More Color Tools and Techniques

More Color Tools and Techniques

This section has laid the foundation for color correction in
After Effects using its most fundamental tools. The truth,
of course, is that there are lots of ways to adjust the color
levels of an image, with new ones emerging all the time.
Alternatives used to create a specifi c look—layering in a
color solid, creating selections from an image using the
image itself along with blending modes, and more—are
explored in Section III of this book.

Color Finesse and Magic Bullet Looks

Color Finesse is a sophisticated color correction system
included with After Effects Professional; because it runs as
a separate application and does not allow you to adjust corrections
in the context of a composite, it is more suitable
for overall color look adjustments. It is interesting to notice
that it is in many ways a collection of the tools in this section,
assembled into one toolset.
An alternative approach can be found in Magic Bullet
Looks from Red Giant Software. This package also operates
via a separate application and is thus more suited to overall
color looks than compositing and matching. It uses a novel
metaphor—that of the actual production pipeline—and

includes fi lters designed to emulate lighting effects, matte
box fi lters, lens effects, and fi lm stocks.
Much of what these tools do can be recreated with the simpler
tools previously described, plus a few extras. However,
most artists, particularly those just learning, fi nd that they
prefer the more intuitive approach of these higher-level
tools for complex color corrections.