriously taking such a long time like for 200 frames it was abt to take like 5 hrs, tracking 8 points ...did i do something wrong? is it normal? whats the system requirement that is required..I have opengl video card, RAM 1.5 Gb etc??
@Mind Drop - online resources like online tutorial? any video tuts??
18 years ago
Cool blog Andrew! Wish i would've found it sooner. Also cool to see your in the Temecula area. I'm just south of you, in Escondido.

John Paite. I guess it would depend on your budget. As Boujou costs in the thousands and Syntheyes is a few hundred dollars. Boujou has a deeper tool set from what i've read, but Syntheyes can get the job done.

-George
18 years ago
I have Boujou, Realviz Matchmover, and syntheyes. Boujou is the best and most intuitive in my opinion. It also has the most online resources of the three. But it is expensive. ($9500) I think that you can download a trial though.
Alexander Gao
18 years ago
Hi Andrew,
I have always just used a luma key with perhaps a simple choker to replace blown-out skies. This is one more method of getting to similar results, but I like this because it provides a little more control. Thanks for the tutorial.

Alexander
John Paite
18 years ago
Thanks alot Mind Drop, which one would u guys recommend? syntheyes or boujou for camera tracking?? Andrew any idea and opinion??
18 years ago
HEY FLORIAN ....YOU ARE FROM ROMANIA?
Николай
18 years ago
Ð???ол????????ое ??Ð¿Ð°??Ð¸Ð±Ð¾! У ?????еб?? ??????пе???????ÐºÐ¸Ðµ ?????????оки!
18 years ago
Great work Andrew!

Thanks for taking it into great consideration!
18 years ago
@ John Paite:

Thanks! I am using Boujou 4, and 3ds max-9, although I would rather be importing my camera solves into aftereffects because I don't know 3ds max well at all. the camera tracking and solving is actually fairly easy, it's just using that data is more difficult. I am much more used to compositing, and I don't know how to do a lot of the 3d modeling. I can matchmove the cg no problem, but I need a good 3d modeler to create a good shaded model that is reflectively mapped to the environment. Anyone want to help?

@ Andrew: Speaking of matchmoving, if you want to make me one of the happiest people in the world you could do a matchmoving tut.
18 years ago
well you know i agree with Kenjamin.. i have been talking about forums since i got here..

BTW: nice tut.. this is very handy for lost of things..
Jeff (NoodleMaps)
18 years ago
Love this practical tut sir. Also love the other one, but I can see myself using this one on a more day to day basis. Please don't stop doing the gfx tuts, not that I would expect you to, but more of the vfx tuts are definitely welcome in my book. Using colorama was a real eye opener here. Thanks for that. I will be referencing this one many times in the future.

What is on the Girl timeline?
18 years ago
Hey Andy Candy.

(That's copyrighted, so don't even think of stealing it.)

I was wondering if you were interested in opening up a 'forums' section of Video CoPilot. I think it would be totally radical having an open where all your fans and other visual effects artists can chat and post away. I know you will probably just say 'Well, Kenji, why not just click your little fingers over to the Creative Cow forums?' and I will respond that I feel there is a special and concentrated breed of people that leave comments on this blog, that are interesting in more specific niches than creative cow's forums. Also, those forums seem all boring and such. I just cant handle plain text with every reply dangling out after it in line.

Anyhow, I digress.

Just wondering if you were planning on forums, and also, what was the price on the new JVC camera that you got? And have you sold your XL2 or are you planning on selling it?
Paul DeLap
18 years ago
You are a god!
wally
18 years ago
Nice Tut as always , but man, Lorenzo. Impressive and very unique work. I can't believe you have a hard time getting jobs or hired. I've seen alot lamer reels getting people jobs here in LA.
John Paite
18 years ago
@ Mind Drop - I just saw ur match move in 3d max good job..Im starting to pick up 3dmax now i have 8 and am upgrading to 9 and my boujou is version 3 does that matched?? anyways is it hard to use..im such a noob at this lolz...thx tho!!
TJ
18 years ago
AWESOME ANDREW! Your the best.
You know... I sometimes use your tutorials as rewards in my break times to keep me working hard and fast in my work times. Believe it or not!
Thanks heaps!
kamal98
18 years ago
great tutor as usual very insight full and direct thanks again for taking the time out to help us and our path as a multimedia artist.
Dustin James
18 years ago
@Lorenzo

I want to know how to do some of those messed up tv looks and some of those motion gfx..

