Animate Your Logo Into Characters
Tutorial Details
- Program: After Effects, Trapcode Particular 2
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
In this tutorial, we will learn some of the cool new features introduced in Trapcode Particular v2.0. Inspiration for this tutorial is from the logo reveal of the Digital Domain Animation Company. It may not be as good as that (since it had been done completely using a 3d software), but I thought to give it a try in After Effects.
Requirements
- Trapcode Particular 2 You can download a trial version here.
Tutorial
Step 1
Create a new composition named "Logo" with these settings. It is in this composition that we place our logo.
Place the logo in the composition and adjust the size of the logo to fit.
Step 2
Create a new composition with the same settings as of the original composition ‘Logo’. Place the original logo composition into this layer.
Step 3
Take a white solid with the same comp size and place it above the logo layer in the composition.
Step 4
Add "Fractal Noise" effect to the Solid and change the settings of the Effect. We do this in order to get a texture for the logo before emitting the particles from it.
Step 5
Change the track matte options of the logo layer to "Luma", which gives out this effect.
Step 6
Make a new composition for the particle layer choosing the settings as below.
Step 7
Using text tool, write "0" in a layer and reduce the time line to one frame. Using text tool again write "1" in other layer and reduce the time line of it to one frame. Arrange the two layers in sequence.
Step 8
Add a gradient to both the layers along with a drop shadow. In the Ramp effect choose the preset as Vignette lighting and slightly modify the gray levels. Have a smooth drop shodow. Duplicate the same effect for the "1" text later as well.
Step 9
Now we head for the main composition. Make a new composition with the settings. I have used a preset " NTSC D1 Widescreen Square Pixel " with frame rate as 29.97, but you can choose what ever you want.
Step 10
Drop all the comps, Logo, Logo Gradient and Particle into the main comp. Hide the Logo Gradient and Particle layers and enable 3d for the Logo Gradient.
Step 11
Now we go back to the Layer gradient composition and add 2 Linear Wipe effects to the "Logo" layer in it. Now we change these settings such that only a part of logo is visible. Change the angle of transition as given and key frame the effect at 2 sec.(0:00:02:00) as follows.
Step 12
Now move the slider to 4 sec. (0:00:04:00) and change the transition to 100% and 0% respectively.
Step 13
Now what we have in the time line is something like this.
Select the both the keyframes of the first linear wipe effect and move it a little left.
If you see, the resultant of this would be an effect like this.
If needed you can give some feather to the Linear wipe effect for smoothness.
Step 14
Now we go back to the main comp. Make a new solid "Particular" and add effect Tracode Particular v2 to the solid.
Step 15
Change the emitter settings of the particular. We should have more number of particles flying so we give 50,000 as articles/sec , if needed we can increase this as well. Change the emitter type as ‘Layer’ and in the layer emitter settings, select the layer as "Logo Gradient" and Layer sampling as " Particle Birth Time" ( This is very necessary step). Change the Layer RGB Usage as "None" since we wont be needing that as we have already have our custom particles.
Step 16
We go to particle menu and change the Life of the particle to 6 sec. The rest of the settings in the particle menu can be done later since it will be difficult to work and edit, if we change the particle type right now. So we leave it at the end.
Step 17
We move to the Physics properties of the Particular layer and change the wind in Z direction and -150, so as to make the particles come towards the screen.
We also give a little Turbulence to the particle so that they dont seem to be stationery.
Step 18
Now, we create a new camera with settings as of preset "35 mm".
Step 19
One of the new things introduced in the version 2 of Trapcode Particular is the " World Transform". This is a very good way to rotate or move the particles without actually moving the camera. Since this only moves/rotates the particles all the other elements in the scene are not affected, which is quite helpful sometimes, as of in this case. We animate the Z rotation using the World transform but not by the camera since this will also rotate the 3d layer(Layer Gradient) that the particles are emitted from.
Keyframe the Z rotation at 2 Sec(00:00:02:00) as 0 degrees and at 6sec(00:00:06:00) as 90 degrees.
Since the rotation starts from 2 Sec., we need to adjust the rotation. I use graph editor since this allows to edit the values easily and I can approximate the value at any time. The graph clearly shows that for a long time between 2 – 4 sec the value of incrementation is quite slow, but as we see their is an increase in the value and doesnt abruptly go a higher value, this ensures smooth motion.
Step 20
We will adjust the revealtion of the logo layer. Use the linear wipe effect and adjust its settings as below.
