SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques), for those who aren’t in the loop, is an annual conference and exhibition for all things creative. Basically, it’s where everyone in the industry goes to show what software and hardware they’ve been working on, talk about how they created certain effects and animation, and, of course, network.

Here’s a look at what to expect at this years SIGGRAPH:

Technical Papers

There are a ton of advancements and improvements in the software field that will be on display at SIGGRAPH. There’s something for everyone here whether your interest is in fluids, cloth animation, modeling, mesh, photography, editing and more. They have created a nice video preview of some of these on their YouTube page.

Of course, these are only a few of the amazing things that can be expected. For a full list check out the Technical Papers section of the SIGGRPAPH website.

There’s a big announcement coming from The Pixel Farm centering around a new form of tracking software they have developed. Straight from a recently released press release, it will be based on a new node-based flowgraph architecture and an industry-first in camera tracking and match moving software.

The tracking market is long overdue for an overhaul, and this is a game-changing advance from The Pixel Farm. I think they’ve just re-invented 3D tracking,” said Victor Wolansky, VFX Artist, E3post, and 3D Tracking Professor at fxphd. “New products emanating from these developments will be a ‘must-have’ for anyone involved in the visual effects business.

Parametric Reshaping of the Human Body in Images

There’s also an interesting piece of software from a group of individuals that promises to make reshaping the human body in photos as easy as adjusting their height, weight and girth. I’m sure there will be a few minute adjustments that will need to be made afterward (much like the Adobe CS5 Roto Brush), but it’s a huge leap forward, none-the-less.

Emerging Technologies

SIGGRAPH isn’t all about the software. There are many new hardware advancements that will be on display for everyone to try and/or see from 3d multitouch and other touch displays to advanced smart lasers. Check out the preview video on the YouTube and view the complete listing here.

Computer Animation, Talks and So Much More

There is so much more to see and do at SIGGRAPH, you really need to be there in order to take it all in. Even then, you won’t be able to see it all, but the experience alone would be a great thing to behold. Everything from seeing the latest animation techniques and hearing the artists who created them discus the process behind their films to the newest designs and experiences being used in video games. Check out the SIGGRAPH website for full listings of what they have in store for you.

iPhone App

This conference is huge and finding your way around is a difficult task, but if you have an iPhone, you can download the new SIGGRAPH 2010 iPhone app that gives you the listings of all the events happening day-by-day, create your own schedule, get maps of the convention center, exhibition area and L.A. (for parties and hotels), and more. This is a must have download for anyone going to SIGGRAPH, and it’s FREE! Oh, and don’t worry about losing reception and not being able to access parts of the app; it’s all stored locally on your phone. Worry free.

If you haven’t been to SIGGRAPH yet, there’s still time to attend this years event. This late in the game the prices will be higher, but even a day pass would be worth it to see what is displayed and to network with some of the greatest minds in the field. Conferences like this are the perfect place to stay ahead of the industry, meet like-minded individuals and have a great time.

SIGGRAPH 2010 is being held in the Los Angeles Convention Center. Conference times are July 25-29; Exhibition times are July 27-29. Click here for a full schedule (or download the iPhone app). Visit Siggraph.org/s2010/ for more info.

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Color can touch an audience on a psychological level making them feel things they never thought possible, or never thought they could by just looking at a color. Diving into this deeper meaning can allow you, the designer, another way to better deliver the message in your project.

It’s very important to note, this is written from a strictly American point of view. Though the general meaning of your colors can be derived from your work, they can and do mean different things in other countries and cultures. Make sure you are aware of your target audience before you start slapping down colors, because that great piece you’ve been working on for the past month can give mixed signals to your intended audience, in the end. That said, let’s take a look at the meaning of color.

A neutral color. Lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays composing it. [2]

The absence of color, black plays two roles. On one side, it can give the presence of power, formality and elegance; on the other, it can be associated with death, evil and mystery.

Decreases Toxins in the body and is said to promote knowledge and self-assuredness. [1]

When you hear the word blue it is often linked to the emotional state of sadness (”He was feeling blue.”), but in design it actually means many different things depending on what shade of blue you are using. A light blue emits a calming effect, a mid-range blue can be invigorating and exciting, while a darker blue portrays strength and reliability.

Used for calming the nervous system and promoting creativity and spiritual awakening. [1]

Purple has been long associated with wealth and royalty, and things haven’t changed much. Dark purples are still associated with royalty and wealth, while the lighter purples are thought of as a romantic color.

Enhances energy and stimulates the production of red blood cells. It is the color of strong sexual desire and intensity. [1]

Red plays a part on both ends of the emotional spectrum. On one hand, red can be associated with war, violence and even death. On the other hand, it can be associated with love and seduction. It’s all in the way you use it. Because of its stimulating properties, it is often used in sales brand identities (such as Target), and throughout the store to promote sales.

A color varying from light crimson to pale reddish purple. [2]

Pink is often associated with femininity. It also emits feelings of being prim and proper, and maybe a little pampered.

Represents sensations of the body and bodily functions. It is an earthy tone indicating the importance of home and feeling of belonging. [1]

Brown is often associated with earth, being the color of the soil, and is thought of as a solid and strong color in the darker tones. Lighter browns are often thought of as giving off a more genuine feeling.

It represents vital forces of desire, appetite and hunger. It also represents youth, curiosity and activity. [1]

Much like brown, orange is also an earth tone, but because it is lighter, it is often thought of as a more energetic color. It also gives off a healthy, vibrant feeling because of it’s obvious association to the fruit of the same name.

An intense hue that stands for sunny, bright and happy thoughts. It can also have religious significance or connotations and represent the future. [1]

Believe it or not, yellow is often associated with happiness and hope. It brings out a cheerful nature in people. A lot of this can be traced to their feelings of the sun and sunshine and how that affects moods. Of course, yellow can also play a negative role as it means cowardice as well.

Steadfastness–standing up tall and firm like a tree. It is no accident this is also the color associated with money and wealth. [1]

Green, being another earth color, brings emotional ties to growth and prosperity. It is, of course, tied in with money and riches, but it can also mean greed and envy.