I would love it if you could email me some kind of tips.. or something...

imaginepro(at)gmail.com
18 years ago
I don't mind you sharing good info. Especially when it is relevant to the discussion.
Jack McKinney
18 years ago
Pete,

I don't want to post it here because I think it's bad etiquette to plug someone else's product on a tutorial site, but I can point you in the direction of a very basic but quite good how-to-shoot video if you're interested. You can email me at grayhammond@yahoo.com.

Andrew, if you would rather we not discuss this sort of thing here, let me know and I'll shut up forthwith. And let me chime in with the other to say 'Great tutorial'. That's a really clever way to generate a sky matte very quickly. Kudos as usual.

Jack
18 years ago
Well I think that a weedwacker is- oh wait.....almost forgot.

Thanks Lorenzo. Do you have a youtube page? In the part where the designs get "painted" on the wall, did you matchmove it, or just eyeball it?
18 years ago
Hey Andrew,

I'm seriously looking into purchasing a camera (like you used to use "Canon XL2). I want o start shooting my own footage and was wondering if you might consider a tutorial on actually shooting DV and tips to capture decent footage - especially for someone who has never done it - like me.
18 years ago
Thank you roller....are you interested for a motiongrapher into your studio? :p
18 years ago
@Lorenzo Di Rienzo
Your work is amazing. Very unique.
Justin Productions
18 years ago
Awesome tutorial there Andrew. Nothing else to say; that matte technique blew me away.

Blew me away.
18 years ago
Andrew,
The stuff about alpha mattes and tracking is NOT boring! that's exacty the kind of thing I need every day. Thanks!
18 years ago
I like your logo Mael, a little big maybe but this are just tastes
18 years ago
You're welcome clancy
18 years ago
thank you lorenzo for your help very kind of you .
18 years ago
Waou ! this tutorial is great !
Thx to have made a tutorial more ... advanced !
Could that works with the contrast and the levels ?
May be it's more complicated...
>> http://www.saprod.fr
I need an opinion for the logo at the top. please.
Bye
Kevin
18 years ago
Excellent job once again Andrew. However, I noticed in your project window you have a girl.mov file in there. It's probably the dancing girls you mentioned in another tutorial. I'll tell you what, if you send me the Designer Sound Effects dvd, I will not let your wife know about this!!
18 years ago
what i like about this blog is it has good people and i hope it stays like that
18 years ago
when you use the "matted" shot to replace the sky try to play with the luma matte setting...try to use "inverted matte". Or use the arrow in the cycle of the colorama settings, rotate them until the black part change to white...

(sorry for my bad english..)
Gary
18 years ago
Clancy, i guess all you can do is key it,
18 years ago
Creative chat is always welcome here. I just don't want to get off in negative way like comparing lawnmowers to weedwackers.
18 years ago
but the problem iam not good as you guys i dont know how to do that.
Gary
18 years ago
Good reel lorenzo. That thing for ied is awesome, everything 3d animated.

Wouldnt it be awesome to be andrew's neighbour, he'd give you all his products for free and you could steal his dr.pepper and his tutorials. Not to mention you could borrow his JVC HD200 and his Sam loya and just beat the crap out of him.
18 years ago
clancy try to invert the matte or to use to invert the color in the ramp cycle....it should work
18 years ago
here is the problem my sky is not white its blue so the pallet is making every thing black no white sky to work with.
18 years ago
Thx a lot Mind Drop Studios, i've wathced your youtube video's too and it's a cool expample of good using of Adrew tutorials....

...it's nice to chat live on a blog...too much off topic Andrew or we can go on?
18 years ago
andrew when you shoot with the xl2 what setting you shoot with .and soon you will get the portrait on your wall iam still working on the color blending and shades.
18 years ago
Love the reel Lorenzo!! Very well done!!

Awesome tutorial Andrew. I have to go shoot some footage now to mess around with!
18 years ago
Thx for your appreciation Andrew, and thx a lot for the cool stuff you make for us!

...I'm looking for a job anyway...ahahah forget it
18 years ago
I haven't watch the simpsons since season 10 but there are just certain things that don't leave you.

Lorenzo, nice site! I love the riot gear with the little blue particles. Looks like the whole shot is 3D.

Clancy, just looked at the indiana jones. WOW!
18 years ago
Andrew can you tell me how do you think about my showreel? you can find it on the site i got in the profile Thx!
Excellent Andrew... Thanks man!
18 years ago
never mind i dont watch the simpsons .they drive me crazy .
18 years ago
raging bull.
Gary
18 years ago
I hate it when you say you cut stuff out for time because everything you say is usefull!

