Newfangled Studios

“I've been really wanting to make an After Effects rig that I can use as a base for all of my Motion Graphics characters across the board. That's precisely what lead to this motion test monday.

A bendy IK rig is the perfect tool for animating characters in After Effects with little to no stress about functionality. Essentially it allows the animator to only have to deal with controllers that move major points of the body (hands, feet, waist, etc.), and the rig will figure out the rest.

I started by simply planning out how I wanted my character to look, while thinking about what that meant for my rig. I really wanted to keep the rig as simple as possible, but I also wanted to be able to change things like sleeve length, clothing colors, and skin colors on the fly. I used two great plug-ins to make this all possible; Ray for color management, and Duik to help me rig the character.

To achieve this I built the legs and arms using lines with round stroke caps in After Effects. I only built one leg and one arm, because I planned on duplicating the limbs for symmetry. I utilized the trim paths functionality to generate my sleeves, pant legs, and shoes. To make the rig slightly easier to use, I attached the trim paths to effect sliders in my control composition so that I could adjust the sleeve/pant leg length incredibly quick. The body was a simple rounded rectangle, which I squished a little on the bottom to give the form some interest. Finally, the head is just a rounded rectangle with a wide image of a face and hair clipped to it, which I could just move left and right to simulate the turning of my character's head.

All of the colors used in the creation of my character's body parts were used from a Ray palette, which will allow to me to adjust those colors on my fly in the future without having to update each individual layer.

This is where the fun starts. I brought all of my body parts in to my control comp. That means 2 leg comps, 2 arm comps, 1 head comp, and 1 body comp. Using the puppet tool, I placed 3 pins on each limb. 1 near the top (hip or shoulder), 1 in the middle (knee or elbow), and 1 on the bottom (foot or hand). Using Duik, I selected each one of these pins and made a bone, naming them accordingly, one limb at a time. I then parented the bottom bone (foot/hand) to the middle bone (knee/elbow), and then the middle bone to the top bone (hip/shoulder). Finally, I selected each hand or foot bone, and created a controller for all 4 of them. I then did the same process for the body of my character, except I created a controller at both ends of my bone chain.

Using Duik, I then selected the bottom bone > middle bone > top bone > controller (in that order), and selected the create IK function. Duik worked it's magic, and created an IK chain for that limb. I repeated this process for each limb, and also the body. Now that I had all of my limbs rigged independently, it was time to bring all of the pieces together. I parented both shoulder bones to the top bone of my body. I also parented my head to the top bone of the chest. Finally, I parented the top bones in my legs to the bottom bone of my body. And now, just like magic, my character moves and adjust it's entire body accordingly whenever I move a controller.

At this point, we have a totally functional IK rig. I continued to tweak positioning of limbs, and added some increased functionality to make it easier to animate, and finally ended up where we are now. Hopefully this gives some insight on how to accomplish rigging a simple IK character using Duik!”

This effect really comes down to an interesting expression in AE called “sampleImage”.

Basically what we’re doing is creating a black and white map to drive, in this case, the time remapping of a precomped layer, so that those white or black values can control the animation that happens inside that layer. In this example, we’re driving the time remapping, but the same effect can be used to drive any keyframable parameter of a layer.

First, I created my “clone.” It’s a 200 by 200 pixel pre comp, 2 seconds long. Anything that happens in this pre comp (in my case I used footage of a rose blooming) will be controlled so that white values from your black and white control map will correspond to the last frame, and black value correspond to the first frame of that pre comp.

Create a 1920 by 1080 size composition. This is your master comp. In it, create a solid and apply noise to it. Precomp that and name it luma. I animated the noise pattern for this example, but you could animate anything inside this “luma” comp and it would drive the animation of your clones. (Linear wipe, text, etc., go crazy).

Next, add your clone to master comp. Time remap it and add this expression to the time remap:

L = thisComp.layer("luma"); p = L.fromComp(toComp(transform.anchorPoint)); s = L.sampleImage(p,[1,1]); luma = rgbToHsl(s)[2]; maxFrame = 24; f = maxFrame*luma; g = framesToTime(f);

Basically what this tells the layer to do is “sample a 1x1 pixel area of the luma layer (you just set up) for its black and white values and drive the time remap by those values.”

Now, you’re all set up. Duplicate that clone a bunch of times and create a grid with them. The expression automatically samples the pixel that is directly under each clone’s own anchor point, so wherever you place them, it works correctly with you luma layer. A quick tip for getting a bunch of clones aligned super quickly is to get a script called “Array” - look for it on AE Scripts. Makes grid alignment of layers super simple.

It’s a little tricky to set up. That’s for sure, but once it’s up and running, you can get some super cool procedural animations with lots of complexity, all from modifying just two pre comps (the clone and the luma). Mess around with what you put in each clone and what you animate inside your luma comp. I’m pretty excited about this technique because I think there’s a ton of room for exploration.

The auto trace feature in After Effects can be used to trace either a single frame or a sequence of frames.

