Cosplay + VFX = Awesome!
We visited the San Diego Comic-Con this year and took some cool video of cosplayers. They were superheroes and super-villains in need of powers, we decided to do something about that.
Ghost Effect Tutorial – Ant-Man and the Wasp!
Check out this amazing Ghost Tutorial! We decided to create this effect after seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp
We used some of our Glitch VFX to help create this effect
These SciFi Hum sound effects were perfect for her phasing sounds
We used a variety of techniques to achieve this effect, watch the tutorial above to learn more!
Monthly Crate Update – Everything New in June!
The wonderful and wonderfully weird monthly show is back!
Adrian hosts this episode of the Monthly Crate Update and shares with us all the wonderful news from last month.
The After Effects TypeCrate Script helps you use the TypeKit bundles. We also have a new animated font, the Meltdown Typekit!
TypeKits and Script: https://bit.ly/2KAPqPk
Making an explainer video? Check out our animated Hand Gestures.
Hand Gestures: https://bit.ly/2tQp7Lp
We love them, and so will you. Our hip-hop song selection will help your videos stay engaging.
Hip Hop Songs: https://bit.ly/2MGJv8M
Perfect for motion graphics, visual effects and so much more, SciFi is easily our most used sound effects category.
SciFi SFX: https://bit.ly/2Kq1aot
We loved the new Deadpool 2 movie, and especially Cable’s Shield effects! Now you can make them yourself.
Cable’s Shield Effects: https://bit.ly/2zbtC8i
Paint Stroke Effects in Adobe Premiere!
PremiereGal teaches us some really awesome techniques in this Jessica Jones intro inspired tutorial!
Using brush stroke assets from FootageCrate PremiereGal has developed some motion-graphic tricks that you can use in your own videos.
After dropping on a vignette and playing with the colors, PremiereGal applies the Turbulent Displace effect (which is included in Premiere Pro)
Refine turbulent displace by changing it to a Horizontal Displacement
Increase the intensity to around 200 %
For the displacement size, bring it way down, to around 2
Increase the complexity of the lines to around 7
The drop the Posterize Effect onto the footage
There are other tricks to play with the color, but you can use at your discretion.
Using brush stroke assets PremiereGal overlays some onto her footage. After rotating and positioning to her desired layout, she then applies various Blending Modes to achieve unique looks, such as Soft Light, Color Dodge, and Overlay.
To add additional texture, some Blood Assets were used as paint splatter accents.
the ‘Search New’ Feature
The easiest way to find the latest content on FootageCrate, SoundsCrate, GraphicsCrate, and RenderCrate is the semi-secret ‘Search New’ feature.
Simply typing and entering ‘New’ into the search bar will show you the latest 100 assets added to those libraries. If you want more detailed descriptions and updates on content, you can always visit the Content Page to see all the latest posts.
Use Forced-Perspective to Make a Giant!
30fps x √X = 96fps
Where 30fps is our desired final frame-rate and 96fps is what we will be shooting in. The next step is to divide both sides by 30 –
30/30 x √X = 96/30
to get
√X = 3.2
the final step is to just find the square of that number
√X² = 3.2²
3.2 x 3.2 = 10.24!
Now we can take 10.24 and multiply our actor’s height, 6ft
6 x 10.24 = 61.44
So we can make our actor around 60-65ft tall safely.
We used buildings and surrounding environments as a reference to get Adrian’s height to be consistently around 60ft. Keeping the ground-plane out of frame made things a lot easier. We shot at a low-angle to really sell the perspective.
The last step was to just rotoscope and mask out any foreground objects, like buildings, trees, cars, pedestrians, whatever! If you have any other moving objects, make sure to speed those up to real-time speed, your giant should be the only thing moving in slow-motion, or else you will ruin the illusion.
MotionCrate Script – Realistic Motion Reaction!
Download the MotionCrate Script and give your stock VFX assets some life. This is the BEST script for creating realistic fire in After Effects.
