When you photograph animation with a camera, either as a sequence of drawings on paper, or puppets or objects captured move-by-move, you will likely need to then adjust the tonal range in After Effects, That is, to fine-tune the variations of brightness / highlight, darkness / shadows, and grey tones in between.
The process is quite simple, something that is accomplished in a couple of short, easy-to-do steps.
For drawn animation on paper, the adjustments will make the white of the pages especially bright and clear. This is ideal for “keying out” or removing the negative-space regions, to then make them transparent for subsequent layering or compositing.
Below are the steps to take once you have imported an image sequence or a movie file, or have added a nested AE comp as a layer in the Timeline. Here are a couple of approaches you can take.
Workspace
Before you start, a good workspace to use in After Effects, with quick access to tools and processes, is “Effects.” Referring to the Main Menu, go to Window > Workspace > Effects.
Tonal modifications wth Levels
In the Timeline, click on the given layer to be sure it is active (that is, image sequence, movie file, nested AE comp, and so on).
The tools you will need are in the Effects section of After Effects:
- Referring to the Main Menu, go to Effect > Colour Correction > Levels.
- Or, from the Effects & Presets tab, twirl open Colour Correction, select the Levels effect, and drag it onto the layer.
- Or, by selecting the given layer in the Timeline, context-click and choose Effect > Colour Correction > Levels.
Once you have done so, the effect properties will appear in the Effects Controls window. That is where you will make adjustments, while you view the results in the Composition window. If you cannot find the Effects Controls, it is typically a tab with the Project window; or go to the Main Menu > Window > Effects Controls to open the window.
Referring to the Levels in the Effects Controls, there is a Histogram category. This shows the range of:
- Black / darkness, on the left of the scale
- White / brightness, on the right of the scale
- Gamma / mid-tones, in the middle of the scale
The histogram indicates RGB values, referring to the three primary colours of light, Red, Green, and Blue. To the right of the scale is a toggle switch (two small dot / circles). If you click on the lower dot, the reference will show a composite, to specifically indicate tonal range of overall exposure.
For these purposes of levels adjustment, we are interested in the Input Black, Input White, and Gamma.
Considering the points on the slider below the Histogram, there are three markers, representing Black, Gamma, and White. By moving the markers along the slider, the range between light and dark will compress and you can modify contrast, between the values, by shifting the:
- Black / darkness to the right
- White / brightness to the left
- Gamma / tonal range in-between, slightly left or slightly right
Below the Histogram are sliders are Input Black, Input White, and Gamma. With the expand/contract switches, you can twirl open the categories, to access individual sliders for each value.
Doing so provides closer, exacting precision.
If you are working with imagery with the intention of keying out colours or tones, you will want to achieve an acceptable contrast with consistent bright regions; for instance, with drawings on paper, bright white regions of the pages and negative space, but with strong darks too.
When you make adjustments, if you want to start again and refresh, there is a Reset button at the top, upper region of the Levels window.
Tonal modifications with Curves
In the Timeline, click on the given layer to be sure it is active (that is, image sequence, movie file, nested AE comp, and so on).
The tools you will need are in the Effects section of After Effects.
- Referring to the Main Menu, go to Effect > Colour Correction > Curves.
- Or, from the Effects & Presets tag, twirl open Colour Correction, select the Curves effect, and drag it onto the layer.
- Or, by selecting the given layer in the Timeline, context-click and choose Effect > Colour Correction > Curves.
Once you have done so, the properties will appear in the Effects Controls window. That is where you will make adjustments, while you view the results in the Composition Window. If you cannot find the Effects Controls, it is typically a tab with the Project window; or go to the Main Menu > Window > Effects Controls to open the window.
The Curves option follows the same principles as Levels.
The effect is represented by a graph with a diagonal spline. There are vertex points that you can move, and add, to adjust the layer and imagery:
- Bottom-left corner represents black point / darkest regions
- Top-right corner represents white point / brightest regions
- Click and move points on the spline at points in between to modify the subtle gamma / tonal regions
Here are examples.
To make the light regions of the image brighter to enhance the contrast
Once you have added the Curves effect, select the layer to be sure the it’s active (that is, image sequence, movie file, nested AE comp, and so on. You will use the Effects Controls to modify the values. If you cannot find it, go to the Main Menu > Window > Effects Controls to open the window – it is typically a tab with the Project window.
There, referring to the Curves properties, graph, and diagonal spline, as it nears the top right-edge, towards the vertex point at the uppermost end of the spline, use the curser to click on the spline, fairly near to the upper edge. By clicking there, you will add another vertex or control point, which you will will want to make adjustments and compress the range of light to dark in the image. Therefore, click on the line to make the control point. Move it up towards the top-edge of the graph and towards the left.
By doing so, the brightest parts of the image on the screen should appear brighter.
To make dark regions of the image darker and enhance the contrast
Similar to the previous steps to modify the brightness, this time, referring to the Curves properties, graph, and diagonal spline, as it nears the bottom left-edge, towards the vertex point at the end of the spline, use the curser to click on the spline, fairly near to the lower edge. Doing so will add another vertex or control point. You will want to shift it to make adjustments and compress the range of dark to light in the image. Therefore, click on the line to make the control point and move it downwards, to the bottom-edge of the graph, and towards the right.
On doing so, the darkest parts of the image on the screen should appear darker.
To further refine the contrast, and to modify the gamma or tonal points in between
Like you did with the previous two qualities, with light and dark, referring to the Curves properties, graph, and diagonal spline, use the curser to click in the middle region of the spline. By doing so, you will add another vertex or control point, which you can move left and right, to make adjustments and fine-tune the compression and range of light to dark in the image, which boosts qualities of tonal range.
Therefore, click on the line to make the control point and shift it slightly left or slightly right, until you are satisfied with the quality of the image, as you refer to it in the Composition window.
If necessary, you can add more points on the spline, to make additional, one changes.
When you make adjustments, if you want to start again and refresh, there is a Reset button at the top, upper region of the Levels window.
The advantage of using the Curves effect
You can go back to the Effects Controls and tweak what you have started, particularly if you do this as a first step before another effect, such as Colour Key.
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