I am currently working on the new reel for imago and while digging in the project archives I came across this this test render for One Man Show – a piece I made back in 2008. Using Trapcode Particular and three Photoshop layers I created a large scale meadow that, honestly speaking, didn’t get enough exposure in the finished piece.

Grass Field with Trapcode Particular (click to play)

If you were hoping for the new QubaHQ tutorial this weekend, you will need to wait just a bit more. I am bit busy with the projects at the moment, plus it’s over 32°C and humid in here at the moment, making my brain melt from the heat.

Most of the time it is the best practice to manually control the lights in your After Effects scenes. There are situations however, when you may want to automate the dynamic changes in light color and intensity while maintaining high level of control over the look of your composition. That’s what the Automated Light Rig is all about.

In this tutorial I will show you how to link your lights with automated samplers on an image map, creating an ever-changing, yet unified, light rig. While the tutorial explains the expressions in depth, I am also providing you with presets simplifying the entire process into just few clicks.

As a little extra, I will also show you how to create a 3D light-aware smoke using Trapcode Particular (my method is a bit more involved than the standard Particular setup, but produces results that are much more true to life).

Music used in the trailer comes from Mr. Oizo’s Fiat 55 from the album Analog Worms Attack.

Running time: 45min
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Required tools: After Effects
Optional plug-ins: Trapcode Particular

Preview video:

Tutorial:

Download the files associated with this tutorial below:

• Automated Light Rig Preset
  (After Effects CS3 and above)
  Localized for US English
  http://downloads.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_LightRig_Preset.zip
• Project File
  (includes Automated Light Rig project, presets, demo project and other assets)
  http://downloads.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_LightRig.zip
• Tutorial (82MB MP4)
  http://video.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_LightRig.mp4

You may also download the tutorial from its Vimeo page. The preview video can also be watched on YouTube.

I have to apologize for a rather flat and non-energetic narration in this tutorial. I’ve had an absolutely nightmarish week and until the very last moment, wasn’t even sure if I will be recording any tutorials this weekend. If your attention span has a low threshold for monotonous voice-overs, here’s a little game you can play: count how many times in the entire tutorial have I used the word basically and post your answer in the comments (just a little habit of mine I noticed while editing this video). Enjoy!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

In this After Effects tutorial I will demonstrate to you how to build a two-camera rig in order to create perfect 3D reflections. Using this technique, you will be able to reflect not only 3D layers, but also lights, particles, as well as any plug-in that obeys the movement of AE’s 3D camera.

The setup is trivially easy when using hand-animated cameras, but in the second half of the video I also show you how to create a more complex rig for use with Video Copilot’s Sure Target 2 camera controls.

The music used in the preview is a fragment of an Instrumental Mix of Perfect Exceeder by MASON vs Princess Superstar.

Running time: 51 min
Difficulty: Easy (you will be surprised how easy)
Required tools: After Effects (CS3 and above)
Optional plug-ins: VC Optical Flares, Knoll Light Factory, Trapcode Lux, Trapcode 3D Stroke, Trapcode Particular

Preview video:

Tutorial:

Download the files associated with this tutorial below:

• Project File
  http://downloads.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_Reflections.zip
• Tutorial (100MB MP4)
  http://video.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_Reflections.mp4

You may also download the tutorial from its Vimeo page. The preview video can also be watched on YouTube.

I will not teach you how to create the trailer, but I am attaching the AE file in which I created it. Dissect it on your own :) Also, keep in mind you can animate the floor and the rig is going to hold – well, as long as you don’t tilt it.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

I have big plans for QubaHQ Tutorials in June. Over the course of the last few days I thought up and implemented four new techniques that I will share with you over the course of the coming month. Well, at least I hope to be able to push all the content out in a span of 30 days.

Check the rest of this post for the teaser trailer, as well as a short explanation of things to come.

So, what will you see here in June?

Automated, synchronized 3D lights color control
An expression driven After Effects rig allowing you to quickly and easily create 3D scene lighting using pre-defined color map. You will be able to either maintain full manual control, or set it to automate the changes in lighting.

3D light arrays driven by animated texture maps
Derived from the previous rig, this setup will let you control large arrays of lights (110 in the trailer) using animated color/intensity map, similarly to the much simpler effect seen in Scrolling LED Text tutorial.

Pixel-perfect procedural layer disintegration
Who does not like breaking stuff into tiny-tiny pieces (or using time-reverse, creating animation elements from particles)? I am going to show you a very cool technique letting you turn your layers into sand, smoke or any other type of particle, while maintaining very high level of precision and control.

100% accurate floor reflection rig
Reflecting simple elements is quite easy. You can do it manually or use any of the plugins available for AE. How about reflecting more complex scenes, such as a particle simulation? Yes, it is possible and yes, it is quite easy once you see it done once.

Download the QubaHQ: June Trailer (30MB MP4)
http://video.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_JuneTrailer.mp4

Music used in this trailer was composed by Joel Nielsen for the upcoming Black Mesa Half-Life 2 mod.

The QubaHQ: June Trailer can also be watched at Vimeo and YouTube.

Password hacking is usually presented as a quite dull process in Hollywood visuals. It is even more dull in real life. In this tutorial I will show you my take on a HolOS password hacking interface – spicing it up with After Effects 2.5D crossword puzzle look.

The idea for this tutorial comes from one of the Video Bits projects published back in 2008: Crossword Hax. I think enough time has passed since I created that effect, so I decided to share it with the community.

Running time: 41min
Difficulty: Advanced
Required tools: After Effects
Optional tools: Trapcode Horizon

Preview video:

Tutorial:

Download the files associated with this tutorial below:

• Project File
  http://downloads.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_HolOS_PassHack.zip
• Tutorial (138MB MP4)
  http://video.qubahq.com/tutorials/QubaHQ_HolOS_PassHack.mp4

You may also download this tutorial from its Vimeo page. The preview video can also be watched on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, have a look around the site. If you find something else you would like to see made into a tutorial, drop a comment and I’ll see what can be done.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

This effect uses particle system traveling along a 3D path to create a stream of energy. It can be used for magic vfx and is easily controlled by adjusting the guide path.

For this example I simply randomized the paths and camera movement to create more energetic and chaotic composition.

Procedural animation done using Trapcode Particular and a whole bunch of custom expressions. Developed for the Master of IDM project.