At 2 sec (00;00;02;00) Transition completion is 0% while at 4 sec(00;00;04;00) its 100%.
Also turn on visiblity of Logo Gradient Layer.
Step 21
Second best thing introduced in the new particular is the Shading properties for the particles. For this we make a new light. Change the settings of light as shown and name the light as "Shadow". Give the color, something from the logo.
Step 22
Go to the particular layer and switch on the shading properties of the particles.
Increase the ambient light a little to make the particles appear from the background. You get an effect like this if you move your timeline.
Step 23
Now, the best thing introduced in the new particular is the new Particle type layer. We now go back to the particle properties of the particular. Change the particle type as Textured polygon. Change the texture layer as "Particle" layer and Time sampling as "Random – Still Frame". In the rotation properties switch on the orient to motion and also increase the random rotation and random speed rotation values. Change the size settings and opactity settings as shown.
Step 24
Change the settings of the shading properties of the particular as follows in order to make the particles visible.
Step 25
Create a background for the animation. Take a new black solid with the same settings as comp and place it below all the layers. Use ramp effect to give some gradient background.
Step 26
Lastly, Switch on the Depth of field for the camera and adjust the focal length and aperture settings.
If you want a logo reveal, just put the precompose the Main comp and "Time reverse" it.
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By Chaithanya Y
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Nice! Learned some tips too!thx!
What’s that grey mess? Looks awful…
No need to be so rude. It’s a good tutorial, he’s given you some tricks… it’s up to you what you do with it.
ignorance at it’s finest…
I’m not ignorant, guys. From my point of view if you want to show people something then do it at your best… If you are making a tutorial then spent 15 minutes more and make it bright and eyecatching… I don’t get the point of such tutorials… You want to show me the basic techniques?
Okay, go on. But make it nice and smooth… :)
I appreciate Chaithanya Y spent his time showing people some of the cool new features introduced in Trapcode Particular v2.0, but I do sorry that he made it in such a negligent way.
I think that there will be more such tutorials in nearest future. And the real cool stuff will be available only via plus.
Nice tut!
However i think simple particles will be the best thing..
Not impressive at all. the same kind of tutorial has been already done in the trapcode particular site about i.e sand particles.
AEtuts editors please be more careful while acccepting tutorials.
The reason that I used the letters is because I wanted to explain the new “Textured Polygon” introduced in Particular v2, which was definitely not available in the previous version.
Agreed.
No need to be so negative ABOJUNG. :|
-v-`
nice, but don’t show images in steps 17 and 22
Isn’t their already a tutorial very similar to this one, except with letters?
Is possible to make this with trapcode particular 1.5??
Thanks
No, it’s not, you don’t have world transform, particle shading or textured polygon.
Looking forward to hear Billy’s opinion :-D aah, he will rip it to pieces, i guess.
lolz..i guess its time u make friendship with him. fighing often isnt the solution. but still ya know what, the arguments btwn u n billy is quite entertaining. peace
oh, i dont fight him. i enjoy his criticisms, really =)
Billy c’mon say somethin :D XD
diigital domain logo) xd
Tutorial rating 2/5 starts.
Sorry, that was a lousy critique. Here’s a more educated comment. I think most of the tutorials on here are great. I think this one wasn’t up to par *because* the techniques were super basic, an the introduction to custom particle layer type was available in Particular 1.5
Heyy, custom particle layer type was available in Particular v1.5, but it differs a lot from the new textured polygon. The reason for choosing the “Textured Polygon” is to differentiate between the old custom particle layer ( which is now called as Textured Sprite) and the newly introduced “Textured Polygon”.
(The Sprite always faces the camera, while the polygon is a real 3d object and has its own rotation axis)
I do agree that the techniques were basic. All I wanted was to experiment with the new Particular v2 and create something interesting involving various new techniques like world transform, shadows, etc.,
Right!
There’s a HUGE difference between textured polygons in 2.0 and the custom particles of 1.5.
It’s now real 3D with the ability to interact with lights and shadows from any angle in a real 3D space.
That’s all what Chaithanya was trying to point out and did.
nice tut
thanks from pakistan ..
good tips …
Good tutorial, I learned a lot !
why you guys dont make a video tutorial?
but whatever, this is good too!
probably can’t afford Camtasia or something like that.. they get a little pricey. A few more tuts should do it!