In this motion test, I’ve used auto trace to process a number of stock footage elements we had lying around here at Newfangled. The awesome thing about auto trace is the fact that it creates animated masks based on the footage. These masks play very well with a number of effects inside AE. In these examples I have mainly used combinations of the scribble effect and Trapcode’s 3d Stroke to stylize the traced masks. Although it’s not a fully procedural effect, it’s a super quick way to create hand drawn looking animations with organic movement and lots of detail. Just make sure you plan those shots well to avoid doing work over and over again.

I’m finding new uses for Trapcode’s Particular almost every time I use it. For this test, I needed to create a quick flock of birds to add a little life to a still photo animation.

First, I found a photo of a bird I liked. Google it. This particular photo I used worked especially well because the bird’s body wasn’t obscured, and it had both wings almost completely visible. This was helpful because it made for minimal work when it came to cutting the photo up and creating the “2.5d” bird, but you could probably achieve an adequate result with some photoshop magic as well.

I cut the wings out, rotated them in 3d space, and positioned them as they would be on an actual bird. For the wing flaps, I made sure the wings’ anchor points were at where they connect to the body, and applied Duik’s Oscillation function to their rotation (amazing plugin. If you don’t have it get it). I connected the amplitude of the oscillation to a slider control so that I could keyframe a start and stop to the flapping. Along with the wing flaps, I also connected the oscillation of the body to that same slider so that when the wings were flapping, the body was moving up and down (just a couple keyframes, woohoo). Make sure your wings are parented to the body so that they follow along with that movement. I then added a bit of secondary animation to the bird with the puppet tool and some wiggle on the body’s rotation. I wanted the bird to have some animation even when it was idly gliding through the air. Bird, done.

I took this bird and created a 500 by 500 composition to be used as a custom particle by particular. Shoot out a bunch of birds, tweak your turbulence settings (I use very high turbulence position values with a very slow evolution and a small scale) until the birds feel about right. I also checked on “orient to motion” so that the birds pointed along the path they were moving.

For this week's Motion Test Monday, I dove in to the world of looping animations and projected textures.

Going in to the motion test, my objective was to make a bright and poppy looping animation that didn't have an obvious loop point. Most looping animations you see around the internet usually involve just one object, but that's not too exciting. I wanted to make a scene that had many looping objects, all with their own animation and timing.

I achieved this by using a variety of plain effectors to control the rotation and scale of various cloners within Cinema4D. By approaching the loop this way, each pillar of cloned objects could have it's own unique action. It also allowed me to control when I wanted that specific portion to loop, whether it be at frame 45 or frame 82, it didn't matter. When coupled with other cloners doing their own thing, it makes a complex landscape of geometry moving in a way that doesn't fee at all generic. Because I used this technique, there are plenty of different small animations to explore, so viewers can always find a new element to enjoy.

When it came to lighting and texturing, I wanted to make a bright and inviting palette, but I also wanted to add a wonky twist some how. By using projected textures rather than traditional UV mapped textures, I could make gradients stay in place rather than being associated with the object that they're applied to, and this really adds the element of wonkiness and fun that I was looking for. This also allowed me to approach the scene from more of a design standpoint, where I could pick and choose exactly what colors I wanted, and exactly where they would fall. In addition to that, I went ahead and added a sub-suface scattering material to all of my objects, which allows some light to penetrate the objects, adding to the "chalky" feel of the materials.

When it came to compositing, I really didn't have to do much at all. The animation already looped directly out of Cinema, so that was taken care of. I really only added some slight levels to crunch my values a bit, because the SSS made the entire scene feel a little flat in the render. I multiplied my shadows back on top of my scene, with a slightly cool tint, at a low opacity to top the whole thing off.

How to create an ink write-on effect with ink bleeds using a simple stroke-effect and roughen edges.

Find a nice script typeface and create your text. The one I used here is called “Biloxi Script” off of dafont.com. To simulate a bit of an ink bleed, I created an adjustment layer on top of this text with a “simple choker” effect. I choked the text to somewhere around 3 pixels, and animated it to 0 choke over about 3 seconds… pre comp it.

Take that pre comp, and add a time displacement onto it. Use a horizontal gradient as a map for the displacement.  This makes it so that the “ink bleed choke effect” from the pre comp happens from left to right instead of all at once.  We’re trying to simulate a delayed ink bleed that somewhat follows the writing on of the text.

 We’ll now take our text layer (with the delayed ink bleed choke) and animate a stroke-on effect. My method for this is to create a stroke effect on a separate layer with a path that follows the text lettering (just as you would write it by hand). Animate the stroke end from 0 to 100. When you set the original text layer to use the stroke as an alpha matte, the text will appear to write on…. pre comp that.

Lay that pre comp onto a paper texture. Boom. We have the main ink text. Now to create the more smudgy ink bleeds.

