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shatter and unshatter
Hi All,
This is my first posting on here so please be gentle with me!
I have been experimenting with the shatter effect on after effects which is a nice effect in it’s default state, but I was wondering if it were possible to do the following.
I have an image/comp (a rectangle for example) on a layer in my aep what I want to do is is apply the shatter effect to this but I want a staggered shatter effect – so the rectangle shatters from the top down.
As the shatter takes place I want the shattered to travel into the background and settle into a square shape again this would be staggered, so the top of the square is settled into place whilst the bottom is still travelling and settling.
Is that possible? How can I do it? I have looked at some of the tut’s on here but there are so many that I mat well have missed the relevant one – does anyone know of one please?
Hope someone can help me out – thanks in anticipation
D
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1 Reply
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OK, I’m no shatter expert, but here’s how I’d do it. As far as I know shatter is a one way trip from Unified Whole to Shatter Pieces. So you need to combine two shatter comps. !st Comp- Whole to shattered pieces suspended in the air, and 2nd Comp – Shattered pieces suspended in the air to reassembling into a whole, but Shatter can’t do the second, so you start with that second Unified whole (your square) shatter that, then time reverse that shatter and it reassembles itself.
So that two shatters from your 2 whole shapes, then time reverse (time remaping or Time Stretch to -100) the second. Ayato does this technique in his shatter tut #16 :
https://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e/ae16_e.html#
I’m not showing Ayato as an example of clear instructions, he can be very cryptic, only showing his method.
The hitch is you hope nobody notices the transition. I’d suggest a Flash at the transition or a form of mis-direction (something else draws your attention at the moment you dissolve from one shatter animation into the other). Ayato gets a break with that 360 degrees camera roll he does that makes the particles swirls around the screen. I’m thinking the smaller the pieces, the less they’ll notice the transition (but smaller pieces are a bit slower so it’s a balancing act).
The other key is that you want to make both shatter animations at that point where they are suspended pieces in the air – look roughly the same, so that when you dissolve from one to the other, none notices.
So that’s the overview. Comp 1 Shatter, Comp 2 Shatter Time Revise both brought into Comp 3 with a simple Transparency dissolve (Opacity) and maybe some misdirection/distraction thrown in).
So key points on getting what you want from your post.
To get the whole layer to shatter you need to increase the Radius so that it is larger than the layer (use “View – Wireframe and Forces” at the top of the plugin, to see the Radius). Physics > Gravity and Gravity Inclination determines hold long things are in the air, move those controls until you get what you want. Lots of trail and error, but instant visual feedback with Wireframe and Forces.
Force One just Launches the pieces (initial blast), Force two is an aftershock to move then where you want, you might or might not need Force Two depending on the look you want. I did a rough one with force One only.
“I want the shattered to travel into the background “. You do this in you 1st Shatter Comp by changing the “Camera Position”, Y Rotation to -180. That will make the pieces blow away from the viewer.
As far as both animations shattering from top to bottom (both are that same, the 2nd will reassemble from bottom to top once it’s been time-reversed), you need a Gradient Layer to determine when specific areas of the target layer shatter (see the AE Help files, search for “Shatter” and “Gradient controls for the Shatter effect” will be near the top). I made a gradient with a dup of the layer to be shattered, with Render > Ramp applied, then precompose that layer. And this is very important, to get that layering in of the shattered pieces, after you get the pieces suspended in the air (at that transition point), you need to go back and animate the “Shatter Threshold” (its there under that Gradient twirl down) from 100% (suspended in the air) down to 0 (or near 0, whatever works) near the beginning of the shatter.
So just break your project down into pieces (no pun intended) – the two shatter Comps, and assemble them:
Whole to pieces – Transition – Pieces to -Whole (Bring 1st Shatter Comp and 2nd Animation Comp into a 3rd Fini Comp).Also note, at any point, if your pieces are disappearing, being cut of because that layer isn’t large enough (you see an edge), add the effect, Image Control > Grow Bounds, above the Shatter Effect.
Be sure and go back to View > Rendered in the two Shatter Comps, before you do your final render.
AE Help files are good for Shatter.
Goodnight and Goodluck.
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