[Jon Etheridge]

Fire Huh?

If I were going to do it I would try to shoot some real fire against a black background and composite it onto the subject. Either that or use some of motions particle effects tools…but they sometimes tend to look cheesy. Either way, good luck and i hope it works out.

-Jon Etheridge
Appsro Inc.

[Jon Etheridge]

Hello Jakob

When I first start a project I first draw out my designs. Then recreate them or scan them into photoshop. I think story boarding is very important. It gives you a feel for the piece and will save animation time because you’ll already know your shots.

I did the soundtrack after I completed the short with Soundtrack Pro (go figure). 🙂

There is a great tutorial on lip syncing here on the cow. Heres the link.

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/lip_synch/video-tutorial.php

This trick can be used for eyebrows and other things as well.

Traditional animation I believe is done at 12 frames a second but you can do what you wish. i normally stick to 29.97.

I cant wait to see your finished product. My new one will be on the web shortly as well. I’ll e-mail you when It’s up.

Cheers

-Jon Etheridge

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com

[Jon Etheridge]

Ah, I remember making that first leap into 3D. In after effects it’s more like 2.5D really since you mostly work with 2D objects in 3D space.

A good source is the total training DVDs. They have really good tutorials on using 3D. Google After Effects Total Training and you should be able to muster up something. My best advice is to start a project. I watched tutorial after tutorial when I first started but I really didn’t learn how thing worked until I jumped right into it. If you start a project you’ll have something to motivate you to keep on playing with 3D space. My first project took me 2 months to complete but if I had to do it again today It would take me about 2 weeks. You can watch it here if you’d like. It’s my early work so please, be gentle.

https://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=409819

If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask. 🙂
Good luck to you sir, and never give up! Cheers.

Jon Etheridge
edit@inspire2film.com
inspire2film.com

[Jon Etheridge]

SWEET!!!

It was down earlier today. Thanks for checking. Heart rate stabilized.

-Jon

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com

[Jon Etheridge]

OK, I got the camera figured out. My heart rate has gone down. Now all I need is the file to update the p2 store and I’m good. I keep checking Panasonic’s website but the server is still down.

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com

[Jon Etheridge]

Hey Jacob.

Thanks for the nice words.

The shadows create themselves. In After Effects on your timeline beside each layer is a set of buttons to the left of the parenting tool. The one that looks like a square turns any layer into a 3D layer. (2.5D really, because it just becomes 2D objects in 3D space) If you click it you now have control of the Z axis. If you work with maya you should be instantly familiar with how to move objects in 3D space so thats good. Now if you go up to your menus to Layer>New you can now add cameras and lights. The lights create the shadows just like in maya but make sure that all your layers have the cast shadow option on.

This animation took about 2 1/2 months to do. I would try to do one or two shots a night then edit everthing together in Final Cut.

I created the soundtrack in garage band and I pulled all the sound effects from Soundtrack. The big monster sound was an alligator growl slowed waaaaay down.

Illustrator is a great program to know and it goes with after effects very easily. First create your character parts but MAKE SURE they are all separate LAYERS. If you put all your pieces into one layer then this wont work. Once you have every layer complete just go into after effects and File>Import> your illustrator file and wha-la. All your layers should come into the timeline, do the parenting thing and your ready to go.

One more nifty trick for you. Since these are illustrator files they are vector graphics. If you click on the button that looks like a little sunshine it will constantly rasterize the layer you apply it to so you’ll be able to zoom in as close as you want and not loose quality.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. e-mail me when you finish the animation

Cheers

-Jon Etheridge
ethproductions@yahoo.com

[Jon Etheridge]

Hello Mark,

I am 99.9% positive that this was all made in After Effects. It’s a fairly complicated spot with alot of 3D ,or as I call it 2.5D (2d images in a 3D space), going on. I used to make stuff like this for television commercials. The cost is all depending. Is your spot going to be 30 sec or 3 min? Do you want it to be just plain 2D or go into 2.5D? All of these questions will effect the cost of the project. Whomever you get to do the project make sure that…

1. You get the script done first and go ahead and get a good voice over for the project and edit it. Maybe even add music to get the feel. Finalize the voice over before going into animation. It helps for timing.

2. Go ahead and storyboard some of gfx out. This type of stuff can be drawn on a napkin or on a huge board in a meeting but any help you can provide your animators that help you meet your ultimate vision is great and may save on any changes you want to make because changes can be costly. Especially in 3D.

and 3. The graphics are in high def.

I hope this helps. Contact me if you would like.

Good Luck Mark 🙂

Jon Etheridge
-Inspire Productions
inspire2film.com
910-395-0200

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com

[Jon Etheridge]

Hello Jakob,

I love the idea for your short and I defiantly want to see it when you finish. As far as shape layers go you are right, you cannot group them. But you can parent them. (link them to one another) Check out a tutorial on parenting if you can find one. It will save you tons of time.

My biggest recommendation though is not to draw all your layers in after effects. I would use photoshop or illustrator, whichever one your better at, to construct the cartoon. You can get way more detailed. But yes, DO make separate layers for each element. I would set it up like this.

The Body as the bottom layer (except for your background of course)

The eye whites parented to the body

The eyes pupil layer parented to the eye whites.

Above the eye whites and the eyes put the eyes blinking, then all you have to do is keyframe animate the opacity on the blinking layer up and down again and it gives a great illusion of your character blinking. Parent this layer to the eye whites layer.

Mouths are a different story all together. For me the best result has been to create several mouth layers (like and O layer and an Ah layer, ect.) and bring them in when needed by key-framing the opacity. Studying an episode of south park will help you get the idea. Or you could create a mask and animate it frame by frame. Seems to me that could take longer. Either way make sure you parent the mouth layer(s) to the body.

I hope this helps. I invite you to check out my first after effects animations I did a few years back using simple shapes made in photoshop.

https://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=409819

It’s rough as hell and I didn’t know what parenting was at the time but it turned out OK. It still yells the story. Right now I’m working on one that I hope to pitch to adult swim and it’s much better. I promise. Good Luck to us both eh? Cheers 🙂

-Jon Etheridge
-Inspire Productions
-inspire2film.com

[Jon Etheridge]

Hello Luke,

Good to see another Wilmingtonite on the COW. To answer your questions based on my experience…

1. Yes.

2. Very. You can tell an employer how good you are at any program but they wont believe it until they see it.

3. Take the best of everything you have to put on your reel. It’s good to pick the ones you’re most proud of. Then again if your trying to get a job at a production house that specializes in real estate, you may want to “tweak” your reel to show more footage of the work you’ve done in that particular field.

4. I enjoy the ones that are 3 min or a little over. My advice is to pick a good song and edit your reel to the music, that way you can also show off your editing ability as well.

5. DVD or VHS, but DVD preferably

6. Oh yeah.

Demo reels are basically the resume for people in the film world. It’s possible to land a job without one, but not likely.

I hope this helps. Cheers Luke. Go Seahawks!

Jon Etheridge
Editor/Motion GFX
Inspire Productions
Wilmington NC
inspire2film.com

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com

[Jon Etheridge]

Thanks for the advice everyone. When we sent out the DVD’s with our reel on it they also include several 30sec spots. Hopefully the quality of the work will shine through.

I love the fact that there is a place like the COW that us young guys can come and ask people with a ton more experience. Again, thanks everyone.

Wish me luck

-Jon Etheridge
-Inspire Productions

Jon Etheridge
ethproductions(at)yahoo(dot)com