Hey guys,

Please note this is a help/suggestion thread thing for the more heavily edited types of TF2 frag vids, so I'm pretty aware it won't appeal to most editors who prefer clean, unedited frags.

As a big fan of massive, over-the-top editing, I have started a small project to showcase cool frags from a couple of friends of mine; one of the things I wanted to be in the movie are custom-made sniper scopes, similar to the ones used by Googler in many of his videos. Here's the one in the 0:23 second mark of this vid, for example:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aO6a98pz_Y#t=24[/youtube]

I have attempted to do something similar by using After Effects and following the steps below:

[b]1.[/b] Downloaded a [url=http://static-4.nexusmods.com/15/mods/130/images/53457-2-1383145524.png]sniper crosshair in .PNG format[/url];
[b]2.[/b] Created an [i]Adjustment Layer[/i] using the [i]Ellipse[/i] tool;
[b]3.[/b] Added the [i]CC Lens[/i] effect to the Adjustment Layer, in order to create the scope lens effect;
[b]4.[/b] Colorized the adjustment layer to create a sort of gay-ass lens tint effect;
[b]5.[/b] Added the .PNG crosshair on the top of the Adjustment layer, so that it also creates the outline and makes it look like a scope;
[b]6.[/b] Attempted to animate the whole thing. Due to my own lack of skill and patience, and it came out laughably terrible.

Result: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ZbKqiGzIo[/youtube]

Do any of you guys have any experience in creating that kind of stuff in AE? If so, do you have any tips to share?
Thank you!