Perfect girl typography – a question for AE

[Kevin Camp]

that’s a pretty cool spot…

you could do it a couple ways… a large comp with animated text nested in a smaller comp, with either a camera moving around the larger comp, or the larger comp actually moving with in the smaller comp…

if you went the camera way, you would probably just parent the camera to a single null and animate the null moving around. parenting to the null makes it easier to move the camera and its point of interest all at once. for the zooming/trucking in and out, you could animate the camera itself on its z axis, or you could use another null for z-pos, or you could use after effects preset called ‘separate xyz position’ to gain control over the each coordinate system separately…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Joe Moya]

I am currently working on a project very similar to this…

And, of all the approaches I have attempted… the easiest method is by far is to begin by creating a single large text composition and moving a camera along various x and y axis to get the general movements (..initially keeping the camera movements linear). Then, create seperate layers to create any other various effects and place them within the large work area and add the any text movements/mask annimation/etc to the smaller seperate layers.

After creating x and y movements with added layers for other text effects, I then started to move the camera in the Z axis to add the depth. Basically,I found doing the Z axis movement of the camera last is best (as well as any non-linear camera movements). Only after I have x y and z camera movements, did I decide to start manipulationg any point of interest/focal point.

I tried using nulls and quickly ran into some limitations and actually became confusing to keep track of the various effects with camera movements that I wanted to create with different layers.

Conceptually, IMO keeping this project simple and on one large work area is the way to go in order get the camera movements just right…this is specially helpful if you have to go back and change the text (…which will most likely also change the camera movement).

Joe

BTW, I used photoshop to create the basic large text areas and the smaller text areas added to the various layers. And, the key limiting factor with regard to nulls is that were not as flexible to adapt to camera changes as a result of text changes… but, mostly I got lost in the nulls and how they became parented to various movements.

[David Del]

Do they just have a mask to reveal the letters as it goes?

[David Del]

Also, what size of comp do you think they needed for this? I am going to try it in Photoshop…

[Joe Moya]

revealing with masks is the method I would use because it gives you control over the reveal… remember, there are voices in the video… you will need to control as many aspects of the movement/reveal as you can have in order to match the voice over to the camera movement and text/word reveal.

At least that is what I have found out with my similar project.

[Joe Moya]

Size?

Well, I don’t think the one they used in your example is that large because you can see that the camera movements are simply not that great of a distance and much of the text is over lapping and visable throughout the video.

The problem with size is actually a direct relation to how much computing power and RAM you have. Larger work areas will make bigger demands on your system. But, a larger work area will give you more options to make additions and changes to the text area. In my project, the work area is huge… but, then the layers and other effects are rather complex (moreso than the example)…. which is why I am still working on it,… this project is not time sensitive… so, I have the opportunity to make a really detailed and interesting video with numerous layers and large work area.

[David Del]

Joe,
Can you keep me posted on your progress as I am too starting out on the road to a project like this. Right now my project in PS was too large and AE just moved like molasses, so I am going to have to go smaller. I was also wondering if it would be easier to make the test in AE?

[Joe Moya]

Sure… you can create the work space in AE… and, add the text from there… the reason I am using Photoshop is because I am using certain PS filters to help create “chalk” textured text (i.e. the text appears to have texture as chalk written on a blackboard)…plus, a few other illustrative detail items that can not be done in AE.

Creating the workspace in AE may make it easier to work… but, chances are that a big workspace will still put stress on your OS… and, require you to devide project into smaller peaces as you progress through the development.

Joe

BTW, as for updating… well, that may be difficult since I will be out of town for a while and will not be able to get back to this project for some time… but, I will try.

[Brian Cain]

I made most of it through text opacity animators but setting the smoothness to 0 so that the text would appear instead of fade in. I didn’t use any camera movements. I used a lot of pre-composed comps.

Brian Cain
briancain.tv