Not bad, yeah basic techniques, but they were enjoyed all the same. You can never have too many tricks up your sleeve, that’s for damn sure.
hey Topler. these days i hardly find you commenting on TUTs. what i mean to say is that sometimes there are big arguments around here, n if you could say some words, maybe it could cool off a bit. i guess you know what i mean..
I thought this was a great tutorial, and I’d forget the bashers :D.
Good tutorial
We can add expression to text comp so it change all the time
Random text
That is to inspire me something, Thank for your comment
Welcome :D
Sorry but… bottom line is that this tutorial is not up to par with the rest. Not bad just not very usefull for anyone that is not a total novice with AE.
so i guess tuts plus has gotten rid of video tutorials. thanks guys. great move.
…
can everyone stop being so rude to someone who is trying to give people help and bringing us tutorials there is no need to be negative to anyone, good job Chaithanya Y for giving us a tutorial
I think AETUTS should categorise tutorials into Beginners, intermediate advanced etc. That way people with high expectations won’t be disappointed (or scathing). Allot of people with little AE experience would appreciate this tutorial. I’ve used AE for year but like to see how people do things, basic or not as we can all get something from it. Little bit of arrogance or elitism going on here though, you guys read Chaithanya’s Statement “I am kind of newbie at this field with promising ideas. I love to experiment with various software and try to create something interesting.” says it all really, so what were you expecting his attitude is right on the money.
Thanks Chaithanya’s much appreciated.
Nice to know so many want my opinion! LMAO! :) But ask and ye shall receive!
The effect doesn’t really work. The particles do not appear to be anything would would come together to form the logo. The coloring is off. I mean….how do gray zeros come together to form a purple logo?
This is really a cheap knockoff of the great Lloyd Alvarez’s tutorial here:
http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/motion-graphics/create-a-particle-breakup-logo-transition/
As you will see, Alvarez’s effect actually works….the coloring is right…and he did it with Particular 1.5. The nice think about 2.0 is that particles aren’t always oriented toward the camera which will aid in creating some fantastic effects….but for this particular (no pun intended) effect, it isn’t really necessary. The fact that color is so off is actually far more detrimental to the effect that anything to do with particle positionining.
Wouldnt be complete without your comment =D thing is, im starting to agree with you more and more. the situation here is getting worse with every new tut. the only one i really liked lately was satya`s osx logo.
Martin….why do you have to be so negative all the time? LOL! :)
To be fair, Saqib Naqvi osx 3D Invigorator tutorial and Roman Komurka’s 3D wall text reveal tutorial were both excellent, as well. And, Vincent Boudier’s palm tree tutorial was a much better tutorial on what you can get out of Particular 2.0 than this one is.
I just picked up the Making It Look Great series. I’m hoping there will be more than enough hours of tutorials there to keep me occupied for some time. I’m going to try not worry about the quality of the tutorials around here anymore. Lloyd is gone. The chances for awesome tutorials has grown smaller and smaller. They’ll pop up occassionally…but overall, the great bang this site started with as dwindling. I don’t blame Adam. He seems to be trying to work with what he’s got. When all you have is what he has work with….what’s the solution?
as i have earlier written in my post, this tut is not impressive at all. the worst part is when the 0′s are forming into logo. it loooks such a mess. even though the particles are custom made, it is dirty and messed up.
sorry chaitannya, you should learn from the feedbacks
PS- AEtuts editors please pay more attention to what tuts are being submitted or have a thorough review of them. peace
Many of you have probably already seen this….but Maltaannon has a great tutorial on all the new features in Particular 2.0. He covers the Textured Polygon aspects of 2.0 along with a lot of other things. Though brief on any of the subjects, he shows how to work with 2.0 and does so in a VIDEO format. I think you’ll learn a lot about 2.0 from his tutorial!
http://maltaannon.com/articles/after-effects/particular-2-overview/
I’m new to AE so I have no complaints about this tutorial unlike some of the others. Any contribution to any of the Plus sites are better than none.
I just wish there were more tutorials on AE without all the expensive plugins… In a way it seems like a waste if you have to purchase additional plugins to make the program as powerful as you would expect out of the box.
as you describe yourself as new, you dont know whats going on here. but later you will know it. and as per for the expensive plugins, not everybody can afford it. peace
Abojung, get off your high horse already and make a tut for us? I really wanna see what you got! judging from your comment, you must have something that really IMPRESSIVE!