A neutral color; it is free from all stimuli. [1]

Gray rides the middle ground between black and white. It is often considered formal and business-like (which is why most computer equipment is gray), and it can also bring about feelings of depression and sadness.

A neutral color. Contains all the colors in the spectrum and is used to relax and soothe. [1]

White is the opposite of black. It is often associated with purity, cleanliness and all those wonderful “good” feelings. Also, on a side note, it works well with just about any other color.

What Does It All Mean?

Colors are more than just numbers in your program and pretty values that go well together. They do have a deeper meaning that everyone should learn. When you learn, and start using, them, your projects will start feeling more complete and more professional as a whole. Also, once you know the meaning of color, you can start playing with the meanings, giving your audience a false sense of what to feel only to turn it back around on them. It’s another tool for you to use in your ever-growing arsenal.

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pre·pro·duc·tion (prē′prə duk′shən)

noun

the process of preparing and planning before actual production begins; specif., the choosing of locations, casting of actors, revision of the script, etc. before the actual shooting of a film.

The idea of pre-production is a staple in the world of filmmaking, and it is no different in the motion graphics industry as well. Laying out your ideas ahead of time, making sure everything will fit together as perfect as you can, will make the entire production process run that much smoother and faster. It’s a skill they drill into your heads in college, and it’s a requirement in the workplace; why not practice it in all your projects, professional and personal. Practice makes perfect, after all.

So what goes into pre-production of a motion graphics piece? Let’s take a look at what you need to do and think about before starting production of your next project.

An Idea

Well, you have to start somewhere, right? You should already have a general idea down in your head, but start thinking it through from beginning to end. If you know how your project is going to start but you don’t have any idea of how it’s going to end, you need to do one of two things: brainstorm or scrap the idea. If you choose to brainstorm, don’t spend a ton of time trying to force the idea out of your head. This can lead to frustration and that can lead to more wasted time. Move onto another idea. You’ll either strike gold on that other idea, or you’ll stumble upon something that will work on your first idea. During this time, only focus on what the basic idea of your story is going to be and how it is to be played out.

Script

Not all projects have actual dialogue between characters or a voice over, in which case, a script isn’t really necessary, but if it does you will need to write it down. This is your chance to fine tune the dialogue so that it is the best it can be. Anything from a simple pen and paper to the basic TextEdit or Notepad to the more professional Final Draft or Celtx (which, sidebar, is a great free software to use) will work when doing this. Remember, this isn’t a professional script that you’re going to try to sell; you’re just trying to put the text down so that you won’t forget it and so you can make it as best as it can be. Even if your project doesn’t have dialogue, you may want to write down the individual shot ideas just to see if your idea flows together verbally. If not, skip to the next step.

Storyboarding

Even thought the AFI video above (narrated by Sean Astin–or Samwise, as I like to call him–and containing all the flare of an 80s educational video) is aimed at storyboards for filmmakers, it works exactly the same for motion graphics artists. The idea is to simply provide a blueprint for your idea. Much like a script where you fleshed out the dialogue for your story, the storyboard fleshes out the visual elements. Storyboards don’t have to be the detailed, highly crafted beasts you may have come to know and dread. Simple black & white sketches designed to show object placement, shot angles, camera and object movement, perspective and so on is all you really need. However, the more detail you put into your storyboards, the easier the rest of the work will be. Define light sources through shading; try many different designs and layouts. Define as many things as you can during this process so you won’t be struggling to figure them out later, or struggling to keep a project together because something you could have avoided isn’t working out.

Styleframes

Styleframes by Brad Chmielewski

The next step up from storyboarding are the styleframes. These are basically storyboards using elements you will see in the final project. Why create the elements and waste time putting them into styleframes when you could be using that time to keyframe and tweak effects? Because styleframes give you the opportunity to see if everything will actually mesh. Make sure your colors are correct, that your object fits your background, that the sizes of the objects will look the way you want and that your camera angles and movements say exactly what you want the scene to convey. You can even try out different effects to see if they are what you need or if you will need something more (or less). This is your final chance to change anything that might not work or need to be tweaked before you go into production. Make sure you have everything right now, and you’ll breeze through the production of your project later.

Key Things To Think About

There’s a lot to keep in mind, but here’s a list of some of the things you will want to think about during this entire process:

* What type of lighting am I going to use (three point, spotlight, area light, etc.)?
* What colors will I be using (specific colors, complementary, triadic, etc.)?
* What camera angles and shot lengths do I need (Know Your Camera, Part I: Shot Lengths & Angles)?
* What camera and object movement do I need (Know Your Camera, Part II: Movement)?
* What camera settings and/or effects am I going to use (Know Your Camera, Part III: Settings)?
* What software will work best (specific software; 3d or 2d)?
* What sound effects/music will I need?

Pre-Production is an easy thing to breeze over, but it really is the smartest thing you can do for yourself when working on a project. Thinking through the production phase of your project before you start will allow you to move faster through it with fewer hiccups. All of this, of course, means you’ll have more room to breath when your client changes his/her mind about something in the project, which, let’s face it, happens all the time. Why not allow yourself the room to breath? You will thank yourself for it later.

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Little Bites

A great video showing some nice simple type goodness combined with some 2D, 3D and pictures.

Space and Air

A nice little video here which combines live action footage, 2D typographic animation with a dash of 3D.

10:10 Climate Change

Some typographic goodness here, this time pure 2D animation.

Hello Brooklyn

This great video which uses ‘Hello Brooklyn’ by Jay Z uses still images and typography to great effect, showing what great stuff can be done just using those simple elements.

Inch by Inch

A great video using Al Pacino’s Inch By Inch speech from Any Given Sunday, done entirely in After Effects and Cinema 4D.

1 A.M.

This is a great video combining live footage with 3D and 2D work in Cinema 4D and After Effects.

NBC Rebrand

A nice video showing what can be done with typography in a more corporate setting in this NBC rebrand, also show a nice combination of stills,video and typography.

t3st urbanMotion

A great video from anibal Carnego, showcasing excellent use of still images and typography.

