How to Generate a Crowd in Adobe After Effects
You can use the After Effects "Clone stamp" tool to make a few people seem like a crowd. "Clone stamp" works by copying imagery from one part of a video to another part. The destination for this copy can be from the same frame, but will betray the crowd effect. Instead, copy from a point in time that's later or earlier than the frame in which you want to apply "Clone stamp." Note that you can also copy from a video that's different from the one in which you're creating the crowd. The Source option in the Paint panel enables this approach.
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Instructions
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Click the "File" menu, then click the "Open" command. Navigate to and double-click a video file showing several people you would like to make a crowd from. After Effects will load the video for editing, and display a thumbnail representing the video into the Project panel at screen left.
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Drag the thumbnail of your video from the "Project" panel to the "Composition" panel at screen center. This action enables you to edit the video.
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Click the vertical bar in the Timeline panel to select the "Current Time Indicator," or CTI. Drag right until the first frame showing people appears in the Composition window.
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Click the toolbar icon shaped like a hand stamp to run the "Clone stamp" tool. Click in the "Offset" text box in the Clone stamp panel at screen right, then type "48" in the text box. This action tells After Effects you want it to pull images of people from video frames two seconds into the future. Doing this will prevent the extra people you add from looking too much like the original people.
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Press and hold the "Alt" button, then click the leftmost edge of the leftmost person in the Composition panel. Release "Alt." These actions set the source for the Clone stamp tool. The tool will draw imagery from the screen location you clicked, but two seconds ahead in the video. Click above the person, then drag right to draw more people.
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Click the Preview panel's "Play" button to play the video. In place of just a few people, you will see a group of people appearing in the frames in which you applied the Clone stamp tool.
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References
- Adobe After Effects CS5 Classroom in a Book; Adobe Creative Team; 2010
