Return-Path: Received: from eatspam.slcc.edu ([144.35.15.69] verified) by media-motion.tv (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.2.10) with ESMTP id 4951355 for AE-List@media-motion.tv; Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:01:19 +0100 X-ASG-Debug-ID: 1358283992-043a541867666c0001-edO5QZ Received: from vCAS2.slcc.int (vcas2.slcc.int [10.1.11.53]) by Eatspam.slcc.edu with ESMTP id VlGUIL3iGgDXJCZ8 for ; Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:06:32 -0700 (MST) X-Barracuda-Envelope-From: John.Morgan@slcc.edu Received: from EXCH.slcc.int ([127.0.0.1]) by vCAS2.slcc.int ([fe80::8031:551b:9a53:7716%11]) with mapi; Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:06:32 -0700 From: John Morgan To: After Effects Mail List Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:06:30 -0700 Subject: RE: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it follows path Thread-Topic: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it follows path X-ASG-Orig-Subj: RE: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it follows path Thread-Index: Ac3zYwbV/B9f1BbsR0qipLeB6j868AAACw5A Message-ID: References: In-Reply-To: Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: acceptlanguage: en-US Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_000_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3CFEXCHslccint_" MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Barracuda-Connect: vcas2.slcc.int[10.1.11.53] X-Barracuda-Start-Time: 1358283992 X-Barracuda-URL: http://eatspam.slcc.edu:8000/cgi-mod/mark.cgi X-Virus-Scanned: by bsmtpd at slcc.edu X-Barracuda-BRTS-Status: 1 X-Barracuda-Spam-Score: 0.00 X-Barracuda-Spam-Status: No, SCORE=0.00 using global scores of TAG_LEVEL=1000.0 QUARANTINE_LEVEL=1000.0 KILL_LEVEL=5.0 tests=HTML_MESSAGE X-Barracuda-Spam-Report: Code version 3.2, rules version 3.2.2.119957 Rule breakdown below pts rule name description ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 0.00 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message --_000_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3CFEXCHslccint_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I do have Stroke and Particular. Would take a bit of work to further learn = to use them in this way. At this point, just knowing how things came togeth= er is the goal. Once a project gets put in motion, I can usually slug throu= gh it and figure out how to set up the effect. Probably takes me 3 times lo= nger than you pros. :) Since you mention the 'write on' effect, if a person wanted to create the e= ffect of writing handwritten chalk text on a chalkboard, would you create t= he entire drawing using some sort of chalk-like brush style in photoshop, t= hen bring that layer into Ae and animate mask points to reveal the chalk la= yer? Or is there an actual chalk-like brush available within the write-on e= ffect itself? John From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of= Byron Nash Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:58 PM To: After Effects Mail List Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it foll= ows path Yes, you are correct on the 3D stroke taper. Although, 3D Stroke needs mask= s to work and sometimes that can be trick getting it to line up with the ar= row. I normally use the Write on effect since I can link it to a null. Also= , for a thin tapering line, you could use a dense stream of particles from = Particular. On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 3:16 PM, John Morgan > wrote: Wouldn't Trapcode 3D stroke allow a taper on the back end? Thanks for the t= ip. John From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of Byron Nash Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:03 PM To: After Effects Mail List Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it foll= ows path You may need more than this, but here is a quick tip. For arrows you can us= ually combine an arrowhead attached to a null with a stroke of some kind ho= oked to the same null. This only works with uniform width shapes that you c= an separate the tip into a different layer. When combined they appear as on= e element. On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 2:07 PM, John Morgan > wrote: Teddy that response was priceless! Fwded to boss...who is somewhat savy but= sorta thinks that stuff looks easy. J Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID Teddy Gage > wrote: Definitely a good piece, but obviously not easy to emulate. It's like l= earning how to cook by eating an 11 course meal. Difficult, unless you have= the recipes. I have a hard time believing it was "only" $10k and two weeks= for that piece.They must have paid their team of animators and editors nex= t to nothing. And I say team because there's no way one or two people pulle= d that off in two weeks. I've seen 30 second pieces with less involved grap= hics and no video footage for double that budget produced in twice the time. - the text could easily be AE, with a solid and some precomp mask / matte l= ayers, the circle / gear stuff moves like it's controlled with some nice ex= pressions, the motion and flow is nice overall. lots of easing (ease and wh= izz script maybe? or hand-drawn animation curves more likely). The hand-dra= wn stuff looks - hand drawn with a tablet in illustrator, paths animated an= d moved on and off with shape layers controls. Much of it looks like it's a= combination of shape layers from AI and AE - the "3D" stuff may be faked using AE planes and well drawn vectors. You'd= be surprised what you can do with some tricks. The train may be completely= 2D but moving in 3d space with some hand drawn warps, like you thought - I see some possible use of plexus plugin and / or trapcode particular, fo= r the triangle breakdown, small explosions and orbiting