New Tutorial: Animating Typewriter Keys

August 15th, 2013

In this tutorial we'll learn a cool technique for writing words with 3D objects using the super-fast Element 3D plug-in. Once setup the keys can be animated in a variety of different ways with only 2 key frames!

Watch on Video Copilot

Watch on Youtube in HD!

Typewriter Model Pack:
To follow along be sure to download the FREE Typewriter model pack.

Andrew Kramer

POSTED:

12 years ago

70 Comments

stevie biko

11 years ago

i enjoyed the tutorial and like it

David

11 years ago

Andrew,

You have helped me take Valentine's Day up a notch this year. Thank you for the tools and inspiration! She loved the video I was able to make using your typewriter and paper downloads.

http://youtu.be/JnYYCFITRBE

Ú©ÙˆÙ„Ø± Ú¯Ø§Ø²ÛŒ

11 years ago

Wow it is very nice for the buttons, which are diagonally.
Again, as always, was fantastic.

softcodelink

12 years ago

I am new After effect, its really awesome tutorial.

Adrian Tschubarov

12 years ago

ANDREW, any way to create models or products build ups, like in the LEGO page? Would like to see a tutorial about that, like scattered pieces on teh floor flying to a finished model.
a.
Cheers.

Mr Bao

12 years ago

Hi!AK,veyr like your works,I am honest fans,from china of little city.

aju

12 years ago

Hello i am downloading element 3d and typwriter but i can't see partical order option so aliment words is not correct anybody help me please

Charles

12 years ago

Viewed one of your tutorials, like it, you got class.
How does one register or sign up to purchase a template
for After Effects?

Sanchez

12 years ago

Awesome job Andrew... what font did you use for the individual keys?

Riz Qiy

12 years ago

helppp......!
how to install this for mac ? please tell me..
Thx

RUTVIK

12 years ago

Now here's what I have created with the help of PhotoShop and AE.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1175013_574502602611993_1950233581_n.jpg

Thanks Andrew, for your amazing plugin and this model.

Justin

12 years ago

Hey Andrew, love the model. Here is a quick segment I put together. keep up the great work VideoCopilot!
https://vimeo.com/72744563

Christian

12 years ago

Awesome Tutorial, element is such a useful tool! here is a sample animation I created for my Aerial Video business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4BChso-7KQ

ONYEJIAKA

12 years ago

HELLO PLS IS IT POSSIBLE CHANGE THE COLOR OF THIS TYPEWRITER

IMMANUEL FRANCY

12 years ago

andrew kramer can you upload 3d max or maya tutorial

Visshous

12 years ago

Hi there,
I just created a new intro for my Youtube channel with a couple of technics what you showed earlier. Also it contains the newest technic what you showed in this tutorial!

Check it out: http://youtu.be/dAmUxaZqp9A

rob frost

12 years ago

speaking of future city...This is pretty hot:
http://siamon89.deviantart.com/art/Intergalactic-Meeting-197880260

khubaib

12 years ago

Only time I wish I was queen of England is when I watch you tutorials, so that I can knight you. hehehehe

reza irani

12 years ago

Andrew,what about the Vehicles pack?i can't Wait for it!When will be available?

reza irani

12 years ago

hey! it's sam's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Sam !we love you!!!!!Hope your 120 years old !

12 years ago

Super! Ok, now for the vehicles. It's August already. I have c-note with your name on it.

NICK SHADOW

12 years ago

It's a great lesson!
Look at my printed text effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn-_zZlf1Mg&feature=c4-overview&list=UUNai0ylfq16cCz68qZGHKiw

Muhammadkhuja

12 years ago

It's cooll!!!!!!!!!!!
hey my name Is Muhammadkhuja, i am its funny
Andrew Kramer you is GREATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Kenneth

12 years ago

Hi Andrew!

I love how the textures of the keys have lots of shadows and am having trouble creating directional lighting on 3D titling created by element.

Ideally I'd love to even have the 3D title in complete darkness and then just light one side/point with the back of the object falling off into darkness. It seems to me that the environment map ensures that there is always some ambient lighting washing out the dark parts of directional lighting added later. Is there a trick to solve this? Perhaps something for another tutorial? To synthesize truer directional lighting, would it be best incorporated into the 3D environment or is it possible to create a completely black environment and then add AE lights?

Deepak Mistry

12 years ago

Hi
I try Replication Shape-plane and Particle Order-Forward option that time its not work proper its came mirror like first row U V W X Y
second row P Q R S T
last row A B C D E

and when select backward option than first raw E D C B A
second raw J I H G F
last raw Y X W V U

please help me for solve this in correct order

Thanks

Deepak Mistry

12 years ago

Hi
I try Replication Shape-plane and option that time its not work proper its came
mirror like

oposh

12 years ago

i can't wait to start on it, thnks DD!

micheal

12 years ago

You are just awesome ANDREW. Am still waiting on KNIFE tutorials

Walangkopo99

12 years ago

try clicking on the facebook link and it turns out I found it extraordinary.

