Comical title sequence needs help…

[Mylenium]

Just 1 arm? The scary thing about typewriters is multiple arms typing in short sequence. I don’t think you will have much luck even with lots of motion blur as those arms move way too fast. I think I would try to work with speed ramps and multiple arms – if you have some slowdown every now and then, you can get some interesting trailing that will make the arms look like tentacles forming odd shapes. also be carful to not make your text too regular. Even the most precise purely mechanical typewriters cause a lot of “swimming” because the paper bends and stretches on the rubber roll or the transport mechnism chokes on accasion.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Mike Smith]

Would it be worth rescuing an old manual typewriter, filming it, then reversing b/w and messing round with the image in AE afterwards … complete with smoke smouldering out of the page ..?

[Steve Roberts]

Vignetting?
Rusty texture map on the arm?
Deep blacks in the shadows?
Go in tight so you don’t see much of the arms?
Use DOF on the arms as well?
Fake the paper texture?
Snag an old typewriter and shoot it? Or at least study it under a harsh spotlight?

[Michael Munkittrick]

I tried that first, but the control was lost. I am trying to remap the frames to show the impact of the arm and the text die as it impresses the paper from the side and then show it as it lifts and the next begins to strike from the individual’s point of view. I am afraid that 3D is going to end up being my only option…but I don’t have the licks yets to get that right without my head exploding.

I do appreciate the help and thatks for the time.

Michael Munkittrick
Gainesville, Florida USA

[Michael Munkittrick]

Certainly not just a singular arm, but one per character and only one at a time for legibility sake. We’ve decided to increase the difficulty 20 fold by adding a side-view of the arm as it strikes a fresh piece of linen paper, and in slo motion no less, so I might have to just go full blown 3D with this thing. I’ll let you know if we find a solution.

Thank you for your time.

Michael Munkittrick
Gainesville, Florida USA

[Michael Munkittrick]

Yeah, those are the general techniques we’re using, but we’ve yet to get something worthy of a finished product. I believe that we’re going to have to go full 3D for the titles as this keeps getting more and more complex.

Thanks for you time and help.

Michael Munkittrick
Gainesville, Florida USA

[Ronaldo Montalvo]

SHOOT IT! (what happened to the “very, very basic” look in your first post?) you’ll spend days and days (weeks?) trying to do it in 3d when you could get an old typewriter that you can take apart, a good camera guy with a variety of lenses & lights and be done in a day. do a good tight edit of your shots and add atmospherics, blurs & colorizing in afx, you’re done, probably would look better than a 3d learning project.

[Graham Quince]

Would it be worth considering mocking up a large scale print arm and have it hit canvas or thick paper????

I would imagine prop-wise it wouldn’t be too difficult a build and might look quite strange (in a good way) to see the type hit close up?

Graham

https://www.quinceweb.com – web design
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https://www.shiveringcactus.bravehost.com – Free FX for amateur films

[Randy Cates]

If you have Invigorator you could create the arms in 3D, line them up as a real typewriter and padjust the pivot point. Render each one once (in and out) with motion blur and then these in random order to get the effect you want.