planetoids - definitely use of some stock vectors I recognize, like houses and buildin= gs etc. good to save time good luck. On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:15 PM, John Morgan > wrote: Brian, Scott and Jim, Thank You. I'm in an in-house college marketing shop, wearing many hats as videographe= r and all things related including motion graphics. Am not an Ae power user= ....yet. Still, I have 9 years of Ae use under my belt. A short stint with = Combustion before that. And a brief amount of Softimage 3D before that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DfqoJEtM4jX0 My boss had seen the above clip from Simon Faser University and had read a = report about it in some college-related national magazine. She wants me to = push my envelope and incorporate more motion graphics such as those used in= the clip. The story in the magazine was a write-up about how SFU had "pull= ed off this incredible thing in just two weeks." Ha! I thought. She handed = me the article and I read between the lines and interpreted the language of= the article. A marketing director and the college pres had written the scr= ipt, but "a Toronto-based graphics facilitator" had helped. Likely a boutiq= ue post house, unnamed in the article. Cost $10,000.00. Right. I informed m= y boss that the project hadn't been done in house at all!....other than scr= ipt. $10k for 4-mins of finished video is obviously heavy with AE and 3D an= imator time, not to mention the creative concepting and story boarding time= . Possible ad agency involvement, but not mentioned in the article. Motion graphics interspersed throughout the project. That very first scene where the SFU logo follows a spline is what I was try= ing to achieve in Ae. Much of the other red-white animation looked like it = could be done inside Ae, except for some of the objects that are 3D (maybe = models imported to Ae.) Towards the end, there's a train that's obviously n= ot 2D. I pulled the video off youtube and have been going through the animations a= frame at a time to see their progression.....as learning experience. The t= ext animations seem like they came from somewhere else, or 3rd party plugin= . Or, they're complex multi-comp projects with stroke animated. Not sure ho= w the cross-hatching was applied. Complex. Not that I'm trying to duplicate= , but I'd like to learn some of the steps so as to have the ability. Any thoughts about how some of these motion effects were created, or whethe= r within Ae or plugin would be appreciated. John From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of Brian Maffitt Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:42 AM To: After Effects Mail List Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it foll= ows path If you use Freeform Pro applied to a large precomp, you should be able to D= istort the layer/comp in any way you like, for example, following an s-shap= ed path. Then if you animate your layer inside the precomp, it will follow = the distortions contained in the parent comp. Does this make sense? Brian 16 years ago I messed a bit with Softimage 3D. Animating objects to path an= d having their orientation follow the path was pretty easy. Applying a latt= ice so the object could bend and flex as it follows the path was not too di= fficult either. Now in Ae I'm trying to relearn that technique. I have a solid layer (a rec= tangle box) following a path with 'auto-orient' turned on, so the path anim= ation is done. What is the trick to making the layer flex as it rounds the= corners? The path is an s-curve shape where the S elongates on Z axis. Ca= n Mesh Warp be applied in a way that it will interact with the curves in a = path? Trying to expand my knowledge. Any links to tutorials are appreciated. John This message, and any attachments, is intended only for the use of the addr= essee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential or ot= herwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this = e-mail is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unau= thorized use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message i= s prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please noti= fy the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments f= rom your system.=20=20 -- Animator & Editor www.teddygage.com Brooklyn This message, and any attachments, is intended only for the use of the addr= essee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential or ot= herwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this = e-mail is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unau= thorized use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message i= s prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please noti= fy the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments f= rom your system.=20=20 This message, and any attachments, is intended only for the use of the addr= essee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential or ot= herwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this= e-mail is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any una= uthorized use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message = is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please no= tify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments= from your system.= --_000_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3CFEXCHslccint_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I do have= Stroke and Particular. Would take a bit of work to further learn to use th= em in this way. At this point, just knowing how things came together is the= goal. Once a project gets put in motion, I can usually slug through it and= figure out how to set up the effect. Probably takes me 3 times longer than= you pros. J

