Tutorial 41: Ring of Fire

Joe Clay | Oct 21, 2016

This After Effects tutorial goes over an interesting technique to generate masks for use with Video Copilot's Saber plugin using turbulent noise and turbulent displace in combination with shape layers.

If you want to make this loop, you can precompose and time remap. I would also normally suggest that you get the evolution to cycle, but you can't evolve turbulent noise in a cycle for some reason.

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Tutorial 40: Interface Interaction

Joe Clay | Oct 14, 2016

This After Effects tutorial shows you how to use your own mouse to move a digital mouse on screen and interact with elements in your scene.

If you were paying close attention, you might've noticed that I didn't completely reset the icons to their original size because I parented them to the cursor and then set their scale. Alternatively I could've just parented them to the cursor before I set its scale. Either way, you still need to make sure to scale them back to original size (or copy the original instead of splitting the parented layer and un-parenting it). It's AE, there's a lot of ways to do things!

I haven't made many errors in 40 of these. One was bound to sneak in!

If you'd like, you can download the cursor icon and use it in your own projects!

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Tutorial 39: Liquids

Joe Clay | Oct 7, 2016

If you've ever wanted to make a simple liquid-filling-something effect, this quick and easy tutorial is for you. You might not believe how simple it is. It's not RealFlow, but it is RealEasy.

Also, if you're nerdy like me, you're probably wondering why I always start my shapes by double clicking the tool. That's the quickest way to make sure your shape is centered exactly in the middle of the comp with its anchor point in the middle. That way you can rotate the shape without it wobbling.

Tutorial example

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Tutorial 38: Fiber Optics

Joe Clay | Sep 29, 2016

In this tutorial we show an easy but somewhat intensive way to make a really neat faux-particle system of fiber optics. The best part is that you can create it once and use it over and over again. So crank up a podcast (we recommend 99% Invisible), fire up Illustrator, and join us.

Tutorial example

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Tutorial 37: Glitch Text 02

Joe Clay | Sep 23, 2016

This week, we go over another path to ultimate text-glitchyness using some simple mattes generated with C4D and mograph.

For more information check out Nik Hill's Go Bag end credits.

And I just found this link from Cineversity which might make my tutorial irrelevant (but I think it explains the 3D side, not the text).

And check out my previous glitch text tutorial (#28)

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Tutorial 36: Expression Selector Part 3

Joe Clay | Sep 16, 2016

In this tutorial we continue to unlock the black hole of expression selectors. We've figured out how to loop animations around path text masks.

Check out tutorial #34 and #35 for more information.

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Tutorial 35: Expression Selector Part 2

Joe Clay | Sep 9, 2016

In this tutorial we continue to unlock the black hole of expression selectors. We've figured out how to loop animations around path text masks.

Check out tutorial #34 and #36 for more information.

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Tutorial example

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Tutorial 34: Expression Selector Intro

Joe Clay | Sep 2, 2016

In this tutorial we attempt to uncover the dark art of Expression Selectors inside of Text Animators.

Other references can be found here:

And when you're done, continue on with #35 and #36.

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Tutorial 33: Quick Tips 02

Joe Clay | Aug 26, 2016

This is another quick tips video that explains a lot of common mistakes that new animators make. While we're normally geared to advanced users, I haven't seen a tutorial highlighting most of these concepts for new people.

Timecode for the beginning of each of the ten points is as follows:

If you know any new animators, pass this on. Thanks for watching!

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Tutorial 32: Text as Shapes

Joe Clay | Aug 19, 2016

In my quest for delay effectors and randomization in shape layers, I stumbled across a technique using text on a path. I wish I could say I figured out this one on my own, but in this case I'm standing on the shoulders of giants once again. Knowing of the technique, I figured out one way to do it.

This technique has endless possibilities. There are so many properties that can be animated through text animators that you can do anything. I bet you could even do a simple particle system using these animators. And if you combine it with the dark magic of expression selectors or even wiggly selectors, you can do even crazier stuff. Perhaps we'll explore that in a future tutorial.

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