The post-production work for my project is primarily done in After Effects (AE). By using AE, I can finely tune and optimize the animation, including adding special effects, color correction, and compositing.
In the production process, I utilized the “motion tracking” technique. Videos shot with a mobile phone often have slight shakes, and if you place a static animation into such footage, these shakes become very noticeable and disruptive. To address this, I used motion tracking to capture the shakes in the video. I then applied the analyzed position data to the animation layer and manually adjusted the overall position. This approach ensures that the animation syncs with the shakes in the video, making the entire scene appear more natural and cohesive, thereby enhancing the viewer’s sense of immersion and visual experience.
After completing the animation rendering, I noticed that the brightness of the animation did not match the original video. To better integrate the animation into the video, I added a color mask to the animation layer. Based on the environment, I chose a gray-green color for the mask and then adjusted the blend mode and opacity of the color layer. This approach made the entire scene look more harmonious. This method not only corrected the brightness discrepancy but also enhanced the cohesion between the animation and the actual scene, resulting in a more natural and unified final effect.
In my project, I used a lighting plugin called “CC Light Sweep.” This plugin can analyze the contours of my animation and generate an outline light effect. By using CC Light Sweep, I can precisely adjust the direction and intensity of the light source, making the lighting in the animation appear more natural and realistic. This plugin not only enhances the visual impact of the animation but also improves the overall texture of the scene, making the characters and environments look more three-dimensional and vivid under the lighting.
In some scenes, to place the animation behind certain props, I used the “Roto Brush” tool. First, I used the Roto Brush to outline the required parts and then analyzed the entire video to determine the position of the props. This process extracts the selected parts, generating a transparent background. Next, I placed the processed video above the animation layer to establish the correct occlusion relationship. To make the occluded areas look more natural, I adjusted the “Feather” and “Contrast” settings of the Roto Brush. This method ensures that the animation integrates more seamlessly with the video, and the occlusion effect appears more realistic.
Regarding motion tracking, there are some additional details to consider. The tool includes two frames: an outer frame and an inner frame. The outer frame analyzes the selected area, which can be set to the estimated maximum required range. The inner frame specifically analyzes the information around the focal point. If the outer frame’s area is too large, the analysis time will significantly increase, but the analysis will be more accurate. However, if the tracked object’s movement speed is fast and the outer frame’s range is too small, tracking errors may occur. Although manual adjustments can be made in such cases, they may lack precision. Therefore, when using the motion tracking tool, it is crucial to choose an appropriate outer frame size, balancing the analysis time and tracking accuracy.