Tonight at 7pm EST We will be streaming a live video feed from our Envato Community Night here in Chicago. This will give you a chance to “hang out” with the Envato staff as we have an informal meet and greet with those who use the sites. Each site editor, including myself, will make a point to come over and say hello. For those who can’t make it, we’ll record the stream to go back and watch later.

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Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Q & A Time

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create nice looking particle-generated 3D text. Instead of faking the 3D look, let Particular draw whatever shape or design you want in actual 3D space and bring your fancy titles to a new level!

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Tutorial

Introduction

I understand that it’s obviously better to use a 3D application to create 3D stuff. But I believe there are people who don’t know how anything about such applications or perhaps don’t have the time to learn new things. Anyway, you can use this technique to “draw” pretty much any shape in 3D. And yea, I know that there isn’t hardcore science behind this, but in my opinion the end result looks very good.

Understanding the screenshots in this tutorial might be a bit difficult at times (I have 24″ monitor and had to crop them a lot), so I uploaded the original screenshots and you can download them in a .zip file here.

Step 1

Create a new composition called “Particle text”, make it 1280×720 25 fps and 25 seconds long.

Step 2

Create a new solid layer called “background” and make it white.

Step 3

Create a new text layer (use any font you like) and type “aetuts”.

Step 4

Right click on the text layer you’ve just created and select “Create masks from Text”.

Step 5

Create a new null object and call it “null – outlines”.

Step 6

Now we need to take the mask points and use them to animate the “null – outlines” so it follows the mask paths and can be used later for the X,Y coordinates in Particular. Click on the “aetuts Outlines” layer that was created by AE, hit “M”, click on “Mask path” of the mask “a”, copy it (Ctrl-c), click on the “Position” property of the null and paste the data (Ctrl-v). Repeat this step with all mask paths. After copying all data the null should “draw” the text you typed (in this case “aetuts”).

Step 7

Create a new solid layer and call it “Particular”.

Step 8

Apply the Particular effect obviously.

Step 9

Alt-click on the Position XY property and pickwhip the Position property of our null object.

Step 10

The expression is:

thisComp.layer(“null – outlines”).transform.position

Step 11

Now Particular should follow the outlines of our text layer. Set all Velocity values to 0 to make it stick to the mask path. Also set Emitter Type to “Box”, Emitter Size X and Y to 0 and Emitter Size Z to 30.

Step 12

Create a new camera, doesn’t matter what settings.

Step 13

Create a new light, change the Light Type to “Spot”, Intensity to 150%, Cone Angle to 160°, Cone Feather to 50% and make it yellow. Uncheck “Casts Shadows”.

Step 14

Switch to Top view and position the light as shown on the picture bellow.

Step 15

Duplicate the light and position it on the other side of the text.

Step 16

Double click on the duplicated light and change its color to red.

Step 17

Go to Particular -> Shading and turn it on. Also change the Nominal Distance value to 300 and Diffuse to 90.

Step 18

Now we will create particles that will kind of reveal our text. Make a new solid and call it “PW – lines” (as in Particle World).

Step 19

Apply the CC Particle World effect.

Step 20

Your particle text should look somewhat similar to the picture bellow.

Step 21

At first we need to make the PW particles follow the path too. Alt-click on Position X and type the following into the expression box:

x=thisCompLayer(“null – outlines”).transform.position[0]-thisComp.width/2;
x/thisComp.width

Alt-click on Position Y and type the following into the expression box:

y=thisCompLayer(“null – outlines”).transform.position[1]-thisComp.height/2;
y/thisComp.width

Alt-click on Position Z and type the following into the expression box:

z=thisCompLayer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Position Z”);
z/thisComp.width

Step 22

Now let’s change some of the settings.
Turn Grid off obviously.
Set Birth Rate to 1.5.
Set Longetivity to 0.5.
Set Radius X,Y,Z to 0.
Set Velocity to 0.05.
Set Inherit Velocity to 25.
Set Gravity to 0.
Set Max Opacity to 50.
Change the particle Birth and Death colors as shown on the picture bellow.
Set Transfer Mode to Add.

Click on Options->Render Settings and check “Force Motionblur”.

Step 23

Apply Fast Blur and set Blurriness to 1.

Step 24

Duplicate the “PW – lines” layer by pressing Ctrl-D and change the values as shown on the picture bellow.

Step 25

Duplicate the “PW – lines” again, name it “PW – polygon” and put it bellow the original “PW – lines” layer.

Step 26

Change the settings of the “PW – polygon” layer according to the screenshot.

Step 27

Duplicate the “PW – polygon” layer, put it above all PW layers and change the settings accordingly.

Step 28

And for the last time duplicate the “Pw – polygon 2″ layer and change its settings.

Step 29

Create a new solid layer, make it black and name it “Shadow”.

Step 30

Put it just above the background layer.

Step 31

Draw masks as shown on the screenshot bellow. We are basically going to fake some sort of 3D shadow by creating couple of masks around places where normal shadow would appear.

Step 32

Create another mask that will cover all previous masks.

Step 33

Animate the big last mask so it reveals the smaller shadow masks you’ve created earlier as particular animates and gets closer to them.

Step 34

Rename the shadow layer to “Shadow – close”, make it 3D, rotate it to 270° on the X axis and change its position to 427px on the Y axis (so it looks like it’s just underneath the text). If you aren’t sure what’s the right value here then just check the Position value of the “null – outlines” layer – you’re looking for the highest value.

Step 35

Apply the Box Blur effect, set Blur Radius to 15 and Iterations to 2.

Step 36

Duplicate the “Shadow – close” layer and change its settings.

Step 37

Duplicate it again, change its name to “Shadow – distant”, delete the Box Blur effect, apply Fast Blur and set Blurriness to 130.

Step 38

Duplicate the “Shadow – distant” layer twice and change Blurriness to 150.

Step 39

Duplicate the “aetuts Outlines” layer, make it 3D and rename it as “Front”.

Step 40

Go to Material Options (press AA) and turn Accepts Shadows and Accepts Lights Off. Also change the layer color to blue.

Step 41

Select all shadow layers, press P and set their Z-position to 70.

Step 42

Parent all shadow layers to the Front layer.

Step 43

Now let’s change Particular’s settings to make it look a bit better. Set Particles/sec to 2000, Life to 25, Sphere Feather to 0, Size to 2 and Opacity to 50.

Step 44

Alt-click on Position Z and type the following:

effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”)/2-1

This way we tell Particular to push the particles back in the Z-space so they line up nicely with the Front layer.

Step 45

Put the Front layer above the Particular one.

Step 46

Apply the Roughen Edges to the Front layer.

Step 47

Change the settings as shown on the picture bellow to roughen the edges a bit.

Step 48

Set Opacity of the Fron layer to 30%.

Step 49

Duplicate the Front layer, name it “Front – fractal” and set the Transfer Mode to Screen.

Step 50

Apply the Fractal Noise effect and change its settings as shown on the screenshot. It kind of doesn’t matter what values you use, just make it animate so the front layer doesn’t look static. Also change the transfer mode to “Screen”.

Step 51

Apply the Curves effect to the Front – fractal layer and play around with the values.

Step 52

Apply the Fast Blur effect and set Blurriness to 2. Apply the Glow effect and set Glow Threshold to 70.

Step 53

Duplicate the Front layer, name it Back and make it black. And put it bellow the Particular layer.

Step 54

As the layer name suggests, this will be our back layer. Alt-click on Position and type the following:

x=transform.position[0];
y=transform.position[1];
z=thisComp.layer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”);
[x,y,z]

This way the back layer will be positioned at the end of the particles (talking about the Z-space).

Step 55

At this point we will get rid of those annoying lines that appear when Particular is skipping from one letter to another. Select null – outlines and press P, it will help you place new keyframes for Particular. Make a keyframe for Particles/sec one frame before the end of current letter and set it to 20000. Move one frame forward (which is the last keyframe of current letter) and set Particles/sec to 0. Move one frame forward yet again (which is the very first keyframe of the next letter) and set Particles/sec to 20000. Basically we are just trying to set Particles/sec to 0 every time Particular “skips” onto the next letter.

Step 56

In Particular->Shading turn Shadowlet for Main particles on and set Placement to “Always behind”.

Step 57

Apply Fast Blur to the Particular layer and set Blurriness to 1. Also apply the Glow effect and set Glow Threshold to 65% and Glow Radius to 15.

Step 58

Feel free to adjust light’s position …

Step 59

… and other properties.

Step 60

And the same for the second light.

Step 61

Duplicate the “Front – fractal” layer, name it “dots”, change transfer mode to Add and delete all effects.

Step 62

Apply the Stroke, Glow and Fast Blur effects and change their settings as shown on the screenshot bellow.

Step 63

Go to Particular->Rendering and set Render Mode to “Motion Preview”. This is just temporary so the scene gets rendered faster.

Step 64

Go to dots and change the stroke color to red so we can see the dots better.

Step 65

But let’s animate the camera first. In my case the camera movement ends at 16:07 with the values shown on the screenshot. At this point I also temporarily disabled background.

Step 66

And obviously change the camera settings at the beginning too.

Step 67

Go to 16:07 and set a keyframe for the End property and make it 100%.

Step 68

Go to the beginning of the composition and set End to 0%.

Step 69

Now you are going to have quite a lot of keyframes to make sure that the dots follow the particles. It doesn’t matter if the dots are slighly lagging behind the particles, but make sure they are in no case ahead.

Step 70

Go to Particular and change Size over Life and Opacity over Life as shown on the screenshot bellow. At this point I also temporarily switched back to Full Render mode to see how the particles get rendered.

Step 71

Now (back in Motion Preview mode) when you click on the Front layer you can see that the particles actually don’t follow the original mask path. There are two ways of fixing this. You can either make the composition last longer (like 40 seconds, assuming that you would make all layers last longer too) thus giving Particular more time to render the particles or you can just adjust the masks so they match the particles. And that’s exactly what we are about to do.

Step 72

Just adjust the mask points, it’s no big deal.

Step 73

Select all mask paths of the Front layer and copy them (Ctrl-C).

Step 74

Select the Front – fractal layer, delete the current masks and paste the fixed ones.

Step 75

Do the same for the dots layer.

Step 76

Go to Particular and change the Render Mode back to Full Render so we can see the result so far. Also enable the background layer.

Step 77

Go to 17:00 (that’s where I want my animation to end) and set a keyframe for Physics Time Factor.

Step 78

Move one frame forward and set it to 0.

Step 79

Select all CC Particular World layers and enable them.

Step 80

With all PW layers selected and at 16:07 set a keyframe for Birth Rate. Move one frame forward and set them to 0 so the particles stop emitting.

Step 81

Enable the dots layer and change the color to white.

Step 82

Go to 16:18 and set keyframes for the Position property of the Front and Front – fractal layers. Set them to -1000 (the Z value) . Go to 17:00 and set them back to 0.

Step 83

Disable the expression for the position of the Back layer.

Step 84

We have to change the expression so we can actually make the layer animate. The x and y variables stay the same, the only difference in in the z variable. Updated expression:

x=transform.position[0];
y=transform.position[1];
z=transform.position[2]+thisComp.Layer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”);
[x,y,z]

This way the Z value is computed from its actual value + the Emitter Size Z value.

Step 85

At 17:00 push the Back layer all the way back and don’t forget to make a keyframe.

Step 86

At 17:06 set the Z-position back to 30.

Step 87

Create a new null object and name it “null – camera”. Also parent the camera to this null. We will use it to control our camera shake effect.

Step 88

Apply Slider Control three times.

Step 89

Rename them as Position, Rotation and Speed.

Step 90

Select the null – camera layer, hit P, Alt-click on Position and type the following:

p = effect(“Position”)(“Slider”);
s = effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”);
wiggle(s,p);

Hit R, Alt-click on Rotation and type the following:

r = effect(“Rotation”)(“Slider”);
s = effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”);
wiggle(s,r);

This way we can control the position and rotation value via the sliders.

Step 91

At 16:24 (when the front layers are about to hit the particles) set all sliders to 0.

Step 92

Move one frame forward and set the Position slider to 50, the Rotation slider to 2 and the Speed slider to 5.

Step 93

Go to 17:12 (we want our shake effect to last for 12 frames) and set the sliders to 0.

Step 94

But the thing is that we want to have two shake effects (one for the front layers, one for the back layer). But we are using only one camera controller so we need to set three keyframes at 17:05 (one frame before the impact of the back layer) to kind of let the original shake effect fade out. Also don’t forget to delete the three keyframes with 0 value placed at 17:12 – we won’t need them anymore.

Step 95

At 17:06 reset the slider values back to 50, 2 and 5.

Step 96

Go to 18:00 and set all sliders to 0.

Step 97

Go to 23:00. We will animate the camera once again and make it come back to the beginning of our particle text. Also select all camera keyframes and press F9 to apply Easy ease.

Step 98

At this point I decided to tweak the shake values a bit, so at 17:05 I changed them to the ones shown on the screenshot bellow.

Step 99

Delete all layers that aren’t used and turn on Motion Blur for desired layers.

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Additional Aetuts+ Resources

• Create a Mysterious Smoky Logo Reveal
• Create An Astonishing Butterfly Animation – AE Premium
• Writing with Colored Sand
• This Logo Will Self Destruct In 5 Seconds
• Freeze Your Logo With A Snowy Transition

This is the second tutorial on the road to generating script files for After Effects. I read the comments from Part 1 stating that those are expressions, not actual Javascripts. I figured, to learn what Javascript does from scratch, you have to understand expressions first, because you can immediately see what the changes do. There will be one more tutorial on placing layers with expressions, then we’ll move on to actual scripts. In this tutorial you will learn how for-loops can help analyzing several frames in order to customize effects.

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Tutorial

Additional Aetuts+ Resources

• Create Your Own Custom Effects!
• Connect Your Scale Relative To The Camera’s Position
• Generate Your Own Splendid Spirographical Designs
• QuickTip – Creating Circular And Spiral Motion Paths
• Learn How to Create a Light Rays Custom Effect from Scratch

There are some things that you probably shouldn’t ever shoot without. For me, my prized tools are my skateboard and gaffer’s tape. For you, they may be something else. Here is a small list of some things that have been very useful on the shoots that I have been on.

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Gaffer’s Tape

Long gone are the days of when I used duct tape for everything, I have since seen the light. If you have never used Gaffer’s tape, it is far superior, stick nicely to the things you need, and doesn’t leave any annoying residue when you take it off. The tape itself is actually made of a cloth type material, and is very strong. Helps for if you need to fix a broken light stand, attach a component to your camera, or tape down a green screen. It runs a little more pricey than duct tape, but a roll of this will save you hours of picking goop off of your tools afterward.

Dry Erase Board

If you are shooting short films, or have a lot of different shots for a commercial, you might want to invest in a slate. Or you could just hit the craft store and get a dry erase board and some markers for about a tenth of the price. This will make things easier on you when you bring your shots into your editor, and lets you identify them nice and easily.

Flashlight or LED Keychain

This is definitely a little $2 piece that I use daily, even if I am not shooting. If you need to peek into your pack to find something, if its dark out and you left your lens cap in the grass, or if you just need a little bit of light to find the keyholes for a location, this will definitely save you a bout of frustration. Next time you are on your way to a shoot, pick one up at the cash register at the gas station, you will be amazed at how much you will turn to it.

Cushion for Knees, Elbows & Shoulders

You know those garderning foam mats your grandmother uses to kneel in the garden and trim her petunias? That is exactly what I am talking about. We all have to get that epic low shot, or change our perspective once in a while, and sometimes our tripod doesn’t go low enough. Throw a mat down underneath the part of your body that is taking the bulk of your weight…. and RELEIF! No more sore knees tomorrow!

Garbage Bags

No, they aren’t to carry your junk, but to aid as another thing to lay down on if you are getting a shot. You don’t want to be getting your threads all gunked up in the dirt, or after a fresh downpour… Just cut up a big garbage bag and lay it out flat. Weigh it down with some rocks nearby, and you will stay squeaky clean!

Skateboard or Inline Skates

This is definitly the poor man’s approach to a dolly/truck shot. But you can do a bit more than that. Just last week I did a few 360 orbit shots of some mopeds using nothing but my camera, an Ikan Superfly cage for grip, and my skateboard. Client thought the shots looked gorgeous and I wasn’t out a ton of money buying track. You might need to do some stabilization afterwards in post, but at least you can get the genral movement of the shot.

