[Scott Novasic]

Particle Illusion has the best presets for this type of look, hands down.
Fast, easy and convincing stuff.

You will have to dig through the large amount of presets, but thats the
great thing about Pi. So much power under the hood, if you choose to mess with it, and the ease of hundreds of presets to get you close, not to mention realtime rendering for most stuff on a decent computer.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

Mark is on the right path in my opinion. If your looking for a plug in.
Tinderbox Volume 1 has a very nice ‘heat haze’ plug in that looks great.

Things to keep in mind is fading your mattes out over distance. The distortion is more extreme, obviously, the closer to the engine and fades out in intensity the farther away from the engine. Using a mix of
adjustment layers and mattes with distortion filters will get you where you want to be.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

can you create and export to all the file formats Zax does? probably not.
ZAX exports to c4d maya and even Electric Image, which I love. (im one of the group of EI users still using the VERY under rated EI v7 V8 coming soon) I also use c4d and maya when needed, just love EI for mograph.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

maybe someone else could help you out on the Book front. Ive been the Lead Animator\Senior Designer in Chicago at Fox and in Los Angeles at CBS
for many years. Im actually currently Designing a whole station look for a new movie channel I cant mention here, yet, 🙂

That said, Tools are a necessary ‘evil’ in our industry. You need them and need to know them well, depending on what level of Broadcast Design you aspire too. Graphic Design training is a great beginning to get down design principles in general. To some, this comes naturally, others
schooling is a great help. I majored in graphic design in college and minored in illustration and it helped me immensely.

I was able to work on Promotions and main ‘franchise animations’ so I was always having a lot of fun working at Fox and CBS. BUT BUT BUT, a whole lot of positions at TV stations in particular are pretty close to ‘button pushing’ mindless positions imho. If your not high enough up the totem pole you may not be assigned the most ‘stimulating’ of design work.

For inspiration, I watch some of the major networks and HBO and mostly
go to the websites of some of the best broadcast design companies and check out there work on a regular basis. Trying to mimic some of the more challenging work when I have the time. Its good you have a critical eye on your own work, try to balance that out with motivation
to constantly get better and you will get your work looking less ‘infomercially’.

good luck. I know Neil, our new guy here, has lots of TV experience as well.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

THE BEST tv interference plug in in my opinion and experience is by DigiEffects, called “Damage” its affordable and offers a huge array of settings to achieve every conceivable tv distortion, magnetic effect
you can think of or visualize. its a 4 plug in package that is the best
at what it does that i have seen in my 15 or so years of animating.

google damage review and you will find a review I wrote of the plug ins
for creative mac.com and other websites.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

I like to use invigerator to model imagery to use both in after effects AND export models into my favorite 3d program for more advanced capabilites. Very flexible 🙂

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

try saving your custom edge illustrator files with NO compression.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

i know its not after effects. But particle illusion has some very good presets for this kind of a look.

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

your welcome mark. There are “handmade” ways to get the look you want, and if you’ve got time on your hands or no budget, id look into them.
Call me lazy, but IF a plug in “nails it” I buy the plug. Its a tax write off and a good investment in your career. Not all plug ins (obviously) do a good job at what they are intending to do, so read reviews and download trial versions when you can. I consider ‘Damage’
a must have tool because of its depth, quality and speed.

But, to each, his own. 🙂

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects

[Scott Novasic]

cinelooks film damage plug in is one of my favorites.
But the BEST deal is Damage. $99 for 4 individual plug ins dedicated
to television damage right down to the source level, different video signals and a variety of control settings. freezing, cable digital blockiness, and much more.

I like boris stuff as well, just much more expensive, and not the
total focus on the look you are going for, that the 4 damage effects
can give you, plus, they render in realtime and FASTER. Im sure you can download a demo as well, or like I said, check out the review of Damage online, I go into much more detail.

no, I do not work for digieffects 🙂

good luck

SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects