Interactive element background

[Larry S. evans ii]

Actually that looks to me like they positioned artwork on several 3D layers with alpha channels, and they are moving them in 3D space.

The 3D camera can apply depth-of-field on the layers blurring them naturally as they move forward or backward out of the area of prime focus. So as the “confetti” layers move toward the camera, they become larger and fuzzier. As they move left/right and up/down the addition of motion blur causes them to look more realistic.

You could do this with particles, of course, but you could as easily do it with a few painted layers and 3D motion. That’s probably less complicated and more quickly rendered. As far as breaking the “loop effect”, since you necessarilly will have to render out the final file, you simply need to make the effects long enough to not loop for any given foreground shot.

There are means of randomizing the motion of layers using formulas and presets, and this can be a tremendous timesave compared to hand moving the various layers. Ultimately however, the final piece will be a fixed sequence. Getting the illusion of non-repitition is a matter of having a long sequence that you can place shorter clips over at different points.

At least, that’s how I would approach it. Others may have more direct solutions. There’s frequently a number of ways to skin the cat in After Effects.

Larry S. Evans II
Executive Producer
Digital I Productions

[George Smith]

Thank you for the detailed response Larry. I also thought this would be a way to complete this effect, and it’s the way I will probably end up doing, mainly because it’s the only way I know how!

I would be interested to see the settings if this was done in After Effects using particular.

But you’re right, I’m probably best off just building it in layers!

Thank you