Gradient After Effects [UPD] Download
Niccoletta Boyer
I'm trying to create a radial opacity gradient in After effects CC 2015. I'm trying to achieve the same effect as if I were working with a shape layer and changed the fill options however this is not possible on this layer type.
If you want to adjust the transparent gradient, you could add Brightness & Contrast to the comp layer; Effects -> Brightness & Contrast - adjust brightness and contrast to increase or decrease the amount/size of the transparent area.
On second thoughts, rather than using gradient ramp you could also do this by feathering a mask on a white solid above the black solid. I think you would have more control over the opacity / gradient using feathering on the mask
Whenever I need to generate a gradient for a track matte I use a shape layer instead of a solid with a gradient because there is no need to pre-compose and you can combine multiple gradients, colors or shapes. Heres one with two radial gradients with AE's panels arranges so you can see the layer properties, the gradient editor and the resulting comp. I've set the track matte to alpha. This is much more versatile, easier to edit and faster to render.
However, rendering the video as mp4, I'm having considerable trouble with banding in the gradient. There should be enough of a difference to have a color for each pixel, yet the gradient in the video looks like it's from the good ol' days.
Are there any settings or tricks I could use to avoid gradient stripes in my video? My aim is to match the video's gradient as closely as possible with the gradient background displayed on the website it's supposed to be embedded on.
I found that you get better results from gradients in AE when you run in floating point, i.e. 16 or 32bit and output those very bits to the encoder. This means not introducing banding by downsampling it to 8 bit before sending it to the encoder, or even the internal Adobe encoder in AE (which is crap for low bitrates).
On the Mac, you might want to export to ProRes HQ and then use the x264 Component in Compressor to directly input flawless gradients into the encoder. You still will always get banding in h.264, but less visibly.
We can create a good background by using gradient features of after effect by following a few simple steps, but before starting, let us look on the working screen of this software so that we can easily understand different terms we will use during our learning about this topic.
Now hit the P button for position property of gradient shapes layer. We will animate it. Make a click on the stop watch icon of this property, then place key frame play head as the 10 sec and change position of this layer like this.
After this article, you can now understand what gradient effect is in after effect and how you can handle its parameters for getting a good gradient effect with your own idea. You can increase your expertise in this effect by practicing on it.
Basically I have a composition layer that needs to have sort of fading out effect on it.I can achieve this in PS CS6 by aplying a vector mask on a layer and then choosing opacity gradient and applying it on created mask. But I'm struggling to achieve this effect in AE. Any suggestions?
The most user-friendly way to create advanced gradient ramps in After Effects! Easily create and edit linear, radial, angular and reflected ramps with the click of a button, and colorize them with one of the 30 trendy and useful color presets. Even add some special FX options like tiling, grain and turbulence !
But, curiously, After Effects doesn't offer such some gradient options ! AE's gradient ramp just come as a rather limited effect, that you have to apply manually onto your layer. It only offers 2 basic modes - linear and radial (that you have to re-center each time manually), plus it always begins with black and white and doesn't offer any angle, tiling nor special FX option...
A really nice other plugin called YY Ramp+, available here on aescripts also as a Name Your Own Price product, allows you to choose from additional shapes, like angular, reflected or diamond (and does offer some useful other options like midpoint, opacity per color, blending mode...), but you still have to apply this effect again and again on each layer, and to tweak the colors and options afterwards, in order to achieve the desired result.
Being able to just create horizontal linear ramps, simple centered radial gradients or angular ramps that you can turn with an angle parameter (useful for creating "radar" like designs for example) shouldn't be that frustrating, so... I decided to create my own toolset !
A simple toolset that allows you to create your desired gradient type in a really fast and convenient way, by clicking the corresponding icon button, just like you would do within other Adobe Programs.
