Flying bird for brand launch motion graphics...

[funksmaname]

edit: logo clip removed until further notice - replaced with flying bird
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This morning i got a call from one of my clients (at 9am) saying theres a launch party tonight and could I produce a short logo graphic to loop on the screens at the party... and could i do it by 11:30?... and... could i make the bird of the logo fly?

Well, i couldnt do it by 11:30 - thats just silly, but i did manage to finish at around 15:00 from start to finish... thankfully (and by pure coincidence) i've been messing with AS for the past week or so so the task of making the bird fly didnt scare me quite so much

Everything except the bird was done in AfterFX, but i thought i'd show the bird, as despite only spending about 30 minutes on it (tracing, boning the body, and point to point on the wings) i was quite pleased with the results

See the file

[Gnaws]

that is EXCELLENT!!

[slowtiger]

Perfect!

(Now would you just stop and brag around about how fast you are with AS since I try to sell my AS skills to a client and if he reads here I will get less cash!)

[ulrik]

That's a great looking flying bird you made!!

[Genete]

You can be proud of it!!
-G

[J. Baker]

Looks great! Nice work!

[funksmaname]

Thanks everyone

(Now would you just stop and brag around about how fast you are with AS since I try to sell my AS skills to a client and if he reads here I will get less cash!)

hehe... I think the panic of the deadline is what made me work fast, i knew that the AS portion would be the most fun but shortest part of the project Its possibly a bit slap-dash, but it got the job done.

I did spend longer than that exporting, putting it in AFx, then noticing some points were wrong, fixing, exporting, putting in AFx, noticing the back wing is too long... etc etc - 5 times... which took a while!

And i do sometimes wish they wouldnt dump such tight deadlines on me so that i can enjoy the fun part more, and charge more for it

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Technical info: incase anyone wonders, i exported the bird animation in high resolution as QT set to 'Animation' with 'million+' colours (to get the alpha channel), set to top quality... also i set the project background to pure white instead of light gray - that way i could tell AFx exactly what colour matt was used and i got a nice clear alpha edge (if you leave it gray you get a little halo around the edge of the export - the colour doesnt matter, as long as you knwo exactly what it is to tell AFx in the 'interpret footage' menu - in there i also set it to loop 10 times, i only exported 1 flap from AS)

[Mikdog]

Very very cool.

May I ask precisely how you achieved the gray veneer around the shot? My guess is After Effects, but what approach did you take?

Thanks.

(Strangely enough, it's always the tight deadlines that make you produce startling results, but always leave you feeling you wish you had more time to make it even better. Sigh.)

[funksmaname]

well, all i did was create a solid with an oval mask set to inverse with a feather... gave that the colour of the logo and set it to burn (or multiply... cant remember)

I could have done it a similar way in AS though, making a big square with an oval hole shape, setting it to 'soft edge' with a large blur...
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btw guys, as this brand hasnt been officially launched i will temporarily remove the video from vimeo until further notice...
sorry for any inconvenience - i'm just too keen to show the work it seems...
I'll replace it with the flying bird clip

Thanks for your comments.

[DarthFurby]

I wonder how fast vector morph is compared to frame by frame. 10 to 20 times faster maybe? The bird is excellent.