Duplicate that main ink bleed, and pre comp it. Inside that pre comp, add a simple choke and a roughen edges effect. Choke it and roughen the edges until you get text with a bunch of chunks taken out of it. We don’t want all of our text to bleed, just parts of it. Once you’ve done that, add another choke and roughen edges. Choke the “choked and roughened” text with a negative value so that we expand the text again, and then roughen those edges to simulate the texture of ink. I keyframed these second choke and roughen edges effects to expand over time (as if the ink were flowing outwards over time). I duplicated this smudgy ink bleed layer a couple of times and expanded the ink further and further outwards (as well as lowering the opacity to lessen the effect as it expanded further so it has a bit of a gradient effect.) Done.

Go back to the main comp with the paper. Add another time displacement (with horizontal gradient map) onto the smudgy ink bleed layer. This way, the smudgy ink bleed animates on from left to right over time.

When considering whether or not to invest in the time (and sometimes a fair amount of cost) that the process of coloring a spot can take up, you have a few options to weigh out.

While you may choose to use a simple plugin so that you can just stay within your editing interface­- thinking you might save time rather than exporting and relinking footage, or you might save on cost by not going to a colorist or using a professional software-­ I can not stress enough that going outside of your comfort zone and using Davinci Resolve to color your spots is the best idea you ever had. Here is why:

Even in the best lit, best planned, professionally shot spots, there will always be an area you can find for improvement. Sometimes it might be slight- where all you need is an adjustment to your contrast and a slight vignette to accentuate the focus of the shot. 

But other times you need to go more in depth to bring out the best out of the color information you have. There's an area where the highlights are too hot, the subject is not standing out against the background, something is too reflective, or you just need to change the overall focus of what you are looking at within that shot.

Davinci has some fairly easy to use, rather intuitive, and FAST tools to fix what you once thought was unfixable in post:

1. You can color one area, multiple times, in one shot by using keyable masks that will track that specific area as it moves though your shot. Eliminating the tedious (and expensive hours) spent on keyframing. From reducing blown out highlights and differing reflections, to correcting multiple differing casts and evening out skintones, its an invaluable tool of which I can't speak highly enough.

2. You can use these masks, tracking, or reverse vignettes as “fake lights” on your subjects to illuminate areas that are falling flat, or where you just want them to stand out more in your composition. If one of your subjects is looking dull or doesn't match the lighting from one shot to the next- it is one of the few times I agree when someone says "we can just correct that in post"- and I don't shudder at render time or man hours knowing Davinci can do this in minutes!

3. In addition to all these visual and quality differences, if you are concerned about time efficiency, one of the most surprising things you will discover in Resolve, is that the render/export time­ is next to nothing.(Compared to Colorista, Premieres color tool, other plugins etc., you will export in real time- or faster- for relinking back in Premeire or whatever NLE you choose to cut with if you choose to color with Resolve..

4. And if none of this other stuff matters to you, I think the final product speaks for itself. :)

Here’s another trapcode particular experiment that I’d like to call the Viscous Jelly Ball.

This one’s a bit tricky to explain, but the key is to set up a particle emitter in a pre comp that can be used do drive many different effects. If it’s set up in a pre comp, any changes you make to the emitter will be automatically updated throughout the project, all the way up to your main comp.

The effect is built off of one particular emitter for most effects, and then another for the colored balls inside.  I created a custom particle for the main emitter that basically is a circular gradient from white in the center to grey on the outside. In combination with Particular’s shadowlette from main feature, I created a black and white particle emitter that can be used to drive a displacement map (to warp the background for a sort of fake refractive effect), a depth map (to drive a camera lens blur for blurriness) and a luma matte for other effects (such as contrast, hue/saturation, etc. so that that you can dynamically distort the transparency of the blob based on the particle arrangement).

I recently came across an interesting technique that creates the effect of blobby-connections between geometry in close proximity in After Effects. To achieve the effect, blur your objects (so that you create a blurred overlap between them), and then crunch the alpha using either a curves or levels adjustment effect. This eliminates the alpha channel gradient caused by the blur and leaves a rounded off edge connection… you can learn more about the effect at around the 7 minute mark of this tutorial on School of Motion - http://www.schoolofmotion.com/project/30dae_24_toonshade/.

Anyways, I wanted to try to apply the effect to Particular (a third party particle plugin for AE) to achieve a stylized, cartoony flame. I created the flame using a bunch of upwards wind, tweaking the turbulence for flame-like motion, and then applying the blob technique I just mentioned. Once I had one layer of the flame, I duplicated it, changed the random seed, and varied the particle life span to get the different layers of flame.

To get the movement of the flame, I used After Effects’ often forgotten “Motion Sketch” tool, to draw out the motion on my tablet in real time. I applied the motion to a null object, and then attached the particle emitter to the null. To add a bit more complexity to the motion, I added a bit of random motion (simple wiggle expression) to the position of the null object.

Once that’s all done, SOUND DESIGN! I added some crackling fire and torch sounds to complete the effect.

Check out the Newfangled Studios blog each week for new videos, motion graphic tests, and awesome animations and to learn more about visual effects! Newfangled Studios strives to create innovative and dynamic motion graphics, so come take a look and see what they are all about!