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Tip #656: Keyframe Interpolation Tips

… for Visual Effects

Tip #656: Keyframe Interpolation Tips

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Interpolation is the process of estimating unknown values that fall between known values.

The interpolation settings in Apple Motion. Adobe After Effects is similar.

Topic $TipTopic

Interpolation is the process of estimating unknown values that fall between known values. The key phrase is: “between two known values.” (By comparison, extrapolation attempts to figure out where a line is going outside of a set of known points.)

Interpolation is at the heart of keyframe animation. We set a starting point and an ending point, then the software calculates all the points in the middle. What the interpolation settings determine is how those points are calculated.

Because interpolation generates the property values between keyframes, interpolation is sometimes called tweening. Interpolation between keyframes can be used to animate movement, effects, audio levels, image adjustments, transparency, color changes, and many other visual and audio elements.

Temporal interpolation is the interpolation of values in time; spatial interpolation is the interpolation of values in space. Some properties—such as Opacity—have only a temporal component. Other properties—such as Position—also have spatial components.

  • Constant: When applied to a keyframe or curve segment, this method holds the keyframe at its current value and then abruptly changes to the new value at the next keyframe.
  • Linear: When applied to a keyframe, this method creates a uniform distribution of values through the keyframe from its two adjacent keyframes. When applied to a segment, this method creates uniform distribution of values between points.
  • Bezier: This method lets you manipulate the keyframe curve manually by dragging the tangent handles. If multiple Bezier keyframes are selected, or Bezier interpolation is applied to the curve segment, the handles of all selected keyframes are modified.
  • Continuous: This method behaves like Bezier interpolation, but without access to the tangent handles (which are calculated automatically).
  • Exponential: This method creates an exponential curve between the current keyframe and the next, changing the value slowly at first, then reaching its maximum rate of acceleration as it approaches the next keyframe.
  • Logarithmic: This method creates a logarithmic curve between the current keyframe and the next, changing the value rapidly at first, then slowing drastically as it approaches the next keyframe.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s an Apple Support article to learn more.

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Tip #627: Use Replicators for Repeating Effects

… for Apple Motion

Tip #627: Use Replicators for Repeating Effects

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Replicators duplicate and animate objects.

Replicator controls, along with keyframes for Offset.

Topic $TipTopic

This is a tip where I’m giving you a recipe, but you will need to figure out the ingredients.

Replicators are a little-used behavior in Motion. Replicators take elements, which could be anything from a simple line to a logo, duplicate it and, depending upon the settings you apply, animate it.

You can see examples of these in Library > Replicators.

However, you can also create your own:

  • Import a logo or use elements from the Library.
  • Click the Replicate button in the top right of the Motion interface.
  • Go to Inspector > Replicator and play with the Replicator Controls.
  • One way to animate this is to apply two keyframes to Offset. Put the first keyframe at the start of the project and the last keyframe on the last frame of the project. If the Offset amount is a multiple of 100%, the animation will seamlessly loop as the project repeats.
  • For other animation, apply Behaviors > Replicator > Sequence Replicator.

The controls are simple – but, depending upon what you are replicating, the results could be very interesting!

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Tip #628: Cool, Pre-Built 3D Lighting Effects

… for Apple Motion

Tip #628: Cool, Pre-Built 3D Lighting Effects

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Lights can create very interesting backgrounds – especially with particles.

The Diagonal Left lighting setup, colored with blue and red lights and one light converted to Spot.

Topic $TipTopic

Motion has extensive lights and lighting controls available within the app. In fact, they are one of the few elements in Motion that fully exist in 3D space. But, while powerful, they also require an understanding of 3D space, which is confusing to many.

Here’s a way to get started with 3D lights, without causing your brain to explode.

In this example, we’ll apply lights to a particle cloud.

  • Create a new project.
  • Drag Library > Particle Emitters > Smoke > Rising Smoke into the center of the Viewer.
  • Click the 3D icon just to the left of the lock icon in the Layer’s panel to convert the layer from 3D to 3D.
  • Go to Object > New Light Setup and apply any set of lights you like.
  • Select any light in the Layers panel, go to Inspector > Light and change its color, or type, or, anything. Watch what happens.

The particle system provides a cloud that picks up every light. Play and see what you discover.

EXTRA CREDIT

Each light can be animated for movement, color and direction. This is a great way to create a background for an infographic.

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Tip #633: Storyboarding Visual Effects

… for Visual Effects

Tip #633: Storyboarding Visual Effects

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Storyboards and production design are integral to all visual effects.

