[Joseph W. bourke]

One way to accomplish this would be to use the Shatter plugin that comes with AE, using your text layer as a custom shatter map, and make the pieces very small. Output your first text shatter the way you want it to look (gravity settings, camera, etc.), then use the same effect (saved as an .ffx)on your second text. Render that off, import the file, play it backwards, then dissolve the first text effect into the second one. That should do the trick.

Joe Bourke

[Joseph W. bourke]

Scott –

I’m with you on 3D Stroke and Shine – they are now the “chestnuts” of motion graphic design. But amazingly, they look so striking that everyone is still using them (ABC comes to mind immediately, be they’re also using the “splash” particle effect as the main one. I’m hoping something comes up soon that will replace them, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve been hoping for almost 10 years that the “lifestyle” commercials, with their slomo and soft focus would go away. Oh well…I guess the people that create the clutter are more critical of it (and tire of it faster).

My Promotions Mananger often reminds me that by the time we’re tired of the spot (or look, or effect), about 20 percent of the viewing audience are realizing it even exists!

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

While I don’t necessarily agree with it, our corporation did a large study which showed that viewers want simpler, more easy to read designs, with less distracting motion.

The corporate design package for our News got “dumbed down”, and I find it much less interesting than the previous one. Luckily our station falls within the same DMA as our larger sister station, and I was able to create an on-air look which added more motion (although somewhat subtle, especially in areas where the is CG that is meant to be read and comprehended).

The package included, Opens, Talent Rejoins, Rejoins, Franchise Opens (Weather, Sports, Money, Health, etc. – segments which are regularly used in the Newscast, and must be branded), OTS in several versions, Lower Thirds in several versions, Live chip, and more which don’t come to mind at the moment. It has been a great opportunity to test my skills, and develope them at the same time. I have used Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, and 3D Studio Max for the project, and am pretty satisfied with the results.

As usual with Television graphics, stay away from serifed fonts (which tend to buzz), logos which are long and horizontal (try to stick with designs that can work as a bug in a lower third), and motion backgrounds which compete with the information (CG) area. As you’ve probably noticed, everyone is using the flying swashes (3D Stroke) for backgrounds and transitions, photo-real looking 3D is in for Opens and Logos, and the hard 3D look seems to have given way to the softer, glowing 3D look. Good luck, and have fun doing it.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

Yeah…

Art Director is a bit on the old school side, but I was given the title 15 years ago, when in the Broadcast industry, it still meant you were expected to do some work.

Other than my weekly production meeting, I never see the inside of a conference room, thank God! I’m below the radar on the “managers” screen, and above the fray in the food chain. I’m actually expected to put out more than my department cohorts, because I’ve got much more experience, and I actually work to stay up on the latest software and hardware developments, rather than surf the web or read a paper when the newscast is over.

But it’s a nice pithy title. Motion Graphics Designer/Graphic Artist/Digital Photographer/Editor/Set Designer/Monitor Wiper/Sound Designer wouldn’t fit on a business card anyway.

Joe Bourke

[Joseph W. bourke]

Hi Tim –

Here’s the breakdown of how we do it at my station –

I’m the Art Director – I do Opens (After Effects and Combustion), logo design, some editing (mostly builds for opens and other elements), shoot still photography for light boxes, web, signage, create complete on-air graphics packages when needed. I also am in charge of a small staff of News Graphics people (3 at last count). I also do 3D modeling and animation in 3D Studio Max, as well as set design for special projects.

Our Promotions Editor does just that – edits daily Promos, does some After Effects work, but mostly edits spots, versions some for web and radio. He also writes scripts.

Our Editors/Producers work in Commercial Production – they mainly do spot editing, script-writing, some client contact (production meetings) and editing of spots, with an occasional industrial thrown in.

Given that your work crosses into the Editor/Videographer realm, you might want to consider a hybrid title, such as Editor/Senior Animator (if there are enough others doing animation there that the title isn’t ludicrous). Editor/Motion Graphics Designer has a nice ring to it. The Videographer side of it is almost a gimme, since almost all of us who work in TV have done, or continue to do, camera work. I started out as a freelance writer/studio camera-man – I was good with software, and had been doing design work for years. The Art Director title came with the job, but at the time I was also doing daily News graphics, and whatever else needed doing (prompter, camera, etc.).

All said, it’s not what you’re called, but what you’re paid, and how satisfying the job is. Unless your organization has pay scales based on titles, it may not matter.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

The question is, is the shot a moving shot? If not, make a soft mask, and duplicate a clean part of the skirting board (we call it a mop board in New England – I love the English language!), moving it over the grungy part. The one thing you don’t want to lose is the nice detail from the grain and wear and tear in the wood. It will make it look fake.

If you can’t nail the masked shot, you might try a masked blur layer to approximate depth of field, and drop the focus down in the grungy part. This runs the risk of not looking real, because the worst part of the grunge is in the foreground. You could also think about just doing a soft focus vignette all the way around, as a frame.

I really think the best result will be had by doing the mask. If it’s a locked shot…no problem. If it’s a moving shot, think tracking.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

Ansab –

I don’t know the answer to your problem, but here is a site which has lots of solutions to varying AE problems:

https://generalspecialist.com/2007/02/troubleshooting-after-effects-7.asp

I hope it helps out.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

Jim –

I believe if you set your AE export settings to Quicktime, then go into the Format Options button on the Video Output pane, you will see in the pulldown, both a PAL and an NTSC DV setting. This is the setting we use to get the .DV files to our playback server. They look horrible when played back on the desktop, but are adequate for the server (I think that’s the idea – smallest file size – just barely broadcast).

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

Sakke –

One thing that I have found to be of great help in my freelance work is to always add about 25 percent more time to the project to account for just those things that you are not sure of. Bid the bumped up hours to the client, making them aware that you will only bill them for actual hours worked, and letting them know that there is no possible way you can determine hours to the minute. Be honest with them, and, when the job is done, you can usually surprise them by ending up billing fewer hours than you proposed. A range of hours is always a good idea in your proposal (ex: from 15 to 20 hours).

This usually works, but there can always be the nightmare scenario in which there is something the client didn’t tell you about the project, or there is a problem with the footage that is time consuming to correct. Another thing is to make it clear to the client that the proposal is your understanding of the project as presented by the client, at the time of the quote (these things have a way of changing during the process), and that there will be a range of hours to complete it to their satisfaction; that way you’re not locking yourself into something you will end up paying for. Good luck!

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV

[Joseph W. bourke]

You might try a slightly different approach to the problem. I do this in Max all the time. There’s a modifier (in Max at least) called Bevel Profile. It allows you to create your text outline, and then create a separate spline, which essentially gets lathed around the text outline to create a very complex look.

There’s also (in Max) a modifier called Sweep that allows you to create a custom spline (similar to my description above) that gives you even more control over the mapping coordinates, so that you can assign maps similar to the way you do it in Invigorator, but with a little more control.

I don’t know anything about Maya, but maybe there is something along the lines of the above in there – it’s a very powerful package.

Joe Bourke
Art Director / WMUR-TV