Writing with Light

[Mike Clasby]

Sounds interesting, Aharon, and glad to hear you’re feeling better. Unfortunately the link you gave to the mov, just gives me a blank Cow Page.

[Steve Roberts]

If you follow the link, then cut the COW stuff out of the link and re-paste it, you’ll see the movie.
https://www.allbetsareoff.com/Cow_Stuff/Cow_Light_CD.mov

Nifty, Aharon!

[Steve Roberts]

…or just follow the link in my post. 🙂

[Mike Clasby]

Very Nice.

[Aaron Zander]

looks good, i think the lines could be a tad thicker to match the sprint commercial, but, I think the reflection on the ground is spot on, for the actual look andrew Kramers ipod stroke comes to mind. specifically the fact that it’s less of a line more of a streak (if this makes sense) though the animation after the fact looks great, the lines all seem like just that lines, not ‘strokes’ or ‘light streaks’.

just my 2

[Aharon Rabinowitz]

YEah – thickness is an issue. The cow logo was just too dense to thicken the lines – I had too much overlap. It;s a good point, so for the tutorial I’ll try using something less dense.

Also, I’ve since added in some motion blur to it, which gives if more depth, in essence – it’s basically lines. A lot of it will be positioning.

there are many tools that will allow you to achieve this:

VEctor Paint
Paint tools
Stroke
Trapcode 3D stroke
Trapcode particular

Truth be told there a lot of ways this can be done. If Vector pain were easy to control – i.e., you could use whatever path shape you want – it would be the ideal for this, because it allows you to vary the stroke width. Especially if you’re using a wacom tablet. Plus wiggling it is much simpler.

But because you have to draw the shape manually, vector paint is very limited for this and other effects – especially for those like me who can’t draw with precision…

I think that if you used camera matching software and used 3D stroke or particular for the lines,you might be able to create something really cool with camera rotation.

Ultimately, when making this stuff for tutorials, I always work without plug-ins so anyone can do it. The plug-in users out there can take what I’ve created, and adapt it to their toolset.

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Aharon Rabinowitz
arabinowitz(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com

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[David Bogie]

The image on the ground is a wonderful addition.

There is one thing in the real spots that really sells the effect: practical lights on the set. Extremely hip designers worked on those spots and they had flashlights with gels to shine on the faces of the actors and the settings to help the illusion along. Guessing that the light-painting guys were in black suits.

If someone is trying to emulate this effect well, they need to think about the shoot as well as the post.

bogiesan

[Aharon Rabinowitz]

It’s definitely about lighting.

But you might pull it off without a flashlight. You can create a feathered circle the same color, and use the Add mode to brighten and colorize those areas. It may work.

Aharon Rabinowitz
Email: arabinowitz (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
All Bets Are Off Productions, Inc.
Creative Cow After Effect Podcast
Internet Killed the Video Star: A Guide to Creating Video for the Web