Additional Details for Project #2

EDITED Friday, March 3

NEW INFO: I just wanted to emphasize that the integral thing about this project is the motion graphics(MoGfx). You don't have to shoot the video if you don't want to or have the time, you could just download something (see the Hollywood Camera Work website) that's able to be motion tracked then create some cool MoGfx to go with it. 

I just want to clarify that with this project, it doesn't have to include green screen footage. You just need footage that will allow you to integrate CG elements into video and has moving points from which to track.

For instance, you could shoot video while walking past a billboard and integrate MoGfx you create in AE -- maybe one that shows flowers shooting up and the words "Spring Is Here!" growing out of the ground -- onto the billboard to make it look like it's a video screen. A final length of around 15-30 seconds is fine, but if you need to go longer, by all means, have at it!

Or you could shoot video of the side of a building and have text or graphic elements draw onto it....

...only please make sure you use video since, ya know, it's a MOTION Tracking project.

Motion Tracking Tutorial

Video CoPilot has a great tutorial for using the Tracker in AE for a variety of uses.

Motion Tracking demonstrated

Here's a short vid describing motion tracking. They are using different software than AE to do the tracking, but I'm sharing this example to show how they set up the shoot with markers so they can integrate the talent with a CG environment. Enjoy!

Free Downloads!

Hey, I saw over at Creative Cow that videoblocks.com is offering 7 days of free downloads! Video tracks, background loops, music tracks and sound effects are offered that you can use in your projects. I don't know how good the quality is or if the subject matter is anything interesting, but it's worth a shot. Just create an account and download away!

Animatic Sample

Here's the sample animatic I created in class. The .aep file is available in the Class folder under the name In_Class_01-27-12 if you need it.
Animatic Sample from M Swanson on Vimeo.
Just a quick example of an animatic.

Project #2 Details

Hi again and welcome to... ah, forget the formal stuff. Here's what you need to know for Project #2 - Motion Tracking and SFX:

We'll be doing Motion Tracking and Special Effects. OK... moving on.

First, you'll need storyboards. These will be due Friday, March 3. Hand 'em in however you'd like... on notebook paper, a napkin, the inside of a pizza box (just clean off the sausage, please). They just need to tell your story and look something like this:

Add any details you feel are necessary (camera movement, voiceover and animated text among other things) so you wind up with a board that not only provides a visual tool to describe your story to others, but it gives you a roadmap toward your finished video.

Next, you'll need an animatic to rough in your timing. These are due Friday, March 9. They don't have to be pretty -- they could literally be your individual storyboard frames scanned in with VO and/or music or video (stuff you've created, stock footage, etc.) included. Remember that really lame one I made in class? If you need to see it again, go to the Class folder and open the In_Class_01-27-12.aep. Yeah, like that.

Finally, you'll need your finished video which will be due Friday, March 23. Go to the Settings page to get the specs for your final comp and render settings.

Reminder: H.264 takes longer than Lossless to render, so be sure to give yourself enough time to render prior to class time.

I'll be creating a quick re-cap in the next few days of the lecture I gave today about using the Tracker in AE. I'll post it here as ASAP so you can use it for reference.

Thanks!

FYI: Rendering

NOTE: This is a post I created for the Intro class, so if anything is redundant here, now you know why. Enjoy!

To hand in your projects, I am requesting that you render it out as an H.264 MP4 file and drop it into the Student Drop folder. To render out of AE, make sure you have the comp you want to render selected in the timeline and use the keyboard shortcut Command+Shift+/ for Mac (Control+Shift+/ for PC) or select "Add To Render Queue" from the Composition menu. You should see this menu (click it to enlarge):

Your settings may be different. To change them to what I have in the image, first click the arrow button to the right of where it says "Render Settings." Select "Best Settings." Then click the arrow button next to "Output Module." Select "H.264" (outputting as H.264 will result in an MP4 file). Now click on the yellow text that reads "Not Yet Specified" to the right of "Output To:." This will let you specify where you want your render to go. The default name of the rendered file will be whatever your comp is named. You can change it if you need to before rendering.

Once you've finished setting all this up, go ahead and click the "Render" button. Now all you have to do is wait for it to finish. When it finishes rendering, AE will play a flourish sound to alert you.

If for some reason you can't recall where you sent the file, you can twist open the "Output Module" and you'll then see a filepath to where the rendered file was sent. Click on the filepath name and it will open Finder in the directory that you specified. Isn't that awesome? You betcha.

Green Screen plates for Keying practice

We covered keying Green Screen footage in class today using the Keylight effect in AE. Keylight, in tandem with some other keying effects like Simple Choker and Refine Matte, are very powerful tools to achieve great results in keying your footage.

You can find lots of good clips to practice keying at Hollywood Camera Work's website.

Before downloading, make sure to check the specs that are listed (for instance, some are shot at 60 frames per second).

And here's a page with a few more links for your keying enjoyment.

Inspiration for Project #1 - Gamefly commercial

Dan and Slaughter are doing a spot that was inspired by the Gamefly commercials. Here's one of their spots so you can see how the Gamefly folks used a split screen technique to deliver video messaging along with Motion Graphics.



I created a quick demo of how to replicate the way the game cover art rotated around and faced the camera. This is done by setting up the images as 3D layers in a circle around a 3D Null object layer. You then select all the images (but not the Null) and go to Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient and select "Orient Toward Camera." This will tell the selected image layers to face the camera no matter where they're placed.

Rotating Cover Art from M Swanson on Vimeo.

Demo showing layers oriented toward camera