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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Music Video ‘Morph/Echo Trail’ Help!

  • Music Video ‘Morph/Echo Trail’ Help!

    Posted by Paddington Bear on March 5, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Hi!

    I’m working on a music video that needs an effect being created in After Effects…

    Have a look at this video…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=769atcL8rpc

    At 1.02 there’s a cool morphing technique where there’s a fluid trail of his head and body… I’m guessing they used Flame or something high end to create this but what effect/plugin is required to achieve something close to this?

    I’ve tried CC Wide Time, Echo… they all don’t come close.

    Any help would be brilliant!

    Many thanks,

    Luke.

    Kevin Camp replied 17 years, 2 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Dave Johnson

    March 5, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    This recent post string might help:

    Re: duplication effect by Dave Johnson on Feb 26, 2009 at 9:14:09 am
    https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/951800

    I didn’t watch the whole example you gave, but it looks to me like, in this case, it was done with multiple instances of the same source slightly offset in time. No matter which method is used, the subject to be trailed obviously has to be independent from the background and/or other elements that are not to be trailed, which is where either chromakeying, rotoscoping or a combination of both come in.

  • Kevin Camp

    March 6, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    i agree with dave, the talent was most likely keyed. you might be able to get away with shooting on black and using an effect that can blend frames on frames using a blending mode that will ignore black like lighten.

    in addition, the part that you are talking about, where the guy ‘smears’ as he moves, was also shot at high speed to create that slow-mo look… that technique will go along way towards creating that smear effect… basically, more frames will create a smoother blend, rather than a stepping effect.

    another time effect you might give a try is cc time blend, crank up the accumulation to 95-99% and set the transfer mode to lighten. just remember to click ‘clear’ often… those cc time effects are kind of tweaky.

    Kevin Camp
    Senior Designer
    KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

  • Kevin Camp

    March 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    here’s a quick test with cc time blend. settings — transfer: lighten; accumulation: 97%.

    the footage was just a grab off of tv. i deinterlaced it and time stretched 100%, then applied cc time blend.

    you can get a pretty good smeary streak out of this and there was nothing special about this shot. i think if you planned a shoot around this method you could probably get very close to what you are looking for. a high speed camera would help, but you might be able to get the subject to move at about half speed to get smoother blurring/smearing.

    Kevin Camp
    Senior Designer
    KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

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