LAYING BRICKS!!!

[John Cuevas]

I saw the animation you posted earlier. Honestly, if you are new to AE, just brute forcing it is probably the quickest way to do it.

Cut out one brick, put it where the first brick should go. Duplicate it(cntl+d), move 1 frames down the timeline. Place second brick where you need it to be. Do this until you finish a row. Now duplicate the entire row you just created.

Grab all the new bricks and move them up on top of the first row. Offset them so them left or right, add another brick to fill the extra space. Adjust the start time of each of bricks, so the row starts laying from the opposite direction.

Then just repeat the process with the first row by duplicating and position it above the 2nd row and moving the start time. Repeat with the 2nd row and so-on until you have finished your transition.

[Eric Santiago]

Just to add to Johns’s tip, your initial first row can be parented to a null then duplicate that null along with the brick layer(s).

Or just do it in a preComp (over scanned for offset) and duplicate it for offset.

[Cali Foster]

Rad! I am starting to get a feel for how I can get this to work out within this project! Is there a way I might be able to create a cookie-cutter, of sorts, once I mask out the size of rectangle of the brick’s dimensions?

This is due to the bricks having various color/inner-shape detail variants on each, but only cut out perhaps my dimmest bricks, due to the soon to be discussed neon tube involve within the existing video comp. For example, can I make a custom mask tool or something once I have made one rectangle of proper proportions? Just for a row or two, then I could proceed with the duplication. As mentioned earlier, there is a rounded rectangular neon tube which I think I might be able to mask around then paste after the bricks are through being laid up to the top of the frame.

Would be cool then, if when I paste this neon tube, to then keyframe up the brightness of this rounded rectangular tube, acting as if it was gradually being turned on.

Thank you immensely!!!

*I have attached the video comp file for any clarity/reminder purposes

[Cali Foster]

I am currently scanning the internet to see if there is the same wall of bricks, but without the neon tube, so that I will be able to just add in the neon tube from the original layer onto hopefully the fresh one. Then after the tube is pasted, and illuminated, I will gradually introduce the originally wall of bricks, which already had this neon tube.

It is important that I gradually introduce the original wall with neon, or rather reintroduce it, is that I use it in other frames, just not as a transition.

[Cali Foster]

I am still scanning and things of this nature, but honestly IT WOULD WORK OUT JUST FINE IF I WENT THROUGH WITH YOUR ORIGINAL SUGGESTION WITH THESE BRICKS (AS THEY ARE DIMMER) PERHAPS I SHOULD DIM THEM JUST A NOTCH, OR UP THEM IF NEON TUBE HAS A SHADOW, BUT I THINK IF ANYTHING IT WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE TO DIM THE BRICKS, IF AT ALL HERE. I WILL START OUT BY MASKING THESE AND DUPLICATING JUST AS YOU HAD ORIGINALLY SUGGESTED! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT TRULY MEANS A LOT TO ME : )

[Cali Foster]

POST-STATEMENT: THESE WERE THE DIMMER ONES (ONES FOUND MORE IN THE CORNER) JUST FORGOT TO ATTACH IN MY LAST REPLY BEFORE THIS ATTACHMENT!

THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some-dimmer-duplicatable-bricks.png 15 KB Image File - Click to view

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[John Cuevas]

If you want to maintain textures and scratches. I would do this by creating each brick in a separate precomp. This way you can have a finished brick per layer.

Create a composition and call it Brick 001. Add your brick wall. Make sure the brick wall layer is selected, now use the square shape tool(it’s the mask tool, when you don’t have a layer selected). and make a brick shape over the first brick you want to show up.

Now go to your project panel and duplicate this composition for as many individual bricks you need. Go back to comp Brick 001, select the Brick Wall layer and change it’s TrkMat mode to Alpha Matte(If you don’t see the TrkMat, press the “Toggle Switches/Modes” button below the layers). Now you have your first brick placed. Open up the all the other brick layers, move the shape layer over each new brick as you want them to appear and change the TRkMat. If you have odd shape bricks like I did in my example project, just double click the shape layer and rescale.

When you are finished, create a new composition called Brick Composite. Bring all your numbered brick layers into and just offset them in time by 1 frame(There are free scripts you can download that will automatically do this, I think video-copilot has one). Once all the bricks are displayed, you may see some holes between them. You will need to go back to your individual brick layers and adjust the shape layer to remove the hole. See “Brick 010” in my example about holes.

Now you can bring the “Brick Composite” into your final comp as one layer and add any effects.

Attached is a quick example project that should help, if anything above was confusing.

Brick-Wall-Build-folder.zip 292 KB Zip - Click to view

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[Cali Foster]

Thank you immensely!!!

Cannot wait to try it out in a couple weeks when I return to the project! Gotta devote more time to the music.

In the future I will be looking to hire motion graphic designers and I will definitely keep you in mind! Seems you were able to understand the precise visions I had and exactly how to make them a reality!

Thank you again,

Cali