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I think more people should post things to look at. Here's something I made the other day. https://vimeo.com/53498700 Was pretty fun to make. I'd like to get into motion more.
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Nov 15, 2012 11:08
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rear end cobra posted:That's really nice! Are you using any scripts for the easing? And are those AE shape layers? Because I still haven't gotten the hang of shape layers, and usually revert back to using masked solids since I feel I have better control of the shapes then. Thanks dude! No scripts. I just drag the handles way out there. The layers are almost all imported PSD files. If you import a PSD file it brings it in as a comp and preserves all your layers. Saves a lot of screwing around.
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Nov 15, 2012 13:45
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redjenova posted:How long did it take you to make this? Thanks dude! I'd love to tell you how I made it. I'll just preface this by saying I have no training in motion, and I haven't been doing this for very long. Everything I know I've learned either from online tutorials or from screwing around in AE. If you're hoping there's some sort of secret, there really isn't one (that I know of -- if anyone reading this knows any secrets, please tell me). It's all just layers being either moved, scaled, rotated, or masked in/out. With that out of the way, I'll lead you through what I loosely refer to as my 'process'. What should I make? This step took the longest. The biggest thing I took away from this project is how important it is to keep making decisions and moving forward. Once I decided what I would be making, I moved onto the sketching phase. The sketching phase This step also took a long time. I tried to plan out every letter and its transition very early on. At the letter 'N' I got bored and moved into Illustrator to start making the assets that would eventually be brought into AE.  Oh, that would be cool, wouldn't it Drawing the assets What I should have done with this phase is illustrate all the letters first, then make sure they look good next to each other, and then plan out the transitions. Instead, I drew the letter "O" and the letter "N" and then brought them into AE so I could get started animating straight away.  gently caress yeah, let's animate these suckas - me, way too early in the process A mixture of making assets and animating those assets This was the final step. I really should have planned out everything first. In Illustrator I would make little boards for each letter and then go straight into AE to try them out. Eventually I somehow finished.  At the time I thought this was the dumbest poo poo ever, but then I showed people and they liked it. Animating People tell me I have an 'eye' for this stuff, but it really just comes from watching a lot of things on Vimeo. The biggest tip I could give you would be to download videos off Vimeo (or wherever), bring them into either Quicktime or Photoshop (apparently Photoshop can import and scrub through video, I only found this out recently), and then go through your favourite parts frame by frame. Count how many frames it takes them to go from X to Y, etc.. You'll be surprised how much action happens in such a short amount of time, and how much you can learn just by paying attention. You'll also want to bone up on basic animation principles, like anticipation and that thing where a person's hair will keep moving forward after their body comes to rest. Pretty much all the amateurs I see on Vimeo pay no attention to this stuff, and it shows. Transitions My transitions aren't seamless animations. They all have a seam. If I need to have a square turn into a circle, I just rotate the square quickly and make it bulge a bit before cutting to a circle. It's just stupid tricks like that done with care that make transitions work. That's how I made it in broad terms. If I completely skipped what you wanted to hear about, or you'd like me to go into detail about some technical aspect, let me know. I'm sure there are other people reading the thread who want to know the same stuff you want to know.
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Nov 19, 2012 12:05
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redjenova posted:Are you just animating a ton of masks most of the time? Like the reveal of the tongue on the S?  A black circle with a radial wipe applied to it (made transparent for the purposes of this tutorial). When you set the tongue layer to use the black circle as an alpha track matte, you will only see the part of the tongue that the black shape covers. As for the smoothness of the animation, it's mostly just the classic 'slow in, slow out' trick. You should be using AE's motion editor to tweak the easing on your keyframes. The other thing you should be thinking about is the principle of "follow through and overlapping action" (thanks Google). Use plenty of that and your animations will look smooth. If I skipped over anything that you would have preferred to hear more about, tell me and I'll elaborate. BonoMan posted:Also I'd like to point out that you are shining example of "the program is just a tool."
