TECH TIPS
Invigorating 3-D Titles
New Plug-In Increases After Effects' Compositing Capabilities
by Ben Bardens
One of the most common questions to come up in my classes involves creating 3-D titles and logos is, "Do I have to use a program like Maya or Max to create 3-D titles, or can After Effects do that?" The answer is yes, After Effects (AE) can handle the job, But it needs help in order to do so. Alone, After Effects has great 3-D compositing capabilities (see "Tech Tips," Editors Guild Magazine SEPOCT 05) but it is not capable of creating 3-D models with extruded shapes. In comes the 3-D Invigorator plug-in from Zaxwerks. The 3-D Invigorator lets you extrude objects and give them Z depth, creating models directly in AE. Without the Invigorator, AE's 3-D capabilities are like building a castle out of playing cards. With the Invigorator, it's like building a castle out of blocks.
The Invigorator is available in two versions—the Classic and the Pro. There are significant differences between the two versions, not unlike the differences between the Standard and Pro versions of AE itself. The Classic Invigorator has a full-feature set with which you can create amazing 3-D title animations; the Pro Invigorator takes it to a whole other level, allowing for things like morphing 3D shapes and lathing circular objects.
Many people who purchased the After Effects production bundle in past years may have the 3-D Invigorator Classic and not even realize it. AE 6 Pro shipped with a separate bonus CD containing the Classic Invigorator plug-in (note that discounted versions such as the educational version may not have been included this CD). In any case, both Classic and Pro Invigorat-or are available direct from Zaxwerks (www.zaxwerks.com).
The 3-D Invigorator plug-in for After Effects uses Adobe Illustrator objects and allows you to extrude them into 3-D shapes. You will need to have Illustrator to create or modify the basic outline shapes in order to make the most of the 3-D invigorator. The following tutorial is a basic introduction to using the plug-in and some of its features. You'll need After Effects version 5 or later, any version of Illustrator and the Classic (or Pro) Invigorator plug-in. Where the tutorial steps refer to specific buttons, use the Figure 2 graphic as reference.
For additional information on how to use Illustrator to create a simple vector logo, refer to "Tech Tips," Editors Guild Magazine MAR-APR 05.
To complete this tutorial, download the source logo file and sample pro-ject and movie from:www.barkanimation.com/guild/18.zip.
Tutorial
Open the MPEGlogo.ai file in Illustrator.
Choose Select -> All.
Double-click on the Scale tool in the Toolbox to display the Scale dialogue box.
Enter in a Uniform value of 160% and click OK.
In the toolbox, activate the Selection Tool again.
Select all and choose Object -> Group.
Choose File -> Export. (If you are using the new CS2 version choose
File -> Save As.) Next to Format choose Illustrator Legacy (ai). Name the file MPEGlogo_Outline.ai. (If you are using CS2, choose Illustrator 8 for format, close and save, then skip to Launch After Effects, below.)
In the Illustrator Legacy Options dialogue, for Version choose Illustrator 8.
Click OK in the version-warning dialogue.
Close the original file without saving and quit Illustrator.
Launch After Effects. Create a New Composition. Choose the NTSC 720x540 pre-set, specify duration of 10 seconds and name the comp 3-D Logo comp.
Create a New Solid Layer. Enter the name MPEG Logo, click the Make Comp Size button and leave the color at black.
Click the Quality Switch to toggle aliasing to off. In the Comp window, click the checkerboard background button to display transparency.
Choose Effect -> Zaxwerks -> 3-D Invigorator. Locate the MPEGlogo_Outline.ai file you exported/saved from Illustrator. Leave Move Objects to Center checked and click Select. Expand the Effects Control window to view the entire 3-D Invigorator Scene Preview and Property Groups. Save your project and name it 3-D logo.aep.
Click on the Update Model button. The 3-D Invigorator SetUp Window appears.
Click the 3-D Model button. Then from the pop-up menu that says None Selected, choose Select All.
On the right side of the Set-Up window, under Object, specify an edge profile from the Edges pop-up menu. After specifying a profile, modify the settings for Edge Scale (the thickness of the edge bevel) and for Depth (the extrusion depth of the model). Only adjust the SpikeBuster if you see problems with the vector shape in the form of spikes protruding from the object (this can occur if there are too many unnecessary anchor points in the Illustrator file. If your vector is clean coming out of Illustrator, you probably won't have to adjust this setting).
By default, the holes within certain letters will use the same edge profile as the edges of the letters themselves. To assign different profiles and/or values to the holes, uncheck the "Use Same Profile for Hole Edges" and modify. The settings used in the example: Outside Edges: Round, Bubble Rims Edge Scale: 60 Hole Edges: Uncheck "Use Same." and adjust Edge Scale to 30. Depth: 40 In the top left corner of the Set-Up window, click the button for Material Set-Up.
In the top right corner of the Set-Up window, click the tab for Materials. The Material Set-Up gives you a top view of the shape profile assigned to your object. Notice the little green numbers placed along the front, back and sides. This number corresponds to the numbered panels below. Assign a color and material value by dragging a swatch from the Materials panel on the right to the blank numbered panels below the shape profile. To add a different profile to different sides of the model, drag a new number from below onto the Set-Up view above. You can add profiles around the edge of the model by dragging the little green numbers to re-assign their position. The little red arrows that appear will indicate the point between the two assigned profiles.
