Chris Smith
Forum Replies Created
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Check out Stu’s (From The Orphanage) Blog. Down the page on the right is a bunch of selections:
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
It doesn’t have to be over keyed video. This technique is an a lot of graphics in the last 2 years. I think the best way is using Knoll Lens Flare and program it without the lens artifacts so it’s just simple washes with some rays here and there coming out. Then just SCREEN transfer them over the top.
Or with just AE, Generate a solid with the RAMP effect set to radial. Create a white area graduating out to black. SCREEN this over the video and mess with the scale and opacity.
Also, sometimes people do it as a larger wash of color. Like create a 4 color gradient and set the colors to like sunset hues with some white tones here and there and try different transfer modes of this over your video. Like Hard Light, Soft light, etc.. Then tweak the opacity to taste. This helps gives it that painterly, watercolory vibe.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
I use nulls all the time in 3D, but in AE where I feel that moving the cam is far less easy to deal with than a true 3D environment, I lean heavily on nulls. Especially to seperate the classes of movement. Like position keying on one null, rotation keying on another, vibration/handheld effects on another, etc. Then just chain them together with the cam at the end of the chain. So if you need to change something or especially offset one from the other it’s really straight forward.
Like if I have motion tracker data, I paste it to a null and parent my video to it. So the video tracks with it, but if I want to offset the movement, it’s as easy as grabbing the video layer in the viewport and moving it, yet it still tracks along because of parenting.
So in the end , all I ever keyframe on the cam layer is cam specific things like focal length, focus distance, etc.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Also, instead of moving the cam, some find it easier to parent the layers to a null and just animate the null around leaving the came still.
Also check the archives for ‘kid picture’ back when the movie was out there was a ton of discussion on it.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Correct. I could not possibly find a way in all of my soul to put it at a higher recommendation level than I can currently using the languages that I speak (barely).
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Note:
Download the C4D demo from the Maxon site and it should answer your questions about it.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
If you do go 3D, I can’t recommend C4D any more. You mentioned ‘and possibly a more high end program’. If you get C4D Studio Bundle, I challenge you to find something in there that isn’t working for you for the things you need. Unless you’re getting into some serious custom programming or heavy character animation, C4D is a brilliant package that beautifully rips of Max, Maya, and lightwave blended in one package that feels like a motion graphics 3D dream.
As far as imports, just import the EPS of the logo and drop it into a ‘extrude nurbs’ object. There you can make it as thick as you want as well as add caps and fillets of different bevel types.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
BTW, if you want the Best advice on the planet about DS, go to Google groups and sign up on the DS list. Ask your question there.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Hi Frank,
I mean import. But the DS uses the term ‘capture’ for all of it. But if you go to the Quicktime and rightclick to select ‘capture’ it will use the ‘capture from file’ settings you have set in the capture settings.
If you capture from Quicktime using the Animation codec, set DS settings to ‘Graphics’ instead of video. Because Animation codec is an RGB codec and not a YUV codec (video).
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com