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Nov 20, 2012 13:07
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redjenova posted:The only other thing that jumps out at me is the circle of the O turning into that oblong shape that is the first part of the N. Is that also done just animating masks?  These two frames are where the switch happens. Tricking peoples eyes is way easier than creating the effect for real. (Also, thanks for the kind words!) RizieN posted:I was looking at your Vimeo, Bullwinkle, and wanted to know how you animated this one: http://vimeo.com/30658120
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Nov 21, 2012 08:47
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Dr.McButtcheeks posted:My big question, whenever I watch pieces similar to yours, is that nice soft shading. How did you go about creating that? Is all that shading done on the shape originally inside of Illustrator? Or did you use some sort of drop shadow effect in AE? BonoMan posted:You can also start working blurs in there to get an added layer of control. The problem I have is that I want the shadow to only affect a single layer. I don't want it to fall on the background. As far as I know, a drop shadow can't do this. My method for applying a drop shadow to a single comp/layer (please suggest a better one, I'm begging you) 1) find the comp that you'd like to cast a shadow, and duplicate it 2) give the newly duplicated comp a tint (the color you want your shadow to be) 3) add a gaussian blur to your new shadow comp (however soft you'd like your shadow to be) 4) duplicate the comp that you want the shadow to fall on 5) give the duplicated comp a black tint (so we can use it as an alpha matte) 6) use the black-tinted comp as an alpha matte for the gaussian blurred shadow layer Tedious as gently caress. And if you end up changing the animations in one of the comps it throws everything off. Would be easier if you could create instances of comps (like smart objects in Photoshop, which automatically update across the board but can have different effects applied to them. Is there such a thing?) but there really must be a better way. Any help with this would be much appreciated! redjenova posted:
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Nov 22, 2012 09:39
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BonoMan posted:Your Transparent Toggle button. Right by the Track Matte option drop down. Thanks so much for this dude! I knew there must have been a better way. I guess I just wasn't plugging the right terms into Google.
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Nov 25, 2012 10:02
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BonoMan posted:Did you have to follow a TutsPlus video for some of these techniques? Apparently my company has had a premium account for a while (and never bothered to tell me..the guy that could use it the most). I logged on and saw a video really similar to this in style so it was just making me wonder. I haven't seen that tutorial, but the video it copies (this one https://vimeo.com/46616230, which is far superior to the tutorial recreation, by the way) was a huge inspiration and part of my reference library for the project. I'm not sure what the tutorial contains, but it can't be much more than teaching you about the graph editor, masks, keyframes, etc. I think if you were to step through the original video frame by frame you'd be able to figure out how it was done. If you see something you can't figure out, post it here. I bet one of us could give you a solution. Also, the beauty of the original video comes from the awesome transitions, the smoothness, and the timing. I don't think the tutorial covers any of those things. raging bullwinkle fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Dec 9, 2012 |
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Dec 9, 2012 05:09
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BonoMan posted:I didn't, however, know that the video wasn't an original of the tutorial maker. Huh! Ha, yeah, I thought that was weird too. I wonder what they pay for a 'premium' tutorial. I know their normal rate is $150 per video. I don't think many people would bother recreating that animation and then making a tutorial about it for $150.
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Dec 9, 2012 11:34
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chellesandcheese posted:OK, good to know I'm not totally out in left field then. I think you need to work on fundamentals. It looks like you're putting your time into things like simulated bubbles and snow and 3D text when you should be focusing on things like graphic design and the principles of animation. Your frames should work as still images before you even bring them into after effects (don't design everything inside after effects, if that's what you're doing). Animation-wise, I see jarring things like cameras coming to an immediate stop (the scenes at 18 seconds and 28 seconds and 59 seconds) objects that just suddenly start moving with no easing or anticipation (the scene at 45 seconds) and objects that move in a very linear and unrealistic fashion (the car at 46 seconds). Do you have other graphic designers or motion designers that you admire? Look at their work and see what you can take away from it. If you don't look at other people's work then I'd suggest you start now. You need to build up your visual vocabulary. I did notice that you have a lot of 'high school' themed stuff in your reel, though, so you have an impressive knowledge of software for someone so young. I just think you're focusing on the wrong stuff. I see these reels all the time and never say anything, but you've asked for advice a few times now so I thought I'd give my opinion. Sorry if any of this sounded mean.
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Dec 7, 2013 15:26
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OtherCubed posted:Check it out at https://www.othercubed.com/circles I'd share it but this link doesn't work. Please fix!
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Sep 12, 2014 13:27
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I feel like I'm doing it wrong because I use one of the default layouts and don't really use any plugins apart from duik/particular. I'm only on motion graphics work like once every few months though so I've never felt a huge need to optimise my workflow. Can you give me some examples of absolutely essential plugins I should be using as a motion graphics professional? Also I tend to shy away from things like ease and whizz because I inherited someone else's file once where all easing was controlled by expressions and it was a nightmare to work with. Duik btw, for anyone who hasn't heard of it, is a plugin made for rigging 2D characters in AE, but I use it mainly for parenting puppet pins to null objects. That way you can parent them to other things and link them to expressions and stuff. It's very handy.
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Jan 24, 2015 23:02
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the_lion posted:3D layer distributor quickly moves layers in depth and opacity etc. Free I think (AEscripts). OtherCubed posted:So, a long time later, Vigoro has been released!  Still does the job, though.
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Feb 5, 2015 10:54
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magnificent7 posted:WHY does AE not have an option to put layers into a folder?
