Friday, July 31, 2009

A very quick Otto test animation

I whipped together this quick junky little test today between meetings, tasks and errands....



For some reason YouTube cut off the last second or so. I'll need to re-upload it. Meanwhile here's a larger Quicktime version you can right click and Save As if you want to frame through it.

I do apologize that it's so short. Like I said, it's just a test- there's no story or really any character here. The goal was to just try and see how far I could push the smearing, do some Tex Avery eye popping, try out some different background styles and work out ideas on how I can use simple motion graphics to plus the emotional element in a subtle way. Scrap paper stuff, really.

The actual animation took me maybe an hour or so, the backgrounds took longer because I tried like, oh, I dunno-- 43 different varieties of styles? I probably spent 3 hours on the motion graphics stuff alone, much of that was just learning how to use After Effects' particle systems again and then trying a hundred different combinations to see what I liked. It's been years since I've touched that stuff. The audio editing was pretty quick, a half hour or less. Anyhow, just thought I'd post it in case anybody was interested. There'll be more to come, hopefully with more of a story & character to it.

11 comments:

Thom said...

That is fantastic!! It opens up so many fun possibilities. I'd love to see a version without the background, just to isolate the effect of changing it.

Congratulations!

C.Fram said...

Hey Keith,
Have you tried using the MeshWarp effect in AfterEffects? I've gotten some pretty good smearing results with it. Anyways, keep up with the experimentation, its going in some really tasty directions!!

Keith Lango said...

@Thom:
I'll put up a clip with just Otto a little later today. Glad ya dig it.

@C Fram:
Thanks! I did experiment with AE's Liquify filter in the past during my explorations into how to do this kind of stuff. It's pretty cool. If I didn't have this in-camera 2d smearing tool for Maya that I'm beta testing I'd probably end up using the AE Liquify filter for the smearing. The cool thing with the smearing tool in Maya is that I don't need to wait to see how the smearing of things will work til after it's all rendered. By keeping it all in one step in one app it allows the animation process to be more cohesive, intuitive and most importantly- flexible for editing. Even so, I still use the AE filter for plussing things. I used it in some places in this clip and I will continue to use it to plus things in post.

marcelino newquist said...

Hey Keith, I'm a big fan of your work. This test is awesome. I didn't even notice how smeared the geometry was until I framed through the shot. I love the style you're going for, by the way how did you create backgrounds? Did you use photoshop, and what effects did you use to get that very painterly splatter effect. Can't wait to see more.

Awesome stuff!!!

-marcelino

sunny kharbanda said...

Great little test. I love the timing and the smears. Just one thing: When the background starts shaking during the take, it rotates around the center of the frame and it's just a bit distracting, because Otto's on the right. Can you try rotating it around some point directly behind Otto? That might sell the effect better.

Keith Lango said...

@sunny:
chalk that up to my rustiness in AE. I found the way to do that, but not until today. Go figure. Interested to hear your thoughts on the motion graphics bit.

@marcelino:
Thanks for the good word. The bgrds are done in Painter. I used pastels, sponges and artist's oil brushes. I may have used some liquid ink dribbly pens for the red/crazy bgrd for the eye bugging take.

Sruli Broocker said...

Yeah with YouTube you gotta add an extra second to it, cause it'll get lopped off, otherwise. Lookin' good as usual. Love the backgrounds, Keith.

sunny kharbanda said...

Can't blame you for being rusty in AE... you've obviously been spending inordinate amounts of time in Maya and Painter in your style explorations.

Took a closer look at the motion graphics. For some reason I liked the "post-take" background better than the "pre-take" one, though they're based on the exact same background image. Could it be because the squares after the take are "popping", while the circles before the take are constant and smooth?

Whatever the reason, the circles pulled my eye away from Otto during his hold. The squares on the other hand fit nicely. Funny thing is, the motion of the squares is on 1's, just like the circles; but the visibility pops. Somehow that's enough to make them fit in better.

Maybe animating the circles on 2's would do the trick?

What did you use to animate the circles and squares? Some particle effects in AE?

Keith Lango said...

@sunny:
I used some particle deal in AE for both. The circle bubbles on the first one bug me only because they're solid. I found a way to make them just circle outlines, which I would have liked better. Animating them on 2's could be interesting. I'm still pretty early in the whole motion graphics flare development.

Menoz said...

hi keith!
can you tell more about the smearing in maya? does it is based on the artistan smear?

jubyjose said...

hey Keith,

Its great... Thanks for enriching us again!

Juby