Doubling – a split-screen effect. (Image courtesy of StoryboardThat.com)

Topic $TipTopic

This tip, written by visual effects artist, Miguel Cima, first appeared in StoryboardThat.com. This is a summary.

From the very beginning of the creative process, imagination is in play. Before a thing exists, it must be visualized in the mind. This happens in filmmaking all along the way. First the screenplay must be written, a necessary text exercise which does not allow for initial images. Then comes the storyboard. At this point, the first spark of what lies inside the artist’s mind comes to life.

Deep into film’s history, various techniques have been employed to insert imagery which was not filmed on set with things which were. Regardless of how special visual effects are accomplished, one central challenge has always been consistently presented to filmmakers: how can a scene be filmed when much of it cannot be seen at all? Here are some of the more common visual effects used in live action feature films, and how the filmmaker can approach mastering the art of “see you later.”

  • Animation. The good news for the filmmakers is that a well-crafted storyboard will serve as a guide in pre-production to get cast and crew familiar with the idea of what the final frames and sequences will look like. When combined with character illustrations and production design renderings, a full picture can be grasped to help translate not only the action, but the mood of what will be added in later.
  • Miniatures. One of the oldest tricks in the special visual effects book is the use of miniatures. Traditionally, this meant building scale models of environments to represent very large sets like entire cities, massive vehicles, huge structures, and so forth.
  • Matte Paintings. Another time-honored method to add large-scale environments is the Matte Painting. There’s a few different ways to do it, but essentially, an artist paints a highly detailed photo-realistic set piece, often on a massive scale, to depict what a set could not.
  • Stop Motion. There’s a certain charm to stop motion animation, even if the final product cannot mask what it is. From old classics like King Kong to 2015’s Oscar-Nominated Anomalisa, there’s a texture to exposing fully posable models one frame at a time that CGI can never recreate.
  • Doubling. Everybody seems to love twins. And clones. Whatever the case, every time you see a double of a character on screen, it is almost invariably the technique of doubling which you are watching (as opposed to using real-life twins, triplets, etc.). But as always, doing early tests with the tech on hand can do an even better job on performance prep.

EXTRA CREDIT

The article itself, as well as the illustrations, are a fun, easy read.

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Tip #634: Three Easy Recipes for Fake Blood

… for Visual Effects

Tip #634: Three Easy Recipes for Fake Blood

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Fake blood stains easily. Be careful of your clothes.

Image courtesy of Raindance.com.
Nothing like blood everywhere to add, uh, impact.

Topic $TipTopic

This tip originally appeared in Raindance.com article. This is an excerpt.

We all gotta die sometime – however most actors prefer that it not happen on camera. For those situations, we need FAKE BLOOD! Here are three recipes.

Corn Syrup Blood

This is the recipe that pretty much everyone uses, and there’s a lot of variations so feel free to experiment.

  • 16 oz. White corn syrup (Karo syrup – this is a US product, but adding golden syrup does the job just as well, alternatively just mix sugar and water and reduce on the stove until it becomes syrupy)
  • 1 oz. red food coloring
  • 1 oz. washing detergent
  • 1 oz. water

Options: Add a drop of blue food coloring to create a more realistic color. Remove the detergent if you want to make edible blood. Adding condensed milk makes it less transparent and more like real blood.

The blood is extremely sticky and can stain skin and clothes so makes sure it’s washed off quickly and have stain remover handy for clothes!

Jelly Blood

Microwave 3-4 bottles of glycerin then add one cube of strawberry jelly and mix until dissolved. Then add a small amount of gelatine (1/5 of a packet) and then add red food colouring to desired effect. Keep stirring until mixed well. It is slightly runny but great for that Reservoir Dogs look in the back seat of the car. All ingredients are easily found in supermarkets.

Black and White Blood

Take a tip from the old school and use opaque chocolate syrup as used by Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho. Tastes delicious as well!

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Tip #618: Five Free Script-writing Programs

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #618: Five Free Script-writing Programs

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

No better time than now to start writing your script.

Image courtesy of DramaQueen.com

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Robbie Janney, first appeared in PremiumBeat.com. This is an excerpt.

Need to write a script with little to no budget? Here are some great, free alternatives to the higher-priced Hollywood standards.

Final Draft is the darling of the film industry, used by almost every professional screenwriter in the industry. The program creates fast character and scene reports so your first AD and line producers can start building budgets and schedules. But, you might not be able to afford it with all its bells and whistles. You need something free!

Here are some options:

EXTRA CREDIT

The blog linked at the top has details on each program, plus illustrated tutorials.

