Andy Neil
Forum Replies Created
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Filter/Tiling/Kaleidescope.
Adjust Segment Angle to 360, and Offset Angle to 90. Then go the Properties of the clip and Rotate the clip 180.
That will get you the mirroring.
Filter/Time/Trails.
This filter will at least start you off in the right direction for creating the trail effect. You might need to rotoscope the actor, and place a clone of him/her underneath the main clip. The clone can then be colored blue or whatever you want, and the Trails filter applied there so that you only see the blue trails underneath the main clip which you would desaturate and color-correct get that dirty B&W.
Andy
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It can’t be done automatically; there are too many specifics involved. It’s not difficult to do what you ask, but it’ll take a few seconds with each clip.
Probably the easiest thing to would be to apply a Hold Frame behavior to each clip. That can be done all at once by SHIFT clicking to select all 400+ clips and then applying Behaviors/Retiming/Hold Frame.
Now you adjust the IN on each clip so that it’s on the last frame of the video, and then extend the end of the clip so that it connects with the next clip down the line.
Andy
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Smooth Cam is available in FCP so there is no need to go into Motion OR After Effects.
Video Filters/Video/Smooth Cam
Andy
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Put the vignette filter on the group containing the stills, or on an empty group above the group containing the stills.
Andy
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It’s funny you mentioned making this a tutorial because I was thinking about that when I finally figured it out.
I have to disagree with you about Motion being horribly complex, although I might have agreed with you as little ago as 6 months.
I came from an AE background initially though I would only consider myself an intermediate user. When I got Motion 3 I decided that Motion was finally worth some attention (I couldn’t stand Motion 2 for the most part).
For about 6-8 months, I was using Motion AND After Effects. Whenever I got to a place where I was stuck in Motion, I’d go finish or redo the project in AE cuz I knew how it worked.
Finally, I realized I wasn’t getting any better at Motion. I was still using keyframes more often than not. I was working in the Timeline (and being frustrated with the shortcuts). I made a conscious decision to put down AE (mainly due to seeing the things that Patrick Sheffield and Mark Spencer were putting together using Motion). I put down AE and ONLY used Motion.
For a while things were tough, but since I’m a lazy man at heart, I was always looking for the easier way to do something and it finally lead to a kind of epiphany. That moment when someone comes to you asking for a particular kind of motion graphic, and I began to visualize it first in Motion and not AE. That’s when I knew I had turned a corner.
Behaviors, emitters, and replicators used to mystify me completely because it wasn’t the paradigm I was used to. But I wouldn’t call it illogical. In fact, compared to AE expressions, it’s like a 2 piece jigsaw puzzle.
I know you hate Motion compared to AE, but I applaud the fact that continue to try and work with it and get better. Just understand that I’ve been in your position, and it DOES get better.
Besides Motion’s only in version 3. Wait until it gets to 7 or 8.
Andy
PS: I have no idea how I would have done this project in AE. How would you have approached the leaves turning problem?
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I watched Eran’s tutorial and I agree with Stephen. You can totally do the same thing in Motion. The fractal stuff can be found in the Generator’s folder in the Library, and the beam can be done simply with the line tool.
The actual creation of the beams, or tracking isn’t the hard part. Making them not look cheesy is.
Andy
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Adjust the Shape in the Emitter to Rectangle, the arrangement to Random Fill and activate the 3D button to get the leaves to fall in 3D space. You also need to adjust the X Rotation in Properties to 90 so that the rectangle shape is oriented correctly (that should address the “marching toward camera” issue as well). You also likely want to introduce some randomness in the Birth Rate as well for a more natural appearance.
To get them to stop spinning is tricker because any behavior that you use to arrest the spin, will do so on all the leaves, not just the ones on the ground. To accomplish this required 2 identical emitters.
Make sure the emitter is in a group. Duplicate the emitter and turn the bottom one off. Go to the point in the timeline where all or most of the leaves are on the ground. You can’t make a 3D mask, but if your camera move isn’t too great, you can fake it with an image mask.
In the top group, using the Shape tool, draw a rectangle from the top of the frame until just above the “ground” where the leaves are. Make sure it covers the whole frame left to right. Give it a small feather to soften the edge.
Hit CMD+SHIFT+M to add an image mask to the top group and drag the rectangle you just made onto the image mask. Turn the top group off and the bottom group on.
For this emitter apply the Rotational Drag behavior. Increase drag until the leaves stop turning.
Build another rectangle in this group only this time you are covering up the “ground” area, but nothing else. Apply the same feather to that rectangle as the one above. Create an image mask for the bottom group and drag the new rectangle onto it.
What you should have now is one emitter that rotates the leaves and disappears before it hits the ground and a second emitter that doesn’t rotate the leaves, but you don’t see the leaves fall.
Turn on both layers and watch. When I did this the first time, there was a thin gray line where the feathering of my image masks didn’t quite overlap. All I had to do was select the rectangle that was serving as the image mask in the top layer and nudge it down by holding down CMD and tapping the down arrow until the gray line disappears.
Let me know if this works for you. If you’re still having problems, I’ll send you my test project and you can dissect it.
Andy
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What you need is the behavior called edge collision.
Apply Edge Collision to the Emitter.
Turn off all the active edges except for Bottom Face.
Turn the Bounce Strength to 0.
Adjust the Height to the point where you want the leaves to stop.
Hope this helps.
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Realistic? I about laughed my ass off when I read that.
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That’s strange. I’ve never had this issue before when I’ve worked in 29.97. Anyway, I adjusted the frame rate (and the aspect just in case), but the issue is still there. Don’t tell me I have to redo the mask. It took HOURS. My hand is cramping up just thinking about it.
Andy