[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

A few different options:

https://lesterbanks.com/2010/02/3d-ribbon-in-after-effects-using-particular/

https://zaxwerks.com/3dserpentine

https://aescripts.com/polyline/

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

These tutorials may help:

https://podcasts.creativecow.net/after-effects-tutorials-podcast/3d-tunnels-in-ae-using-freeform-pro-part-1

https://library.creativecow.net/jelescu_tudor/AE-3D-tunnels-FreeForm-Pro-2/1

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

There are several options: you can use an older package – Particle illusion- for the grass. It generates some pretty realistic grass moving in the wind. Once you have that you can apply various filters (Cartoon, Toon It) to get the look you want.
For the curtains and hair, you can either use Mesh Warp or Bezier Warp to animate (break the hair in separate strands), or you can try to trick it by using FreeForm Pro on the isolated drapes/hair layers with some expressions (from Dan Ebberts) to make the surface wavy in 3d space.
https://www.motionscript.com/

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Create the neon tube letters with no glow in PSD. Isolate the neon tubes that form the letters and break them into separate elements (like the dash in the middle of the A for example) – have them on separate layers with alpha. Brin that in AE and apply Glow (in a comp set up at 32bit color depth ) and animate the glow to flicker like in your example. You can get fancy and use ShapeShifter AE to create 3d extruded shapes for the neon letters if you need a 3d camera move.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Connect Layers may be a free option for you

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

As far as I know the only way to achieve this is to copy and paste the audio layer in your precomp, but I do not see how you could listen to the audio from the main comp while previewing a precomp.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

The 3D modeling of the parts is done in a 3d package if you want to use AE, C4D can be used to model the elements. You can go the route of C4D/AE or you can use elements that are modeled in any 3d software and the use Element3D to import, texture and animate inside AE.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

FreeForm Pro is quite easy to use for that. You can generate the grid in AE on a Layer you use for texture or choose to render the mesh from FF Pro.
You need the to choose as displacement map a precomp that has the same size as the layer you displace (mesh. Inside the precomp you need to create a animation of shapes in shades of gray that you can use for displacement. Radio Waves with blur for example can generate ripples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U0huO5UO7s

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

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[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Tutorials are great to learn techniques. There are a few that may give you insight though in the mind of the artist that made them, and usually those are the ones that describe the whole creation of a shot, be that a vfx or a motion graphics shot. Videocopilot has a bunch of those. The COW also a few. Those are the ones that can help you learn techniques and also how to think about a shot.
Another good way of using tutorials is to search for what you need after you have created a “job” for yourself. Think about something you would like to be able to do (news graphics for example). Search for as many examples of those as you care to watch. Find a style you like and break it down in elements (lower third, animated intro…etc) then take each element individually and break it down in categories – design (how and why, color, positioning…), animation (how is it appearing and disappearing ), and effects ( flares, glint, light sweeps, reflections…etc). Then see what you can do for yourself and look for tutorials that show techniques of achieving those results.
Lastly, I always recommend this one, find a good artist or AE shop and offer to intern for free with them. Spend time watching how they do things and ask why they do them like that. There’s nothing like learning from a master.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Depending on the shot, if the face moves much, if it turns or not, there are several ways of approaching this.
If the face is not turning (or turning just a bit), you can paint the patch in PSD (create a patch with edges and terminator head under) and then use Mocha to track and comp that patch on the face. A bit of distortion may be necessary using Mesh Warp.
For a 3d move, where the face turns, you need a 3d track and a 3d patch. First stabilize the head, to have it always in the same spot in the frame (track 1). Then isolate (crop) the head and do a 3d camera track (Track 2) and a camera solve. Use FreeForm Pro to create the 3d patch and position in 3D space and render that on the head. Then comp back the head in the shot reversing the Track 1 stabilization.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist