departure board effect

[Luxie]

Hi everybody,

I know that this has been asked before (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9482)

I'm looking to make a departure board style title sequence. Three letters in the middle stay the same, the letters around those three change around a few times to form 4 or 5 different words before it settles down into the title of the project.

I've been researching this for a few days, but I can't find concrete help. I can't afford to spend weeks on this and some forums have mentioned scripts and presets (also that Apple Motion has a preset that does exactly this)

Can anybody help me and point me in the right direction? Maybe there's a way to make the letters "look" as if they're flipping over without cutting up letters and trying to juggle 30 different layers?
Perhaps AfterEffects has a preset that I've overlooked, or maybe there's a script or preset or plug-in available online?

Thanks, I'd really appreciate any help at all on this!

[muckyman]

use bridge to browse the text presets,i`m sure you will find something there that will do what you want.

[ngambles]

You should check out this thread that I worked on a short while back.

They were trying to make a flip clock but the project I put together extended easily into using text as well as numbers. Best of all it doesn't require cutting up any numbers and can have as many different characters as you want. The project is slightly complex in the setup but it should be easy enough to work into your project without having to mess with too much of the inner workings of it.

Check it out and if it's something that you think will help I can assist you further and post a project file that works with text as well as numbers. See the Vimeo videos.

Good luck,

Cheers

[Luxie]

Thanks so much for your replies!

I have to admit, when I suggested the departure board effect to the director, I had no clue how to do it and I feel as though I'm a little over my head.

ngamles - I'll give your suggestion a try today and keep you posted on the progress.

Thanks again, very much appreciated!

[petertje]

Can you please show what you've made when you've finished your video?

[Luxie]

Sure! I'll post it as soon as it's done

[TC-Productions]

ngambles,
Great work on the flipclock !
Unfortunately a lot of people are still on CS3, so would it be possible to shed some light on the technique you used?

[ngambles]

For sure.

The project file is on my home computer so I'll give a quick run through when I get home later.


**Edit** I'm still working on it. I started writing it out and it wasn't making any sense so I moved on to plan B but it's gonna take a bit longer. I'll be in touch.

[ngambles]

I tried to write out a tutorial showing how I made the flip clock but after reading it myself I had no idea what was going on so I figure everyone else would be completely lost too. So here's some video showing my basic steps. There is a more advanced one coming very soon, but this one show all the basics needed to get things going.

Hope it helps,

(Basic Idea)

**edit**

(More Advanced Setup)


(Using Text Instead)

[TC-Productions]

Amazing work !!
I'm definitely impressed with your use of expressions.
Thanks ever so much for posting this!!

Peter

[ngambles]

Your very welcome. Hope it helps.

[studiobaum]

Awesome tutorial!

I'm currently trying to make a clock count down from 1000 – 0. I guess I have 2 questions. 1, how would I make the numbers in this tutorial count down from 1 – 10. I tried to be clever and reverse it but that made the flippers flip upwards So, is there a specific code I can put in to make the numbers count down?

The second question is much bigger I guess. Is there a way (which no doubt there is) to have the number 1000 over 4 flappers and have them count down so the first goes 0 - 9 faster than the next, which in turn is faster than the next? Confused??? Is it possible.

Please let me know!

S

[ngambles]

@studiobaum

Lots of people have been asking me similar questions lately. We have updated the project created in the videos above to incorporate several different changes. I don't plan or recreating the tutorials from scratch as the main concepts are the same but I do plan on posting a project file and creating a quick tutorial illustrating the current possibilities of it. I hope to find time in the next few days to get that done.

Cheers

[FACELESS]

Ngambles I've noticed over the time I've been here that you r the go to guy for expressions, where did you get your knowledge from, is it a maths background or programming etc..fill me in lol

[ngambles]

Sorry for the short delay. Here is an updated tutorial and project files. This should help getting you counting any way you want.



CS5 Project files are attached and also available here.

you r the go to guy for expressions, where did you get your knowledge from

I did a good deal of math in school, and some basic programming. Read the AE help section on expressions (I reference it almost every time I create an expression), also web search for javascript commands, Motionscript.com is a great resource, Maltannon does some great stuff. Mostly I find the projects that require expressions interesting so I watch the forum closely cause some people have great ideas that they just can't piece together. It's great practice helping others, and every time an interesting problem arises I learn something new.

Here is the code for the PresetEffects.xml file incase seeing "Missing" bothers you. It doesn't prevent the project from working though.

Code: Select all

<Effect matchname="FlipControls2" name="$$$/AE/Preset/FlipControls2=Flip Controls2">
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/stVal=Start Value" default="0" valid_min="-1000000" valid_max="100000" slider_min="-1000" slider_max="1000"/>
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/enVal=End Value" default="59" valid_min="-1000000" valid_max="100000" slider_min="-1000" slider_max="1000"/>
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/FPM=Flips Per Minute" default="60" valid_min="0.00" valid_max="1000000" slider_min="0.00" slider_max="500"/>
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/flpDur=Flip Duration (frames)" default="3" valid_min="0" valid_max="10000" slider_min="0" slider_max="10"/>
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/FlipFrameRand=Flip Frame Random (frames)" default="0" valid_min="0" valid_max="10000" slider_min="0" slider_max="10"/>
      <Checkbox name="$$$/AE/Preset/doubleDigit=Force Double Digits" default="false"/>
      <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/timeOffset=Time Offset" default="0" valid_min="-99999" valid_max="99999" slider_min="-25" slider_max="25"/>
      <Group name="$$$/AE/Preset/useTextG=Text">
         <Checkbox name="$$$/AE/Preset/useText=Use Text" default="true"/>
         <Layer name="$$$/AE/Preset/textLay=Text Layer (CSV)"/>
         <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/charInx=Character Index" default="0" valid_min="0" valid_max="10000" slider_min="0" slider_max="20"/>
      </Group>
      <Group name="$$$/AE/Preset/FX=(((FX:)))">
         <Point name="$$$/AE/Preset/flipVals=(((FX:Current,Next)))" default_x="0" default_y="0"/>
         <Angle name="$$$/AE/Preset/flipRot=(((FX:Flip Rotation)))" default="0"/>
         <Slider name="$$$/AE/Preset/flipOffset=(((FX:Flip Offset)))" default="0" valid_min="-1000000" valid_max="100000" slider_min="-10" slider_max="10"/>
      </Group>
   </Effect>

Cheers

[SThompsonRAMM]

It's great practice helping others

Nate, I know I'm not alone when I say that I really appreciate your gifts and your willingness to help others with your knowledge.
Thank you!

[2dpostp]

use motion. it has an already built effect, just type and hit render

[SThompsonRAMM]

use motion.

I don't have Motion. Now what do I do? Oh wait, I have After Effects and some help from a guy from Colorado.

[2dpostp]

just a suggestion, chill out. some people do have it. how am i supposed to know

[SThompsonRAMM]

just a suggestion, chill out.

Hey 2d, I'm from Oregon, I couldn't get any more chilled. That was actually called sarcasm but you did make a good suggestion, if you have Motion. I'm actually really surprised that someone didn't bring this up long ago considering when the post first began.

[2dpostp]

know worries, type never has a tone. lol.

tell me about it. its the simple things in ae that are complex. things like this board should be in some sort of cheesy preset. id love to have the job of pulling ae to pieces.