If you don’t own combustion, you can download a 30 day free trial of the software at www.discreet.com. You’ll need to download 2 clips and a still to complete this tutorial. Download the tutorial.zip file (Workspace & Essentials) from the yellow bar above and unzip it to your harddrive. All these steps are what you would see if you had launched combustion for the first time. A letter in parenthesis refers to an area of the user interface in Fig. 1 below.
Figure 1
Step 1. Start a new Composite. From the File Menu (A) choose New. In the New dialog, choose Composite for Type, for the Name enter “Web Transition”, choose NTSC DV for the Format, enter 2 seconds or 60 frames for the Duration, choose 3D for the Mode and click OK. From the File Menu (A) choose Import Footage. In the Import Footage Dialog, navigate to the tutorial folder you unzipped on your harddrive. Holding down the Ctrl key on a PC/command key on a Mac, select, in order, the “web_backgound.png” file, the “big_city.mov” movie and the “motorcycle.mov” movie and click OK. Fig 2 below. This loads the footage into the Composite. Note: the combustion workspace for the “web_background” is included in the zip file.
Figure 2
Step 2. Make an arrow cursor. From the Object Menu (B) choose New Layer. In the dialog, choose Paint for Type, for the name enter “Arrow”, choose Custom for the Format, enter 50 for both the Width and Height, enter 2 seconds or 60 frames for the Duration, enable Transparent and click OK. In the Paint Toolbar (C), select the Filled Polygon. Click in the lower right of the icon. Click and drag up on the home button to zoom the viewport. Click in the viewport to draw a cursor, click on the first point to close the Polygon. Fig 3 below. Click on the Workspace tab (D). In the Workspace, double-click on Web Transition. Click on the Home button (E).
Figure 3
Step 3. Modify the Arrow Layer. Right-click PC/Ctrl-click Mac on the Paint-Arrow layer. From the pop up menu choose Operators>Stylize>Mosaic. In the Mosaic Controls (F), set the cell size to 3. Right-click PC/Ctrl-click Mac on the Paint-Arrow layer. From the pop up menu choose Operators>Stylize>Drop Shadow. In the Drop Shadow Controls, change the Shadow Center coordinates to X 21, Y 23 and the Feather to 1. Enable Resize Image. Adding the Mosaic gives the impression that the Arrow is enlarged, or that we are very close to a computer monitor. In the viewport, click and drag the Arrow layer off to the left, outside the Composite edge. Fig. 4 below.
Figure 4
Step 4. Create Text categories. In the Workspace, click on Web Transition. From the Object Menu (B) choose New Layer. In the dialog, choose Text for Type, for the name enter “Categories”, choose NTSC DV for Format, the Duration and Transparent settings should be set already, click OK. Click in the Text Editor (G), type POLITICS, HEALTH, SPORTS, MUSIC, MOVIES, pressing Enter after each category. Fig 5 below. In the Text Controls, change the Font Size to 32. Click on the Font button, choose Arial from the Browser, click OK. Change Leading to 33. Click on the Attributes button and click in the color chip. In the Color Picker change Red and Green to 0% and Blue to 50%, click OK.
Figure 5
Step 5. Modify the Text Layer and create Text "weblink" highlights. In the Workspace, right-click PC/Ctrl-click Mac on the text object. From the pop up menu choose Stylize>Mosaic. In the Mosaic Controls (F), set the cell size to 2. Right-click PC/Ctrl-click Mac on the Text-Categories layer. From the pop up menu choose Operators>Paint. Click on the Paint Toolbar (C). Choose the Filled Rectangle Tool. Select Red from the color Swatches. Choose Hard Light from the Paint transfer modes. Fig 6 below. In the viewport, drag a rectangle around the word SPORTS. Enable Animate (H). Click in the current frame field (I) and type 1 second or 30 frames. Select the Arrow tool. In the viewport, drag the red rectangle down over the word MUSIC.
Figure 6
Step 6. Animate the Camera and reposition layers. Click on the Workspace tab (D). Double-click on Web Transition. Scroll down in the Workspace and click on Camera. Change the X Rotation to 7 and the Y Rotation to 17. Turn off Animate. In the Workspace, select the Web Background layer. Change the X Position to 165 and the Y Position to negative 87. In the Workspace, select the Text-Categories layer. In the Composite Controls, click and drag in the X and Y position fields to move the Categories layer into position over the five empty categories on the Web Background layer. Turn on Animate. In the Workspace, select the Arrow layer. In the viewport, click and drag the Arrow layer to the word MUSIC. Fig. 7below.
Figure 7
Step 7. Finish the Animations. Click on the Go to End button (J). In the Workspace, click on the Camera. Change the X and Y Rotation values to 0. In the Workspace, click on the Arrow layer. In the viewport, click and drag the Arrow layer off to the left, outside the Composite edge. Click on the Timeline tab (K). In the Timeline, lasso the X/Y Postion values and change the Interpolation to Linear. Fig 8 below. In the Workspace, click on the Camera. In the Timeline, lasso the X/Y Rotation values and change the Interpolation to Linear. In the Categories layer Paint Operator, select the Filled Rectangle. In the Timeline, lasso the X/Y Position values and change the Interpolation to Constant.
Figure 8
Step 8. Add the cut. In the Workspace, Right-click PC/Ctrl-click Mac on the motorcycle layer. From the pop up choose Operators>Edit. Click on the Edit Tab (F). In the Edit Controls, click on the Go to Previous Segment button and click on the Pick Operator button. From the Operator Picker dialog, click on Footage – big_city and click OK. Fig. 9. Click once on the Play Mode button (L) to set it to Loop and click Play (M) in the transport controls. Using the Edit Operator in Overwrite mode, you can use the Import Footage function to replace these clips with 30 frame incoming and outgoing segments from your own NLE and render this clip to your preferred format.
Figure 9
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