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Tip #619: Five Tips to Better Stock Media

… for Random Weirdness

Tip #619: Five Tips to Better Stock Media

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The secret is in how you do your search.

Image courtesy of Pond5.com.

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Terin Izil, first appeared in Pond5.com. This is an excerpt.

Stock video sites have millions of clips. So why does it feel like you’re getting the same five clips over and over? Here’s a few tips to keep your results fresh and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

Keywords Are Key

Start by writing down your main keyword and a list of secondary keywords. Keep your main keyword, but rotate in the secondary ones to see different results. Good words to include on that secondary list include: aerial, establishing shot, timelapse, hyperlapse, handheld, loop, and cinemagraph.

Follow Artists You Like

Like someone’s style? Check out the rest of their portfolio.

A Visually Similar Search is Worth 1,000 Words

This is especially helpful if you are trying to match shots or styles.

Filter, Filter, Filter

If you’re looking for a needle in a haystack (or even if you’re not), it helps to weed out the results that don’t belong. If you know the resolution, number of people, or if you want commercial or editorial, you can easily narrow down the results with a filter.

Then Filter Again by Budget

You might not know your exact budget, but you can probably figure out what your maximum is. Set a filter to that so you don’t see anything unrealistic for your project.

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Tip #604: Fill Elements Fast in Motion

… for Apple Motion

Tip #604: Fill Elements Fast in Motion

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Fill adds color or gradients to any selected element.

The original shape is on top, the filled gradient is on the bottom.

Topic $TipTopic

The Fill filter replaces an element in Motion with either a solid color or gradient. To use it:

  • Import or add any element that has an alpha channel (transparency). In this screen shot, I used a gadget called “Atom 01.”
  • Add Filters > Stylize > Fill
  • Go to Inspector > Filters and switch Color to Gradient, then pick your style or color range. In the screen shot, this is the Candy Corn style.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the YouTube video this article was based on.

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Tip #605: Add Motion Blur to Animation

… for Apple Motion

Tip #605: Add Motion Blur to Animation

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Smooth animation and reinforce movement with Motion Blur.

In Inspector > Properties for a Project set Samples and Shutter Angle.

Topic $TipTopic

Motion Blur smoothes animation and reinforces the illusion that an object is moving. Once your animation is complete, here’s what you need to do.

  • Select the project at the top of the Layers panel.
  • In Inspector > Properties set Samples to 16 and Shutter Angle to 180°
  • Finally, at the top right corner of the Viewer, in the Render menu, turn Motion Blur on.

NOTES

  • Increasing the shutter angle increases the amount of the blur.
  • Increasing the samples increases the quality of the motion blur, but also increases render time.

You won’t be able to play this in realtime unless you render the project, or export it and play the resulting movie.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the YouTube video this article was based on.

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Tip #615: Node vs Layer Compositing

… for Visual Effects

Tip #615: Node vs Layer Compositing

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Nodes scale better, while layers are faster.

Topic $TipTopic

There are two radically different digital compositing workflows: node-based compositing and layer-based compositing.

Node-based compositing represents an entire composite as a procedural map, intuitively laying out the progression from source input to final output. (This is, in fact, the way all compositing applications internally handle composites.)

Node-based compositing interface allows great flexibility, including the ability to modify the parameters of an earlier image processing step “in context” (while viewing the final composite). Node-based compositing packages often handle keyframing and time effects poorly, as their workflow does not stem directly from a timeline, as do layer-based compositing packages. Software which incorporates a node based interface include Natron, Blender, Blackmagic Fusion, and The Foundry’s Nuke.

Layer-based compositing represents each media object in a composite as a separate layer within a timeline, each with its own time bounds, effects, and keyframes. All the layers are stacked, one above the next, in any desired order; with the bottom layer usually rendered as a base in the finished image.

Layer-based compositing is very well suited for rapid 2D and limited 3D effects such as in motion graphics, but becomes awkward for more complex composites entailing numerous layers.

Nodes or Layers: Which is better?

To be honest, there is no right or wrong answer. They both can achieve the same effects. Software preference will factor greatly into your decision. The more that you use one software type, the more you will become accustomed to that system. Just remember that layers are not great for huge projects with many items and effects; likewise, projects with little footage and few effects are sometimes not the most efficient for nodes. What it really boils down to is personal preference. A great rule of thumb is go big and go nodes or keep it small and stick with layers.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s a nice article, written by Wéland Bourne, explaining the differences between these two systems and comparing different effects software.

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