Actions

How to create shortcuts for actions that you repeatedly do in Adobe programmes.

1. Window > Actions
2. Choose shortcut key e.g. cmd + f9
3. Hit play
4. Carry out the action
5. Hit stop

Harvard Citation

MtMograph. (2014). Summit 53 – 5 Minute Auto Actions – Illustrator.Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxkuqJuG7uY. Last accessed 27th Feb 2017.

 

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Wolfhound Media

I got a reply from Wolfhound Media about working on one of their unfinished shorts, asking if I would be interested in it.

Since I’ve started creating assets for my own short and the deadlines are in February mostly, I’m conflicted. Also, I have pretty little experience in VFX and don’t want to waste their time, that being said, I think I’ll maybe give it a go.

 

First After Effects Walk Cycle

This is the result of following the tutorials cited below which taught you how to use the puppet tool to rig in after effects. Exactly what I learnt from those tutorials is detailed in the previous post “Character Rigging”.

Harvard Citation:

MtMograph. (2013). Summit 4.1 – Character Rigging – After Effects.Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yRFBgojsHk. Last accessed 29th Oct 2016.

MtMograph. (2013). Summit 4.2 – Character Rigging – After Effects.Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9YlzbxxcoE. Last accessed 29th Oct 2016.

Character Rigging

I figured this would be a useful skill to have, and also it seemed pretty fun to do as well.

Things Learnt:

Illustrator

• hold alt and drag on a layer and it will duplicate it
• when moving shapes to different layers > select the shape > click and drag the dot in the layer panel up to the new layer

My Character

After Effects

• Import the illustrator file as a composition
• Use the pan button to move the anchor points from the centre of the screen to the bending points on the character e.g. for the arm, place the anchor point at the shoulder
• Pick-whip the various body parts the the appropriate parents, e.g. the head is parented to the body, the hair is parented to the head etc
• Parent the body (which everything is ultimately what every limb is connected to) to a null object so then you can scale the body via the null. If you don’t use the null to scale, then every limb scales proportionally to itself and not in relation to the character overall
• Puppet Tool : simply click the pin icon and then click along the centre of the image to add the pins where the character should bend. Recommended expansion is 2 and triangles is 450.
• Animation wise, have the “puppet” label selected down in the composition tab, and then simply move the pins into the required position and it will automatically key them
• Parallax : make all layers 3d > create a camera with depth of field enabled > create a null object and parent the camera to it (use the null object to move the camera) > simply play about with the depth of field & aperture settings in the camera until you’re happy with the results

Motion Graphics Website

In order to apply for the Motion Graphics post, I need to update my website.

However, since my website has mostly modelling and VFX on it, I figured it’d be best to just set up another motion graphics specific one.

Hence, I researched some other motion graphic sites, to see what was the typical format. I picked one independent artist and the other was a motion graphics company.

Notes:

• All one page
• Still has contact specific page anyway
• Portfolio page
• About me page
• Contact info is at both top and bottom along with social media

Sites I looked at:

Artist: http://www.davidmattock.co.ukhttp://www.davidmattock.co.uk

Company: http://squeezedmedia.com/services/2d-animation/?gclid=CM_gsZmo9M8CFZKZGwodZQgGWA

 

 

Wolf Hound Creative

Aisling posted about the opportunity to work with Wolf Hound Creative on a short film.

I applied for that today and so we’ll see how it goes.

I spent the last two weeks building up a body of VFX work and updating my website and LinkedIn, so hopefully that will count for something.

There’s another position at MCS with After Effects that I’m going to go for and the closing date for that is the 27th, so hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze some more work in for then.

Motion Graphics Showreel 2016