3 Prong to 2 Prong Plug Converter and Extension Cords

How many times have you had an extension cord, and there are only 2 prong outlets available on a power strip? You’re camera is out of batteries and you still have an hour of shooting left? Well, no more wasting time… just grab a couple of these at the hardware store, and attach them to everything with a 3 prong head on it. You will never, ever run into this situation ever again with a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter.

Laptop & Appropriate Cables and Card Readers

There are a couple of reasons why you will want to have this on hand. One, your client might really want to see that shot blown up, and you might want to check your focus, light and such on a larger screen if you don’t have a monitor available. Second, if you work with card based cameras, you might run out of room and have to unload your media onto your hard drive to shoot more footage past the capacity of your memory cards. You never know when you might forget to hit STOP RECORD on one of the best shots of the day.

Fans

If you shoot a lot of green screen, or studio production, you will notice that your talent tends to get very heated under those lights. Give them a small personal fan, or have some box fans at the studio to circulate the air so everyone stays happy. Overheated actors are not happy actors… leads to frustration, flustration, and overall sweating, which is never good looking on video.

Leatherman & Other Tools

It’s always smart to have pliers, screwdriver and a pocket knife available for a multitude of tasks. You might need to tighten a light stand, your tripod legs, screw the shoe into your camera, or whatever. You never want to get caught without a means to fix your set when a problem presents itself.

Big Carboard Box Painted White

This will serve three very different purposes. One, it will act as a white balance card. Second, you can bounce light onto a subject, and third you can block light for a subject. Make sure you grab one of those really big boxes (non-glossy) for something like funiture, break it down and tape the ends together so it won’t un-collapse. Then grab a can of white spray paint and put a few coats on it. Viola! You didn’t have spend $50 on a 5-in-1 (although I do recommend having something like that for diffusion.)

Extra Batteries

I can’t stress enough how important enough battery life is, especially if you aren’t going to be able plugin to AC power anywhere. Things like lavalier mics always suck the life out of 9 volt batteries, and your camera can never have enough batteries packed with it. If you can, pick up a battery extender (like this one for the T2i/550D) for your model of camera that takes AA batteries, and pick up a mondo pack of those from Costco if you are going to be out on shoot all day.

Hair Accessories

This is a huge pet peeve of mine, when an actor or actress has hair that hangs over their cheek and a strong light source, natural or not is casting a harsh shadow across their face. Sometimes you just have to give them a hair tie and tell them to pull it back. I Would keep some gel, hair spray, a couple hair clips and hair ties in your bag for just such an occasion.

Zip Ties and Scissors

If you need to bunch cords together, or fix a shirt with a buttom that just broke off… this will work for you. Use those along with scissors to cut the long annoying ends off and its a perfect combo. You can also use those scissors to cut stray threads from shirts that are obtrusive, and just some other general damage control.

Digital Camera

If you are a continuity nazi like I am, this will be a must especially if you talent likes to take frequent water breaks or sits down to rest. There is nothing worse than getting back to the edit suite after a long, tiresome day of shooting and having continuity errors. Use a simple digital camera, or the camera on your iPhone or other smartphone to take a snapshot at the end of the scene so you know where to pick up where you left off.

Powder

Shinyness on an talent’s face is never flattering. It will help if you have some powder from a place like BenNye.com, that you can powder your actor down when they are looking a little shiny. Get rid of those harsh speculars!

If you have some tools, tricks, or maneuvers that you use when you are out on a shoot, we would love to know! Leave a comment below and let us know what your favorite was, or what you would add to the list!

If you enjoyed this post, please give it a vote on Digg or a stumble to say thanks!

Have you ever see the masses of photographers at red carpet events and the hundreds of flashes going off when a star walks by? In this tutorial you can find out out to make bright Paparazzi Flashes in After Effects for use in a logo reveal. I will show you how to the flash element and use a particle system to create the appearance of flashes.

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Tutorial

Step 1

Create a new comp at your desired resolution. I’m making mine 1920×1080 at 25 fps.

Step 2

Create a Black Solid and make sure its comp size, name it Particles.

Step 3

Go to Effect, Trapcode, Particular and add it to the black solid.

Step 4

Change the Emitter Type to Box and then change the emitter size to your comp resolution; mine is 1920×1080. Set your Emitter Size Z to 0.

Step 5

Set all the velocity numbers to 0

Step 6

In the Particle drop-down menu, set the Life to 0.1.

Step 7

You should have a comp that looks like this.

Step 8

Create another Black Solid and name it Flare.

Step 9

Go to Effect, Videocopilot, Optical Flares and put it on the Flare solid you just made.

Step 10

Click on Options and delete all the layers under Global Perameters.

Step 11

Then click on Lens Objects on the left side of the screen and add two glow layers and two shimmer layers. Set the brightness and scale of the first glow to 125 and 14. The second glow layer to 125, 17. The first shimmer layer to 728, 12 and the second shimmer layer to 159, 39.

Step 12

Then change the global colour to R: 132 G: 184 B: 243 or HTML: 84B8F3.

Step 13

Click OK and you should end up with something like this.

Step 14

Pre Compose the Flare solid and check Move All Atribures, name it Sprite.

Step 15

In the Sprite comp, center the flare to the middle of the comp by dragging the target.

Step 16

Go to Composition, Composition Settings and resize your comp to 2500×1406 or what ever your computer can handle.

Step 17

Then go to Layer, Solid Settings and click Make Comp Size.