Ok It’s Alright With Me

This is a great music video with a great style and good combination of live action and typography.

MasterCard PayPass

A great video for Mastercard Paypass with a good combination of simple typography

Justice – D.A.N.C.E

This is a great example of a good combination of motion tracking, live action footage and some great examples of typographic animation.

Cyperaudio

A great example of very delicate and simple typography combined with what look like real footage or at least super realistic 3D.

How We Built Britain

Another nice example here of a combination of 3D, footage and typography.

New York Times: Turkish Edition

This is a great video with a whole typographic city on show, shows some great 2D animation and typography.

Flash on the Beach 08

We’re going back to the old school on this typographic goodness, this video by The Ronin features some type built entirely by hand and videoed, all build by hand.

Zombieland

Zombieland has some great typography both during the intro and through the main movie, definitely worth checking out.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this round up of some great typography in video and i hope it gives you some great inspiration to go away and make your own typographic pieces.  Let us know if you think we’ve missed any great videos that you think should have been included. Enjoy!

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Kook Ewo has worked on the title sequences for Splice, Silent Hill and Fracture, among many others.

We are trying something new here at FYM! Google Moderator allows anyone with a Google account to log in, post questions and vote up or down other questions if you like or dislike them. This allows you, the reader, to finally be in control!

We have an upcoming interview with Title Sequence Designer and Director, Kook Ewo (Splice, Silent Hill, Fracture), and we need your help! If you’re not familiar with his work, go check it out (http://thefrenchtitle.com) then come back here and post some questions and vote up or down other questions you like or dislike. Now is the time to finally ask a professional in the biz what you’ve always wanted to know! I’ll send him the top ten highest rated questions submitted (along with our usual questions) so start posting and voting now!

The deadline for posting and voting on questions is one week so get them in before July 9th! You will need a Google account in order to access the site. If you do not have one (and don’t want to create one) you can Direct Message me on Twitter (@fuelyourmotion) or email me the question at john@fuelyourmotionogrpahy.com and I’ll post the question on the board. Only serious submissions will be accepted.

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I am here today to take a brief minute or two to explain a beautiful and wonderful relationship. Honestly its like something out of a Shakespearian novel. If you call yourself a “motionographer” at any level you already know about this romance of “Bennifer” proportions, or at least know of it’s reputation. A lot of applications work great together and share data from platform to platform. However, in my experiences, none can compare to the love between Maxon’s Cinema4D and Adobe’s After Effects. The main beauty of it all is how well Cinema4D translates and packages up all of its data into a nice comfortable package for After Effects to unwrap and rebuild. For the sake of keeping it short and sweet (because believe me there is a lot you can do with integrating these two applications) I will cover 2 simple points and give a few examples as to why I think these two apps are made for each other. I’ve actually just finished a project where I used the C4D/AFX integration and will use a few examples from that piece.

The first ingredient to this wonderful little love affair comes with a simple click of a checkbox in a field called, “compositing project file”. On checking the Save box C4D will create a file in your file structure with the extension aec. Inside of this file, that opens with After Effects, holds a number of very important things. First it holds all of the 3D camera data that existed exactly how it was inside of C4D. Second it holds all of the file target information for all of your rendered passes out of C4D. Third it opens all that data up in a neat and easy to understand way. When opened it creates a folder tree inside of your project window that packs all of your data into specifically named sub-folders so it is easier to find later. It places all of your separate passes and object buffers into a folder called “Special Passes”. It then creates a folder called “Solids” which is where it will place all of your nulls, lights, anything else you put an External Compositing Tag on. But I’m getting a head of myself with that one. Lastly, in the root folder that the aec created is where you will find your main comp that encompasses all of your camera data, nulls, and footage to start to piece your project back together and begin adding all of your After Effects assets. If all this did was give you simply the camera data, it would be invaluable! Being able to take the true 3D camera moves you made inside of Cinema4D and now add assets in After Effects directly into the scene is crazy. I can’t imagine trying to do that while creating a brand new camera in AFX that matches the camera from C4d.

Second on my list is the External Compositing Tag. This is and does exactly what the name implies. Any null you put into the 3D environment and attach the tag to will then be saved as an XYZ position null for After Effects to use when you open the aec. Right off hand it might not sound like much, but believe me it is so much more powerful than it sounds. In the Easton trailer I placed a number of these nulls in the scene to be used later as light sources for the lens flares. Of course once I was in After Effects I could have guessed and eyeballed the correct position for any one of the nulls, but this comes much simpler and takes the time of positioning the null out of the time equation. Of course it can be used for placing things like pictures or videos in an exact position as well like I did with the pictures and the video of the band. Again, to make it look like it fits perfectly in the scene it simply makes more sense for me to know out of C4D the precise point at where this is supposed to live so all the movement and parallax looks correct. The last example I have for the beauty of the external compositing tag is if you plan on adding a moving asset in later. Something like that can be done in AFX alone, but again, to match the correct depth and position would simply take too long to justify not using the tag. When creating 3D strokes or particle streaks in AFX you could animate the null spinning around an object from C4D then in AFX attach a light to the null and point the particle emitter to that light. Simple.

There are a lot of other things you can do to help these two applications get along better. For example, rendering out the lights as separate passes so that you can adjust the brightness or color temperature later if you feel the need. You can render out object buffers in case you need objects in Cinema to move behind or in front of objects using track mattes. You can even render out the different shadow layers and all the layers that light up your textures. There is nothing better than realizing after an eight hour render that you made that light “too blue” and now you can simply adjust to a point inside of AFX and hopefully save yourself another eight hours. We’ve all been there, and we’ve all thought about kicking a cute animal across the room in a fit of frustration. Well, it looks like Cinema4D and After Effects are looking out for you and the cute animal you may or may not being thinking about punting across your living room.

If you guys have any questions, or want me to go into a little more detail about it feel free to ask me. You can of course leave a comment here and I’ll make sure to help out in any way that I can.

