There have been various posts on forums over the years asking how to make a mirror ball. This seamlessly looping version uses Cycore’s CC Sphere, Fractal Noise, Grid, 4-Color Gradient and Trapcode’s Shine. I’ve added comments to various layers, of particular interest is how to make the Grid effect line up evenly with the block-style Fractal. Download project
This quick reference guide shows you how to use Curves similar to the way you use Levels, but keep in mind that Curves’ real strength lays in the fact that you can add multiple points to each curve. Amongst other things, this allows you to make corrections to one part of an image’s dynamic range without affecting another. Keep in mind also that unlike Levels, [Read more]
Modifying the anchor point in the Layer panel with the arrow tool changes the anchor value without changing the position value. Modifying the anchor point in the Comp panel with the Pan Behind tool (Y) modifies both the anchor point and position values such that the content of the layer doesn’t move relative to the composition. [Read more]
The Levels effect is a standard tool for adjusting contrast and color values, but it can be confusing knowing which way to drag the sliders to achieve a specific look. To help myself I created a quick reference guide which is colour coded to make adjustments easier. View guide
When I’m ready to render I usually have multiple compositions to output. Rather than adding the compositions individually to the Render Queue Panel I put them all into a single composition and render that instead. Okay, that’s pretty straightforward: you select the compositions in the Project panel, drag them onto the New Composition icon (at the bottom of the Effect [Read more]
Effective lighting in 3D can be notoriously difficult but I’ve found that using ambient lights can make things easier. In the example project I’ve used an ambient light at 100% intensity to fully illuminate the layer at the start of the animation and then crossed dissolved to a spot light at 100% intensity while reducing the Ambient light to 20% intensity. This is an effective [Read more]
