Comets, fireflies and The Good Dinosaur

I've been doing research into how to make a good comet effect for my title sequence, and I wanted to share some of the videos and Links I've come across in my research.




Video Copilot Blog about Comets There isn't too much there, but it does reference some video examples and make a few suggestions I'd like to try.


I've thought about the option to instead of using particles, maybe it would make more sense to use some kind of shatter, especially if I want the comet trail to morph into the fireflies that are scene in the trailer.

The Shatterize Effect
The Disintegration Effect

In my experience, none of the Native Particle Simulators in After Effects allow me to use custom particles, but I believe I can shatter something in a custom way.

Ultimately, If I can't find a way to create the fire fly shape from the comet, I will end up just doing shaded spheres. I wonder if I can find a way to have them follow some Path.
Maybe, I can find a way to make the particle emitter make only one particle and move that layer around.

Either way my idea needs some more work.

After Effects Expressions Simplified

I came across this really interesting article on Creative Cow called AFter Effects Expressions Simplified. It explains how to write and use expressions in a way that's easy to follow. It's especially good for our class because the author builds on things we've already learned.  He explains wiggle and also how you can make it even more powerful than it already is. One thing he describes is how to write expressions that are dependent on each other, so you only have to change one to change all of them.

The article says: "Imagine linking multiple layers to one control layer so that you could globally make adjustments to entire compositions with variables and various expression controllers." When we get into more advanced work, this could really come in handy.

He goes through the process step by step so even if you don't know exactly what you're doing, by following his instructions you could still apply it to your animation. Probably the best way to use this information is to follow this article's tips until you understand how to use them by yourself.

After Effects Twitter

After Effects has a Twitter? YES!

I've noticed that they answer questions, redirect newcomers, and promote with the newest tutorials and videos to watch. @AdobeAE

Follow @CreativeCow too for the latest motion graphics tweets!

And there is also a @AfterEffectsHelp Twitter which is not associated with Adobe, but is still willing to help with any of your urgent questions!

http://twitter.com/#!/AdobeAE

Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background. Some of the top rotoscoping software includes after effects and mocha.

An example of rotoscoping everyone might recognize include the scenes from Forrest Gump. Rotoscoping was used to integrate Forrest into footage of famous events.

Here is a tutorial from the adobe website that utilizes after effects and photoshop together.



I also found tutorials from Creative Cow and forgingfire.com.