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Anybody who’s worked in programs such as Apple Shake will immediately recognize this view as the node view, and it isn’t too different from it either. Let’s take a look at the flowchart in Adobe After Effects.

Creating a Flowchart

You can easily create a flowchart two ways. The first is by using the menu and selecting Window > Flowchart. The title of the comp behind it is the flowchart it will display information for.

The next is by clicking the icon at the bottom of your composition window that looks like three boxes with lines connecting them.

Understanding the Flowchart

The flowchart is simple to understand and use once you know how things are set up. If you look down in the bottom left corner of the flowchart, you’ll notice six icons. These are the six options available to you when looking at the flow chart.

1. Show Footage: This will simply turn on/off footage in the flowchart if you want to view it or not.
2. Show Solids: Much like option 1, this will turn on/off solids in the flowchart.
3. Show Layers: Again, this will turn on/off layers in the flowchart.
4. Show FX: This will turn on/off any Effects you have on all of the attributes in the flowchart.
5. Toggle Straight/Curved Lines: Toggles between straight or curved lines between your attributes in the flowchart. If you move around attributes in the flowchart and want to tidy it up, you can hold down the option key on your keyboard and click this button and everything will instantly be aligned.
6. Flow Direction: This changes the direction of the flow of the flowchart. Your options are: Top to Bottom, Left to Right, Right to Left, and Bottom to Top.

Finally, let’s take another look at the flowchart and see if we can make sense of it all.

From what we’ve learned about the flowchart we can tell the Flow Direction is Top to Bottom because all the arrows are pointing down like they are literally flowing from the top to bottom. Bottom to Top would be reversed, Left to Right would be flowing from the left to right, and Right to Left would be opposite of that.

Looking a little deeper into this we see at the bottom is my main comp titled, generically enough, Comp 4. inside of that comp are three layers (1: Comp 1 – 3: Comp 3) made up of three different compositions (Comp 1-3) which are, in turn, made up of the smallest parts; here they are text layers and a solid inside another layer. If I had any effects in this comp they would be labeled under the title of the solids that they are being used on. Clicking the + button above the compositions will collapse and expand that line of attributes to help you view only what you want.

That, my friends, is the flowchart. It’s simple to understand once you take the time to play with it, and it can help you out a lot if you use it, especially on larger projects. If you ever find yourself staring down a large group of attributes and have no idea how they are all connected (for example, coming back to a project after taking a bit of a hiatus), the flowchart will help you make sense of it all.

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Fuel Your Motionography: I would first like to welcome you to the Fuel Your Motionography team and thank you for doing this interview; we are honored to have you!

TIMMY ALLEN: Thank you so much. You have no idea how crazy this is to me. Before we started talking about me coming on and doing some stuff for FYM, the site was always a place I visited to come and check out what is new and exciting in the world of motionography. To, in some way, be contributing to that is wild.

FYM: Have you always known you wanted to work in the motion graphics/visual effects industry, or was there a point in your life that spurred your decision?

TA: I have not known for very long that this is what I was going to end up doing as a career. Right out of High School I thought I was going to be a rock star. I was touring and playing music and hanging out 5 nights a week and I simply thought that was going to be it for me. When it all ended and I was standing in South Florida with no job and no degree, I decided to go to Full Sail University because the only other interest I had besides music was web development and design, and it would only take me two years to get my Bachelors. It was at Full Sail that I had one single class in After Effects, and it just stuck with me. Of all the design and web classes I was in, that single After Effects class made the biggest impact on me. So, that’s when I realized that motion graphics and broadcast design was going to be the path I wanted to take for my career. I still play music a lot and would love to tour when and if the opportunity comes around, but I’ve been bitten by this motion bug. I’ll never be able to stop.

FYM: You gained a lot of recognition from the Revision 3 podcast Film Riot along with Ryan and Josh Connolly, among others. How did your involvement with the show come about?

TA: Ryan and I have known each other since we were younger and have been really close most of our “adult” life. He’s my room mate right now, and he’s actually marrying my sister. So yeah, there’s a lot of connection there between the two of us. We both grew up goofing off in front of a camera and doing stupid crap to make our families laugh. I couldn’t imagine if any of those ever saw the light of day. I think it would be kind of like George Michael’s lightsaber video getting out… Yeah, like that. Film Riot is the brain child of Ryan with little ideas and tidbits from the rest of us. It is a blast to be involved (as I’m sure one would imagine). We literally get to go in front of the camera and act like idiots and people watch. Some of us get more naked than others, because what’s more funny than a naked dude? Correct, nothing. I win.

FYM: You also created the show KeyframeTV, an excellent show aimed at those who want to learn motion design and animation, along with Nick Campbell and Pasquale D’Silva. What inspired you to create that show?

TA: When I was brainstorming some way to get involved with the motion community, I thought some sort of an off script discussion between people that know what’s up would be useful. I don’t assume that I am someone who “knows what’s up”; I approached it as someone who didn’t know much of anything, and I’d get to sit there and tear apart cool pieces of work and listen to Nick and Pas be brilliant and feed my brain all sorts of knowledge-type goodness. I really just wanted to put content out there that I knew I was looking for myself. To see people in the industry professionally talking about what is “hot” and relevant in the community is something that I would find very valuable. However, my take on it was more as an “average” motionographer; how would I approach some of these big spots that seemed to be out of my reach. So I was watching Nick do the GSG stuff and thought I’d take a shot in the dark to see if he’d be down, and I was surprised at how excited he got at the idea. Pas is a buddy of mine that I met around the time that FR came out and we did some work together, and I felt that his knowledge of the traditional animation side of things would also be invaluable. Then, kaboom; Keyframe.

FYM: You’re a part of Film Riot, KeyframeTV, and now Fuel Your Motionography on top of having a successful career in motion design. What is your ultimate goal in all of this?

TA: Well, I don’t want to say, “Fame and money, of course”. To be able to love what I’m doing, and to pay the bills doing it is really the ultimate goal. A secondary goal would be to be someone that the beginner or average motionographer would come to for advice on general stuff. The grand circle of life in our community–watch and discuss with other people how to do amazing things in the applications I use, then to turn around and be that guy I went to for knowledge for some other person. I think to hoard knowledge and keep it all for yourself is really crappy. If you have knowledge that someone else wants to know and has a genuine thirst for and you keep it to yourself, you suck. I don’t want to suck. I want to share and grow with all the people around me and in the motion community.

