[Nel Santiago]

Sure thing man,
I’ll keep an eye out on this thread, in case any one pops in with a plug and play solution.

That’s one of the pains of working in News, never really have the time to figure out the right way of doing things, just figure out one way and do it like that until we run across a better solution! ha.

As for sleep? I sleep. But I also get up way early and try to knock out stuff like the blog and other updates before I head off to work. I work ahead. It’s hard but it’s important to me. Gotta give credit where credit is due though, I get a lot of help from my wife on researching stuff on other design ventures, she’s a producer and does a damn good job at it. But yes, it’s a lot of work.

I’ve asked my fair amount of questions, some that never get answers, so if I have time while I’m shuffling data, or rendering fx why not pop my head in and try to help out? Designers seem to keep their “secrets” and I’ve always felt that’s a nasty way of operating. Share what you know, and others will share their knowledge with you. IMO It all balances out.

-N

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[Nel Santiago]

Hey Joel,
thanks for the compliment 🙂 much appreciated. Plug-ins? Plug-ins? um, I’d probably say I use Knoll Light Factory and Trapcode’s Shine the most. I don’t use Shine for the rays, usually kill those, but use the color tinting and brightness levels on additive layers to achieve some of the blowout on the lens elements and highlights on logos. I loveeeee Sapphire’s blur effects (for their speed and versatility), but that’s one expensive package. Must haves? My vote would go to Knoll Light Factory.

-N

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[Nel Santiago]

That was a good tip Abie. David I gotta shamefully admit, a long time ago I had set up an AE project with a null object and some place holder layers (5 of ’em) and have been using that same rig over and over and over. Not the fastest, but it worked. Abie’s suggestion of the DA plug-ins is one I’ll check out next time I have to do this. Good call.
-N

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[Nel Santiago]

Nice job dude. Like the color. There is a lot to be said about how they shot their original footage, I think that combined with the music and the technique makes it memorable.

Not sure it’s the easiest way to do it, but its a way, right? It has lots of potential though, adding color like you did, animating the lines on would push it even further. The shadows look nice. If you keep developing it, try and post your results, would love to check it out.
-N

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[Nel Santiago]

Hey Joel,
I totally agree with what Scott said, I also started out in graphic design, and I’ve felt the skills I learned doing that kind of work made for an easier transition into broadcast design. Typography, color theory, are all universal, and all very important to understand.

The tools you use (software/hardware) is more of a personal preference than anything else. But, learn whatever you have access to. One thing that I would add, or that has been helpful to me, is seek out other designers that are willing to share their knowledge. Try to soak up as much as you can. In free time I loooovvveee picking apart projects that others have done. If you’re in an open environment where people share their work, this is a great way to pick up new tricks and learn work flow as you go. This has always been my method of choice, I like tutorials here and there, but picking apart stuff and putting it back together has gained me more knowledge than anything else.

Look at what others are doing for inspiration, learn from it and take it a few extra steps. Build on it, turn it on it’s side. But always be honest about your initial inspiration. That’s the only way to grow beyond button pushing. The Art Director at the second station I ever worked at gave me on bit of advice, that has stuck with me to this day… and while it may seem ambitious and not exactly helpful when you are trying to make something look nice, I feel it has helped me become a better broadcast designer because of it. So I’ll share it with you for what it’s worth.

“Always try to learn a little about what others jobs entail, if it’s a producer, an editor, a tape op. whatever it is… try to do it, even if you’re never going to do that for a living. Understand their work flow. Because having a better understanding of what they do allows you to build and tailor your work to better fit their needs.” (He’s a GM at one of the station groups now)

That bit of advice has allowed me to be on target with my work more often than not. Gaining me more time to do edgier design, more trust with our clients and better working relationships overall. Does it help you with what books to read for techniques? heh…nope 😉 Hopefully someone else can jump in on that. But it might help you get into the right train of thought? who knows? you asked, I shared 🙂

If you’re looking for technique, CreativeCOW is a great place to start, check out the tutorials… both graphic design ones and video editing, as you will need to understand both. Check out Mograph or some of the other design places out there, watch tv, if you have a dvr, record opens or spots you like and look up the people who did the work. Try to match the lighting, or the textures. Just gotta carve the time out to do it. I’m a fan of other Broadcast Designers myself, check out LostProject.net Check out Scott’s site

Pushing yourself, as you’re already doing, feeding off of others, exchanging ideas… that kind of stuff will help you get far. It’s a continuing learning process for all of us. The more you put into it the more you’ll get out. That’s all I got when it come to advice. Hopefully some of it will be useful, not just random blabbing 😀 (off the soap box) I would love to hear from other designers as well. Don’t be shy! Share your thoughts.

-Nel

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[Nel Santiago]

Sure thing! also, the polygon fill (as I was calling it) can be done with a solid, apply the corner pin effect to it, and use an expression to anchor the points like this

it’s a bit tedious, so if anyone else has another idea, would love to hear em. Very interesting look.

-N

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[Nel Santiago]

Using the file above I was able to do (this sample) with 3 tracking points. I love the effect, might need to add this to the goodies section on my site. If I get some time I’ll see about replicating the part with the polygon sections filling in with color. Great question dude.
-N

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[Nel Santiago]

got me thinking a little, while Dan’s script is awesome for it’s features, it may not be needed to replicate that look. Check this out:
sample clip
AE file
Three layers in total, 2 solids and one with the beam effect. The anchor points of the beam effect are linked with an expression to the position of each block, the start to a white block, the end to a red. So any effect that has a starting point can be used. I didn’t have time to motion track video for the example, so I used motion sketch to give yah an idea. Each block as it’s own motion, you would use the tracking data off of your video to dictate where the blocks are and build on from there. Not sure this is the most efficient way of doing it, but it should work.

-N

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[Nel Santiago]

That was pretty neat, have been seeing that kind of style pop up on a few reels lately. The first thing that came to mind was Dan Ebbert’s Expressions over at https://www.motionscript.com

You might be able to use tracking data and Dan’s Elastic Connection script to accomplish that task. Just a thought.
-N

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[Nel Santiago]

Hey Bill,
while not exactly what you are talking about, Motionographer has a few examples of replaced heads, which use a very similar tracking technique to replace the features. It was a “Quickies” on their site… so I could not find a direct link, but there are the examples they posted.

https://www.glossyinc.com/sleeper/getty.html
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1045&Itemid=68
https://static.swiss.se/public/portfolio/Sony__.mov

I’ve only done that kind of stuff to fix blemishes on anchors faces… but I think your first approach might be the best. Having as much natural skin texture to work with will help blend the seems. Take some pictures too, with a still camera that will come in handy if you need to patch skin.

The mask approach may not be the best choice, unless you’re up for replacing the whole head, and trying to color match that as skin doesn’t seem like the easiest thing to do. I ran across a post on something similar to this a few weeks ago (can’t find it now, doh!) and there was a lot of discussion about the need for markers or not, since they would need to be removed in post. The face, eyes and nose, should have enough detail to use as tracking references. Saving you a lot of clean up in the end.

I think you’re on the right track. Do some tests if you have the time. Not sure what you are planning on using for tracking but both Boujou and Syntheyes should make that an easier process. If the subject does not rotate much you might be able to work some lock down magic with Mocha.

-N

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