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this person above me seems quite pissed. are you ok? or had a bad day. and i dont take orders from some punk. if i had time for sure i would put it up. i dont have to show my work to support my views.
ya know what? lets make a deal! alright im gonna post a tut right here. and then what? do i expect to get warming comments afrom you. oh comeon. aite the deal is i post a tut, and then the next should be from you. is that fine or you already leaked on your pants.
and dont tell me what i said was rude. this would be in the same category as yours.
PUNK!
STFU Jaime Kennedy
rofl
Believing that one must post a tutorial in order to be critical of a tutorial posted here is about as logical as believing one must have played quarterback to be critical of the QB that just threw an interception that was returned for a TD…..or must have written a novel to be critical of the piece of that crappy novel you just can’t bear to finish.
Somethings are self-evident….
Since “criticism” has become a topic of….well….criticism….around here lately….ironically at a time when the quality of tutorials are at their lowest, I will add this:
Most restaurant critics have never been chefs nor have they owned their own restaurants. Most wine critics have never owned, operated or even made wine. Most literary critics, while perhaps having a degree in English, are not published authors nor have most even attempted to write a novel themselves. Most film critics have never even been to film school. The famed film critic Roger Ebert received his degree in journalism…yet became one of the most known film critics around…never having even attempted to make a movie himself.
Art is critiqued. Believing one must do something prior to criticizing someone else is not a fundamental tenant in any of the professions that critique any art.
Improvements are made through criticism. Some criticism is unhelpful, though most critiques contain at least something essential to improve the product. Simply stated “great tutorial” to every piece of tripe presented is illogical and unhelpful.
right to the point
I agree, constructive criticism is helpful. But with the illustration of food and film critics, theses people still need to recognition and respect of the industry that they are in. Then they can be considered “credible.” They are not just some comment box on the internet, know what I mean?
Also, almost every motion designer appreciates criticism. But tutorials probably are not the place for it. If they post a demo reel, for an example, they can expect comments and suggestions. But when they are trying to supply advice, they aren’t trying out for a talent show.
My last comment is, though one doesn’t need to post a tutorial to back up their comments, it goes back to credibility. How can we believe you actually know what you’re talking about unless we see it? If you are shutting down suggestions to post a tutorial, why should anyone listen to your suggestions?
Just saying… credibiity…
Art????
You call making stuff in AE, art?????
Guys, get a life, all of you. specially abojung, how old is he? 14?
How could you possibly sit here and say that it isn’t art. So much art comes from video production, you just have to look into it and see…
If you don’t think there is art, then you my friend have a very bad way of looking at things…
I´m seresouly scared of posting, I will be bombed. Guys, I agree with lots of complaints but this blogpost has actually gotten into a flame war, think on the time the tutorial creator took to make and edit the tut, the time taken for the editors to review it…Criticism is essential, but we might me extrapolating the limit line from criticism to offense. Was this tutorial good? I don´t know, it might help someone. Is the AETuts quality decaying? Maybe, people are busy these days to make free stuff and keep on on their freenlancing jobs. What can we do as a community to improve? Not fight ourselves, we need to send the editors emails, let´s send them our tutorials, who knows maybe they only had this tutorial this week to chose…we don´t know….and when we don´t know, we don´t guess, we act.
Hear hear!
Though, it must be said that making a decent tut is no mean feat…
nice work dude!
Keep on Rocking
thank you so much very nice
Help video tuts
Hi!
That Was a Great Tutorial!!!!
So Much Thanks Bro!!
I’m Just Redering it out Now!!!
But I Don’t Know Why This Project Even Have a Small Size Is Very Heavy For My Computer!!!
I’ve Done A HD Project Today! It Was A Lot Easier Than This For My Pc!!!
So Thanks Anyway!!!
Waiting For Nexts…..
Heyy thats because of too many particles. And it needs to calculate lots of stuff (like rotation, texture, space, etc.,) for each particle, so obviously a little heavy on render.
i kinda agree with billy on this one. this effect was done kinda poorly and could have been done much better. even though this is tuts it should look professional and there are many factors to this that could be improved:
1. the materialization should look like the letters
2. the rotation is obviously on a track and looks poor.
3. the letters look kinda weird (too many 0′s)
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Will try out a better and obviously, more complicated and interesting one next time.
all cool. this is a good beginner tutorial and is in the spirit of tuts.
Nice tutorial…Wish that I could find it sooner :)
Here is why:
http://neks.tv/work/motion/FotoUno_HQ.mov
How original.
HEY AMAZING TUT!!!
I’m studyng Chemistry Engineer too!!!