To view or modify the material properties for the swatches you have assigned to the model, double-click on the swatch in either the palette below the model on the Set-Up side of the window, or on the swatch in the Materials menu on the right side of the window. In either case the swatch will appear under "Material Commands" on the lower right side of the window, with it's default settings shown for each property slider. You'll also see the color picker indicating the assigned color and the saved name associated with that preset.
The settings used in the example: Swatch #1: Green Glass preset Double-click on the Color swatch or use the eyedropper to reassign the green color to white. Assigned to swatch #1 (Front and Back) Swatch #2: Blue Glass preset
Double-click the color swatch to change the blue color to a brown/umber color. Assigned to swatch #2 (Outside and Holes) I left the rest of the material properties for each at their default settings
Click OK to close out of the 3-D Invigorator Set-Up Window.
Look at your Comp window to see the results of the initial set-up steps you just took. The model is currently in draft view.
To toggle the model to fully rendered and preview how it looks, click the rendering button in the Effect Control window from shaded to fully rendered, then toggle your Quality switch in the Timeline to Best.
Switching to Best Quality and fully rendered can take a while to draw. The transparency values associated with the selected materials increase the render time.
After previewing how the model looks, set the Quality switch back to draft, and toggle the render mode from full to wireframe.
If your background color is black you will not be able to see the black wireframe model against the black background. Choose Composition -> Background Color and change the background color to white.
Save your project.
In the Effects Control window, expand the Sets group and then expand Set 1 to reveal its properties. In the Timeline, change the current time to T=1 second. In the Effect Controls window, click the stopwatch for Set 1 Z Position and Set 1 Depth Scale, leaving the values for both at their defaults. In the Timeline window, select the MPEG Logo layer and push the "U" key on the keyboard to reveal the Set 1 Z Position and Set 1 Depth Scale properties.
Change the current time back to T=0 and then change the values for the two properties as follows: Set 1 Z Position: -3000 Set 1 Depth Scale: 3000 Expand the Value/Velocity graphs for each of the two properties and adjust as follows: For Set 1 Z Position, select the first keyframe and then choose Animation -> Keyframe Velocity. Under Outgoing Velocity enter 0/sec and Influence: 70%. Click OK. Select the second keyframe and again choose Animation -> Keyframe Velocity. Under Incoming Velocity enter 3000/sec and Influence: 0%. Click OK.
Repeat the above step for the two keyframes next to Set 1 Depth Scale, using the same values.
To finish blocking out the animation for the 3-D logo, set the following keyframes: At T=2:08 change Set 1 Z Position to 80. At T=3:12 click the add keyframe checkbox to set another keyframe for Set 1 Z Position leaving the value at 80. At T=4 seconds change Set 1 Z Position to 1180. Select the last two keyframes for Set 1 Z Position and choose Animation -> Keyframe Assistant -> Ease Ease. Set the end of your work area to 4 seconds and then build a RAM preview to preview the animation in real time.
Collapse the Value/Velocity graphs for the properties in the Timeline, and collapse the Set 1 and Sets groups in the Effect Controls window.
Save your project. In the Timeline, go back to T=0. Choose Layer -> New -> Camera.
In the Camera Settings dialog, choose the 50mm preset and click OK.
In the Effect Controls window, check the box for Use Comp Camera to tell the Invigorator to use the 3-D camera layer in the timeline instead of its own internal camera.
In the Timeline, change the current time to T=1 second and expand the Transform properties for the Camera 1 layer. Click the stopwatch for Position. Select the Orbit Camera Tool from your toolbox. Click in the Comp window and drag around to change the location of the camera without changing the camera's Point of Interest.
Move the camera around until the X, Y and Z values are approximately 730, -240 and -670 respectively (approximating the default camera angle we had a moment ago when using the Invigorator's own camera control). Note: It is important to keep the Point of Interest locked at 360, 270, 0. Using the Track X, Y, or Z camera tools instead of the Orbit Camera tool, or clicking on the camera wireframe in another view with the move tool, will affect not only the camera's Position, but also its Point of Interest. Move the current time marker to T=2:06. Change the Position value to 360, 270, -1000, again taking care not to change the Point of Interest.
Move the current time marker to T=4 seconds and change the Position value to 20, 270, -1000.
To smooth out the motion of the camera, select all the Position keyframes and choose Animation -> Keyframe Interpolation.
In the Keyframe Interpolation dialog box, change the Temporal Interpolation setting from linear to Auto Bezier and click OK.
Set the end of your work area to 4 seconds and build a RAM preview to view your work. Render your movie by choosing Composition -> Make Movie. Use the Best Settings and Lossless with Alpha presets to render a full quality movie with alpha channel.
To experiment adding effects to the logo, create a new project (or comp within the same project) and import the prerendered movie. Experiment adding blurs and transfer mode changes to duplicate movie layers (see the "FX treatment.aep" file for ideas).
That's enough information for this issue. The Invigorator is a deep plug-in that opens up infinite possibilities for creating 3-D titles within After Effects. Save your project file from this tutorial. In the next issue, we'll build on it by adding special effects, creating a custom background and a transition to complete the wipe.
Guild member Ben Bardens runs a graphics studio and works as an editor/technical director in the Burbank area. He teaches After Effects and Photoshop at Glendale Community College and can be reached at bbardens@glendale.edu. Find out more about his classes at www.glendale.edu/~bbardens.
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