FYM: What people, companies and/or projects are your biggest inspirations in the motion industry and why?

TA: When I was going through Full Sail University the iPod Nano commercial that J. Whitmore did with the light streaks wrinkled my brain! I saw that piece and became super obsessed with it. How did he light the talent w/ the light streaks? How did he generate those streaks off of the iPods? I just really became crazy with picking the thing apart and trying to learn how J. got that accomplished. Another big one was the Gap commercial from a year or so back when the dancers were surrounded by all the sketched animated art work, and their clothes kept morphing into other clothes. The style of the assets and the color correction that was done for that piece really had this great retro feel that I adopted into my “style”. I also loved the Coldplay iPod commercial… I mean, there are so many to mention and talk about, but I won’t bore you with them all.

FYM: What applications and plug-ins do you use and are there any that you are looking forward to?

TA: I use the normal applications to get my work done. Adobe CS5, and Cinema4D. In the areas I work in, there just isn’t an easier, more user friendly 3D app than C4D, and it’s integration with After Effects just can’t be touched. I use all of Trapcode’s stuff inside of AE. This recent CS5 update is mind blowing. Everything works so fast, and the render times have been slashed so dramatically. I love how I can spend more time working and being creative, and less time waiting on my computer to figure out what it is that I’m doing just to show it back to me. I use Nick’s HDRI Light Kit Pro inside of C4D. He really created something special there with the lights and controls that he implemented. Being able to see your lights modeled out inside of your scene really helps with positioning and scale. The last one I’ll mention is kind of a big one for me. If you’re someone who HATES rendering motion blur out of C4D because it takes for ever, there is an AE plugin called ReelSmart Motion Blur by RE:Vision Effects. That plugin has to have saved me hours and hours of rendering time. The best part about it is how beautiful it works and how accurately it gets me motion blur.

FYM: What do you feel are your strongest skills and your weakest points?

TA: Not sure if this is a “cop-out” type answer, but I really feel like a huge plus for me is that I am so crazy hungry to learn as much of this awesome stuff as I can. I am excited to learn new things and realize that maybe some things I thought I knew, I really did not know. Something weak about me is that I am very very easily distracted. It’s sad. With E3 being this week as you can imagine, I am just all over the place with all the new announcements of games and hardware and toys. I’m a child, I know. Pretty much, if I would just stay focused on learning and practicing my craft instead of things like video games, I would be a monster. Its something I’m trying to fix. I promise. Seriously, Gears of War 3…. MOMMA!

FYM: What are your goals for the future?

TA: I am actually about to incorporate and become something a little more legit than just “Timmy Allen”. So, to build up a studio of cool dudes that love what they do that has a great body of work would be the end all super cool goal. I’d like to get married too. Totally nothing to do with motion, but yeah. That’d be cool.

FYM: What advice do you have for any future motionographers?

TA: Practice. Learn. Freakin’ comb the internet for all the knowledge you can find in the areas you want to be active in. You can literally learn any area of motionography on the internet now. People like Nick, Rob Redman, and Robert Leger; they’re all putting out amazing content and tutorials on how to achieve some of the coolest stuff around, and its free. Just go there and watch. Its so simple! However, when watching these tutorials make sure you’re not just copy/pasting what they’re doing. Figure out how to use what you’ve learned and apply it to a project of your own. Follow people on twitter that constantly share great ideas and articles that they’ve found that have helped them out on their growth. All the knowledge in the world is out there for you to get exposed to and learn from. You just have to be proactive and get out there and find it.

FYM: You’re a busy man. Thank you for taking the time and welcome to the Fuel team!

TA: Thank you so much! I am so excited about all of this, and I’ll do my best to share and help everyone out however I can. I love talking to people that are hungry to learn and grow in their craft, and I will never shut anyone down. As long as it is in my pool of knowledge, I will happily share anything and everything I’ve got if someone wants it. I’ll see you around. Be good.

If you want more of Timmy Allen (and, really, who doesn’t?!) you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook, see his work on his website IamTim.me, watch his shows Film Riot and KeyframeTV and, of course, read his articles right here at Fuel Your Motionography!

Photos by Timmy Allen, edited by John Kostrzewski

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Precomposition

Precomps will help keep your work area more organized and allow you to do Pre-Renders much easier. After you have created a bunch of layers, select them and then do one of the following to create a precomposition: On a Mac press Control + Command + C, on a PC press Control + Shift + C or click and drag the layers to the Create a New Composition icon.

Nesting

Nesting is the same thing as precomping, only backwards. Instead of creating the layers and then creating the composition, you are taking the compositions and putting them into a new composition. It really is the same thing. To Nest your comps, just drag and drop all your compositions into a new composition.

Pre-Render

Doing this will help save you a lot of time when previewing and rendering your project. As you can imagine, working with so many layers and effects can be hard on your system when trying to render them all at one time. What pre-render does is it simply renders the composition you choose a head of time so the final render will take less time and everything will move that much faster. To do a Pre-Render, select the composition you would like to render and then in the menu select Composition > Pre-Render…

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Cinema 4D

Creating A Camera

To create a camera in Cinema 4D all you have to do is go up to the light menu (the button with the ball of light with four arrows coming out of it), click and hold the left mouse button and two camera options will appear among an array of light options. The first is a regular camera.

Camera: The ordinary camera is fully controlled by you. This means you control what it sees and how it is animated.

The second is a target camera.

Target Camera: The exact same thing as the regular camera, except it targets an object. This comes in especially helpful when you want to track an animated object or want to move the camera around that object while still keeping it in frame.

When you first create your Target Camera, you should see a Camera object and a null object called Camera.Target.1 in your Objects menu. To have the camera target an object, you must tell it what the target is. You do this by dragging and dropping that object in the Target null object.