Kent

12 years ago

Could you make a tutorial on how to light a scene? the shots you put together have a level of detail I just can't seem to get.

Tomjhons

12 years ago

HELLO ANDREW ME I REQUEST CAN YOU CREATE A TUTORIAL FOR BUILDING COLLAPSE.

THANKS I LOVE YOUR TUTORIAL...

pierregagne98

12 years ago

Thank you very much Mister Andrew Kramer !
This is greatly appreciated!

)

I got a question, was this typewriter created from a blueprint ?
It would be nice to get a few drawings if that is the case.
It looks like an "Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter".

I'm trying to rig the printing hammers to be able to animate them with the different keys press in Softimage 2011 Sp2, but the hammers have a stem that is too long to simply animate the rotation from the tip.
So if there are any pictures of the inner workings, that would be great to have rigging purpose.

I will of course send you the modified file of the provided typewriter so you can offer it as well on your blog.

Also on an another note; in Autodesk Softimage,if I use the typewriter rubber feet's bottom vertex to align the origin to the center of the world, the position of the typewriter object is:

X: 127,4966, Y: -5,5819 Z: -69,1744.

Is that a prerequisite for Element 3D objects to function properly in After Effects ???

See both images: I also included the Softimage scene files so you can check it out if you have it.

http://www.screencast.com/t/sxBzdDA7OS6

Darren

12 years ago

Just wanted to say: Very, very cool. Thanks so much Andrew and the rest of VCP. You guys rock!

Can't wait to see this mysterious new plugin. Would you like my Credit Card number now, or later?

Tobi

12 years ago

I saw some Aircraft pack the *_*
When will it come out ? You told us release is this summer !!

Grkn Design

12 years ago

i used "revolution intro sound" end of the animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

yWkSfD7mHY

12 years ago

In reference to consolidating the textures, what exactly is that doing? There wasn't much explanation but it seems like an important step to understand. Is it rewriting a baked texture for all the textures? What other circumstances would that be useful in and why do it in the first place?

Andrew Kramer

12 years ago

It is simply to make it easier to change all of the materials at once. Otherwise each copy would need to be modified if you wanted to change the reflectivity or specular amount.

Neil Ruff

12 years ago

JC - If I'm correct, this only works because all of the keys take their textures from the same UV map...so when Andrew added the 4 keys for TYPE, the same texture map was loaded 4 times. You wouldn't use this 'apply to all models' for, say, five different models which each had their own, different texture map. This also relates to VC supplying the 'blank key' texture map - you can modify that single map in photoshop, but the individual key models the map is applied to will take their own little part of that map. The result is the same, but it's a much more elegant solution for this set up when compared to having a unique map for every key

Fozz

12 years ago

There's really so much meat in your tutorials. Maybe you should release a vegetarian one. Thanks!

LordEdington

12 years ago

Euro Buildings? Interesting.

pierregagne98

12 years ago

Looks very nice and clean. Congratulations !
If you want to increase the realism, I would suggest adding a faint smoke trail behind some jets and also you could research to add the anti-collision stobe lights on the vertical stabilisers and the formation lights on the wingtips. I believe the strobe lights are blinking at a rate of one flash per second but I'm not sure.

See reference picture:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=f-14+strobe+light&source;=lnms&tbm;=isch&sa;=X&ei;=w4INUrSlFoe88AS584HQBg&ved;=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw;=1920&bih;=993#bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp;=fe2fba3ba26f313a&q;=f-14+tomcat&sa;=1&tbm;=isch&facrc;=_&imgdii;=_&imgrc;=9s-ATu3ccovo1M:;-voAUefuaK906M;http%3A%2F%2Fonlyhdwallpapers.com%2Fwallpaper%2Fvideo_games_ace_combat_plane_f-14_tomcat_desktop_1280x720_hd-wallpaper-112551.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fonlyhdwallpapers.com%2Fgame%2Fvideo-games-ace-combat-plane-f-14-tomcat-desktop-hd-wallpaper-112551%2F;1280;720

NLantean

12 years ago

Check out this video I have made with Element 3D,comment your opinions, thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwbBh-ESxik

Dan

12 years ago

Nice work! That looks really good.

Kevin

12 years ago

I think what everyone wants is a tut on how to model in a 3D editor like 3DS max or Blender (would be best since it is free), and import that textured model into Element 3D.

Nio

12 years ago

So what are you waiting for? Go on the net and you will find tons of tutorials about how to model, texture, etc.
I like the tutorial, it showed me some tips I've never thought about that I can tweak...
Good one!

Nikolaus

12 years ago

I wanna tutorials for nuke ;D

Gaurav

12 years ago

Plz show How to animate these typewritter keys in 3d max 2013

reza irani

12 years ago

i want to kiss you andrew???!please come forward to me ... a little closer .......'''(kiss)'''.......

