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workflow insights; to style frames or not
Hi all,
Im an experienced designer but a relative noob to motion graphics.
Im basically a one man operation in my unit; I take care of design (photoshop) and animation tasks (AE, a tiny bit of C4d) and as such im a bit worried that i might end up developping some horrible, mutated, Frankenstein like working methods…
One area I am particularly interested in is style frames and the whole process of defining the aesthetics of the project before diving in to AE (or whatever).
I know all the big shiny agencies tend to use designers to do the style frames and then send them off to the animators, VFX, 3d dudes to bring the whole thing to life… but what about those of you who are carrying out both tasks?
• do you do still go through with the style frames in Photoshop approach or do you tend to find it quicker to just start the design in AE?
• If you do use PS to create your style frames then how do you deal with those aesthetic elements that cant be easily created in PS (particles, 3 elements etc)?
I know that obviously it often “depends on the project” but lets take a typical 1 minute promo combining live action, titling and a bit of 2.5d as an example…
Any light shed on this would be v helpful… too often I find myself ploughing too quickly into AE/c4d, with the obvious dangers inherent; you can end up tweaking and fiddling keyframes without a clearly defined style… which can be highly inefficient and lead to below par and derivative design… but im not sure how else I can create a strong style using photoshop alone; the toolset just seems too limited…
god, i need to learn to edit… Im sure i could have asked that question in 2 lines…
anyway, any insight appreciated,
ta
Elin
It’s all the those pesky details :p
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5 Replies
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I’m a one-man operation too, using AE and Photoshop with some Cinema4D. I don’t quite know what you mean by style frames, but if a piece is motion graphics I dive straight into AE. Very rarely do I start in PS, there is very little I can do there that isn’t possible in AE. In fact sometimes AE offers more flexibility even for static projects due to the parametric effects. Another thing I consider is that if I do start designing something in PS I don’t want to be in a position where I then find it difficult to reproduce that look in AE, as I am doing the whole design job myself, why make it difficult?
A
Vertigo Productions
https://www.vertigo.co.uk -
Anthony, style frames are really high-level key frames that show the look and feel of important scenes in the spot. Say, if your spot had four scenes or four different looks, you might make four style frames. You probably do that, but with a different name.
Personally … sometimes I sketch storyboards, sometimes I sketch style frames, but when I do fancy schmancy style frames I usually do them in AE, which is often my PS substitute anyway, for the same reasons as Anthony. Then everything is all set up if the frames are approved. If the piece is to be in one comp, I’ll stack the layers, maybe 1-second long, Save Frame As, then stack the layers for the next Frame at :01, Save Frame As, then next stack at :02, and so on.
Hope that helps …
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makes sense, thanks guys.
It’s all the those pesky details :p
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I do not have motion graphics studio experience. So, the style frame always makes be wonder how do they do it ? My workflow is directly from 3D as I play with it.
In 3d motion graphics, they might also use maya,max,c4d for style frames rather than just ps and ae. If the project includes dynamics and simulations, do they do it just for styleframes? How long do they take to make few styleframes?
In my case, I do it directly , and get some playblast to approve it with some styleframes.. So the styleframes are after the animations. Is this a okay workflow ??
Argghhh :\ Im asking too much. hope somebody have to answer long ;p
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I do not have motion graphics studio experience. So, the style frame always makes be wonder how do they do it ? My workflow is directly from 3D as I play with it.
In 3d motion graphics, they might also use maya,max,c4d for style frames rather than just ps and ae. If the project includes dynamics and simulations, do they do it just for styleframes? How long do they take to make few styleframes?
In my case, I do it directly , and get some playblast to approve it with some styleframes.. So the styleframes are after the animations. Is this a okay workflow ??
Argghhh :\ Im asking too much. hope somebody have to answer long ;p
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