After this is done, you must line the camera up with your target (or vice versa). The easiest way to do this is to view the target object’s coordinates and change the X, Y and Z coordinates to 0 and adjust from there, but if the object is exactly where you want it to be, you will have to copy the target’s coordinates into the camera’s coordinates and adjust. From here on, your camera will follow your target.

Camera Settings

Basic

We’re going to skim over the Basic tab because it is pretty self explanatory. You can, and should, change your camera name as well as visibility options and more. As I said earlier, the Help menu does a good enough job on the basics. You can find all the answers you need by viewing the help menu under Help > Help… and searching for Camera Object: Object Properties.

Coordinates (Coord.)

These change the X, Y and Z coordinates. P is position of the camera, S is size of the camera and R is rotation.

Object

Projection: This list (seen below) contains a bunch of different views for your camera: the standard left, right, front, back, top, etc.; plus not-so-standard views such as isometric, military and bird.

Because the camera moves around a lot when switching through the different views, they work best with the target camera because you won’t lose your object, but they can be used with either camera. There are more than a few interesting angles you should definitely try before you spend all your time trying to maneuver the camera into the right position. Using anything other than Perspective Projection makes the Focal Length, Aperture Width and Field of View settings nonadjustable.

Cinema 4D simulate a lens system as found on a camera. For the next settings I go over, keep in mind this diagram below. It’s a simplified diagram representing a lens system on a camera. Your Field of View is what you see (in C4D, the box in front of the camera). The Aperture Width and Focal Length are two things you won’t be able to physically see, but changing them will impact what you see in the Field of View. As you can see in the diagram, they are all connected.

Focal Length: These mimic the different lenses you can use on your camera. Focal length directly affects your Field of View. By adjusting the Focal Length up and down (anywhere from 1 to 10,000) you are moving the center of the X (in the image above) closer to the front of the lens or closer to the back. What this accomplishes is distortion of the image you are looking at. A short focal length gives a wide-angle view and a large focal length acts like a telephoto lens. This is how it fits more or less of the object in the Field of View.

Fish-eye 20 mm

Wide-angle 35 mm

Normal 50 mm

Portrait 85 mm

Telephoto 200 mm

Super telephoto 1000 mm

Aperture Width: The aperture is what allows light to pass through the lens onto the film in the camera. The ratio of the Aperture Width to the Focal Length determines how much of the scene can be viewed. Doubling the Focal Length and the Aperture Width will not change the viewing volume.

Field of View: This is what you’re looking at through the camera and is directly proportional to the Focal Length and the Aperture Width.

Zoom: The zoom is just that. It allows you to scale the image without moving the camera in and out. It can not be used in Perspective Projection.

Film Offset X/Y: This allows you to animate film much like you would traditional film.

Enable Near Clipping: Creates a vertical imaginary plane which causes all objects in front of the plane to be clipped.

Near Clipping: Use this to define the distance of the clipping plane.

Show Cone: Turns on and off the viewing cone in front of the camera.

Rotation: This allows you many different options of rotating the camera.

The options are as follows:

• Default: It’s the default setting you can always revert to. It is set by going to Edit > Preferences > Document > Camera Rotation
• Position: When this option is selected, the Pivot menu is opened up allowing you to choose two options: Object and Custom (view Pivot below).
• Center: Centers the rotation to the center of the active view.
• World: The world coordinate origin will become the point of rotation.
• Camera: The camera’s origin will become the point of rotation.

Pivot

The pivot point is the point which your camera rotates around. This can be moved based on the options you choose.

• Object: The camera will pivot around the object the you drag and drop in the object field.
• Custom: You choose the position the camera pivots around.

Show Pivot: Having this option checked will show the pivot point on screen as a small colored cross.

Depth

Target Distance: Determines distance from the camera that objects appear sharp. Depending on if you have Front or Rear Blur checked, you will be able to blur whatever is in front or behind the target distance.

Use Target Object:

Front/Rear Blur: You can specify which areas you want out of focus. You have the option of blurring what’s in front or behind the object targeted and where the blur starts and ends.

After Effects

Does this design look familiar? It should. Like I said in the beginning, all software based cameras are based on real world cameras, so they all share similarities.

In the camera options you have all the same settings you had in C4D and they all act the same so it would be redundant to go over them. Suffice to say, these are the same, so you should treat them the same.

There you have it. Through all three parts of the Know Your Camera series I’ve shown you Shot Lengths & Angles, Movement and, now, Settings of the camera object in Cinema 4d and After Effects that you can apply across all software. Play around with these settings to get a good feel for what they do because many interesting things can come of them. Good luck!

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It’s been around since August of 2009, but this little beauty is still worth mentioning. It contains all the shortcuts you will need to know for the entire Adobe Creative Suite from After Effects to SoundBooth, even Acrobat. All the shortcuts are updated to the latest release (CS5), and it contains shortcuts for both the PC and Mac versions. If you feel the need, there are links to download the PDF versions so you can take them with you where ever you go. Save yourself the headaches and download this app. It’s free, saves you time searching the help menus or Google and couldn’t be easier!

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It goes without saying that movement is important in motion graphics. The whole industry is based on movement, and through the use of the camera, and creative motion of your object, your work can really shine. Because we work in mostly user created environments, the cameras and objects can move in any direction or rotation that you can think up; however, by following the basics you can achieve better quality work that will appear less confusing to your audience. Let’s take a look at the basics of movement.

Camera Movements

Dolly

A simple movement toward or away from an object, or from side to side. This is not zooming, though they share similarities. The camera physically moves, but no settings of the camera (other than the coordinates) change.

Follow

Also called a tracking shot. The camera follows the object as it moves on the Y and Z planes.

Pan

The camera rotates across the object, but does not physically move it’s position.

Pedestal

A vertical movement as the object stands still.

Tilt

The camera rotates up or down to or from an object.

Arc

A 180 degree movement around the object.

