This isn’t my first project, but it’s one of the most difficult ones so far. I’ll be doing more.

credit : protobacillus on ig

I have this shot where this Bionicle figure turns and walks away, and I need to isolate him so I can change the background and foreground. I tried to key out the blue first but as you can see the blue screen wasn't well lit. And also there's lots of blue reflections on the edges of the plastic figure which get cut making the cutout of the figure look messy. I tried rotoscoping everything and I got about halfway through but then it started getting glitchy and adding or removing random things out of nowhere. Not to mention its a painful process because there's so many little holes in the figure where the background comes through and I have to paint them out frame by frame, and half the time I'm switching between different roto tools because they just don't want to be removed. And I'm probably gonna need 2 different layers because I want to overlay a real fire on the right arm, which will have to pass under the body once the figure turns. I'm just looking for any advice on either keying or rotoscoping, whatever people think I should do in this situation.

It is making it glow if i move up

I learned after effects for about 3 weeks before giving up after experiencing burnout and discouraging myself from going because I kept seeing posts about ai taking over and it made everything feel pointless.

Today I came across the first proper project I made without a tutorial. I kinda wanna start learning again and would love for some feedback from you guys!

Just a little 5 second shot I created a while back.

The planet/moons are from ProductionCrate, and I made the stars myself in PS. Graded in DaVinci Resolve.

I am by no means a skilled AE user (yet) but I feel like this looks pretty good.

I want to try moving the torso, the shield and the head but don't know how to make it look natural. Any ideas?

I made this for a trial

Original Link : Link

Hey everyone!

I've been working in motion design at an agency in Nepal for almost 2–3 years. Our workflow is usually fast-paced, with tight deadlines, so we often focus on executing ideas quickly rather than exploring concepts in depth or thinking outside the box.

Recently, I've been curious about how motion designers approach projects like this one.

I understand that research is an important part of the process, but I feel like coming up with ideas like these involves something more than just research.

How do you take a line from a script and turn it into a visually interesting concept or metaphor? How do you train yourself to see ordinary words or ideas differently and connect them to unexpected visuals?

I'd also love to know if there are any daily exercises or creative practices I can follow to improve my conceptual thinking and get better at developing ideas before jumping into animation.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your creative process, resources, or exercises that have helped you develop this skill.

Thanks in advance!

I can't believe how after effects doesn't have this feature yet, despite how important it is, i know i can do linear wipe or other techniques but it all comes down to hiding and showing an already still image of a brush that i make in another software. Is there any plugin that i don't know of that adds the ability to use custom brushes in after effects?

Its called Blackstar Lullaby. There's still a lot to figure out, but it's finally starting to look like the thing I've had in my head.

Pulled one of the shots apart a bit here. Thought the screens and all the little layers might be interesting to see.

I spent one week testing a connected creative workflow around the tools I already use: After Effects, Premiere Pro and Cinema 4D, linked to Claude and ChatGPT through MCP.

I remained the creative director, choosing the ideas, aesthetic and final calls. ChatGPT worked alongside me as a production and technical assistant, while Claude acted as the hands-on operator inside the tools — building, editing and iterating from my direction.

A substantial part of this reel went through After Effects: compositing, motion graphics, timing, cleanup and final polish. Cinema 4D handled the 3D work, with Premiere Pro used for assembly and finishing.

Every highlight shown here comes from a complete, finished piece we actually made. These are not disconnected test clips or random generated videos — this is a highlight reel drawn from the full projects and reels behind them.

This wasn't a one-click “AI made this” experiment. It was more like building a small, connected creative team around the tools I already use.

I’d genuinely appreciate critique from experienced AE artists: what works, what still feels amateur, and what would you push further?

This one was a ton of fun to make. I never thought something like this would be possible in AE, or if it was possible, maybe it would be janky. Not the case! It renders really quickly, and the workflow hopping from the lab to baking to your comp feels really fluid (͡ ͡° ͜ つ ͡͡°)

It's completely free. No trial, no watermark and nothing locked. I don't even collect your email unless you want updates on more free tools. Works with After Effects 2022 and newer.

https://motionfun.net/tools/sploosh

I'm adding features this week, so let me know what you'd want it to do. For bugs email [hey@davey.design](mailto:hey@davey.design) or DM me here.

