KIB105 week three exercise

Reflection
This exercise takes a step forward then the first one. The difference here is that human being is much harder than buildings to mask. But this time I mask the object in AE inside of PS. I felt the pen tool in AE is just like the one in PS. But I never use pen tool to mask object in PS. AE might take more time to mask the objects, but this provides more flexible and superior results. I can always go back and adjust the mask when I want. But the tool might take a bit longer to get use to it because once I click the wrong spot it will create a new mask and sometime I didn’t notice it. And this exercise helps me realize that AE also has the same curve system as Maya does. I am familiar with the animation curve in Maya, so I could pick this up very quickly. It also has ease in, ease out and easy eases these three helpful options to choose which makes my life easier when I am adjusting the curve. I also learn to copy and paste the layer and place it in a different order. So I can make a person jump over a wall from another side. During this week I have learned more about AE. I have learned the mask tool in AE and also made a new discovery of the curve system.

Analysis
I think some of the characters in my work do not jump very smoothly. But I did make some of them jump over from another side of the wall. The use of curve is not good enough which costs the quality of the animation to reduce significantly. I was always confused with ease in, ease out and easy ease. Can’t remember the function of them so I have try each of them most time to pick the one I want to use. My ability of using the pen tool is not strong. I need to do some more exercise about this. Next time I will do a quick mask first and then add spot when is necessary later. Otherwise there will be too many spots to edit later. This idea also works with the key frame of animation. I will only set up the key frames that are really necessary. Too many key frames will make the animation curve too hard to control. Another technique about copy and paste the layer is useful. But sometime I would get confused about the connection between different layers so I need to be very careful when I paste the key frames.

Understanding and Comprehension
This exercise continues from the first one. The objective of this exercise is to gain the ability of using the pen tool in AE. Also participate in the further study of layers and animation curves. In order to achieve the requirements of the exercise, I start to animate more attribute than only work with position. By going through this exercise, my capability of using AE has extended. I have achieved the requirements of the task and explored my knowledge of this software.