Object Movement

The camera isn’t the only thing that moves in your scene; your objects can also have movement. The way the object moves depends on many factors including what it is and how it’s being used in the scene, so it can have natural or unnatural movement depending on what you choose and what the object is. A good rule of thumb is to keep true to the project and to what the idea of the object is. If the movement fits the object and the scene, then it’s a good bet it’s the right move. For more information on object movement and animation, check out The Principles of Animation for Motionographers – Part I, Part II and Part III.

The Foundation is Set

That’s the basics of camera movement. Hopefully this allowed you to grasp (or remember) the fundamentals which you can apply to your work. There are more camera moves and combinations of moves that you can apply to your work to make it flow better, but using these tried and true methods will give you a good foundation to start from. When striving to create better projects, you can never have too many tools, or too much knowledge, on your side.

Please check out my next article, Know Your Camera, Part III: Settings, in which I will go over the many different settings your camera has for you to play around with to create more interesting shots.

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With the internet becoming a major player in the media market, video is becoming more easily accessible by even those with relatively slow connections and there are companies that are pushing the limitations of what can be done when it comes to video. Ustream.tv and Livestream.tv are two of those websites and some big players in the motion graphics and visual effects industry are using them to their advantage offering live tutorials, reviews, Q and A sessions and just about anything else you can think of. The best part about it is it’s all completely interactive and in realtime, and it allows you a great way to network with like-minded creatives such as yourself and will give you a way to get an answer to those hard hitting questions you’ve always had.

Here are five live stream channels you should be watching.

GreyScaleGorilla Live

Nick Campbell’s synopsis of the channel says it best, “Question and Answer session on Design, 3D, Motion Graphics, Photography, and After Effects. All things creative really. I want to help you MAKE COOL SHIT!” All of this plus he does live tutorials as well.

http://www.greyscalegorilla.com/blog/
http://twitter.com/nickvegas

Happy AfterEffecting with Maltaannon

Jerzy Drozda, aka Maltaannon, holds excellent live tutorials in which he shows you some excellent techniques and tips for improving your work. He will also answer as many questions as he can as he works his way through.

http://www.maltaannon.com/
http://twitter.com/maltaannon

Cineversity

The official live stream of Cineversity.com, a great resource for tutorials on all aspects of Cinema 4D, contains great in depth tutorials that you can follow live.

http://www.cineversity.com
http://twitter.com/cineversity

Church Media Design

Brad is a busy guy. You may recognize ChurchMediaDesign.tv from my previous article, 25 Podcasts You Should Download. Well, he also offers a great extension of that giving viewers a behind the scenes look at how he creates his podcasts and answers as many questions as he can.

http://www.churchmediadesign.tv
http://twitter.com/cmdtv

SignalNoise

James White hosts the Signal Noise Broadcast which is an open forum for all to come and ask questions about art and all things creative as well as anything else that might be on their minds. You will also get a good dose of humor here as well.

http://www.signalnoise.com
http://twitter.com/signalnoiseart

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If you’re a fan of Maxon’s Cinema 4D, then there’s no reason you won’t enjoy their podcast Maxon Video Quick Tip. These tiny morsels of knowledge, running anywhere from under a minute to a little over two minutes in length, will fill you in on all aspects of how to use Cinema 4D to its fullest.

As the title suggests, Real World Footage Effects is brought to us by the great people at Artbeats.com, and we should be thanking them for it. Bringing together the latest plugins and effects with great footage from Artbeats.com, the hosts show us how to make gorgeous projects in After Effects.

The FxFactory podcasts are excellent tutorials that show you how to create amazing projects for After Effects, Final Cut Pro and Express and Motion using the FxFactory plugin by Noise Industries. If you have the plugin, download this podcast now. If you don’t own the plugin, watch the podcast to see what you’re missing. Even if you decide not to get the plugin, the podcast has a lot of great tips and tricks that will keep you on the top of your game.

Don’t let the presentation fool you, ChurchMediaDesign.tv covers everything from video editing to background extensions to match moving for all of us. Brad Zimmerman, the host, makes it all easy to follow and fun to do.

Film Riot is an excellent show that explains how to create the effects seen in big budget feature films for cheap at home as well as reviews of the equipment you’ll need to accomplish all those feats. The tutorials are aimed at the beginner level, but don’t let that scare you. You’ll learn something along the way, and you’ll laugh until you cry along the way.

All those wonderful tutorials you see on CreativeCow.net are delivered to your iTunes library on a regular basis and instructed by some of the top motion graphics and visual effects artists in the industry. Definitely do not miss this podcast.

Richard Harrington and a few guest instructors teach you everything you need to know about the entire Final Cut Studio: Final Cut, Motion, DVD Studio, Soundtrack Pro and Compressor. A must watch for Final Cut videographers.

Anyone using Boris Continuum Complete needs to watch these podcasts in order to get the most out the plugin. Like the other Creative Cow podcasts, this is instructed by industry professionals and contains a lot of great knowledge

If you’re looking for some great tutorials covering 3D software and effects, this podcast is for you. 3D Studio Max, Maya and Cinema 4D are all included for your viewing pleasure.

You say you love 3D but you use Blender. Well, there’s a podcast for that. Creative Cow has some excellent podcasts on everything that is Blender.

One of the best ways to stay on top of the industry is to study what’s currently being produced and FXGuide.tv does just that. Covering the latest motion graphics and visual effects in film and television plus current news and software developments, this is a must-have for anyone in the industry.

Using one of Red Giant Software’s products along with the built in tools in After Effects, Final Cut and Premiere Pro; Red Giant Television brings you the greatest tutorials by industry leaders such as Aharon Rabinowitz, Harry Frank and many more.

John Dickinson from Motionworks brings us some excellent, in depth one-on-one interviews with the current greats and the newest rising stars in the motion graphics industry along with inside knowledge you can’t afford to miss.

John Dickinson and his brother Robin Dickinson team up in this great podcast that brings you interviews and discussions on the business side of things. The podcast mainly focuses on the graphic design industry, but the information is great for everyone.

An excellent podcast, Down in Front is hosted by Teague Chrystie, Michael “Dorkman” Scott, Brian Finifter, Trey Stokes and sometimes other guest hosts and provides great commentary on movies that you should see. The awesome thing is that they don’t care if it’s popular opinion, they’ll tell you the truth ,but don’t let that scare you away. You’ll have a great time listening to this podcast.

