Spritemaster
Forum Replies Created
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All points are taken, and I humbly apologize once again to all those involved.
If it had been technically possible, I would have retracted my offending post. I’m not aware that this can be done by me, but I imagine it can be done by the site managers. If you feel this post could deter future tutorial creators, even those why may stumble upon it through a search, then please delete it. I see no point leaving it here.
Respectfully,
AA
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All points are taken, and I humbly apologize once again to all those involved.
If it had been technically possible, I would have retracted my offending post. I’m not aware that this can be done by me, but I imagine it can be done by the site managers. If you feel this post could deter future tutorial creators, even those why may stumble upon it through a search, then please delete it. I see no point leaving it here.
Respectfully,
AA
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I think the problem with this approach is that using this method doesn’t really cause the mask to rotate, since the mask points will interpolate between the two keyframes in *linear* paths. If you only have two mask shape keyframes, AE has no way of knowing you had “rotate” in mind, even though you used the rotation tool to create the second key frame. All it knows is – mask points were here, now mask points are there, let’s move them from here to there.
I believe the only workaround is the one suggested in this thread, to attach the mask to another layer and rotate the layer. Basically there’s no way to rotate a mask using shape animation, unless you keyframe it frame by frame which sort of defeats the purpose.
AA
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*sigh* I am so sorry. I never intended to offend, really just to be productive, and if criticism for tutorials is preferred by mail than I’ll be sure to use mail from now on.
All I can say is, please read again the first and last couple of paragraphs in my message. I really did mean them. Quote below for reference 🙂
I apologize once again if my post has stirred anger. I truly appreciate the editor’s hard work, this site is great.
AA
“First, I’d like to say that every time someone takes the time to create a tutorial, video or otherwise, I feel very grateful. I know this is HARD work, I learned a LOT through such tutorials, and I really appreciate it.
This particular tuturial presents some great ideas – I never thought to track a still image(!), and the fish workflow with Photoshop was also very nice to watch.
Again, please take these just as suggestions and food for thought – I really am grateful for the tutorial and I definitely learned something. Thanks to Jay Thompson and the CC team!”
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*sigh* I am so sorry. I never intended to offend, really just to be productive, and if criticism for tutorials is preferred by mail than I’ll be sure to use mail from now on.
All I can say is, please read again the first and last couple of paragraphs in my message. I really did mean them. Quote below for reference 🙂
I apologize once again if my post has stirred anger. I truly appreciate the editor’s hard work, this site is great.
AA
“First, I’d like to say that every time someone takes the time to create a tutorial, video or otherwise, I feel very grateful. I know this is HARD work, I learned a LOT through such tutorials, and I really appreciate it.
This particular tuturial presents some great ideas – I never thought to track a still image(!), and the fish workflow with Photoshop was also very nice to watch.
Again, please take these just as suggestions and food for thought – I really am grateful for the tutorial and I definitely learned something. Thanks to Jay Thompson and the CC team!”
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Yes, sure it can be done in the same way (why not?). In principle you could also fake it in AE by using the Echo effect, so you have just one copy of the logo fly along the curve and you use Effects->Time->Echo to create the duplicates. However, you’ll have less control over timing and lighting this way. If you look closely at the final shot of the last movie, you’ll see light reflecting off of the logos that are in a certain angle. You could also do that in AE with a separate lighting effect but it’ll be easier and more natural to do in 3D.
(if you’re worried about how to generate and control 80 instances of an object, again this is very easy to do, and you may be able to get away with it without any scripting. XSI has various neat features for handling multiple objects, spreading them along curves etc.)
AA
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Text following a curved path in 3D can be done quite easily in any 3D app. I’m more familiar with XSI than with Maya but I’m sure it’s not a problem in Maya either, and I don’t see why any coding would be necessary. Create the paths, create the text, deform the text by the paths, and animate the “translation along curve” parameter to get the text to swoosh along the curve. Of course, to get the great look as in the rezn8 work, you’ll have to work hard on creating those flowing curves (sometimes this is done with particles), carefully timing the animation and camera movements, and of course lighting and rendering. If you’re new to 3D, don’t expect to get such results too quickly.
It is very likely that AE, or some other similar app, was used to composite the 3D text renders with the footage and take care of the coloring, glows etc.
I’m not sure I understand your second question.
AA
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If I understand you correctly (which is doubtful), you’re looking to animate a stroke across a “skyline” path similar to this one:
https://www.ducey.com/Graphics/FrzLogo.gif
only with letters instead of buildings.
What I would do is create the text in a single color, say white; add a white rectangle that slightly overlaps the lower portion of the letters; auto-trace the result using Layer->Autotrace, and finally trim any unncessary portions of the resulting mask. You’ll need to decide what to do with disconnected components of the text, for instance a “T” will give you a single path but an “M” may give you two or three.
Once you have the appropraite mask, it should be a simple matter to stroke it, add glow, animate the stroke location, etc. You can use either the Stroke effect, or Vegas, or even Trapcode’s 3D stroke for some more control.
AA
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First, as Chris said, check out the work done at that company. “Motion Graphics” is a term that covers lots of ground – LOTS – and it may or may not be the case that your knowledge overlaps with what they need.
The work you display on your Website is highly original and creative, but if I had to assess your knoweledge of AE based on this work I would guess you have stayed away from some pretty mainstream elements. It’s not clear that you are comfortable with 3D movement, cameras, lights, text effects, particles, strokes, … all of which may be a must – or again, they may be irrelevant to the type of work your prospective employer is doing.
Take a look, for instance, at the samples over at the (world famous!) ayato (https://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e.html). This is certainly motion graphics, it’s all AE (with the obvious Photoshop/Illustrator thrown in), and it’s like completely orthogonal to your work. Take a look at his final renders and ask yourself if you would know how to do this in AE from scratch… if you can, you’re an AE master. If you don’t even know where to begin, you may be missing some “particular things you should know about After Effects as a motion graphics designer”. Again, Ayato’s work is top notch and you shouldn’t feel bad if you can’t do it right of the bat, but take a look at the step-by-step descriptions and ask yourself if you’re familiar with those elements of AE.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that this broadcast-type motion graphics are better or more sophisticated than your work. They’re just different. If you’re asking about what a motion graphics designer should know in AE, this may be part of it.
Hope that helps,
AA
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The moderators may have their preferred method, but there are several free services available to send or share largish files. I use http://www.yousendit.com a lot, and http://www.savefile.com is a new one that looks very convenient.
AA