[Rhett Robinson]

I’d suggest that you use “color”, or one of the other choices for the sides under the “texture” section of the plug. I’ve had pretty good luck using shatter, linking the shatter camera to the comp camera, and using the perspective “bevel”. With a little lighting, it looks pretty good.

There are a number of FREE 3D programs out there that are very capable for making 3D text as well…

nothing like the level of 3DS, Maya, or even what Zaxwerks offers, but you can certainly do a lot without spending a penny.

Now the question!

I recently ran in to a problem where I was trying to use the “number” effect, and using shatter, but had no luck… it seems to look at the custom shatter layer on the first frame, and that’s it. It’s only 40 numbers, so it won’t kill me to make them manually, but wondered if anyone knew something I didn’t (okay, so that’s not so unlikely!)

[Rhett Robinson]

Watch for fonts….

Actually, I’ve used the collect files to make a CD and take to a remote machine for the render engine – “sneakernet”.

[Rhett Robinson]

You may be able to substitute the logo comp with a “warp” horizontal bulge at that transition point (you’ll have to mess with the scale (disproportionate) of the layer, and the bulge amount as well, and go from like a bulge of 50 to 0.

Another “patch” idea might work, but that’s the first one I played with.

[Rhett Robinson]

I’m not going to get into a net battle here, but I will say, that you lashed out, not the other way around, and noone was mocking you.

It sounds like you used the advice that was given, while criticizing the person that gave it to you.

Awful small, dude – I don’t know who you are, or what you do, but remind me not to hire you.

[Rhett Robinson]

Wow – takes a hit at Mylenium right off the bat.

Okay, so I’ve come here for a long time, and I know to look at the archives (I have asked a question that was asked before, but hadn’t found a reasonable answer). Of course, my on-line persona isn’t much different that my my real one, so I’m not going to immediately jump into attack mode.

Anyway, is there a etiquette / new user guide here? I mean, the obvious “don’t be a jerk” should go without saying on a board like this, but many sites have something that kind of lets the newbie know what goes. It’s not a professional board, but FARK, for instance, has a FArQ (for frequently asked questions), as well as a dummy posting link, for those that want to make their text blink to practice with. (okay, so HTML is very nice when links are posted… I assume everyone can get there if they’re interested).

Anyway, just curious. I LOVE this board, and have learned so much by reading the threads, and following almost every tutorial on the board for the last 2 years, and having something that eased the new guy in might be worth it.

PS – I did like the “flocking a dead horse” – since it’s a craft item, in addition to describing dynamic behavior, it could be a fun new hobby on the farm!

[Rhett Robinson]

As far as a slogan, motto, or mission statement goes, I would really look at the market *you* want to target, and see what it is *they* want, and associate yourself with that. Is it informational? Corporate? Entertainment?

I’ve been a print designer (working for print companies) for about 15 years now, and I’ve found that I know what the clients need better than they do, although I don’t sell it that way (makes ya sound like a jerk, ya know). I would focus on the specific group you would most like to attract (or, perhaps better yet, the ones that you are most likely to attract, because the job’s halfway done), and let them know you can fill their needs.

I definitely don’t push the speed/quality/cost routine, but I absolutely don’t shirk from it. If someone want’s 1,000 full color rack cards tomorrow, it’s gonna cost them. If they can wait until the next gang run on the press, it’s less than a quarter of that price (and they can actually get 4 times as many for such a small jump that it’s crazy not to – remember that if you need printing, and give yourself some time).

I get to have this discussion, oh, about 3 times a day, so I’m pretty good at telling what the person really needs, and how to break it to them. The people that demand all 3 you have to sell in a different way, and convince them that the one that is lacking is really up to par. Meaning, you let them know “that’s the going rate”, or “that’s how long it takes”, without turning them off or lying. I’m a designer, not a sales guy, but I know how to sell what the customer *needs*, not what they *think* they want, so I get nonstop business.

Anyway, really focus on what your client’s final result is, and sell yourself based on that. I’ve actually only done a few reasonably serious video projects, but those were well done, and I get regular calls from people they’ve told, which is really the absolutely best way to advertise, hands down.

Direct mail? It will pull about a 5-10% call rate at the absolute best, if you focus it on people that need your product. Print advertising? It’s like shooting a shotgun from 1,000 yards away – you might hit something. TV? Doesn’t really work well for my business for the same reason, but if you’re able to flash your skills onscreen, and perhaps work out a trade deal so that it doesn’t make you hurt for a week, it could be pretty good. It’s a shotgun approach too, and with the DVR, I never watch a commercial that I don’t want to see anymore – like a well designed motion graphics piece. Then again, I never did – that’s when you do something instead of being locked to the tube. However, all of these things can add up. However, do you want calls that you can turn into sales (and can you handle the time that takes?), or do you want a client that’s ready to buy when they get to you.

There is a snowball effect to word-of-mouth and networking. They say “it’s not what you know, but who you know”. Not quite true, but like Zig says, you’ll get what you want helping enough other people get what they want. If they like you, trust you, and want to work with you, they’ll pass your name on, and there is NO better advertising than that.

Okay – that went into “preachy blog” mode in a hurry! Good luck.

[Rhett Robinson]

Wow… I’d never even played with echo! If you knew the number of times I’ve used “write on” or another process to create this effect, including illustrator blends, etc., you’d chuckle. It’s sort of a good thing, because I learned a lot and have made some fantastic pieces with write on (okay, I think they’re great), and this seems to create a fair amount of processor overload, but it’s dang easy for this type of thing!

THANKS!

[Rhett Robinson]

I don’t know when they stopped working, but I have a copy of AE 4.1 on an old O9 box that I’ve played with some of the filters in, mostly the texture stuff, and changing the amount (craquelare (sp?) made a really cool effect). Most of the more advanced, additional plugs (like KPT), do not seem to work at all, and even give some kind of message saying that they are not at a degree of compatibility high enough with the original photoshop architecture.

[Rhett Robinson]

I know that you can turn off the “accepts lights” in the material options, but that may be too extreme for what you’re needing. Playing in the other material settings may help with the “blowout” problem (like turning “metal” down?

[Rhett Robinson]

I’ll second the above… when you’re having difficulty, render to a compatible image sequence (you may want to ask the person who’s going to receive the file)… Just as AE will load it right up, so will most NLE programs, and I’ve never had a TV station complain at all (I usually give them several formats though, so no matter what I’m covered)

Good Luck!