ABC’s LOST Title Effect

[Mark]

Create the 3d text. Create a new camera. Set the point of interest of the camera well behind the 3d text. Animate the Z positoin of the camera. There is also a slight rotate in the text as it passes the camera…so you will want to play with x position of the camera slightly.

The blur is created using the depth of field option available in the camera dialog box.

Mark

[Thehardmenpath]

Little off topic here:

Don’t you think the lost logo is technically horrible?

I don’t like the movement, I don’t like the depth of field effect where blured black eats part of the logo, and I specially hate the point where the logo is sharp and polygons look separated from each other within the same letter.

I love the show in general, I love the logo idea, but hate the execution.

[David Frisk]

I think the Lost logo opening is by far one of the worst I’ve seen. It’s creatively bad, and technically, like you stated, is a mess. I absolutely cannot stand that little sequence.

Sorry for the rant…that is all.

[Jim Zito]

I agree. I think you hit the nail on the head. Great concept, effective idea, but horribly executed.

[Chris Smith]

[thehardmenpath] “Don’t you think the lost logo is technically horrible?”

Glad you said that. Everytime I’m supposed to be “Creeped out” from the events just before the logo hits, I’m put off by staring at the low res polygons on the title. Such a huge show and no one ever thought, “Hey, lets re-render this with more than 6 polys that make up each letter”.

I tend to think they added the DOF to cover up the low-res render. I wonder how many 3D artists rebuilt it in high-res and offer it to them as charity.

To me though It doesn’t seem like DOF but animating a Gauss blur in and out. I’d have to look at it frame by frame. Don’t remember if you ever see more blur on one letter more than another.

To the original poster: Yeah it can be done in AE with Invig, but I’d tend to just do it in a 3D app like it was really done. Just set your tesselation higher if using SubD or NURBS. Or have enuff freakin polys to make up the edges 🙂

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Thehardmenpath]

I believe it’s DOF for one reason: It smells like bad quality DOF. If you have a chance to analyze it slowly, check out shortly before the S touches the bottom. A horizontal line starts going up fast showing totally sharp letters, as if at one exact distance the DOF suddenly went from, say, 5, to 0.

Here in Spain, like with some select shows like Numb3rs, they remake the intro or ad subtitles to some words, etc. With Lost they made a “PERDIDOS” (lit. trans) 2d logo zooming in. Everyone who knows about the original version complains about that, I always say “maybe 2d, maybe technically easier to make or less impressive, but you don’t get the flaws when you see it.

[Thehardmenpath]

Oh, and Sandman, I like the concept. It somehow resembles what a plain would catch if it saw a HELP written on the sand just before crashing. Or at least that’s what it is for me.

[Tim Boknecht]

Dude, all things LOST are sacrosanct. Criticism is punishable by death.

J.J. Abrams himself created that title animation on a Mac book while they were working on the pilot. All the little “imperfections” you detailed are just part of the beauty of the animation and how it came to be.

Criticizing the LOST title is like criticizing a Star Wars wipe for being cheesy. In any other application, it might be – but it’s Star Wars, so it’s not.

If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.

Tim Boknecht
Promo Writer/Producer
KAKE-TV