As part 1 of a 2 part series on grading and other post render processes we use at Infusion Studios this is a quick tutorial on grading in After Effects using Magic Bullet Looks, a plug-in developed by Red Giant Software. MBL is a powerful, responsive and fun way to enhance your post workflow. Part 2, which will follow shortly, is a bit more advanced looking at heavily grading and finishing an animation using the native color correction tools in After Effects along with some other industry standard plug-ins like Optical Flares from VIDEOCOPILOT.NET and Real Smart Motion Blur from RE:Vision Effects.

UPDATE: If you want to follow along here is the robot portrait .EXR to play with.

Enjoy!