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 4951378 for AE-List@media-motion.tv; Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:28:30 +0100 X-ASG-Debug-ID: 1358285622-0437c6071460d40001-edO5QZ Received: from vCAS2.slcc.int (vcas2.slcc.int [10.1.11.53]) by eatspam.slcc.edu with ESMTP id u6eao6PCpx1f5tgs for ; Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:33:42 -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 14:33:42 -0700 From: John Morgan To: After Effects Mail List Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:33:40 -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: Ac3zZv6pXCGw0KnuRg+GOIPCK+1D/gAAC/Dg 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_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3FFEXCHslccint_" MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Barracuda-Connect: vcas2.slcc.int[10.1.11.53] X-Barracuda-Start-Time: 1358285622 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 3.2.2.119958 Rule breakdown below pts rule name description ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 0.00 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message --_000_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3FFEXCHslccint_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Ah. Great tip (sort of pun intended). Something I've never yet done, but un= derstand the steps....having set objects as track mattes and having used wr= ite on effect. Thanks Byron. John From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of= Byron Nash Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:26 PM To: After Effects Mail List Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it foll= ows path There is no chalk type brush for Write-On. I would use a chalk texture as a= Track Matte and some Roughen Edges(love me some roughen edges). On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 4:06 PM, John Morgan > wrote: 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_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3FFEXCHslccint_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Ah. Great= tip (sort of pun intended). Something I’ve never yet done, but under= stand the steps….having set objects as track mattes and having used w= rite on effect. Thanks Byron.

 

John=

 

From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] <= b>On Behalf Of Byron Nash
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:2= 6 PM
To: After Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Anim= ate object to path/Object flexes and bends as it follows path

 

There is no chalk type brush for Write-On. I would use a chalk texture as = a Track Matte and some Roughen Edges(love me some roughen edges). 

<= o:p> 

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 4:06 = PM, John Morgan <John.Morgan@slcc.edu> wrote:

I do have Stroke and Particular. Would take a bit of work to further lear= n to use them in this way. At this point, just knowing how things came toge= ther is the goal. Once a project gets put in motion, I can usually slug thr= ough 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’ eff= ect, if a person wanted to create the effect of writing handwritten chalk t= ext on a chalkboard, would you create the entire drawing using some sort of= chalk-like brush style in photoshop, then bring that layer into Ae and ani= mate mask points to reveal the chalk layer? Or is there an actual chalk-lik= e brush available within the write-on effect itself?

<= p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:= auto'> 

 

John

 

From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] <= b>On Behalf Of Byron Nash
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:5= 8 PM


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

 

Yes, you are correct on the 3D str= oke taper. Although, 3D Stroke needs masks to work and sometimes that can b= e trick getting it to line up with the arrow. I normally use the Write on e= ffect since I can link it to a null. Also, for a thin tapering line, you co= uld use a dense stream of particles from Particular. 

 

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

Wouldn&= #8217;t Trapcode 3D stroke allow a taper on the back end? Thanks for the ti= p.

John

 

From: After Effects Mail List [mailto:<= a href=3D"mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv" target=3D"_blank">AE-List@media-m= otion.tv] On Behalf Of Byron Nash
Sent: Tuesday, Janua= ry 15, 2013 1:03 PM


To: Af= ter Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to path/Ob= ject flexes and bends as it follows path

 

You may need more than this, but = here is a quick tip. For arrows you can usually combine an arrowhead attach= ed to a null with a stroke of some kind hooked to the same null. This only = works with uniform width shapes that you can separate the tip into a differ= ent layer. When combined they appear as one element. 

 

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

T= eddy that response was priceless! Fwded to boss...who is somewhat savy but = sorta thinks that stuff looks easy.

J<= /o:p>

 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID



Teddy Gage <teddygage@gmail.com> wr= ote:

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

- the text coul= d easily be AE, with a solid and some precomp mask / matte layers, the circ= le / gear stuff moves like it's controlled with some nice expressions, the = motion and flow is nice overall. lots of easing (ease and whizz script mayb= e? or hand-drawn animation curves more likely). The hand-drawn stuff looks = - hand 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= 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 wi= th some hand drawn warps, like you thought

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

- definitely use of some s= tock vectors I recognize, like houses and buildings etc. good to save time<= br>
good luck.

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:15 P= M, John Morgan <John.Morgan@slcc.edu> wrote:

Brian, Scott and Jim, Thank You.

I= 217;m in an in-house college marketing shop, wearing many hats as videograp= her and all things related including motion graphics. Am not an Ae power us= er….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 tha= t.

 

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

&nbs= p;

My boss had seen the above clip from = Simon Faser University and had read a report about it in some college-relat= ed 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 “pulled 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 script, but “a Toronto= -based graphics facilitator” had helped. Likely a boutique post house= , unnamed in the article. Cost $10,000.00. Right. I informed my boss that t= he project hadn’t been done in house at all!....other than script. $1= 0k for 4-mins of finished video is obviously heavy with AE and 3D animator = time, not to mention the creative concepting and story boarding time. Possi= ble ad agency involvement, but not mentioned in the article.

 

Motion graph= ics interspersed throughout the project.

 

That very first scene where the = SFU logo follows a spline is what I was trying to achieve in Ae. Much of th= e 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 not 2D.

 

I pulled th= e video off youtube and have been going through the animations a frame at a= time to see their progression…..as learning experience. The text ani= mations seem like they came from somewhere else, or 3rd party pl= ugin. Or, they’re complex multi-comp projects with stroke animated. N= ot sure how the cross-hatching was applied. Complex. Not that I’m try= ing to duplicate, but I’d like to learn some of the steps so as to ha= ve the ability.

 =

Any thoughts about how some of these motion effects were = created, or whether within Ae or plugin would be appreciated.

 

John=

 

Fr= om: After Effects Mail List [mailto:AE-List@media-motion.tv] On Behalf Of B= rian Maffitt
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:42 AM
To: After Effects Mail List
Subject: Re: [AE] Animate object to pa= th/Object flexes and bends as it follows path

 

If you use Freeform Pro ap= plied to a large precomp, you should be able to Distort the layer/comp in a= ny way you like, for example, following an s-shaped path. Then if you anima= te your layer inside the precomp, it will follow the distortions contained = in the parent comp. Does this make sense?

 <= o:p>

Brian

 = ;

 

16 years ago I messed a bit with Softimage 3D. Animating object= s to path and having their orientation follow the path was pretty easy. App= lying a lattice so the object could bend and flex as it follows the path wa= s not too difficult either.

&= nbsp;

Now in Ae I’m try= ing to relearn that technique. I have a solid layer (a rectangle box) follo= wing 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= corners? The path is an s-curve shape where the S elongates on Z axis.&nbs= p; 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.

 

John


This message, and any attachments, is intended only= for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privilege= d and confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law= . If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient, you are hereb= y notified that any unauthorized use, dissemination, distribution or reprod= uction of this message is prohibited. If you have received this communicati= on in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-ma= il and any attachments from your system.  ­­  <= /span>

 

<= /div>




--
An= imator & Editor
www.teddygage.com
Brooklyn


This me= ssage, and any attachments, is intended only for the use of the addressee a= nd may contain information that is privileged and confidential or otherwise= exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this e-mail = is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unauthorize= d use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this message is prohi= bited. 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 you= r system.  ­­  

 

 

 

= --_000_EAE675A223415848A14AA69EBCDE9D0A6ACA1BE3FFEXCHslccint_--