Cinematic Opening Title Redux – Day 2
Tutorial Details
- Requirements: After Effects
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Run Time: 36:49 min
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
In day 2 Lloyd finishes the tutorial and shows how to use scripts to split up and animate a logo into hundreds of pieces. He also adds the finishing touches including an alternate ending not shown in the preview. Even though scripts might be perceived as advanced tools, this tutorial aims to shatter this myth and guarantees you will feel comfortable using scripts to help automate and improve the speed of your work.
You can watch Day 1 of this tutorial here
View Tutorial
RSS readers: click post title to view preview video at AETUTS.
Instructions: Click ‘View Full-screen’ button (bottom right corner) to see this HD tutorial at maximum size. Click screen to pause, click again to play.
Download
Tutorial
Scripts used in this tutorial
First watch this tutorial on how to install and run scripts in After Effects
Then download and install these scripts:
1. 3D Text Creator Script (download 3D_text_creator_from_file.jsx)
2. 3D Layer Distributor Script (download 3D_text_creator_from_file.jsx)
3. Random Layer Shifter Script (download LayerRandomShifter 1.1)
4. Shift Selected Layers Script (download pt_ShiftLayers_v2.0.zip)
5. rd_KindaSorta Script (download rd_KindaSorta_v1.2.zip)
6. rd_Slicer Script (download rd_Slicer_v2.0.zip)
Music and Images used in the final piece
Extraterrestrial from AUDIO JUNGLE
Reflection Nebulas in Orion from NASA
In the Center of Reflection Nebula NGC 1333 from NASA
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One more addition to my to do list… Thanks Lloyd for sharing such a easy tutorial.
yehaaa i need this
great tut
i love aetuts
This is so cool Lloyd. Such an elegant use of scripts and expressions. I’m loving it. Thank you very much for all the effort!
Wow…..this is great!!!
wow this is awesome thanks so much….
Great job Lloyd… ! Thanks
How difficult is to make the project file shareware ?
Just asking….
Well done Lloyd
great tutorial . . . thanks a lot
I really love this one.thank you very Cinematic and would ask you to do more like this but i love everyhting you do.lol. dont want to disturb your motivation or artisticness lol. once again thank you.
Hi Loyd,
now that was a great Turorial-series. I learned so much, I enjoyed every second. I even liked seeing an AE-pro like you fighting the same problems I often have, like multiple keyframe selection only possible by scrolling down about a minute or getting nearly lost in the viewers, seems I am not the only one :)
But I also have two questions:
1) Is there a special reason you didnt use the Carddance- or even the Shatterplugin to simulate the Logo splitting up in chunks? I mean they are able use the AE cam too, and splitting would be easy. I assume you wanted to have the control over every single chunk…
2) In part2 you are doing an Cameraedit at the end and then you copy that keyframe to all the other Cameras in the subcompositions. Now what I am not shure about is, if this is only for reference purposes in all comps, so that the cameras are “in sync”, or did you that because the “Maincamera” in your Workcomp was no longer controlling the subcomps. I mean, if you got all subcomps anyway synced by strictly copying, is there a need for a “MainCamera” in the Worckomp?
That collapsetransformation hierarchy thing makes me often lost in AE – sometimes it works as aspected sometimes it messes up a lot like blendmodes, transparency or even flickering and intersecting – can you confirm that?
well *thumbs up*
Very nice tut, thx for sharing your knowledge.
I really like the workflow and organisation …
keep up with the good work :)
Super nice cinematic tutorial using all that scripts i never realy used.
The dramatic music makes me wanna try it out :)
tillimanjaro
@illd – 1. You are correct, by using the script I have control over every single chunk. Since computers are so fast now, I can handle hundreds of layers without much of a problem so I like to have complete control if possible. Same for the text in part 1.
2. If the pre-comp has collapse transmations on then the camera from the main comp controls the scene but if you don’t then you need a camera in the pre-comp which is why i had those cameras in there and needed to keep them in sync.
Please vote for my idea guys.
http://psdtuts.uservoice.com/pages/aetuts_site_suggestions_and_feedback/suggestions/112003-create-a-mac-leopard-intro-tut
@ Lloyd,
ok, during the tutorial you turned the collapse transformation in your maincomp off. Did you then turn it on for the final render? I mean had you ever had some disadvantages (blendmodes wrong displayed, transparency issues ect.) using it?
Sorry to bore you with that, but its important to me understanding an apropriate workflow with the AE cameras and precomps – I often got rendererrors with collapse transformation, like I said before and I am not shure if its AE or my machine causing this.