Step 18

Then alter the Brightness and Scale in the Optical Flares Effect menu so the glow does NOT touch the edges of the comp. I set it to 60 brightness and 50 scale. You may want to add a circular mask just to be safe.

Step 19

Also, set the Render Mode to On Transparent.

Step 20

Now, go back to your main comp and ALT click on the 8bpc till it reaches 32bpc. This reduces that horrible banding you get with gradients. Note this may slow down RAM preview time so I recomend setting it to 32bpc when you are redy to do your final render.

Step 21

In the Particular Menu, go to the Particle drop-down menu and change the Particle Type to Sprite. Then open the Texture drop-down menu and set the Layer to the Sprite comp.

Step 22

You may get this warning saying that the layer is too big, just click ok.

Step 23

Now, turn off the Sprite layer as we do not need to see it. If you can only see tiny dots insted of flashes, increase the scale of the particle to your desired size. It should look something like this.

Step 24

In the Particle drop-down menu, go to Opacity over Life and select this ramp.

Step 25

Thats your basic flashes done. Now to make it into a logo reveal import our desired logo, text or image into the comp and position it in the center.

Step 26

Animate the Paricles/sec to 3000 on the first frame then 100 at one second. You can press F9 to smooth out the keyframes.

Step 27

Then select your Logo and animate the scale so it is a bit larger on the first frame then one second in it is back at 100% scale.

Step 28

And there you go. I have added a bit of a glow to the logo for good measure. I hope you enjoyed this tutoral.

Additional Aetuts+ Resources

• This Logo Will Self Destruct In 5 Seconds
• Create An Astonishing Butterfly Animation – AE Premium
• Freeze Your Logo With A Snowy Transition
• Writing with Colored Sand
• Form a Unique Transition

Have you seen those animated adverts, where the text seamlessly moves along path? In this tutorial we are going to learn how to create a sequence that involves text animating along a custom path using the first margin text property. A custom path is a vector path that is drawn freehand using the pen tool in After Effects.

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Tutorial

Step 1

Create a new composition

The first thing we are going to do is create a composition; this is the canvas you will create your animation on. To manually create a composition, you need to do the following.

Choose New Composition.

New composition window.

This will open the composition dialog box. The options on the basic tab will allow you to set up the preset,
width, height, aspect ratio, frames per second, start code and duration for your animated sequence.

With the dialog box open apply the following settings:

Preset: PAL D1 / DV

Width and height: 720 X 576

Aspect Ratio: D1/ DV PAL 1.09

Resolution: Full

Start Timecode: 0.00.00.00

Duration: 0.00.030.00

Depending on your output, you may want to set up the first 4 settings at other standard settings, for example for Northern American broadcast media or for the Web.

So now our sequence will run for 30 seconds.

Step 2

Changing background color of the composition.

To change the background color you need to do the following:

Choose Background color.

This will open the color picker dialog box.

The color picker dialog box.

Click OK to choose a color for your background. With your cursor move around within the color space to pick a color, when you have chosen your color click ok to accept this.

 

Step 3

Creating text for the animation.

Using the text tool type out a word on the stage.

Choose the font and size using the character palette.

The character palette.

Step 4

Creating the path for the animation

With the text layer selected, select the pen tool draw a path for the text to follow.

 

Make sure that
Rotobezier check box in the tool palette, is selected, this allows you to draw a smooth path.

 

Twirl down the text option to reveal the path options.

Select Mask 1 for the path, this is the path you have just created. Now the text is automatically
linked to that path.

Step 5

Animating text the path

With the play back at the start of the time line, create a keyframe for the first margin property.

For this property set the stopwatch and drag the word to the beginning of the path by dragging the slider value for the first margin property.

Drag the play back head further down the timeline set a keyframe for the last margin property, drag the slider value for the for the first margin property so that the so the text moves to the end
of the path.

 

Move the play back head to the start of the animation and scrub through the timeline. You should now
see your animated text animating along a path.

I’ve added some extra graphics and text in addition to the animated text.

Hope you have found this tutorial useful.

One of the keys to mastering After Effects transcends the addictive process of adding your spark, the glamour, and making everything sexy. As fun as that is, the reality is that we often have the clock ticking against us, whether it’s our client nervously watching the hours rack up, or that family time we’re neglecting yet again. Everyone seems to agree there aren’t enough hours in the day, so why not earn a few easy ones back?

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Tutorial

I’d like to think that most of these tips are obvious and that much of the professional world already applies them. However, I never found these in any of my instruction, so I’d like to share this workflow of mine that consistently helps me make better videos and cut my hours in half—by eliminating my most major mistakes.

Quick Summary:

• Start with the audio
• Plan it all on paper
• Start your video as basic as possible so you can address major storytelling issues while it’s still easy.

Simple. For some reason it took me forever to “get” this, and why the seemingly boring process is so vital.

1) Audio first

Unless you’re in a market like digital signage, your video needs a soundtrack. And there are plenty of important reasons to start here before anything else.

• Inspiration: the soundtrack of a song conveys many obvious and subtle emotions. Choosing the right soundtrack drives your viewer’s emotions and validates the video in a way nothing else can. Listen to your soundtrack with your eyes closed and you’ll see possibilities for your video that are uniquely yours and fit it far better than just following tutorials.
• Essential: You want your major transitions to line up with set changes in the song. Because all music conforms to very consistent patterns: 4 beats per measure, 4 measures per set, we are very restricted about how much we can edit it later. Time your effects around beats in the song, not the other way around.
• Practical: If you have a duration limit (like 15 or 30 seconds), you may need to do a little editing so the track has a decent start, middle, and finish. You want to do this before you have dozens of effects timed to the old music edit.

