New Plugin for After Effects…

[Tom Daigon]

Well, I downloaded it after watching the tutorial…And I did try to apply it to both text and vector paint…I did not find it very intuitive, but to be fair I suggest the inclusion of some presets to enhance the first experience with the plugin. Trapcode does this very well, which allows analysis and a tangible first experience. This would definately motivate me to learn more and play more with the plugin in. My first reaction
is mild frustration and lack of interest in pursuing it….but I think this can be avoided
with the inclusion of some presets or AE7 project files for inspection. Others may have a different expereince then I did.

[Taron333]

REALLY? Damnit…

…Hmmm…I kind of wanted to avoid presets for several reasons. One of which is the variable nature of depth factor. “One size fits all” is just not really the case. The second reason was, that it actually is not that hard to tackle. There are very few things you need to know to get it fully under your control. But then, it looks like I might be wrong there? Hmmm…

Did you take the time to look at the written tutorial or the docs?

I know, it sounds very outrageous to ask for that, but I did my best to describe it all in detail over there.

I’ll see that I make a nice set of presets for you!

If you want some instant stuff, download the treemare demo project on the Free Stuff section on our website!

But as Roland already said, “…there is no such thing as a plugin for everyone, except Shine…”

I do take your concerns extremely serious. I’ll do all I can to make things easier for everyone! We’re not going to stop until you have a blast with it!!! :)))

Thanx!

http://www.taron.de
http://www.taronites.com

[Tom Daigon]

Thanks alot for the project, that helped a bit. As an editor/motion graphics person I never use Zbrush
for my work. Please help me understand what application your plugin might have for more traditional text,
video and motion graphics based use. I think this would help me and others at this point.

[Taron333]

Absolutely, thanx for asking!

The main thing is, that it allows for a different kind of access to your footage. The depth of it. This means you can exploit the 3d shape every image represents in a new and stronger way. But you have to explore the possibilities. The ZbornToy is such a tool, a vessel for exploration so to say.

Titles for instance can be augmented with complex 3d lighting effects through the use of all of the features:

1. you can make solid text which intergrates into any environment. If you put text over an outdoor scene for instance, or in some artificial surrounding. Just use the environmental illumination and it responds to your chosen environment.

2. shading give you full access to normally complicated surface properties! Therefore you can make expensive looking elaborate renders within seconds and fully under your control!

3. transparency. Refractions allow for a stronger interaction with backgrounds and other elements. The ability to texture and animate the refraction amount (or refractive index) gives you the ability to easily do very elegant and elaborate looking fades and effects.

4. caustix. No need to say what those do to your work. They are still one of the most complicated and expensive feature to render in the 3d world and are merely a matter of seconds within the ZbornToy.

4.00001: image manipulation through the “Original Image” section: Very shy and humble sits the saturation slider in the beginning of that topic. Dial it around and compare the results to after effect’s build in Saturation controls!
– Just turn the depth factor to 0.0
– go to Original Image
– turn color mix to 1.0
– dial around the saturation and see what happens and compare!
– use bias and gain…those are a little harsh, but neat.

THE BIG ISSUE:

It’s a new kid in town, that’s for sure and it’s a little bit proud, too. It even has a few special needs! One of which is, that you have to understand the idea of depth images! If you want to tilt a text for instance, you’d have to combine the shape change as well as a gradient that suggests depth! (dark is further back, light is more in the front). You can animate those things easily in After Effects. If you however happen to have a 3d application and know how to output depth sequences, than you can easily create such effects on the fly.

Certain things need to be in separate comps, like when you want to animate the content of a texture layer! After Effects appears to have trouble with providing treated layers, or, we simply don’t know how?! However, if you want a surface color texture to be animated for example, you have to make a separate comp for it first and then use that comp as surface color texture.

BIGGEST ISSUE:

You have to be inventive. This plugin does scream so loudly at you to invent with it. The things you can do with it are vast and next to limitless. Your creative impulse can find a response in there, really. I absolutely promiss you that from the bottom of my heart! It’s a playground for new ideas and an access like you’ve never had before. Don’t go too hasty at it at first, but later, you’ll see how fluent it all goes!

LITTLE HINT:

First adjust the light, before doing anything else. Change the light forward angle!

Then adjust the depth factor (in case you don’t know exactly what you want it to be!)

Then go straigh to the Shading and change the surface color!

Add some glossiness… and you start to get into it all…

Just allow yourself to explore and take a few minutes…maybe even half an hour.

Well, I hope that gave you some answers. I can’t really tell if I did do well enough with my aiming, but don’t hesitate to continue asking! I’ll do my best to answer all I can!

Taron

http://www.taron.de
http://www.taronites.com

[Reloaded]

Really good video at Youtube. And the plugin looks really worth. Nice work. I’m downloading it right now.

Just one doubt that I’ve had for a long time and nobody was able to answer me.
How to you get a so high video quality using YouTube? Your video quality is really what I needed in YouTube.

[Taron333]

Thanx, first of all! =)

And for everyone, who has downloaded the demo already, it will be updated later today! We’ve found something that was bothersome and finally made it pretty again. Caustics(some of the glas and marble stuff, hehe) will finally retain their brightness behind colorized glas. It’s a little left over from the transitions of AE6.5 to float(32bit) in 7.0. It makes really a bit difference.

Anyway, yeah, the youtube thing, hehe, we’ve tried to avoid the massive downloads it causes to put 50Mb Tutorials on our server. It didn’t quite work out that well, because youtube does screw up the quality a whole lot. So I guess it’s a matter of how good the material is before you drop it in… …and this one was really not so bad before youtube crunched it to infinity. They also resize!

Anyway, this tutorial will soon be available, too, but in a MUCH nicer quality and higher res!

Taron

http://www.taron.de
http://www.taronites.com

[Taron333]

I’ve updated the gallery and a new tutorial is on the front page, in case you havn’t seen it yet! Those downloads should be a lot faster now, too!

http://www.taronites.com
ZbornToy Gallery
I’m currently preparing more specific demonstrations for possible integrations into production pipelines and other common workflows.

The ZbornToy itself also is updated as of yesterday, in case you want to check out the latest version.

Download

I’ve also experimented with After Effects expressions, which are just incredibly beautifully intergrated in AE7.0! I’m totally impressed and had no idea! So thank you guys for this great forum, actually! I know…sounds a little cheesy right now, but I really mean it! Thanx!

Taron

http://www.taron.de
http://www.taronites.com