/Filmcast comes to us from the great people over at SlashFilm.com and contains some great interviews with the directors and visionaries behind some of the greatest films of today and all time. If you want to pick someones brain, this is the place to do it.

A must have for anyone in the VFX industry, The VFX Show is a discussion show among industry veterans on the latest and greatest in the world of visual effects.

Terry White and other guest hosts instruct this podcast that comes to us directly from Adobe. Containing knowledge on everything from editing DSLR video to creating ePUB documents to dodging and burning in Photoshop, this podcast has a little bit for everyone.

If you’re just starting out with any of the Adobe products, this is the podcast for you. Dennis Radeke will walk you through step-by-step each of their products giving you valuable knowledge along the way.

Lynda.com is an invaluable resource in your quest for knowledge, and this podcast delivers it right to you. All of the latest and greatest free tutorials instructed by industry veterans and released by Lynda.com will help you push your skills to the limit in multiple categories.

Another great podcast to do with, as the title suggests, everything Adobe, Layers.tv has some solid knowledge on all Adobe software. Though it may not be as in depth as the others, it still has some good tips and tricks up it’s sleeve.

One of the greatest websites on freelance work also produces one of the best podcasts as well. Freelance radio gives you great advice to get your freelance business running smoothly and interviews that will inspire.

Interviews, news plus tips and tricks are all commonplace on Plugged-in, an excellent podcast brought to you by Toolfarm.com.

Workflow junkies was created for the video editor in all of us. They have great tips and tricks on how to improve your workflow in all your work as well as excellent interviews and news on the latest software developments in the industry.

Design Chat is hosted by Ryan McGovern and holds interviews once a week with those heavy hitters in the design industry, and even though it’s more focused on design, it’s still an excellent podcast for everyone.

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Throughout the history of cinema, clever camerawork has given individual meanings and emotions to certain angles and shot lengths that help push the message of the scene even further. These feelings don’t end just because you aren’t using a physical camera. They can, and should, be created with the virtual cameras included in the software you are using to tell your story. At the very least, it will make your work look more professional and make you look more proficient at the software you use.

In this article, the first of a three part series, I will explain the different shot lengths and angles and how you can use them to spice up your work and make it more exciting. So, without further ado, lets get to know the camera better by first focusing on shot lengths and angles.

Shot Length

When you hear people throwing around the terms “framing a shot” or “shot length” they are talking about the distance the camera is from your subject. There are many different types of shot lengths used, and each is used for a different reason and conveys a different meaning. Traditionally, the closer the camera is to your subject, the more intimate the feeling. It also should go without saying the further away the camera is from your subject the more you can see.

A lot of your work will be stuck in the long shot area, but when it is possible try to vary your shot length. You would be surprised at how little an audience needs to see in order to recognize an object. Also, you would be surprised at how certain objects naturally frame your scene the closer you dolly in on the subject. Don’t be afraid to try out different shot lengths and see how they play out with your project.

Let’s take a closer look at the more common shot lengths and how they can be used to make your work look better.

Extreme long shots are used in film and animation to simply set up a shot. For example, if your next scene is to take place in a house, the first shot you’ll see is an exterior shot of that house. This tells the audience where the next scene will be taking place and cause less confusion.

The extreme long shot can be used in reverse as well. If you start off with a series of close-ups on your subject and only give the audience an extreme long shot in the end to reveal where that subject is, you can successfully create a mystery and your audience may feel rewarded as they finally get the answer to the mystery they have been trying to solve this entire time.

A long shot is used in film and animation to basically show the subject they want the audience to be focused on in a scene. It’s created by filming the subject from top to bottom filling the entire frame.

A medium shot is half of a long shot. In film, it would be half of your actor (usually from waist up), but in motion graphics it would just be half of your subject whether that be text or an object.

Close-ups are, in film terms, used to show one character up close and personal, usually framing the head. In motion graphics it can be used to frame a smaller part of a bigger object–a tire on a car, for example.

Extreme Close-ups are mainly detail shots. In film they may be a shot of a character’s eye like in the intros to most early episodes of Lost. In motion graphics they are more likely just a shot of individual detail located in your work.

Angles

Angles are, of course, the angle of the camera in relation to your subject. There are many different angles in traditional film that are associated with emotions, and using them in your work can help you solidify a certain feeling without having to drastically change anything about your project. They also make your work look more professional and causes it to stand out from the crowd. Again, don’t be afraid to try out different angles on your project. In fact, rarely should your project ever have the dead-on eye level camera mentioned first below. Spice it up with different angles and see where it takes your project.

Eye level is a basic shot that is filmed as if it was right where you are standing, from your height. It’s a basic shot.

High angle shots give off the emotion that the subject is weak and cowering. You have seen it in film many times when the good guy is beating the bad guy (or vice versa). The one taking the beating is always filmed lower than the one doing the beating, and the camera is always looking down at them.

The opposite of the high angle is, obviously, the low angle, and it has the opposite effect as well. The more powerful character at the time will always be filmed at a low angle to give them more of a powerful stance as if they are mightier. It, of course, also makes the letters and objects look bigger so you may see them used in “big sales” ads or something to that effect.

Bird’s-eye views are simply there to allow the scene to be set up much like an extreme long shot. It’s mostly used when the subject is traveling from point A to point B.

If something is not right you might see the dutch angle. This gives the impression that something is wrong with the subject in the scene.

Over the shoulder shots are used mainly in film when two characters are talking to each other, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use this shot to spice up your work in a fashion similar to what I have in the picture above.

End Remarks

There is no definitive guide to what shot lengths or angles you should use in any specific area, especially in motion graphics, but the ones I have listed here have been tried and true in Hollywood for decades and will work for you in your project, even if it’s only on a subconscious level. At the very least you will be giving your work a different look which, in turn, will make your work look more professional and you look like you know your camera.

Please check back for the next part in the series, Know Your Camera, Part II: Movement.

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