The bottom line is that video effects are very easy to move around. Audio is far more difficult to ‘nudge’.

2) Storyboard: use a pad of paper!

Even if you’re a terrible drawer like me, you’ll still benefit a lot by doing your test run on paper first. Your brain has better things to do than remember every little detail you’ve conjured up, and the process just takes me three or four minutes (and often saves me hours).

• Inspiration: Seeing your idea on paper gives you perspective, because you can find problems in symmetry, balance, or there not really being enough room for all that text, etc. Layout often makes sense in my head but just doesn’t work in a 16×9 frame. Staring at it lets you think outside the box, and frees up your brain to think of new approaches.
• Essential: You can double-check timing. If you have a duration limit, will this all really fit in time? “Watch” your slides while listening to the audio track to see that you can comfortably read all of the text, and process all of the information at a good pace. Do this 2 or 3 times and you should have a good sense as to whether it will work like you think.
• Practical: You’ll greatly accelerate your editing. With the big picture in place, you can more structurally lay out your compositions so they make sense. And rather than de-railing to remember what you planned next, you can glance at your storyboard to stay right on track and in your zone. This’ll save you more time than you probably expect.

I once spent 4 or 5 hours finishing the details on a great 30-second ad. But I didn’t storyboard, and when I hit the 24 second mark, I had only shown half the client’s talking points and hadn’t even gotten to their logo yet. Oops! Most of it had to be thrown out.

3) Make a “Mock Video”

Again in the spirit of ensuring that your timing will work, now create the entire video as basic as you can. Get any important elements in place but avoid adding anything that will tax your CPU or clutter your timeline for now.

First handle:	Optionally add:	Not yet:
Text	Basic backgrounds	Effects
Photos	Basic transitions	Blending modes
Layout	Camera motion	Color correction
Timing down to a ‘T’	Basic movement	Anything not vital to your story

Here are two mock-ups I made for my videos. They are really dull, yes, and that’s good, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute.

For now you’re trying to avoid any details that aren’t critical to the storytelling. If you work on little details like glows and pretty effects early in, several bad things happen:

You make it very difficult to edit major things later

• Layout: It’s very hard to click and drag a specific layer in a complicated scene. Instead you highlight a color correction adjustment or a big foreground layer by mistake. Gah…
• Efficiency: lots of effects will seriously tax your CPU, making it a real chore to make any broad layout changes later
• Timing: Imagine: some text flies in and you have a puff of smoke emanating from its landing place. That’s several layers of smoke, all keyframed to start in sequence just after the text lands. What happens if you need that text to land a half-second sooner? Instead of one key-frame to move, you could have a dozen. What if you need to move it back some? You’ve got to grab all those keyframes again. What if you forget a keyframe? Or several? You’ve got to track them down. What about all the layers that come after it, do they need to shift too? Gah…!

Waste

And the most dreadful: you could spend time working on scenes you might decide to cut completely. It’s happened to me a lot.

Watch your “mock” video again and again. Be sure you love it. Because this is the time when you can most easily play with and perfect it.

4) Have fun!

Your hard work pays off and the fun begins. Go through your video and add smoke effects, gradients, blending modes, textures, and everything else you’ve been eager to add. You’ll find yourself zooming through this faster than usual too, since you can fully focus on aesthetics and not question your storytelling again and again. Good luck!

We’ve just launched the Tuts+ Marketplace, where Premium quality tutorials – both from our Tuts+ Premium program and from unaffiliated authors – are available to purchase individually. Our Tuts+ Premium program will still stay exactly the same – you’ll get all the same things, for the same price. But now, non-members will be able to purchase selected Premium tutorials on a one-off basis, without a Premium membership.

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Hey! Look for this link!

So far we’ve added nearly half our Premium tutorials to the Tuts+ Marketplace, and will be adding more over time. To find out if a Premium tutorial is available for sale on the Tuts+ Marketplace, look for this link:

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Q + A More Information

Here are answers to some of your likely questions about the Tuts+ Marketplace. Please read through these, and if you have any more questions they may be answered in the special edition podcast Introducing the Tuts+ Marketplace (with me and Sean Hodge as a special guests hehe). If not, leave a comment!

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That it’s a lot easier to see the value you’re getting as part of Premium. With files on the marketplace priced between $3 and $7, your Premium subscription gives you access to thousands of dollars worth of files for $9 a month. Premium will still work exactly the same and cost the same – so you’ve got nothing to worry about! The marketplace is more for people who aren’t Premium members, and for those who want access to user-submitted tutorials that aren’t available as part of Premium – or anywhere else.

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We’ve seeded the site with our Tuts+ Premium tutorials, but anyone can submit a tutorial for sale on the Tuts+ Marketplace. If it’s ‘Premium’ quality, it will be accepted. Eventually, the marketplace will be filled with tutorials you can’t find anywhere else.

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If you only have time to go through 1 or 2 Premium tutorials a month, or only want to pay for the Premium tutorials you need, the Tuts+ Marketplace is perfect for you. You can purchase tutorials on a one off basis, and files are priced between $3 – $7.

As the marketplace grows, authors will come in from elsewhere to sell their tutorials. There will be high-quality tutorials on the Tuts+ Marketplace that you can’t get anywhere else, so if you love learning from great tutorials, you should keep tabs on the Tuts+ Marketplace.

If you go through lots of Premium tutorials, the Tuts+ Premium subscription is better value for you. The option that’s right for you will depend on your needs.