Great tut. Looking forward to "THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK"

Is that the part of the movie from the 300 tut. It looks cool, i hope we get to see more.
18 years ago
Conor send me an email to info(at)videocopilot.net
Good work!
Conor
18 years ago
James Woods!! Simpsons.
18 years ago
rookie of the year?
18 years ago
Bullseye andrew! Another useful tutorial Go on mate!
18 years ago
I want to respond to a few of these, but by the time I'm done readding I forget...

Bones, you can possibly track the clouds in the BG. You don't always have to track a sharp point. You can also add some heavy contrast to the shot then precompose it. Then double click the comp and track the precomp...

THe shot is raw footage shot around 6pm, the exposure is high because the foreground people get very dark.

As for feature film compositing, certainly you would want to clean it up. I had a lightwrap tip that I cut for time...


I'm the sure teh 50th can be a good one.

As for the jokes, you can't try to funny it never works. I had a pretty killer headache when I recorded and my jokes would have been bad words...

"Dang freaking no good mother ... ... ... CHEESE!"

The first person to tell me what this line is from and who says it gets something cool...
No google!
18 years ago
hey andrew did you see your gift for your hard work .let me know man i need your openion it sucks or not ,i maen the portrait.
18 years ago
I have a question what if my sky is not white .can i still replace it.and forgive me if that sounds dum.
Rodrigo Rodrigues
18 years ago
Thanks Kramer \o
From Brazil
18 years ago
Andrew, thanks for the post. I've been struggling with this very topic. I WAS HAND KEYFRMAING A MASK!!!!!!

Tell me, do you ever trip over your superhero cape?
Dustin James
18 years ago
@Some Guy

I think you're talking about the exposure.. that is what it's called in english...
Morten Enoksen
18 years ago
The 50th tutorial could be like 20-30 minutes Involing every step in a big tutorial. Ex. How to create those super cool superhero effects(lol)
Or whatever comes to your mind! Cus every tutorial you have made, is a special one! Thanks From Norway Film-Makers
18 years ago
Holy Lord! AWESOME! ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! The thing you did with the color correction at the end with the cops... THAT'S AWESOME! Thanks so much!

--
Paul Del Vecchio - Director
www.triple-e-productions.net
Some Guy
18 years ago
@Bones:
A sky replacement shot needs to be planed before you shoot it. I've seen the video on your website. I thought when somebody (like Quentin Tarantino) makes a trunk shot, the camera is static, so that there are no movement. Your shot has a slight movement, but even if it didn't. It's hard (maybe even impossible) to key out the sky, when the guy has a t-shirt, that has almost the same color as the sky. With my (limited) knowledge I would say you have to do it by hand: draw a mask around the guy and animate it frame by frame. I hope there is an easier way to do this.
I also noticed that your camera automatically adjust the brightness of your image (I believe it's called "gain" in English but I'm not sure). Make sure that you switch it off (set it manually to 0), when you do a sky replacement shot. (I think when you do a movie it's better to take full control of your camera and adjust everything manually. This way you can achieve the best result. Of course there are some exceptions though.)
If it's only about this shot I would shoot it again with no camera movement and another t-shirt or with a greenscreen behind the actor.
Good luck!
Henry_B
18 years ago
nice!!, thanks a lot AK!

Saludos desde Mexico!!
peter
18 years ago
this tutorial is great and also very usefull. and it is exactly what i was looking for. thnx andrew.
otherwize
18 years ago
Wow, thank so much Andrew thats just toooooo dope!
Peter
18 years ago
Thanks.

But what was in the girl comp in this tutorial?
18 years ago
it does not shake very much but it is handheld. i played around with it for a while before the Guru himself posted his tutorial. The first thing I noticed though, were those 2 tracking points that I did not have in my shot. pissed....
Fish
18 years ago
Excellent work, and thanks for not going at a snail's pace...some people who record tutorials are so slow...makes me feel like a retard (mentally challenged individual)!

p.s. I am very curious about the answer to the question above...
18 years ago
Is the camera moving that much? Mostly a shot from a trunk is nog the most shakiest thing.. If so, you could do it by hand..

But, maybe our AE guru can think of an other possibility, you never know .
18 years ago
Ok Andrew here's the deal. What happens if you dont have 2 good points within your shot to set your tracker? Check this out. This is a single shot from a trailer I just did and I'd love to add a new sky but where do I place my tracker points? As you can see from the screen grabs, there is never a good spot to do it. He eventually closes the trunk of the car. not sure how this will effect the overall sky replacement either. Thoughts?