 

Since you mention= the ‘write on’ effect, if a person wanted to create the effect= of writing handwritten chalk text on a chalkboard, would you create the en= tire drawing using some sort of chalk-like brush style in photoshop, then b= ring that layer into Ae and animate mask points to reveal the chalk layer? = Or is there an actual chalk-like brush available within the write-on effect= itself?

 =

 

John

<= o:p> 

From: After Effects Mail List= [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of Byron Nash
Sent= : Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:58 PM
To: After Effects Mail Li= st
Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and ben= ds as it follows path

 =

Yes, you are correct on the 3D stroke t= aper. Although, 3D Stroke needs masks to work and sometimes that can be tri= ck getting it to line up with the arrow. I normally use the Write on effect= since I can link it to a null. Also, for a thin tapering line, you could u= se a dense stream of particles from Particular. 

 

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 3:16 PM, John Morgan <John.Morgan@slcc.edu<= /a>> wrote:

Wouldn’t Trapcod= e 3D stroke allow a taper on the back end? Thanks for the tip.<= /o:p>

John

 

From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] <= b>On Behalf Of Byron Nash
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:0= 3 PM


To: Aft= er Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Obj= ect flexes and bends as it follows path

 

You may need more than this, but h= ere is a quick tip. For arrows you can usually combine an arrowhead attache= d to a null with a stroke of some kind hooked to the same null. This only w= orks with uniform width shapes that you can separate the tip into a differe= nt layer. When combined they appear as one element. 

 

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 2:07 PM, = John Morgan <J= ohn.Morgan@slcc.edu> wrote:

Tedd= y that response was priceless! Fwded to boss...who is somewhat savy but sor= ta thinks that stuff looks easy.

J

 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID<= o:p>



Teddy Gage <teddygage@gmail.com> wrote= :

    Definitely a good piece, but obvio= usly not easy to emulate. It's like learning how to cook by eating an 11 co= urse meal. Difficult, unless you have the recipes. I have a hard time belie= ving it was "only" $10k and two weeks for that piece.They must ha= ve paid their team of animators and editors next to nothing. And I say team= because there's no way one or two people pulled that off in two weeks. I'v= e seen 30 second pieces with less involved graphics and no video footage fo= r double that budget produced in twice the time.

- the text could e= asily be AE, with a solid and some precomp mask / matte layers, the circle = / gear stuff moves like it's controlled with some nice expressions, the mot= ion and flow is nice overall. lots of easing (ease and whizz script maybe? = or hand-drawn animation curves more likely). The hand-drawn stuff looks - h= and drawn with a tablet in illustrator, paths animated and moved on and off= with shape layers controls. Much of it looks like it's a combination of sh= ape layers from AI and AE

- the "3D" stuff may be faked us= ing AE planes and well drawn vectors. You'd be surprised what you can do wi= th some tricks. The train may be completely 2D but moving in 3d space with = some hand drawn warps, like you thought

- I see some possible use of= plexus plugin and / or trapcode particular, for the triangle breakdown, sm= all explosions and orbiting planetoids

- definitely use of some stoc= k vectors I recognize, like houses and buildings etc. good to save time
=
good luck.

