Joseph W. bourke
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Adam –
Well, from the clues inherent in the terminology of the list, it obviously has to do with parameters of animation, possibly particle systems, or sprites.
As soon as you say “initial” you imply that there will be a second state for at least 1 – 5. Is this a test of the august membership of the Cow?
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
You’d better check this out before you make any final decision – it’s a really extensive (and sometimes expensive) listing of what’s out there. There may be some new stuff now, but this list covers a lot of hoods I didn’t know about:
https://www.cameratown.com/articles/dslr_cinematography.cfm
Good luck in your quest!
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Good point, David. A friend and I were just lamenting over lunch about the number of Cub Scouts who claim to be F-16 pilots these days. I still say that there should be a sticker on every graphics and NLE software box which says: “Talent Not Included!”.
With the amount of footage out there that anyone can lay claim to, it’s really easy to get ripped off by someone who’s “borrowed” someone else’s work to get their foot in the industry door.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Hi Dave –
As Art Director for fourteen years at an ABC affiliate, I’ve done dozens of these packages, for everything from magazine format daily show packages, to a complete broadcast news package, which had basically your list plus a dozen or so “franchise” opens (weather, sports, health, etc.).
From the freelancer’s side (I now do this as my own company), the smartest way to quote on these projects is to give a range. Something always gets added, and production values always tend to be pushed up. For example, your 10 second open would most likely by a combination of 3D elements and 2D composites, and since that’s your money-maker, it had better be killer, which means more time.
An hourly quote would be expectd, with a range of costs (say, from 5 to 10 thousand dollars), with the promise that if the project changes by more than 10 percent up or down, the old quote would no longer be valid. From the motion graphic artist’s side, it’s a matter of quoting based on the knowledge of past projects and (hopefully) an accurate description from the client, and adding some contingency hours to the quote, knowing that there is always some major change once the client starts seeing the finished product.
It’s a dance where usually one partner expects the most for the least, and the other wants to avoid getting their toes stepped on. Depending on the complexity of your logo, and the production values expected (are you pitching to a smaller cable distributor or PBS, for example?), you could expect to pay anywhere from 5 to 15 thousand dollars. A big production house probably wouldn’t even walk out the door for less than 20 to 30 thousand (although the big production houses are drying up and blowing away these days).
If I were quoting on this, I would expect to put in from 40 to 120 hours of time (notice the broad range?), at $125. an hour. Once we discussed the project, the range would tighten up, since I’d have a better idea of the visual concept. Many of the projects I worked on essentially had no producer (they were as green as the grass), so I ended up coming up with the visual concept – that adds a lot of time to the project, since the client doesn’t know what they don’t want until they see it. I hope this helps out. The key to your keeping costs down is having a strong visual idea in mind. Good luck!
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Hi Keith –
Red Giant has a plugin called Datamator, but I don’t think it will do flowcharts – I believe it’s just made for graphs and pie charts.
I think your best bet would be to bring in layered files from Photoshop. I haven’t had much luck in the past going from Powerpoint to After Effects. With Photoshop you can keep your files at high resolution, and have as many layers as it takes to create animated flowcharts.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
That’s a relatively easy build if you’ve got the tools (which I do). For more of this DIY stuff, you owe it to yourself to check out:
Cheesycam.com
Some of the stuff on there is laughable, but a lot of it makes you wonder why you would ever buy something for a thousand bucks that you can build for a hundred!
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Thomas –
I recently purchased a T2i, but haven’t yet had the need for the battery grip. Here’s what I’ve found on one of the 3rd party versions at one of my favorite sites:
https://cheesycam.com/uber-cheap-battery-grip-upgraded/
You’ll have to make your own call on it, but what’s there leads me to believe they’re safe.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Ted –
I was referring to CrazyTalk software working with footage, which it doesn’t. I haven’t tried to do this sort of project in AE, which I’m sure it’s capable of, although with a lot more work than in CrazyTalk.
With CrazyTalk, you import the still, choose the mouth and eye points, tweak them a little to create a 3D mesh, import the voice clip, and it does the facial animation automatically. The only limitation is that it has to be a still, and it pretty much can’t go past a three-quarter profile, or the mesh looks odd. It will also add all sorts of mannerisms, such as head nods, blinks, and other things, which you can customize and keyframe.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Hi Luis –
Do a search on:
Gobelins L’Ecole de L’Image
I know nothing about it, but it appears to have been around a long time, and has a worldwide reputation.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media -
Hi Markus –
This software will allow you to take a real still of a dog, and make it talk. I don’t know whether you have to have footage, in which case it won’t work, but this does a pretty cool job with stills.
https://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media