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g109/Bonesone4/AKQuestion.jpg
18 years ago
wow. you keep me on my toes. It blows my mind, how easily you blow my mind. I can't get enough of your tutorials. thanks a lot!
John Paite
18 years ago
cery cery helpful..i think i will use it more on the last tip, color correction..and btw track matte arent boring at all Andrew, they are seriously useful to so much!! thx once again ...alott!!
18 years ago
geesh, will be using this knowledge very soon to enhance a upcoming project, thanks!
18 years ago
oh.. just got it.
ChaRLeS x
18 years ago
WOW...
18 years ago
ffs?
Christian Milembamane
18 years ago
F??©licitations !!!! (From Ottawa, Ontarion, CANADA)
Alexander Jansen
18 years ago
Have you done anything to the clip before you used in the tut? Never seen such a white sky before!

Other than that, kudos on yet another sweet tutorial!
Dustin James
18 years ago
I got your Joke's..

and isn't the other guy the driver in your cruise control tutorial?
are they in advanced origami 301 cause I just joined 101.
Alejandra
18 years ago
Thanks a lot.
you are the master

Gracias Amigo
18 years ago
or he could just get Riot Gear in download session
18 years ago
Once again it's amazing!

Thanks Andrew, and the actors too!
m.abulazm
18 years ago
i agree with Clinton .... the 50th must be super crazy
18 years ago
hey andrew are you going to do a 50th annivesary tut. Like your 50th tut right. Make it something crazy, all your stuff is crazy but make it like ... super crazy.
18 years ago
dude nice stuff. I dont know how you know all of this. LOL, maybe your the only guy here who read the manual. LOL, but dude seriously. Your so amazing. Hey if I sell any work having to do with after effects can I advertize your site by telling people who buy my stuff?
rjf
18 years ago
Great tutorial. Between VFX and Motion Graphics, the ones I really prefer are those that teach how to take an average shot and make it look awesome. Once again, stellar teaching Andrew.
David
18 years ago
I liked it a lot, but I think the trees would not hold up if this were on the big screen - they might be too transparent.

Also the last colour/crushing shadows was my favourite .30 seconds of the entire tutorial!
Alex
18 years ago
Awesome job! Thanks.
18 years ago
So, I take it the guy at the end for color correction is the one shot that "mall security" busted you for?
Jamsta
18 years ago
[quote] Pat Norman Says:

July 16th, 2007 at 10:31 am
New tutorial- YAHTZEE!

and just in time for my massive CC work that involves sky replacement. Thanks!

Also, random workflow question for anyone running a Mac: Iâ??????m trying to get my FCP sequences into AE wihout buying automatic duck. Thereâ??????s a workflow hack that allows you to export an XML file, change it to a javascript and run it in AE, much like how auto duck works. However, my sequences never import right.

Does anyone have any suggestions/alternate methods of importing sequences? Iâ??????m on FCP 5.1.4/AE7. Thanks! [/quote]
...

yes, FFS, get off the crappy MAC...
Yva
18 years ago
Thank you again, Andrew!
Joris Strickx
18 years ago
Nice one again. And about the jokes. You guys aren't taking origami too serious i hope But they looked proud idd.
Mattias
18 years ago
very nice!
Russ
18 years ago
This is hands down the most useful tutorial you have done. I have been really struggling with advanced color correction in AE & this has opened a lot of mental doors for me. THANKS!

Any future color correction and compositing tips are always anticipated.
18 years ago
New tutorial- YAHTZEE!

and just in time for my massive CC work that involves sky replacement. Thanks!

Also, random workflow question for anyone running a Mac: I'm trying to get my FCP sequences into AE wihout buying automatic duck. There's a workflow hack that allows you to export an XML file, change it to a javascript and run it in AE, much like how auto duck works. However, my sequences never import right.

Does anyone have any suggestions/alternate methods of importing sequences? I'm on FCP 5.1.4/AE7. Thanks!
Aldo
18 years ago
Thanks men, great tutorial, just one question, what format (codec) is the footage for this tutorial ?

and last, do you know about the SheerVideo Codec? It's useful?


thanks Again
Ryan
18 years ago
No jokes or stories!!!! One of the best aspects about your tutorials are there entertaining, maybe you felt serious the day you made it or something o and what was that girl comp i dont think your wife would like that
Jamsta
18 years ago
I can't belive you're still alive??? I thought ALL science nerds were taken by aliens???

loving ya work Drew...

from Australia... ; )
S. Gilbert
18 years ago
Thanx Andrew... you kick ass!
Kyle Shields
18 years ago
Nice. Very usefull stuff there. I like at the end how you showed the neat trick to hide the grain on dark shots.
Dustin James
18 years ago
Great stuff..

