[Mstleger]

Make sure your elements are on seperate layers. Also, a 1- point line will flicker when played back on video, so you may want to beef it up a little. There is a tutorial on the Cow about animating vectors and such, it’s quite detailed, and should help you plan your illustrator work and get it into ae.

[Mstleger]

Not so sure what you are asking for- perhaps an example would be nice?
I could think of a few cartoon effects- stretching and distortion of faces, flattening of colors, etc.
Perhaps you are looking to do something similar to “Waking Life?”

[Mstleger]

Hey, just another thought- set up a Beta video deck going out to another with a loose connection, and jiggle the wire while transfering from one tape to another. That will dirty it up quite a bit.
Plug ins may very well get you what you need, but I like to find cheaper ways to do things.

[Mstleger]

Yep- I do it all the time. Best bet is to get your tv on a station that is all static, and record it with a camcorder. There are plug ins that do this kind of stuff, but the real deal is always better. Animate the vertical hold going up and down, overlay some static, and use the static as a displacement map on the image.

[Mstleger]

Okay-

Critique: I would adjust the “aqua” blue in the first few frames to match the blue of the rest of the animation. Also, the 3d model looks very plastic, maybe a metallic look that includes reflections would be better. Might be nice to see shadows cast from the floating text that land on the model. Lastly, the edit seems a bit repetitive- you see the model in every shot, almost full screen. Think of a progression- perhaps each shot reveals a little more of the model, then resolving to full screen?

Overall, you have a decent design sense.

As to your questions about money, do it because you love it. Even if you make lots of cash, it’s no fun to do something you don’t like all day.

Also, this is just my opinion, try to type without tons of abbreviations. You will seem more intelligent to people who don’t know you, and your ideas will be communicated more clearly. And a job in design is all about communicating ideas clearly.

[Mstleger]

Try the “matte feather” plug in. A better one is available in Pinnacle’s Composite Wizard suite of AE plugins.

[Mstleger]

Scale in Cleaner or Sorenson

[Mstleger]

I advise that you render uncompressed from AE, then compress the video with sorenson squeeze or cleaner.
One meg per minute seems very ambitous, but may be possible if you scale the size down, and can live with a little artifacting. I assume this is for streaming on the internet?

[Mstleger]

Hey, I’m working on a Bouygues commercial right now. We’re using a similar effect with the cubes, alot of the work is done in 3d. No simple solution, just plan to have a clean plate of the footage, and get someone to run dynamic simulations in 3d. Also, if the camera is moving, you’ll need to do some 3d tracking.

[Mstleger]

try just using two copies, one that is less blurred, the other overlayed on top. Also, consider using a different blur plug in, perhaps a Tinderbox lens blur, which has a nice bloom option.