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We currently host the following categories, and will be expanding our selection over time:

• Design
• Web Development
• Audio & Music
• Multimedia
• Video
• 3D Graphics
• Photography
• Mobile Development
• Business
• eBooks

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Forums Have your say!

Because the Tuts+ Marketplace is built on our Envato Marketplaces app, we have dedicated Forums. Head on over, sign up for the marketplaces, and tell us what you think of the Tuts+ Marketplace.

If you’re good at playing sport games on your computer but suck at sports in real life, this tutorial is just for you. You’ll learn how to combine 3D animation with live footage through 2d and 3d tracking. It’s time to bring back some life to the all time classic tennis game…. “PONG”!

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Tutorial

Additional Aetuts+ Resources

• Extending Your Set With Cinema 4D
• Composite A Live Action Jet Flyby
• Leap Into Hancock-Style Super Jump Effect
• Basic Match Moving with PFhoe

How many books are in your library? I have some of the top rated books for our industry for you guys to pick and choose from depending on your interests! Whether you are into motion graphics or matchmoving… there is something here for everyone!

• 

  Matchmoving: The Invisible Art of Camera Tracking by Tim Dobbert

  If you are looking for a great book to get your started in matchmoving as well as something you can keep with you for a long time on shoots to come, Tim Dobbert’s book has basically everything there is to know when it comes to everything from setting up shots to solving cameras.

  View Book

• 

  The After Effects Illusionist: All the Effects in One Complete Guide by Chad Perkins

  This book is kind of like Chad Perkins’ Lynda.com training DVD After Effects Effects, but in book form. The book goes through each and every effect included with After Effects CS4 and teaches you how to use it, and how you could possibly apply it into a real world situation.

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• 

  The Visual Effects Arsenal: VFX Solutions for the Independent Filmmaker by Bill Byrne

  Bill Byrne takes years of visual effects experience to show you how to make some of the hottest effects used in cinema, from color correction to chopping arms off! The provided disk also comes with all the project files so that you can follow along in your application!

  View Book

• 

  After Effects Expressions by Marcus Geduld

  Expressions are kind of scary, I’ll admit… thank god there is a book out there that can teach you everything you need to know about expressions in After Effects. Marcus’ book is 448 pages chock full of expressionny goodness complete with a disk with project files so you can examine the expressions for yourself!

  View Book

• 

  Filming the Fantastic: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography by Mark Sawicki

  This book deals on the simple idea of eliminating the phrase “we’ll fix it in post.” Why waste time fixing it later, when you can do it right the first time? Learn techniques on doing in camera special effects and cinematography to create plates that you can later composite together for better video!

  View Book

• 

  Adobe After Effects CS5 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques by Mark Christiansen

  Mark Christiansen has been writing this book for years, each time updated with the newest version of After Effects. It has become one of the must have books for an After Effects artist to have, because there is always something new to learn from him. This version is to be released October 2nd 2010

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• 

  The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap by Stu Maschwitz

  A favorite book for anyone who has ever made a super low budget to no budget film is The DV Rebel’s Guide. Stu, the creator of tools like Magic Bullet Looks, wrote this book to help those that have a hard time penny pinching to get a amazing film out of little to no money.

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• 

  Greenscreen Made Easy: Keying and Compositing Techniques for Indie Filmmakers by Jeremy Hanke & Michele Yamazaki
  

  Editor of Microfilmmaker.com Jeremy Hanke and Toolfarm’s own Michele Yamazaki have this amazing handbook for people working in green screen. It goes through everything from plugins, to making homemade greenscreen, to what apps to use, and tips and tricks for getting good mattes when you are compositing.

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• 

  After Effects Apprentice, Second Edition by Chris and Trish Meyer

  Chris and Trish Meyer are undoubtedly legends in the After Effects world. Their book, the After Effects Apprentice takes you through all you need to know if you are getting started in our app of choice, complete with a disk with video tutorials and project files!

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• 

  Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, 5th Edition, Fifth Edition: Essential and Advanced Techniques by Chris Meyer and Trish Meyer

  Now in it’s 5th Edition to reflect CS5, this massive 768 page book deals in all you need to know for making motion graphics. Subjects include mastering 3D space, all the 3D effects in CS5, working with Photoshop, keying, mattes, roto, basically anything you need to know if you are going to be working on motion graphics.

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• 

  Adobe After Effects CS5 Classroom in a Book by Adobe Creative Team

  If you have been in college you have probably been required to get this book to learn After Effects. It is made by the Adobe Creative Team as a collective effort and serves as the jumpstart for learning, using, and understanding After Effects.

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• 

  After Effects CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide by Antony Bolante

  This book from Antony Bolante is a great book for people of all walks of life, whether it be graphic, web, or video production how they can use After Effects CS4 in their workflow to enrich their projects and integrate their other applications.

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• 

  After Effects for Flash / Flash for After Effects: Dynamic Animation and Video with Adobe After Effects CS4 and Adobe Flash CS4 Professional by Richard Harrington and Marcus Geduld

  If you are a Flash user and have never messed with After Effects, this is the book for you. Learn how you can use both apps harmoniously to create some amazing motion graphics, and integrate these two applications together in your workflow.

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• 

  Flash + After Effects, Second Edition: Add Broadcast Features to Your Flash Designs by Chris Jackson

  This book is more for learning how you can use After Effects in your Flash animations to make better and more compelling work in Flash. If you have the Suite and have both programs, if you are only limiting yourself to Flash, you are really missing out.

