Vectorize webpages to make an effect like that

[Ian Corey]

I don’t think they were all vectors. We never got close enough to see the detail fall apart. They just looked like high-resolution versions of screen shots. Perhaps they were re-comped in Photoshop? Perhaps they are screen grabs that are upscaled.

In any event they went TOO far with the perspective gimmick. And all that Chinese talking. Bleh! 🙂

[Kevin Camp]

yep, it’s hard to tell if it was a vector/high rez rebuild of the web pages due to the quality of the compression. but i’ve rebuilt pages in ae by copying and pasting blocks of text from the real page and replacing images with higher rez images. i’ve even rebuilt browser and web player interface elements to get them to look good too.

it’s a fair amount of work, but once you have it rebuilt you can do a lot of cool things with it. you can add depth to the page by separating elements on to layers in 3d space, have parts move or flow in a smoother way, and of course, push in very tight to focus on parts of the site.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Ian Corey]

Just for the record, here’s the vectorizing magic bullet.
https://vectormagic.com/

[John Cuevas]

Wow, very neat.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Just played with it for a bit-had a terrible logo/text client sent me. It had been grabbed from a website.

I couldn’t do much to fix the text—but I can just recreate that in AE, the logo came out great though. All from a 150×150 jpeg.

Neat little tool. One with a few more features and is pluggable into AE—well I’d pay a few bucks for that.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[Ken Latman]

Do you have Illustrator CS2 at least? You could place the image in that and run livetrace, then expand the appearance. It takes some fiddling around but can get you the results.

[Robert Moix]

First of all, thank you for your responses. I would like to point out some things though. Obviously, only the text is vectorial, the rest of the images, videos aren’t. So, is there a way to make the text of a webpage vectorial with “one click” and import the vector-webpage in AE ? Some say that just save the web as a PDF, but if I do so, Acrobat changes the layout and does some weird things.

I must add that the youtube video is from a TV station and they use this technique to show websites in News. So the method they use must be quick, and straightforward. Either they use a high end scan converter with “navigation” capabilites or developed their own software to do so. Anyway, belive me, I have seen that techique live on TV and is gorgeous, perfectly clean text even when zoomed in.

Any other ideas?

Thank you.

[Ian Corey]

In that case, if you wish to emulate what they’ve got there, you’ll have to re-create the websites at 3 or 4 times the size (ppi) that they are on the web.

If you want to get that close to something it has to be better than 72ppi.

[Robert Moix]

It’s not very obvious to me. Besides, how can you adequately judge an image when all you have is cruddy YouTube video?

The youtube video is just for ilustration purpouse only. I’ve seen this effect many times on TV. They use it always when they need to show a webpage in live News. So, this effect appears 2 or 3 times a day. Honestly, too much work for the graphic staff if they have to remake or replicate the webpage, split it into layers, and so on. Sure they do something we do not know and it must be simple and sure they do not build the effect from the ground up, that would be a waste of time in live News. I will give them a call and ask…!

And yes, it is a Catalan TV station called TV3 located in Barcelona and known for using always cutting edge technology and with a solid R+D department. For this reason, I just though that they could have developed their own software to do the effect.

Thanks again for the responses and I’ll go on investigating.

[Ron Lindeboom]

Some people use scan converters to up-res 72dpi images (like those that make up the net). Good scan converters are very expensive and so individuals do not normally possess them. Some stations and networks do but I have yet to meet the individual that does.

Then for the truly tight-in shots, as Dave LaRonde says, some stations/networks construct those by hand to add to the illusion that they are going tight onto an area of the website.

There are no magic bullets. If there were, we would be using them. Even the fractal up-resing plug-ins that exist are far from great. They are better than nothing but I have yet to find one that I would rate as freakin’ awesome.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group

Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!

Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.

Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?