Particle Playground: Experimenting with the COW

	SUBSCRIBE COW Library : Adobe After Effects Tutorials : Roland R. Kahlenberg : Particle Playground: Experimenting with the COW (print friendly)

by Roland R. Kahlenberg, Singapore, Singapore Video * Motion Graphics * Original Music ©2001 by Roland R. Kahlenberg. All rights are reserved. Used at CreativeCow.net by kind permission of the author.

Article Focus: Roland Kahlenberg demonstrates a small bit of what Particle Playground can do. You should experiment further once you've come to grips with the mechanics involved. You need the production bundle of After Effects for this one.

Here are the project files: Download them so you can follow along. These are .sit files, if you're on Windows and don't have the Stuffit Expander, download it here. It's free! Let's Begin: Create a gradient (use either Photoshop or the Ramp plug) from black to white, left to right. You don't have to start with full black or white, grey tones will do the trick too but with more subtlety.   Animate the gradient going from left to right. Use Hold Keyframes to repeat the movement. See the Animated Gradient Comp for an example. Drop the Animated Gradient Comp into a new comp. Switch off its eyeball. Create a new layer and apply Particle Playground. We will be using the Grid settings so it's wise to switch off the Canon. Do so by setting the Particle per Second and Particle Radius parameters to zero.   Click on Options and select the Grid button. Type in your text. Deselect Loop Text and Select Center. Click OK. Enable Field Rendering if required. Click OK.   In the Effects Window, click on the Grid setting. Create a keyframe for Font Size. 20 - 30 will do for now. Move one frame ahead in the Timeline. Set Font Size to zero. Select both keyframes and change them to Hold Keyframes.   Twirl down the Ephemeral Properties Parameter. Click on the downward arrow next to Use Layer as Map parameter. Select the Animated Gradient as your Map. Map the Red Channel to Character. Set Min. to 48 and Max. to 49.   Map the Green Channel to Scale. Set Min. to 1 and Max. to 1.3 . Do a RAM Preview. In fact, you could even do a video scrub to obtain near realtime previews. PP can be decently fast. If you like what you see so far, then read on. Read On... Particle Playground uses the ASCII character set. Check out http://www.bbsinc.com/symbol.html for a list of ASCII characters. Zero is character numbered as 48 and One is 49. What we've done thus far is to tell PP to change our initial characters into zeros and ones and that the animated gradient (our Map) is to be used as the influencer. The Ephemeral Parameter ensures that our initial characters are 'switched' back once the Map is off screen and momentarily doesn't exist. If we had used Persistent Properties, the zeros and ones would still be present even when our Map disappears offscreen.   Take a look at the two finished compositions: PP Simple Comp and PP Experimental Ground. With the latter, I've played around with the Operator Settings (and nothing else) to obtain slightly different, yet interesting results. You can actually create Keyframes for these Operators, including the Min and Max properties. Hold Keyframes are more appropriate but as always, feel free to experiment with the Operators. Check out your AE PB manual for more on these Operators and PP in general. My movie is the PP Experimental Comp render. See below.   FWIW, Set doesn't perform as advertised. It will occasionally stray away from your instructions. But the digression is not that great as to inhibit its use entirely.   Thanks for reading this far and I hope that you'll enjoy using this effect. I know I have. Cheers, and as always, God Bless. ---Roland R. Kahlenberg Roland Kahlenberg is the co-founder www.aefreemart.com and is now a herd leader in the Adobe After Effects COW. Pop in to comment on this article or ask questions. Visit Creative Cow's website and forums if you got here by direct link to this article...

	Adobe After Effects Tutorials   •   Adobe After Effects Forum	Reply   Like

Related Articles / Tutorials:

Adobe After Effects What's new in After Effects CS6: Shapes from Vector Layers   Play Video In this tutorial, Kevin P McAuliffe shows you how, using the great new "Create Shapes from Vector Layers" command in After Effects CS6, you can create 3D extruded client logos in minutes, as opposed to having to wait hours for a 3D application to render it out. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects AE Basics 44: Shaping Text And Advanced Options   Play Video AE Basics - A Creative COW series for new users of Adobe After Effects. Lesson 44: In this (more advanced) tutorial, Andrew Devis shows the options to change the way text moves through its range and explains how to change this from the default smooth animation to a much more 'digital' or abrupt instant change. Andrew then goes on to demonstrate more of the advanced options in the timeline to 'shape' your text so that it can have a more interesting or dramatic look allowing for the type of animation that would be very difficult to achieve otherwise. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects Create a Rotating Counter TWO: Adding & Adjusting a Bounce   Play Video In the second part of this 2 part tutorial, Andrew Devis shows how to animate the rotation of this group of layers as well as how use and adjust an expression that ships with After Effects to have the layers bounce in place as they stop which can give the sense of the counter having some real mechanical properties rather than just a linear of easy-ease keyframe approach. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects Create a Rotating Counter ONE: Positioning 3D Layers   Play Video In the first part of this 2 part tutorial, Andrew Devis shows how to create and place layers in 3d space such that they can be rotated as a single group to be used for a rotating counter. Andrew shows how to create and place the layers using both the math function of AE as well as a handy and simple expression that places layers a fixed distance or rotation from the previous layer. He then goes on the show how to create and use a controller for the multiple layers so that they act as a single group. In the next tutorial, Andrew will show how to animate the rotation of this group of layers as well as how use and adjust an expression that ships with After Effects to have the layers bounce in place as they stop which can give the sense of the counter having some real mechanical properties rather than just a linear of easy-ease keyframe approach. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects Confessions of a Creative Maniac: Keys to Getting It In In the history of computing, including the extension to the notion of what actually falls under the guise of history - let's face it, smartphones are really just diminutive computers in a somewhat flimsy disguise - an often overlooked aspect of the entire discussion is something absolutely core to the idea of how these communications devices interface with us - the venerable keyboard. Editorial Adobe After Effects Introducing After Effects CS6 - Extruded Text and Shapes   Play Video In this introductory tutorial to the new 3D capabilities of After Effects CS6, Kevin P McAuliffe shows the basics of how to extrude text and shapes inside of After Effects CS6, and also shows how tight integration with Adobe's Illustrator will have you creating powerful client logos in minutes, instead of in separate 3D applications. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects: Compositing Actors in Virtual 3D Sets   Play Video Rob Mize follows up his Creating Virtual 3D Sets tutorial with this demonstration of how to composite real-life actors into these 3 dimensional environments. Learn how to create an effective sense of interaction between your actors and their virtual environment using only your green screened footage and AE's 3D capabilities. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects FreeForm Pro and Aqua Pack: Basic introductory series Part 2   Play Video The second tutorial from the series describes techniques for manipulating the depth map and texture map that can be used for a logo reveal. Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects Panning Large Scenes Using Target Layers in 3D   Play Video In this follow-on tutorial to his short series on working in 3D space, Andrew Devis shows how to use this simple technique to quickly and accurately pan around large layers/compositions to zoom in to the exact point required each time. You'll use target layers to get the exact coordinates needed for accurate panning - simple but effective! Tutorial, Video Tutorial Adobe After Effects FreeForm Pro and Aqua Pack: Basic introductory series Part 1   Play Video Introductory series (first in a set of three) for simulation of large bodies of water, water environments and water replacement in After Effects using FreeForm Pro from Mettle and the Aqua Pack enhancement pack. Tutorial, Video Tutorial

MORE