For Core Exercise #3 we would like you to create an original piece that demonstrates the techniques used in this video:
- Animated graphic to highlight a point in a photographic still or video clip
- Animated typography with Motion blur done in After Effects
- Animated ribbon (see Greyscale Gorilla link) that matches perspective in the photograph
- Ribbon is to be semi-transparent in your composite with AE
- Masking of foreground object that is blurred because of depth of field
- Composition that uses the ‘rule of thirds’ without distorting the typography
- All type to be done if Cinema 4d for this project
You can base your design tightly on this piece or not, the point is to learn the above compositing techniques and to pay attention to issues around perspective. This means matching perspective when as needed, and also making sure that your typography in Cinema 4D is not distorted because of your camera.
Some hints for achieving this: Parent your typography to the camera and ‘zero out’ the rotations. This makes sure your type is oriented directly facing the camera, even if your camera moves. Use a longer focal length on your camera ( like a telephoto lens ). The default camera in Cinema is a wide-angle point and shoot type of lens, NOT typically what is used in film making and if you only use the default camera your animations will feel ‘cheaper’.
To complete this project, you will need to watch the following video tutorials:
Form Greyscale Gorilla:
http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2011/05/how-to-make-a-ribbon-wall-graphic-in-cinema-4d/
Note: The GG mentions a softbox quite a bit. This assignment does not require you to work with lighting since we are compositing onto a photograph and the details he gets would be lost. However, if you are interested in experimenting on your own with a lighting rig as he describes, here is a simple example: SoftBox.c4d
All of the After Effects Integration tutorials:
After Effect Project File
After Effects Project Setup in C4D
After Effects Workflow 1
After Effects Workflow 2
Some of the Camera tutorials:
Focal Length
Grid attached to a Camera
Some of the Modeling tutorials:
Make Editable
Sweep Nurbs
Sweep Nurbs Advanced
And of course Mograph is almost always part of a motion graphics animation:
Text Object
For placement of the image, look at the Rendering tutorials:
Backgrounds
Compositing Tag
Video attached to part of an object
Video importing
What is the easiest way to get the ribbons to go behind the subject? Should we cut a layer in PS and bring it in as another background? Or use a mask?
Is the idea with this project to import the photograph into Cinema 4D and render the ribbons up against the photo? Or should the photo be placed in AE and import the ribbons into AE?
The masking should be done in AE. You can either mask a photo, or mask the video that is rendered. If you mask a photo, make two copies of the photo, one is the background layer, on top of that is the video and on top of that is the photo again, this time with a mask. If you haven’t used masks in AE before, you have several options. Draw a shape mask, feather it. Or, paint a mask and use it as a track matte.
AE supports layers in Photoshop, so it’s possible to mask it in Photoshop too, but I prefer masking in AE.
See the answer to Margot’s post. You have manynoptions, choose what is easiest. Be sure to look for feathering options to make it look professional.