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:15 PM, = John Morgan <J= ohn.Morgan@slcc.edu> wrote:

Br= ian, Scott and Jim, Thank You.

I’m= in an in-house college marketing shop, wearing many hats as videographer a= nd all things related including motion graphics. Am not an Ae power user= 230;.yet. Still, I have 9 years of Ae use under my belt. A short stint with= Combustion before that. And a brief amount of Softimage 3D before that.

 

http://www.= youtube.com/watch?v=3DfqoJEtM4jX0

 

My boss had seen the above clip from Simon= Faser University and had read a report about it in some college-related na= tional magazine. She wants me to push my envelope and incorporate more moti= on graphics such as those used in the clip. The story in the magazine was a= write-up about how SFU had “pulled off this incredible thing in just= two weeks.” Ha! I thought. She handed me the article and I read betw= een the lines and interpreted the language of the article. A marketing dire= ctor and the college pres had written the script, but “a Toronto-base= d graphics facilitator” had helped. Likely a boutique post house, unn= amed in the article. Cost $10,000.00. Right. I informed my boss that the pr= oject hadn’t been done in house at all!....other than script. $10k fo= r 4-mins of finished video is obviously heavy with AE and 3D animator time,= not to mention the creative concepting and story boarding time. Possible a= d agency involvement, but not mentioned in the article.

 

Motion graphics i= nterspersed throughout the project.

&nbs= p;

That very first scene where the SFU l= ogo follows a spline is what I was trying to achieve in Ae. Much of the oth= er red-white animation looked like it could be done inside Ae, except for s= ome of the objects that are 3D (maybe models imported to Ae.) Towards the e= nd, there’s a train that’s obviously not 2D.<= /p>

 

I pulled the vid= eo off youtube and have been going through the animations a frame at a time= to see their progression…..as learning experience. The text animatio= ns seem like they came from somewhere else, or 3rd party plugin.= Or, they’re complex multi-comp projects with stroke animated. Not su= re how the cross-hatching was applied. Complex. Not that I’m trying t= o duplicate, but I’d like to learn some of the steps so as to have th= e ability.

 

<= p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:= auto'>Any thoughts about how some of these motion effects were creat= ed, or whether within Ae or plugin would be appreciated.<= /p>

 

John=

 

<= b>From:<= /span> After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of Brian= Maffitt
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:42 AM
To: A= fter Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/O= bject flexes and bends as it follows path

=

 

If you use Freeform Pro applie= d to a large precomp, you should be able to Distort the layer/comp in any w= ay you like, for example, following an s-shaped path. Then if you animate y= our layer inside the precomp, it will follow the distortions contained in t= he parent comp. Does this make sense?

 =

Brian

 

 

16 years ago I messed a bit with Softimage 3D. Animating objects to= path and having their orientation follow the path was pretty easy. Applyin= g a lattice so the object could bend and flex as it follows the path was no= t too difficult either.

&nbs= p;

Now in Ae I’m trying= to relearn that technique. I have a solid layer (a rectangle box) followin= g a path with ‘auto-orient’ turned on, so the path animation is= done.  What is the trick to making the layer flex as it rounds the co= rners? The path is an s-curve shape where the S elongates on Z axis.  = Can Mesh Warp be applied in a way that it will interact with the curves in = a path?

 

Trying to expand my knowledge. Any links to= tutorials are appreciated.

&= nbsp;

John<= /p>


This message, and any attachments, is intended only fo= r the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged a= nd confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. I= f the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient, you are hereby n= otified that any unauthorized use, dissemination, distribution or reproduct= ion of this message is prohibited. If you have received this communication = in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail = and any attachments from your system.  ­­  

 




--
Anima= tor & Editor
= www.teddygage.com
Brooklyn


This messa= ge, and any attachments, is intended only for the use of the addressee and = may contain information that is privileged and confidential or otherwise ex= empt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this e-mail is = not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized u= se, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message is prohibit= ed. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sen= der by return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments from your s= ystem.  ­­  

 

 

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