Comments on: Photoshop Extended: A workflow with After Effect

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:32:32 +0000

You’re welcome Lyndon. Best, John.

By: Lyndon

Lyndon — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:22:07 +0000

ah well, thx anyways man. you’re awesome at what you do. i appreciate your website a lot.

-Lyndon

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:44:29 +0000

That’s a good question, there seems to be no way to do this other than using your automation technique. Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:40:16 +0000

Hi Lyndon, try adding an Adjustment layer above the video. You’ll get access to the image-adjustments that way. Best, John.

By: Lyndon

Lyndon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:13:29 +0000

sorry…

also, when it comes to making a mask for the halftone effect i first make a selection by ctrl+clicking on the RGB image on the channels tab. i then create a new layer and fill it w/ black, creating a black and opaque image of the frame which allows me to create different dot sizes for the halftone effect. Basically how can i create this black and opaque image for every single frame using video in photoshop?

once again, sorry man. im just above all really curious. You’re one of the greats and your input is very important to me.

p.s. i use the color halftone effect. ive managed to use the other one w/ a black and white version and change the blending modes to make a similar effect but it just doesn’t look the same at all.

By: Lyndon

Lyndon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:20:20 +0000

Hey John, you critiqued my tut and i tried your steps w/ concerting to a smart object. It works fine w/ all the filters but whenever i go to image-adjustments, everything is disabled. Can you help me out, I’m curious as to how i can create the cartoon effect w/out batch processing and action recording (which would be sweet

Thanks man,

-Lyndon

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:34:14 +0000

Hi Josh, I’ll be doing another Photoshop Extended e-seminar on October 27. I’ll post details closer to that date. Best wishes, John.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:20:47 +0000

Hey John,
That was great work! It actually opened some tips about AE&PS work flow.
Thanx man. Can we have another?

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:32:35 +0000

That’s great Telli. I’m always happy when I hear my tutorials have inspired! Best to you, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:30:46 +0000

Thanks Eran. One problem with the workflow you mention is that AE doesn’t recognise Smart Objects and therefore Smart Filters. All the best, John.

By: Eran Stern

Eran Stern — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:27:09 +0000

Nice tutorial John.
BTW – You can bring PSD file into After Effects (even if it has a video inside) and After Effects will read it correctly with everything you add to it. No need to re-render for the back trip.
Even better: This will also make the filters editable, so if you change your mind in the future. Just select the PSD layers which contains the video and the PS filters and then press CTRL or CMD + E and it will open inside Photoshop, then you can make the necessary adjustments and hit Save – and your changes will be reflected in After Effects timeline.

By: Grischa Theissen

Grischa Theissen — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:00:36 +0000

Just missed the seperate field in my “workflow”. But AE interpolates the separated field (becauase each field has its own frame) and in the final step puts them back together because you render with 25 frames.

I think I get the workflow just interested how AE and Photoshop handle the fields.
Kind of hard to explain, even in another language.

By: Telli Narcizo

Telli Narcizo — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:39:08 +0000

Thanks for this tutorial, because I never thought it could be useful to do something inside PS. (Actually I thought it was only an option for those who don’t have AE)
But I use PS most for illustrations, and this makes me think PS still underused on this workflow.
So this tutorial moves me to try the paint tools on it and see what happens

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:23:52 +0000

Not quite Grischa, you need to separate the fields (upper or lower depending on your footage) using the Interpret Footage dialog (Command Option G/Control Alt G). Then set your comp to 50fps (Command K). Next render out at 50fps (the new comp frame rate) with no fields. Import that into Photoshop and add your filters. Then reimport back into AE, composite and render at 25fps plus upper or lower fields (same as you used to separate the fields. Best, John.

By: Grischa Theissen

Grischa Theissen — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:14:02 +0000

Nice Tutorial.

Just one question to get it right:
The Raw footage was 25 fps interlaced.
In After Effetcs you switch 25fps to 50fps and AE automatically takes the upperfield and the lower field and separates them in each in one frame while using interpolation.

In the final render you switch back to 25 fps and AE takes the right field out of each frame and convert it to one frame?! Without loosing quality because in interpolated lines will be replaced by the actual lines from the frame after (or before)?

Nice workflow if I got it right.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:08:21 +0000

You’re welcome Jim. Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:08:01 +0000

Hi effektmaenchen, glad you found the deinterlace solution useful! Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:07:01 +0000

Hi James, I’ve only worked at 50 but I’m sure it’s the same for those frame rates. Glad you enjoyed the tut! Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:05:45 +0000

Hi illd, as long as you only change the composition to 50fps and NOT the footage (interpret footage) you’ll see normal playback. So you set the comp to 50 (or 60 etc), separate the fields, then render back to 25 with fields. Note this is also a good technique when rotoscoping fast moving footage with fields. Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Hi Glen, keep watching Motionworks because I do a lot of real-world stuff! Best, John.

By: John Dickinson

John Dickinson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:02:31 +0000

Glad you found it useful Toby and good to hear you made the leap! Best, John.

By: Jim Hines

Jim Hines — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:51:26 +0000

Cool, very useful and thanks.

By: effektmaenchen

effektmaenchen — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:36:41 +0000

hey john,

i also use photoshop and after effects together for some things i do. it´s a very usefull and efficient workflow. it´s a nice way the temporarly “deinterlace” for PS.

thx for this.
maik from dresden / germany

By: thiago

thiago — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:32:55 +0000

wow !! really great job in photoshop ! U really teach me thing ! One of the bests!!

By: James Wicks

James Wicks — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:04:22 +0000

John,

When you bumped up the frame rate from 25 to 50, would I be correct that the math formula is universal?
ie: 29.97 = 59.94, 30 = 60, etc.?

I love what you did with the 4:3 video.
Very cool tut that I can use in my day to day projects.

Best,
J