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Apr 24, 2015 15:39
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Travakian posted:Because this fucks with, at the least: render order, 3d layer render order, blending modes, collapsed precomps... I think they could exist as a purely cosmetic thing. Just have the computer ignore folders completely. Render like they don't exist. Why wouldn't that work?
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Apr 25, 2015 09:35
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Travakian posted:Because that's only half a solution; they've said multiple times that it's a big feature request, and if they're going to do it they'll do it properly. Focus has been on the architecture rewrite though, and that's Big News. Is there a resource you could point me to that would help with timeline organization? I feel like my projects always reach a critical mass of shape layers and null objects and I lose all comprehension of what I'm looking at.
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Apr 26, 2015 03:11
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BonoMan gave some great answers but I want to add to them.magnificent7 posted:I have this constant obsession in my mind -- frame everything important into the shot - fill the space! Keep in mind that the viewer can only process a little bit of information at a time. If your philosophy is "put everything on the screen and let the viewer sort it out", then you're probably going to create a lot of messy design. The great thing about motion graphics is that you don't have to show everything at once. You can hide things when they're no longer needed, etc. I also think you might be getting hung up on the wrong "rules" (e.g. the rule of thirds, and rule of triangles -- whatever that is). Beware of rules that you've arbitrarily decided are important. When I was studying design I one day decided that choosing point sizes based on the Fibonacci sequence was the most mathematical and beautiful way to set up a type hierarchy. I always ran into problems where my type was either too small or too big but I stuck with it and didn't deviate because I thought the rule must be right and I must be wrong. One other thing I'll point out that's hugely important is unity. Everything should be unified by a consistent color palette and consistent art style. You might consider these things 'the details' and leave them until last, but the details are what will make or break your design. Take away the details and everything falls apart. I'll point out a few missing details that I think are hurting your design below. One big thing you're missing is a consistent light direction. You might be thinking "settle down rembrandt this isn't an oil painting!" but if you're going to have shadows and gradients in your scene then you need to pick a direction that the light is coming from. Your iphone is currently being lit from the direction of the camera, the gradients on the pins say the light is coming from the left, and their drop shadows say the light is coming from above. This is making your scene ugly because the directions of the drop shadow on the phone and the drop shadow on the pins clash, it looks like a mistake, and it immediately kills the illusion of depth. Also, the drop shadows on the pins are way too dark considering how bright the 'room' is. Here's a quick mock showing how making things consistent can improve your design. If you think this looks shittier, then ignore everything you just read I guess: http://i.imgur.com/BSfjxrt.jpg The best piece of advice I could give, though, would be to dissect other peoples frames that you think are good. If you can't tell what's good about them, bring them into photoshop and start changing things. Clone brush out their font and pick something that you would have chosen instead. Desaturate their image, recolor it yourself, and then compare the two. Take things away until you think it starts to look bad, and you'll realize which details matter and which ones don't. I also wouldn't be afraid of copying other peoples work as practice. Literally try to recreate what they've made and you'll get a better feel for the size of things, the colour of things, etc. Basically, build up a library of pretty things in your head and you'll eventually figure out how to make them yourself.
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May 25, 2015 11:40
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After Effects question: I have a 2d geometric cartoon nose that I want to do a faux-3d transform on, like so:  I did this in Spine, but I'm looking to replicate the effect in AE. Basically, in Spine, you can create your own mesh and define where the vertices go, but AE doesn't appear to have this ability. I thought I might be able to add some puppet pins and reduce the triangles to such a small amount that it gave basically the same effect, but the triangles are too random for that to work. What I'm looking for (but which doesn't appear to exist) is a plugin that lets me create a distortion mesh where I define the vertex placement. Any takers? If not, I'm interested to know how other people might replicate this in After Effects.
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May 8, 2016 11:29
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Cyne posted:Is it an option to use Cinema 4D Lite and do it in real 3D? The geometry and texturing are simple enough that it should be easy to match the movement and lighting in C4D. To be honest I forgot this even existed. I tried it briefly but it seemed very slow to update in AE, which was a turn-off. Thanks for reminding me about it though. DaveP posted:Recent plugin Joysticks and Sliders ( http://aescripts.com/joystick-n-sliders/ ) is perfect for this kind of faux 3d face rigging. Make 4 poses at each of the extents of your nose motion, then rig them using a joystick This looks cool. I actually saw it on aescripts the other day but didn't realize that it could do mask paths etc. I'm curious to see how well it does with something like the nose where all the faces need to remain touching. For anyone who cares I ended up using 3D layers and rotated/scaled them until they looked right. And then I abandoned the whole thing because it wasn't looking very good and I abandon stuff easily. WIP 
raging bullwinkle fucked around with this message at 12:13 on May 21, 2016 |
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May 21, 2016 12:08
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