Maui

12 years ago

Would love to see a tut on how you made the 4k texture for the model.

Iman

12 years ago

THANKS
Please stop creating tutorials about ELE 3D ,Its getting ridiculous,where is your native amazing after effects tutorial?!!!

Jake

12 years ago

Element is the future!

Tob

12 years ago

Jake you are right

Matin

12 years ago

Dayumn!
These are the real thing! Andrew never stop man NEVER! We love you! (No homo

)

Alex

12 years ago

have been seeing lots of Made-by-Elements graphics on TV and other platforms here in Australia.

Bhavya Joshi

12 years ago

Have a look at my video:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

UZfUXUam9Y&list=HL1376565593&feature=mh_lolz

Mahdi

12 years ago

Thanks a lot Andrew...

Ù†ÛŒÙ…Ø§

12 years ago

you are amazing boy , great , great ???

hakui

12 years ago

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooood job!

Javasport

12 years ago

Totally Awesomesauce!

Liron

12 years ago

Videocopilot Has done it again!
Thanks Andrew-You ROCK!!

Charles

12 years ago

you should include your Back Grounds those are hard to create lol

Brandon Liebenberg

12 years ago

Sweet. This tut rocks, very versatile

prathamesh

12 years ago

really really thanks andrew sir

tcbr

12 years ago

wow thery nice!!!
thx you thery much!!!

Damian

12 years ago

Awesome tut and model. I haven't bought Element 3D yet but will soon. I was wondering do you plan on releasing a vegetation pack, rock, animals, etc. These packs or models are some of the best that I've ever seen.

Thank You for sharing you knowledge.

Mike

12 years ago

btw, love the wife joke "had to download the trial" haha

Antonio Chamu

12 years ago

Hi Andrew. Very educative tutorial, and all your site.
When you have time, would you like to do a tutorial on "freeze time" using Elements 3D...
Thanks.

Mike

12 years ago

I didn't know your week started wed? :p

Lokman

12 years ago

Amazing stuff Master Andrew!

shawnbooth

12 years ago

Thank you for the FREE model and tutorial on how to use it. New techniques are great. (I also loved checking out your model browser. I want bacon.)

Tob

12 years ago

Me too

Dave Thomas

12 years ago

count me in for the bacon

Julian

12 years ago

I like the tutorial, I like the 3d model, but I think now we will see hundreds of videos with this model on youtube. Personally I prefer the old days, when you learned techniques to use in so many ways. I would like to see tutorials of 3D modeling, MAPPING, for then use it in E3D of course.

israelhp7

12 years ago

you right

12 years ago

Yeah, you're right, but you can create another videos base on this one

harryo

12 years ago

exactly! modeling and mapping a 3d object to look as great as those that andrew does has been a nightmare to me. i wanna see more on that.

BlankaLi

12 years ago

A tutorial regarding mapping in Element would be great. Having a real problem with it just mapping a Starbucks cup.

israelhp7

12 years ago

MR. Kramer i have a question: where did you get that exciting music?

husseinmohy

12 years ago

Oh it's amazing i love that

a7mos

12 years ago

the best thanks Andrew!

Moustafa Shaheen

12 years ago

thank you ! can you make more motion graphics tutorials ?

IAMnimation

12 years ago

Finally..!! Tutorial was release... Thanks...

Mohamed

12 years ago

As Always u r the best

Mike

12 years ago

Great, thanks Andrew!

megaman

12 years ago

Hello ...You know what would be cool....If you can do 3d cameraa projection using element 3d !!!!! Maybe a future update !!!!............. hmmmmmmmm

Rapheal

12 years ago

Hello ...You know what would be cool....If you can do 3d camera projection using element 3d !!!!! Maybe a future update !!!!............. hmmmmmmmm

rapheal

12 years ago

Hello ...You know what would be cool....If you can do 3d camera projection using element 3d !!!!! Maybe a future update !!!!............. hmmmmmmmm

Bilal

12 years ago

Hello ...You know what would be cool....If you can do 3d camera projection using element 3d !!!!! Maybe a future update !!!!............. hmmmmmmmm

Miniman

12 years ago

Hello ...You know what would be cool....If you can do 3d cameraa projection using element 3d !!!!! Maybe a future update !!!!............. hmmmmmmmm

abdurehim

12 years ago

so much impresive

Tutorials

158.5. Element 3D V2.2 Features

Group Symmetry Creation Mode

158. City Destruction

Add Realistic City Destruction in 3D Space

Blog Show

BLOG SHOW: The Big Show-bowski

In 2010 we celebrated 5 and a half years of Video Copilot so to celebrate we're going to imply this blog show is somehow intended to be a big celebration. It has everything, action, adventure, music, surprises and even out-takes! Please check it and feel free to share your favorite Video Copilot moments and memories in the comments!

View All Blog Shows

Plugins

Stock Footage