Optical Flares

Recreate the 3D Movie Title seen in Star Trek Beyond with Adobe After Effects

Any time I see new movie trailers, I always have my eye on the title animation at the end, and the 3D animated title for Star Trek Beyond did not disappoint. My brother Brett alerted me to this cool trailer, and I wanted to jump into After Effects and Element 3D to take a crack at recreating it. In this tutorial I outline a lot of the steps involved in recreating every element of this logo animation with After Effects CC.

Want to get the project file for this tutorial? You can purchase it in the online store for just a couple dollars!

Don't have the patience to watch the full tutorial? Check out this time-lapse video of the title animation being created in After Effects:

Like this tutorial? Consider becoming a Patron at Patreon.com/SeanFrangella to get additional benefits such as project files and more! 

To get weekly Motion Graphics, VFX, and 3D animation tutorials be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube!

Want to see more movie title tutorials? Check out the next one on how to recreate the Avengers: Age of Ultron title using After Effects!

How to Link Optical Flares to Element 3D Animations in After Effects

One of the major benefits to working with Element 3D in After Effects is that it works directly in the 3D Space of After Effects. This means that when you add an After Effects camera, BOOM, you can orbit around your 3D object. This also helps to be able to link up Element 3D scenes with additional plug-ins, like another Video Copilot plug-in, Optical Flares. In this video, learn how to link up Element 3D V2 with Optical Flares, and have everything move and animate together.

New to Element 3D? 

Start with How to create a 3D Logo with Shadows & Reflections!

Learn about the Top new Features of Element 3D V2!

Learn about how to use Cinema 4D Animations in Element 3D V2 in this video! 

And my shortcut tips and tricks for Element 3D V2 in this video!

Want to Motion Track a 3D Object using Element 3D? Learn how in this video!

Like this tutorial? Consider becoming a Patron at Patreon.com/SeanFrangella to get additional benefits such as project files and more! 

To get weekly Motion Graphics, VFX, and 3D animation tutorials be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube!

How to link Optical Flares to Cinema 4D Animations in After Effects

One of the the best things about the newer integration between Cinema 4D and After Effects CC is the Cineware integration, which allows you to bring Cinema 4D or Cinema 4D Lite files into After Effects directly, without needing to render them out. Additionally, you can use Cineware to extract elements out of Cinema 4D and bring them into After Effects, and have everything perfectly line up. 

In this video, we'll talk about taking an animated logo from Cinema 4D into After Effects, and use Cineware to link up Video Copilot's Optical Flares plug-in, and have everything work in alignment. We'll also talk about using Cineware to rip out a depth pass, in order to occlude certain parts of a scene.

Want to learn more about Cinema 4D Lite to get off the ground in 3D?

Learn how to Create a 3D extruded logo in Cinema 4D or Cinema 4D Lite.

Then learn how to Work with Materials and Reflectance textures in Cinema 4D.

Next learn about 3D Lighting and HDRI Sky images in Cinema 4D.

And then learn about Creating Animation, working with Keyframes, and the Cinema 4D Timeline.

Finally, learn some Fancy post-production effects like linking Optical Flares to Cinema 4D Animations.

Like this tutorial? Consider becoming a Patron at Patreon.com/SeanFrangella to get additional benefits such as project files and more! 

To get weekly Motion Graphics, VFX, and 3D animation tutorials be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube!

How to recreate the Avengers Title Animation using After Effects & Element 3D, Part 2

To recreate the Avengers Title animation in After Effects, it really took some thought on how to pull it off and get everything working how it is in the real thing. In part 2 of my series on how to recreate it in After Effects CC using Element 3D, I get into some of the advanced techniques, such as using 3D stroke to reveal the 3D text, setting up the Trapcode Particular particle simulation, and more.

Want to get the project file for this tutorial? You can purchase it in the online store for just a couple dollars!

In Part 1 of the Avengers Age of Ultron Tutorial, I went over how to create the 3D elements using Element 3D, animating the logo, and adding Optical Flares to create the lens flares. Watch part 1 here.

Like this tutorial? Consider becoming a Patron at Patreon.com/SeanFrangella to get additional benefits such as project files and more! 

To get weekly Motion Graphics, VFX, and 3D animation tutorials be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube!

How to recreate the Avengers Title Animation using After Effects & Element 3D

The Avengers title animation used in the film has it all: Optical Flares, 3D letters, lines animating in, lights, cameras, particles, and more. After seeing it in ads and trailers, I wanted to take a crack at trying to recreate it in After Effects using all the tools in the toolbox. To get all the details, I used Element 3D, 3D stroke, Trapcode Particular, Optical Flares, and more After Effects CC techniques. Check out part 1 in the video above to learn about getting started on the animation.

Want to get the project file for this tutorial? You can purchase it in the online store for just a couple dollars!

Be sure to check out Part 2 of the Avengers Title Recreation Series here.

Want a quick idea of what this After Effects tutorial is all about? Check out the time lapse for this one:
 

Like this tutorial? Consider becoming a Patron at Patreon.com/SeanFrangella to get additional benefits such as project files and more! 

To get weekly Motion Graphics, VFX, and 3D animation tutorials be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube!

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