Internetting.

When considering how I could achieve my ideas through after effects based work, I had a quick look around Youtube and had just a general google on some tutorials that I could perhaps use to apply to my work.

If I were to do my project on the water cycle, and involving water, I was thinking of perhaps how I could simulate liquid using after effects. I have little understanding of how this is done, and have only really seen before how it can be created using modelling tools such as Blender. I found these tutorials in the Creative Cow channel which gives me some idea of what I can do, and what kind of look I can get with it. Obviously I'd need to do more research and tests, but this is a good place to start.

Next I had a look at I could perhaps generate 3D architecture in After Effects, and how I can create 3D from a 2D image if I were to try and do a project on architecture. This is quite relate able to the tutorial I did the other day about animating a still image, but with a different result. I think, depending on what kind of thing I wanted to do, I could find this quite useful.

I then looked at if I perhaps wanted to simulate leaves or growing things in a project on nature reclaiming the world, then I looked at how I could do it. I realised by looking at this that of course, due to the limitations of my time and the limitations of the program that it would probably be a lot easier to create a project that was stylized to look like a sort of animation. I think this could be done quite effectively, and I have some idea of how I could do it.

Lastly, I looked at this tutorial on camera mapping as a general tool for any of these projects. If I want to create something 3D then using a camera is going to be necessary, and if I know how to use that camera to a fuller extent then it would give me a lot more options in terms of what I can do for my project. So, this tutorial was something I could find really useful.

The Next J.J Abrams?

Last week we were given a tutorial from Video Copilot on animating a still image to make it look like it is moving. The above result is what I came up with, and overall I found the tutorial very useful, and saw how I could apply it to my own work during this project. Having used Video Copilot before when trying to create new effects on previous work, I was familiar with how those tutorials worked.

However, I didn't stick entirely to the tutorial in some ways as I didn't like the personal style of that complete effect that much. For one I didn't have the optical flares plug-in Andrew used in his project, but I disliked the flickering of the flares he used also as I found it to be too distracting. Also his light on the flare was very warm, and I found that distracting as well so I opted for something a little lighter and more natural.

Changing the colour to the lens flare was slightly more complicated than the tutorial as after effects does not give you that option naturally. So, to create that I used the lens flare effect provided and attached it to a null object, then put an adjustment layer on to that null object and played with some colour correction tools.

Also, the multiple ways he showed me to create a camera shake was nice, but when I tracked the real footage and applied it, I found that I personally didn't like the amount of shake created from that footage, so I just used the digital shake created and made it more shaky by changing a few values. I understand the importance of using real footage for a more realistic look, but I felt that was going a little overboard.

I think the effect turned out pretty well in the end, and I'm pleased with it. Here's a link to the Video Co-pilot tutorial if you don't know of the site currently: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/animating_a_still/

Where in the food chain are we?

Nature is an ever changing, yet ever constant thing. It is always there, but never exactly the same as it was just then.

In class today we were taught by an artist called Vicky Smith who was showing us how to research for our After Effects based projects. In this lesson we had to do the dreaded group mini-exercises and try and develop/come up with some ideas. Now, if you've seen my previous posts regarding my research into artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, then you will know that my ideas have been mainly regarding natural change. As such, I told my group about this idea and just talking about it made me realise some things about myself:

1. I concern myself with the idea of nature being the true ruler of the planet.
2. I believe humans are arrogant beings.
3. I like the idea of making work that is related to something tangible.

Out of this discussion, my group made some suggestions of how I could show the desctruction of man made things through being reclaimed by nature. For example, showing small elements of a forest with perhaps footprints or carved letters in a tree, and then watch in a time lapse style across the three screens in which this piece will be displayed, how nature reclaims them. However, I feel this is too obvious. It's a nice idea but I think it's so easy for us to not care about nature and for us to be detached from it. So instead, I would like to develop this idea to be perhaps something more sinister for us as human beings. Something that we will be more inclined to relate to.

Also, as this is an After Effects based project, I will have to consider how I can incorporate digital effects into this, and as nature is so free flowing, how to perhaps simplify some elements so as not to create something too complex. I will have to do some more research on it.

I will leave you with something this topic reminded me of:

An Amaryllis is a flower which grows in the desert, it's very versatile and can live with little water. It also blooms all throughout the year, and can also bloom indoors. It's an amazing, and often overlooked beauty which highlights exactly what this post is about.

(img: "Nature Reclaiming"- http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandpam/ used under the Creative Commons License.)