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Trying to achieve this particular reflection on a 2D logo
I ‘m working on an animated company video intro for a client. It’s a basic 2D logo that flies from the viewers POV into place on a white background. However, once it settles into place, they want the logo to have a sort of “reflection” like this to give it a more 3D effect:
https://www.clubrackets.com/attachments/Image/tecnifibrelogo_2.gif?template=generic
Maybe I’m thinking about it all wrong, but I can’t seem to replicate that white streaking on the red logo (the clients logo is red as well). They want that very specific white reflection on the red to give the logo itself a more rounded and three dimensional look. I have lighting and shadows which takes care of the background, but I can’t seem to figure out how to achieve this affect on the logo itself.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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8 Replies
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Are you redesigning their logo? Or is it already 3d looking?Because, the first thing to do, in my mind, would be to hop into illustrator or photoshop and create the logo that they are after. Then figure out how to animate it. Designing logos in After Effects are not as easy.
The 3d look on the photo you link to gives that perspective from the drop shadow underneath the white parts. This makes you believe it is raised and has depth (3d). On the badge itself, they just replicated a 3 light structure. Top, left and right. Small rim lights to give it more depth and character.
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Paul Esteves, thanks for replying.
Hope I have the terminology right:
I took their logo (which was flat), created an outline in Illustrator, and created a basic 3D design within After Effects. The animation itself is done aside from some timing issues. Basically, they love everything but want the landing image (i.e. what would be their still frame logo) to have more depth. It already has background shadow and some lighting, but they want the actual logo to appear “more 3D”. The image I linked is what they reference. Honestly, I think this is a case of them not really understanding what 3D vs 2D really is. I have lighting on the image, but it is an actual light source rather than this almost white streak imitation 3D they seem to want.
The red badge with white ‘F'” is exactly what they’re referencing. I think they want the replicated 3 light structure that you’re referring to. I just don’t know how to replicate that effect, even though I personally prefer the more organic way the image lands as it is. They feel that what you refer to as a 3 light structure gives it a “3D look”.
Hope that makes sense. I’m still learning the tricks and trades of AE from being an editor in AP.
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The joys of working for clients… They “always know what’s best.” 🙂
Possibly you can post a screen shot of the logo that needs “changing” so we can have a better idea of what needs changing. Otherwise, it is quite hard to know what would need changing.
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You don’t necessarily need to use an effect or actually make the logo “3D”. If you break down the example you posted, the look can pretty easily be achieved with several flat layers, a few drop shadows, and maybe a gradient ramp. In the case of the white streaks, you could try feathering some thin white shape layers and then play with their opacity or blend modes to get look you want.
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That is the badge after it lands onto the background. I did create a separate 3D logo but they prefer the “clean” look of this…but they want it to have the same illusion of dimension as the example I posted. At this point I’m just not sure how to replicate a 3 light structure using multiple layers you mentioned.
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This is one of those things where I can look at the badge in the example they want, and see that it is just a combination of flat layers involving drop shadows and some sort of gradient…but implementing it onto what I have is proving to be a challenge. This may be where having a more solid “art” background would help.
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I think you’re right, this is definitely more a graphic design area, rather than after effects/animation. So, you may get a better response from a graphics forum of sorts. I did this, as an example. Its by no means finished, would need a lot of tweaking for it to look really 3d. But, in my mind, this is what you’d have to play with.
https://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr75/Guitarboy2828/Untitled-1-02.jpg
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That definitely seems more like the style they’re going for, thanks for throwing that together! I’ve been playing around in Illustrator (I assume that’s not feasible to do in AE) and I think it’s coming together. I’ve just been experimenting with adding a couple layers of white and black gradients, and adjusting the stroke.
Thanks so much for the suggestions, put me on the right track!
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