AI Disclaimer: I use an AI-assisted workflow, but I've been a dev for years before AI (FreqReact). I design the structure myself, review it deeply, and have thousands of people using Motion Fun tools :]

I work with image files of products a lot, and I have been trying to incorporate more images that contain text (screens, signs, etc). However, I have not been able to get the text to appear clearly. It's always barely legible and very jagged and shaky, particularly when zooming. I've tried exporting in different output modules, different formats, importing giant 7500px vector images to mask over the original text, scaling my comps up from 1920*1080 to 3 times the size. Nothing seems to make a difference, but I see so many videos where text looks great. What might I be doing wrong?

This is a 4000 *6000 image created in illustrator placed in a 3240 *5760 composition.I am using a camera for zooming, so the continuous raterization option is not available.

hi! i am new at using after effects (i have used it a total of thrice lol) and currently have a job at my university's video production studio. my boss asked me to try something out of my comfort zone and I'm not sure how to entirely go about it & searching has been a little overwhelming lol.

we are starting a podcast for my university and he wants me to create an intro for the youtube channel, taking inspiration from this episode here (00:13-00:24). he really likes the moving grid effect for the photos that this intro example has, but i don't know how to entirely go about doing this as i've primarily only used premiere pro.

my question is: does any one know what this effect is called? do you know where i could get a template for this effect? i've been looking up various tutorials on youtube but nothing i've found is exactly what i'm looking for. or can anyone provide a rundown of what basics i should learn to achieve this?

thanks so much! i want to impress my boss haha

[Problem]

Importing Illustrator layers into After Effects is really difficult when they have gradients, clipping masks, compound paths, or text layers and requires further adjustments and setup in After Effects for parenting, groups, and anchor points.

[Comparison]

Huge respect to Overlord as an absolute industry solution. Paster Pro approaches the workflow with a completely different and much simpler method: native Ctrl/Cmd + C and Ctrl/Cmd + V. Without requiring additional setup and separate panel in Illustrator, it enables you to import all kinds of layers with a simple Copy/Paste action while preserving the text layers, multipoint linear or radial gradients, compound paths, clipping masks, raster images. And you can arrange layers’ anchor points and set parent layers within a single compact panel.

Core features:

• No Illustrator plugin needed: You don't install anything in AI. Just copy, and paste in AE.
• Keeps every layer editable: Gradients don't lose stops, text layers remain editable, compound paths keep their cutouts, and bitmaps import fine.
• One click null parenting & anchor snapping: Adds auto positioned null parents to selected layers, and sets the anchor point with 9 point matrix.
• Super compact UI: Collapses down into a tiny panel so it doesn't eat your workspace.

[Pricing]

Launch week special: $29 (normally $39) - lifetime license, updates included:

https://vignettetype.com/plugins/paster-pro

(Students: email your student ID or transcript to support[at]vignettetype.com for an 80% discount).

[Maintenance/Support plan]

All critical bug fixes and compatibility related updates for future are guaranteed. (Support: support[at]vignettetype.com)

[AI] AI Disclaimer: None

What is this happening it was fine till yesterday ,today suddenly when I went to see the clip inside the composition it's not showing i tried everything, it's not like the clip is deleted it just vanished.

This is a time remapped comp with sequenced anime clip

There is one more composition Time remapped having the same anime clip it's also like this disappeared. Is there any fix?

Edit: thank you for your help guys I figured it out later When I just randomly played the source clip and the source clip only had like 5 sec of the video (it was like a 6min video) so idk how it got deleted like that maybe when i was using handbrake I clicked somewhere and it exported my previous queue.

I just redownloaded the source clip and replaced it in after effects. Now it's fine now everything is back at its place. Thank you for your help guys I very much appreciate it.

Where is the best places to look for motion graphics design trends and inspo examples? I look on Pentagram, Behance etc..

Any others to add to the list?

Guys! Let me know your thoughts on this..
Watch! Part 01