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Animate Type the Old School Way

on Mar 2nd 2009 with 47 comments

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

It’s easy to get excited over the latest plugin or technology, but that inevitably leads to stuff that all looks the same. So to get something new and original, sometimes you just need to go Old School! Before computers, the way to produce type animations was to get creative with some props and a camera. Lloyd shows us how to use some reflective paper and a camera to capture some very fresh type animation. Of course he will also show you how to use After Effects as a finishing tool to bring it all together; this is Aetuts+ after all!

Requirements:
Knoll Light Factory Unmult (download free version here)

Music used in the final piece:
Clenastro from AUDIO JUNGLE

Tutorial

Download Tutorial .flv

File size MB

 
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I run AESCRIPTS.com which provides useful scripts for Adobe After Effects. You can follow me on Twitter @aescripts  

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  • Bueaka

    nice:)

  • LeJo

    Is it possible to have a view at the “official” Title Sequence you did?
    I’m kinda curious to see it.
    Maybe just some seconds ;)
    Greetings from Germany

  • http://www.happyfolio.nl Julien

    Awesome effect. Nice tut ;)

  • cris

    Love the old school, I hope more techniques like this will come.

  • http://www.nahuel_vfx.webs.com Nahuel

    Nice!

    How the “Old School” video music is called?

  • thady

    more hands on is always good…nice one

  • luantran

    Good. i Like AEtuts.com

  • SANTA(RUSSIA)

    very good)))

  • Proof

    wow man magic music!!! could you give me a name of this track, please …

    • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
      Author

      @Proof – Music is Clenastro from AUDIO JUNGLE

  • Abhay Sharma

    nice tutorial
    but it can be done using standard AE plugins – CC turbulence, roughen edges.

    • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
      Author

      @Abhay – I will politely disagree with you, there is no way to get this look using plugins. Besides this way you get something truly unique which is not always the case when using plugins.

  • Billy

    I haven’t been able to open aetuts.com with internet explorer now for 2 days….anyone else having this problem? Can open with Mozilla….but not IE.

    I’ve been waiting forever for a new Lloyd tutorial…and though cool….someone disappointing. Sorry Lloyd. I don’t think it says anything about THIS tutorial….just how awesome most of your stuff is. :)

  • http://www.1pixelbrush.com Dan

    I really dig this

  • Mike

    I would say this is one of the best, if not the best tut on the site. This is finally something innovative, where you couldn’t find anywhere else.

    Nice job.

  • Abe

    Awesome, and ya IE keeps weirding out on me with this site now.

  • http://johanku.wordpress.com Johan

    Nice one :D

  • Billy

    @Abe….good to hear than I’m not the only one. I was having problems a while back. It would open up the main page but nothing else….then it started working fine on everything…and now it won’t open at all. Bizarre!

    • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
      Author

      Thanks for reporting the problems with IE, I’ve notified the power that be.

  • morsji

    good idea
    u own!

  • tschiphorst

    I went out and tried this right away, took a different approach though. We had no reflecting paper so I took a ski goggle with mirror coating lens.. cool effect!

    • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
      Author

      @tschiphorst – Nice one! This is what I was hoping to hear.. Remix!!

  • Joel

    Man this i really want the song bad but i dont got 10 bucks right now =/

  • walterson

    wurruuull
    Muito bom!!!
    Excelente advanced turorials…
    Continuem sempre assim…
    abraços!!!!
    Brazil…

  • Rob Fiedler

    Excellent. Thank you so much for this tutorial. Very interesting.

  • Simon Thurman

    I’ve only been visiting AETUTS for a few weeks now and I must say this is one of the best sites for Pro AE tutorials. It still amazes me that there are guys like you out there that are willing to share your hard work for free!! I’m a full time working dad who would love to go to college to learn AE but with everyday commitments its just not possible. What you do for people in my situation is incredible. The internet is at its best with sites like yours. I can’t thank you enough for these amazingly inspirational lessons!! This looks AWESOME!! keep em coming ;-)

  • http://www.eyeon-design.com VertigoSFX

    Wow, this is an amazing tut…this would be great as an intro to a horror film or something…I could see the eeriness to it…beautiful job.

    @Simon Thurman, these guys actually do get paid for making these tutorials…but for all the hard work, they’re still giving a lot for the price they’re paid (150USD/tutorial)…it is really generous.

  • si

    I think Saul Bass did something very similar for the titles for ‘Seconds’ – a movie I watched the other night – I think they filmed body parts being distorted in a reflective surface – crazy film

  • lucado

    Very good one. Maybe the best. Thanks for sharing !!!!!!!

  • Xintare

    Once again, amazing tutorial, Lloydl! Thanks!

    Another idea: I didn’t use a sheet of paper as text source, but simply my tv. I boosted up the backlight, brightness and contrast and got a very clean, bright image. I positioned my cam right above the screen and didn’t need any other light sources. The resulting image has no shadows darkening the text.

    • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
      Author

      @Xintare – That’s a very clever idea! Especially since it negates the need for a light kit.

      • http://aescripts.com Lloyd Alvarez
        Author

        @tschiphorst, @Xintare and anyone else trying this at home, post links to your finished pieces would love to see all the variations

    • Xintare

      Hi Lloyd,

      this is a first test of the effect:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTSxR33CYmc

      I couldn’t use too extreme transformations, because the reflective paper isn’t that good. The surface structure is really strong, so I had to get very close to the paper.

      I also found, that having a tv screen as source may give you a very clean matte, but that doesn’t look very interesting:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DI0YIzltk&feature=related

      I will work on it some more with different paper.

  • http://www.saroverhees.be Saro

    Lovely effect!

  • illd

    Oldschool, baby! Reminds me on “A beautifull mind”

  • Chris

    This is an incredible tutorial and a real breath of fresh air among the more conventional AE motion graphics toots. Right up my street!

    Thanks

  • John Dangerous

    Why in gods name are you using IE up there?
    Anyway, tutorial looks real good.

  • Joel

    The thing is that i dont have a camera.Is there any way that this can be reproduces in after effects instead of using cameras/lights.

  • http://ady20079.deviantart.com/ Adyos

    Just…stunning !

  • Igor

    Great sound for this effect

  • ricardo

    excellent job! i love the technic and the effect keep it up

  • http://artofjosh.com artofjosh.com

    wow, very nice. tutorial makers never effectively communicate their intentions at every moment and what exactly their doing at every point to make it clear and concise to the viewer, but you have done a very good job at this, thank you so much, and this is a beautiful looking technique!

  • Chris

    awesome tut! I like your work…
    where did you go to college?

  • http://myplokna.ru/ MyPlOkna

    Если быть хорошо, я бы посоветовала поставить Вам баттон “Подари 5 рублёв”,
    яб с удовольствием перевела владельцу 5 рублей. А вы? ;-)
    Окна пластиковые

  • wockee

    omg? i’m having a cardiac arrest :$

    Nice lol!!

  • Filipa

    I also think that this is an amazing tutorial. I’m trying it now, with some “differences”. I don’t have reflective paper, so i try it another way: filming the reflection of the screen. Actually like this you have higher levels of contrast AND you can also film animations. :)

    Maybe you can try it and tell what you think about it. (im just a noob in AE)

    Thanks for your work, and sorry my bad english

  • Christoph

    Best tut I’ve seen so far…..

    Greetings from Germany