Before clicking on the gradient type button (but you can do it afterwards as well, as long as you respect a few conditions, as explained in the next paragraph), you can choose a color scheme among 30 carefully hand crafted presets :
Keep in mind that you will be able to change the colors of your gradient afterwards by changing the preset selection in the dropdown list while your layer with FX gradient applied to it is selected, BUT, if you have begun by applying one of the 21 first "basic 2 colors ramps" presets, you won't be able to apply a (C)olorama based preset. Conversely, if you had begun to apply one the 9 last (C)olorama based presets, you won't be able to change the colors by just selecting one of the 21 first "basic 2 colors ramps" presets afterwards.
The FX gradient toolset is fully compatible with YY Ramp+, and, it works even better with it !
Indeed, YYramp+ creates real gradients - whichever shape it is - in no time since it is a plugin, while - without this plugin - while FX gradient by its own kind of "mimics" these exact same shapes (angular, reflected...) and options, by stacking a few effects on the layer and controlling them with a lot of expressions. So, even without YYramp+, the FX gradient toolset will definitely help you create the 4 gradient types, but it will be a bit heavier to compute due the expressions and long stack of effects.
The FX gradient toolset has been packed with a bunch of tilling options and "Special FX" features, available by default whether you have installed the YYramp+ plugin or not.
You can play with some tiles options inside the
FX gradient's "Tilling options" (Number of Tiles,
Tiles Angle, Cycle and Seamless) in order to
create interesting complex gradients
(the "Tiles Angle" option alows you to rotate
the "Angular Ramp" around its center Point too).
Keep in mind that these are only native AE effects, that are just linked to the main FX gradient pseudo-effect via expressions, so feel free to dive deeper into them by twirling down the renamed effects at the bottom of the stack (the 8th one that creates the Turbulence FX is "called "_______", if you want to change the Turbulent displacement type to "Vertical only" for example).
When SFX is ON, which is the case by default, you'll see some little stars sparkling on the icon button, while when it is OFF, the SFX is greyed out and doesn't show these little stars. In this case, each time you'll create a new gradient on a selected layer, it will just apply the YYramp+ effect to the layer, with the choosen shape and color preset.
If you haven't installed the YYramp+ plugin yet, you will just see a greyed out SFX button without any stars and with a thin cross onto it ;
it is just a visual clue that reminds you that you don't have YYramp+ plugin installed in your current AfterEffects version, and you will be bound to apply the full stack of effects.
Note that it doesn't mean that the toolset won't be able to create the desired gradients, but it will be "fake" them by stacking native effects linked to the main Pseudo-effect through more expressions, which involves of course, a little bit more computer ressources.
There are other small limitations especially while creating an "Angular" type of gradient ramp, onto Shape Layers, Text layers and Masked Layers, because it's really difficult to mimic this kind of gradient with non plain solid, rectangular or footage layers.
So, again, if you want more flexibility and faster performances,
I strongly advise you to install the YY Ramp+ plugin in addition to this FX gradient toolset !
Note to CS6 users :
CS6 users won't be able to view the color presets as nice round icons ; they will only see their written name instead (due to some AE CS6 scripting UI limitations).
Plus, the FX gradient will appear as "missing effect", but don't worry, all the features will work perfectly otherwise !
The ramp effect doesnt remap the colors of the image- I think this is what hes looking for. If youre looking for something similar to what photoshop does, you need a plugin. A great set of plugins is www.walkereffects.com it has some great color tools. Check into em.
The Gradient tool allows you to create gradual changes of color and light across an image with power and precision. You can use different types of gradients to blend with or overlay other images to create stunning backdrops for logo designs, poster art, stylized photos, and more. Gradients can help draw focus to a point in your image by creating a glint of light or color that gradually fades from one hue to another.
After you add a gradient to your image or design, you can find the Gradient Controls in the Properties panel. Click on the Preset menu to explore all the useful preset options, grouped by color category.
Select the Gradient tool from the toolbar and then click on the gradient type you want to create in the options bar at the top of the app. Click and drag across your canvas to automatically add a gradient to your image in a new layer. To make your gradient transparent so you can see the image below, adjust the opacity in the Properties panel.
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