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• 

  After Effects and Photoshop: Animation and Production Effects for DV and Film, Second Edition by Jeff Foster

  This is another book trying to unify the Creative Suite’s apps, Photoshop and After Effects to create a better, faster workflow when it comes to dealing with graphics, visual effects or filmmaking.

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• 

  Adobe After Effects CS5 Digital Classroom by AGI Creative Team

  In 16 lessons, this book will teach you thoroughly how to use After Effects what effects do what, and how you can use the program to make your video woes much easier. This book is due out November 8th 2010.

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• 

  The Video Collection Revealed: Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth and Encore CS5 by Debra Keller

  I love these books that preach about how to use your apps together for better workflow. Too often we get hung up on trying to do everything in one application. This book teaches you about Premiere, After Effects, Soundbooth and Encore and shows you a great workflow for using them together in your production pipeline.

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• 

  Compositing Visual Effects: Essentials for the Aspiring Artist by Steve Wright

  This was published back in 2007, but all the same techniques still hold true. This book is a great stepping stone for beginning visual effects artists that want to learn and understand how visual effects shots are made and composited together.

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• 

  The Green Screen Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques by Jeff Foster

  This is an amazing resource for those working heavily in the green screen world of video. Jeff Foster explains everything from setting up your green screen to matchmoving a virtual set! This 384 page monster is sure to be one that you put in your backpack every shoot.

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• 

  The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition: Techniques for Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) by Ron Brinkmann
  

  This is a great book going through 17 case studies on hit Hollywood films like The Golden Compass, Sin City, Lord of the Rings, and Revenge of the Sith, just to name a few. Take an in depth look at how shots from these movies were put together to create such realistic imagery.

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• 

  Professional Digital Compositing: Essential Tools and Techniques by Lee Lanier
  

  No matter what application you are using, this book will apply to it. Color Theory, stereoscopy and CG integration are just a few of the things covered in this book. Whether you are a Motion, Shake or After Effects user, you will learn a lot from this book.

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• 

  The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures by Jeffrey A. Okun and Susan Zwerman

  Just like the title says, you will learn some of the best practices and procedures from some of the huge names in the visual effects industry. Co-authored by members of the Visual Effects Society, you get many different perspectives and ideas on how to do things in the visual effects world.

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• 

  The Visual Effects Producer: Understanding the Art and Business of VFX by Charles L. Finance and Susan Zwerman

  Instead of focusing on the art of visual effects itself, this book focuses on the business of being a producer instead. Learn how to manage clients, crew and vendors, along with planning out scheduling, budgeting, and all the other woes that come along with being a producer.

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• 

  VFX Artistry: A Visual Tour of How the Studios Create Their Magic by Spencer Drate and Judith Salavetz

  If you have ever wanted a look into how studios like Digital Kitchen, Prologue and Trollback create their amazing pieces of art, look no further. This book showcases how certain videos were produced, what went into them, and what was needed!

  View Book

• 

  Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Third Edition by Steve Wright

  This book is great for the compositor faced with challenges like badly shot footage, mismatched lighting and the like. Now in it’s third edition, this book contains new chapters on stereoscopy and CGI integration of elements.

  View Book

• 

  Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics by Jon S. Krasner

  if you have ever wanted to delve deep… I mean, REALLY deep into motion design, investigating the theory, history and whatnot of how it has come to be an artform, this is by far the best book for you.

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• 

  How to Cheat in Motion by Patrick Sheffield

  In this non-app-specfic book Patrick shows you how to do some nifty, easy, and dirty little tricks that the pros use with little or no effort at all to enhance the look of your projects!

  View Book

• 

  The Art and Technique of Matchmoving: Solutions for the VFX Artist by Erica Hornung

  Whether or not you want to learn it, matchmoving is going to end up being a tool in every artist’s arsenal. Erica’s new book, gets you up to speed on the newest technology, theory, and practices when it comes to matchmoving.

  View Book

Coming Soon…

• 

  How to Cheat in After Effects by Chad Perkins

  Chad Perkins’ brand new book is full of a bunch of quick tips that save you a ton of time and basically works as a cheat sheet for hundreds of tasks inside of After Effects. This book is due out October 4th 2010

  View Book

• 

  BBC VFX: The History of the BBC Visual Effects Department 1954-2003 by Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker

  This is a great book that showcases the last 50 years of visual effects used on the BBC. There has been some amazing shows, movies, and other programming that is unforgettable. This book spotlights all those and shows you what went into them. This book will be available January 1st 2011!

  View Book

• 

  Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques by Richard Harrington and Ian Robinson

  Yet another book showcasing how you can use different applications from the Creative Suite in your workflow, this book by Richard Harrington and Ian Robinson shows you how to use Illustrator, Photoshop and of course After Effects to create spectacular motion graphics. Pick up this book October 3rd 2010!

  View Book

• 

  Creative Motion Graphic Titling for Film, Video, and the Web by Yael Braha and Bill Byrne

  We, as motion artists get asked a lot to create title sequences… what better of a place to find inspiration than a book dedicated to teaching that!? This book features tutorials and interviews on how and who created some of the most inspiring titles sequences in the most famous blockbuster movies! This book will be out October 1st 2010!

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• 

  Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist: A Practical Guide to Principles & Techniques by Angie Taylor

  Aspiring motion artists be on the lookout! This book is a crash course on the designer’s side of looking at creating motion graphics. Learn to think like a designer, analyze color palettes and typography… make educated decisions when it comes to the way you want things to look! This book will get you up to speed on it. Book drops October 29th 2010.

  View Book

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