I like the color correction dilly at the end.. will be a huge help... specially when my Professor hoards the XL2....

mmmm...
18 years ago
Great use of the colorama tool!
Jason
18 years ago
Great tutorial.....Question for you. This is off the topic but you have said before your true passion is film making. What have you made, and is there anywhere we can go to look at your work? I am sure it would be a great help to all of us seeing the master at work.
M@rco H@rtmann
18 years ago
Hi Andrew ,
THanks man for this one , could really use it!!! )
MMM wednesday .... ??? wednesday .......new one
m.abulazm
18 years ago
Hi Andrew

I always asking myself a question i hope you can answer it.
when and how Andrew handell all these stuff.... shooting... recordering .... family .... Baby
i think it's too much organise.

thanx a lot Andrew for your great site.
i beleive in you never know when Andrew will post his new tutorial.

thanx
Marc.B
18 years ago
Great Tutorial Andrew, Thanks for the sharing

What's the film you was working on ? Not the first time we see cops in your footage :p
18 years ago
Great superduper!! Not that hard, but great results!! Thanks thanks!!
Andrew Brinkhaus
18 years ago
Awesome new tutorial Andrew, I love this site, it keeps my AE knowledge keen. Thanks again!
M20
18 years ago
Andrew is there a chance to see more of your own work? I've seen your reel many times and would like to see some new work
18 years ago
Thank you Andrew! You made my day! I was so bored, but now I can watch something fun and productive at the same time. For everyone else,

VISIT WWW.FRESH-FILMS.COM AUGUST 2-8 AND VOTE TEAM PHILLY!
Mark
18 years ago
Awesome. Great job. This is something that down in Florida we don't see much, we usually got lots of clouds and such, but during the Winter, we get white white skies, so this will come in handy when we start filiming our short film in December.
mark
18 years ago
great stuff.
Novastorm
18 years ago
You are such a tease. Thanks for the new tutorial
M20
18 years ago
Really sweet tutorial!
Really insighfull!

You are a true After Effects master!
Sace2
18 years ago
no funny jokes in this ones
But still a great work! thx
18 years ago
Do you post your films anywhere for us to see?
Sandy
18 years ago
Wow Andrew!!!!

thnx 4da gr8 stuff, it helps a lot.
thnakyou once again

Warm Regards
Sandy
هـــــاشـــم
18 years ago
thanks Andrew, that was nice tut
Orc Master
18 years ago
I say it'll come out on Wednesday!

Wow, great stuff Andrew! That last thing in the command center will be real dang useful for creating artificial color light sources like those you simulated on the Blue Planet tut. Definately gonna increase the coolness of our films, thanks

Now, I just ended up wondering something... WHERE ARE THE JOKES? Oh well, great tut anyways

Maybe not Wednesday... Thursday?
18 years ago
Thanks, looks great, and very useful .

Btw, what was in the 'girl' composition? New hidden tutorial ?
Spence
18 years ago
clever. thanks again!
Ghislain
18 years ago
If I knew this a month ago...It would had save me 3 days of work !!!
Just to tell you how your work (tutorials) is usefull !
Thanks !

Ghis
Some Guy
18 years ago
â?????Day to Nightâ???¦â???
Be patient. It will come out when it is good and ready ; )
-Andrew Kramer

Who knows, we may even see a middle of the week tutorialâ???¦
-Andrew Kramer

Iâ??????m going to have start keeping my mouth shut. But itâ??????s so dang difficult.
-Andrew Kramer

Hmmm...
18 years ago
nice one, definatly gonna use it
18 years ago
"Day to Night..."
Be patient. It will come out when it is good and ready ; )

I'm going to have start keeping my mouth shut. But it's so dang difficult.
18 years ago
Simply Amazing..... I'm speechless
18 years ago
When is day to night tutorial coming out?
Some Guy
18 years ago
Thank you!
18 years ago
You never know when I'll post it. I'm sneaky like that...
Who knows, we may even see a middle of the week tutorial... But when?
Alexander
18 years ago
Big thanks form Germay!!!
I love your work
Magnusfaz
18 years ago
Thx AK. I always try to be the first to post
Ezequiel
18 years ago
wooohooohooohooooo!!!!!! im so happy
oh and there's a new tutorial too... woooohooooooooooohoooooohooo!!!
Sascha
18 years ago
Great work!
Conor
18 years ago
I always look forward to the beginning of the week: Tutorial day!!
18 years ago
I'll try to get the footage up later today. Nobody had to get hurt needlessly in this one. But don't think I didn't want to...
Scott bishop
18 years ago
Awesome mate!
Ben
18 years ago
very useful tutorial Thank you!
Hampus
18 years ago
first post! thx man!