:D
GREAT!!!
you guys are all lame. “I just picked up making it look great series, so I should be busy with that for a while”… you tutorial fiends that bitch and complain every time you can’t find some tutorial that will make you an “awesome artist” are the reason why the motion graphics industry has become so retarded and most of us that work in it have switched to 3d, since there are no tutorials showing you all the secrets and tricks about everything we know you won’t bother.
This site is suppose to be about inspiration. If you truly are an artist you shouldn’t even be following these tutorials to the tee. If you don’t like the look of something then move on. At least the guy that made this had the balls to experiment with something and share it with everyone.
and I really liked that spill about critics that your probably googled before typing. I really enjoy this website and you will never see me complain about any of these tutorials because the people that create them take the time to experiment and do what you don’t because you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. I’ve never seen so much disrespect and arrogance than I do in these tutorial websites.
If you are starting out as a designer please take no notes from all the people flaming on this website. People that actually work in the industry(especially in prestigious houses) do not act anything like them. Try to separate yourself from that kind of pack as much as you possibly can.
Bottom line, in the industry, people don’t assholes….
Good Day :)
*like*
From my point of view this site is suppose to be about techniques. For inspiration go to flickr, ffffound, etc…
Inspiration for creativity and inspiration to create are two different things.
We in the industry usually don’t have time to get into these trite critiques. Though that doesn’t mean we won’t agree to a certain level of quality.
First intelligent comment from the tread.
inspiration on finding new ways to create and experiment. same thing.
chaala bagundi thanks from vizag
anytime, there is someone who makes an effort to make a tutorial and posts it here, i think it is great. i have seen these kinds before but i picked up a few pointers from this one. thank you for the tutorial!!!
this is prabhakar kaani idhi trapcode1 or trapcode 2 ee project trapcode1 lo avvadha endukani plz naaku reply ivvu
No,
This project is only possible in Trapcode v2.0.
Reason:
“Heyy, custom particle layer type was available in Particular v1.5, but it differs a lot from the new textured polygon. The reason for choosing the “Textured Polygon” is to differentiate between the old custom particle layer ( which is now called as Textured Sprite) and the newly introduced “Textured Polygon”.
(The Sprite always faces the camera, while the polygon is a real 3d object and has its own rotation axis) ”
already explained it in a comment.
firstly , thanks toooooo much u r so creative
plz can u attach the fla video tutorial 4 this lesson instead of this difficult way
plz ,plz plz ,plz plz ,plz plz ,plz plz ,plz
Well, thanks for the comments.
I will surely try making a screencast for this, but cannot promise.
hello,
I was wondering how to do this without trapcode particular. I have adobe cs4 but apparently i have to buy a trapcode plugin or something. could you please help me out with this? I would be really grateful if you would get back to me really fast.
Well…
I have tried it using Particular. Couldn’t think of any other way to get this effect in after effects. You can surely achieve this in 3d softwares like Maya, 3DS max or Cinema 4D.
If you find a way in afx, do share with us.
:D
Hi chaithanya, I am from Bangalore. I need your help regarding tutorial. can u send me your email id to motionbuiss@yahoo.com
I couldn’t make it work, I got a couple of hours in it and nothing. It would help me to see your timeline in the frames as my 2 sec logo only shows up for … 2 seconds and then black, I could only get my linear wipe to work on this. I got Particular 2.0 and have it in some other stuff. But wow I gotta take a break. I appreciate you doing this very much! disregard the guys in the cheap seats raining on your parade. If you whinners got something positive to share then put it up or shut up!
I am a newbie and this tutorial was a great intro!! Thanks for your time
Chaithanya I will be sure to check out any future tuts.
(p.s. Seems like there is a lot of snotty nose little kids complaining on this post in the great words of bojin “put up or shut up”)
Peace
I just made a version where I replaced the numbers with little png’s. Looks good so far I just cant work out how to make the png the same on both sides. When it spins the back of the png is gray or white. Could someone tell me how to make it the same as the front on the underside.
Thanks
Nik
Its cool I worked it out just had to turn shading off.
Thx.
Great tutorial, some of the people here are just hating on you, but to a newbie like me you’ve done an awesome job than any of the tutorials on AETUTS. Thanks, Chaitanya.
Hey uhm great tutorial but my final movie has a gigantic red cross throughout the screen. Any idea how to get rid of that? :/ I mean a watermark sounds fair and all but I didn’t quite realize it’d be a screenwrecking cross
You’ll need to put in your serial again.