@illd – Since I had a copy of my camera in the pre-comp I did not need to turn on collapse transforms at any point, preview or render. Collapse Transformations is a very powerful feature of AE and I use it all the time I just didn’t think it was necessary for this project and I agree that it’s one of the more confusing aspects of using AE. So now you know a way to avoid using it (by having a copy of your main cam in the pre-comp).
I don’t even know how to use AE at all, but watching this tut makes me want to get into it! :D
Awesome tutorial man! Great effects! :)
wow! following this tutorial is so awesome. i love my result.
For realism, I’d probably darken the faces of the aetuts layers until they formed the logo and I’d probably set shine up to cast shadows. But, that’s my opinion. It might not look as good.
You could use card dance as well, but it’s not as easy as this method, since you have to make an animated displacement map. It might render quicker though.
Overall, nice tutorial. It’s a little more advanced than the previous ones, so hopefully it’ll quiet the complainers—though I must say I’m glad for more advanced tutorials. I generally only watch tutorials to see how other animators work. Occasionally I pick up a new trick. It’s lonely being a freelancer, lol.
Lloyd,
Great Tut.
But where exactly do we put the scripts?
Do they all go in the UI Panels folder?
James Wicks
AE CS3, Mac OS X
@James – Watch the tutorial on how to install and run scripts that is linked in the post above
Lloyd,
Some scripts need to be in the UI Panels folder, and some do not.
It’s not clear which ones you used are supposed to go in which folder.
Thanks anyway,
J
@James – If the script is run from the Window menu then it’s installed in the ScriptUI Panels folder, otherwise it is just installed in the Scripts folder and it’s from from File->Run Scripts
HELLO IM FROM SPAIN. I THINK YOU ARE GREAT, WITH A COOL AND ELEGANT STYLE.
I JUST WHATCHED YOUR SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OPEN AND ITS INCREDIBLE.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN US HOW DID YOU DO IT.
USING TRAPCODE 3D STROKE PERHAPS?
THANKIU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TUTORIALS.
PERPHAPS ONE DAY YOU COULD EXPLAIN US YOUR CBS PROMO TOO.
AMAZING.
Hey man, Awesome tutorial…..
how did you create these blurry red/green/blue edges……in the corners?
this effects is quite cool….looks like tv-signals….alpha channels….could ya explain how ya did this?
thanks alot
Wow, really nice. You should actually include that at the beginning of your tutorials; it seems like a waste to not use it for its intended purpose.
It’s nice tutorial, and wonderful output, but in my opinion: you can use more sample techniques for similar output….
For example why u didn’t use card dance or mosaic photo instead of using 3d script and 1000 layers..!!!
anyway gr8 job.
thanks alot
how did ya get those tv stuff….these rgb channel splitting on the edges?
This made me smile.
i’ts eas cool!
מאוד נהניתי.
נראה אותך פותח בבילון לקרוא את התגובה שלי שהיא בעברית, ומחזיר לי בעברית.
ביי, אחי.
thanks alot sir
hey i want to ask you a question. do you have the after effects file? i would like to take a look at yours
Great Tutorial! But where’s the short RGB split tut?
This is very cool. Nice and easy, yet very sophisticated. Keep it up!
great tutorial. how can i embed this in a blog? i will give link back to here
hey Lloyd,
when I tray to start the 3D_layer_distributor.jsx script I get this massage:
Unable to execute script at line 51. After Effects error: Can not call setValue() on a property with keyframes. Use setValueAtTime() or setValueAt Key() instead.
any ideas what´s going wrong?
thx
da_ae
@da_ae make sure you are using the latest version of the script, the latest version doesn’t have a line 51 so you must be using an older version. You can download the latest version from http://aescripts.com at the link above.
that´s it!
Thanks a lot.
greetings,
da_ae
Great tutorial, thank u !
The dude is a genius! Brill tuts. Hope oneday you do an after effect tutorial on how to build a 3d world without external plugins. Now, that be an awesome tutorial too. :)
Love the scripts. Cheers.
Great tutorial thankss
Really good tutorial! Many thanks!
Here is my rendition
http://vimeo.com/5121481
Really well done Collin! Congrats.
the videos take too long to upload!!! please use another hoster.
great tut
I enjoy these tuts very much but is there a problem with your video player…it is extremely slow…Surely there must be a quicker alternative
wow how amazing, i came aross AE by acident, and looks for videos about it and this came up, and im suprised at how much you can do with this program and such a short amount of time
thankyou, i will be back to see some more and will take away the skills and use them
anyone have this file 3d_text_creator_from_file.jsx to make a upload ?
im from brazil, and now need to pay to make a download..
i realllyy want to do this tut, i need the script,
anyone con help me ?
thanks!
Sorry, i already download, thanks!
Great tutorial!
Thanks
This a great tutorial
nice