Unarchive the .ZIP and install the MotionCrate Script into your After Effects>Scripts folder.
Launch the script in AE by going to File>Scripts and selecting MotionCrate
Here’s what you will see –
The script works best with Fire and Smoke VFX. It was based off of a tutorial by Wren Weichman
If your Fire, Smoke or other VFX Element is pre-keyed, you will need a solid matte for the script to function smoothly. Create a new solid and drop it beneath your VFX element.
Precompose your Solid and your VFX Element together.
Because this script uses the puppet tool, we recommend drawing a mask around your solid, making sure the VFX Element stays within the bounds of your mask
Navigate back to your main composition so you are no longer in your precomp. Select the ‘Setup Endpoints’ button.
This will create a null with 2 points, Top and Bottom. Move those points to their respective top and bottom of the solid you have masked out.
Enter the number of Nulls you would like to create. 3 is the minimum recommended. The smoother you want your reaction curve, the higher the number of Nulls. We do not recommend more than 7 for any purpose.
Hit the Create Nulls button.
Ignore the Wide Elements button. If you have a wide-based VFX Element, watch the video above to learn how to use the MotionCrate Script with it.
Then enter the amount of Wind, Wind Turbulence, and Delay you would like. You can always adjust these settings later when the Control Null is generated.
Select your precomp with the VFX Element and solid. Find your Puppet Pin tool. You need to put one pin for every Null you generated. Place the Pins approximately at the top left of each null.
Note: Ignore the Endpoint Selector Null, which is usually in the center and Red, when placing your pin points.
After placing your Puppet Pin points near the top left of each null, hit the Generate button.
You may see the image shift as the puppet pin points jump to the null points, but if you were close with your puppet pin point placement, the shift should be minimal.
There will be a Source null created. If you don’t see the null names, select ‘Layer Name’ above your layer window. The Source Null controls all the movement. If you are tracking to an object or person, you will want to parent your source null to that position.
The Control Null allows you to fine tune your Wind, Wind Turbulence, and Delay settings. If you push any of these settings too far, the effect tends to degrade.
And that is how you use the MotionCrate Script!
New Front-Facing Shockwaves!
We have 20 Pro 4K Shockwaves and 3 Free shockwaves available for download!
You asked for them, so we made them. These shockwave assets are absolutely amazing. There are a huge variety of styles to choose from. We’ve used them in our logo animations, super-hero landings, SciFi Weapons and so much more.
Many of the shockwaves have a gradient of color, you can add a Tritone or other color effect and make them whatever hue you desire. Try different blending modes, like Add or Screen and your shockwaves will look like energy.
Have fun with these, we know we are!
Download Over 40 New SciFi Sound FX
SciFi Sound FX are some of the most versatile elements you can use in your sound design. If you’re trying to spice up your title animation, give life to your spacecraft or add energy to your transitions then these assets are perfect for you.
40 of these Sound FX are Pro, 10 are free. Blasters, charge-ups/downs, lasers and more are waiting for you to download them.
Put a Gun Through a Hand in After Effects!
Inspired by Deadpool 2, we wanted to challenge ourselves with getting this effect to look as realistic as possible.
We failed at our first attempt; trying to build the effect purely in post. After going back to the drawing-board we realized the best technique would be to have 2 identical guns, but one sawed in half. We glued the sawed off point onto a scrap of plastic and put the point through a hole in a glove.
We had a 2nd identical glove with no hole, that we used for the first part of the action.
Using tripods to stabilize our hands, we shot the gloved hand entering frame with the intact gun, and then swapped the intact gun for the sawed in half one, while swapping the intact glove to the glove with the gun barrel going through it.
After that, it was a matter of moving the clean-unholed glove into position with puppet pins, and a few matte techniques to give the appearance of the gun actually moving through the hand.
We used a variety of our blood assets as well as a muzzle flash to achieve this effect and tie everything together.