Study Case : how to make educational animation?

set wrote on 1/27/2016, 9:36 PM

I was asked by a friend who run an educational facility, to create the video presentation like Math Antics Youtube channel

For example just like this one video:

Ok, I want to know if there are any 'shortcut' 'simpler' way on doing this rather than having manual keyframes and playing with layers whether that using Sony Vegas or HitFilm (or After Effects?)

Anyone?

Set

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 1/27/2016, 10:59 PM

I really wouldn't attempt that in Vegas, although it's possible someone already has.

That stuff in that video wasn't done manually; others can advise you what software might have been used.

set wrote on 1/28/2016, 1:44 AM

Agree with you..., doing this manually would be nuts...
But I'm open for another application's suggestion.

Set

rs170a wrote on 1/28/2016, 5:52 AM

Set, I just came across mention of this site and it looks like it might do what you need.
http://www.rawshorts.com/

Mike

Former user wrote on 1/28/2016, 7:42 AM

Here's the technique brought to a pretty high level ;-)

Another one from a few years ago...

Red Prince wrote on 1/28/2016, 10:27 AM

Set, in the very first YouTube comment below that video it says, “We use a program from Apple called Motion.” Searching the web for Apple Motion brings up https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion/id434290957?mt=12. That page says, “To download Motion from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later.” It also says the app costs $49.99.

Personally, I don’t have a Mac, so I would use the free and powerful POV-Ray to design the graphics, though admittedly POV-Ray is not for the faint-hearted because you need to write the code to create the graphics, so if you’re not familiar with it, there is a fairly steep learning curve.

Adam

SecondWind-SK wrote on 1/28/2016, 12:53 PM

I went to the web site, then looked up the creator: Jarret Heather, web designer, musician, artist. He says he used After Effects and put about 500 hours into the Weird Al Yankovic video. Wonder what his hourly rate is?

JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/28/2016, 4:33 PM

What you really want is a plug-in that is specifically designed for this sort of motion graphic work. Boris Graffiti or Boris RED can probably be used to do this. Boris RED plugs into Vegas Pro. Here is one for Apple Final Cut Pro X that makes this sort of thing easy to do (just as an example):

http://vimeo.com/150990358

I'm not advocating that you should use FCP X, I'm only pointing this out because not everyone spends hours key framing by hand. There are plug-ins that do this without any keyframes.

~jr

set wrote on 1/28/2016, 8:19 PM

Hi JohnnyRoy,

Thank you for the Boris RED suggestion or mBehavior plugins for FCPX.

That's one solution for animation keyframes, but how about part of layers or texts ? seems no shortcut on that but making each required layers and perform animation on each layer ?

Let's analyze a bit with simple little math studycase below :) :

2+3x0=...
(The answer is 2)
*Not 5, because multiplication is stronger than addition so 3x0 will be calculated first & results in 0, so it becomes 2+0=2.

So..., back to graphic animation making:
from 2+3x0=..., I will need to add () (or showing info page order of calculation x,/,+,-)) to highlight 3x0 part, so the calculation will showing 2+(3x0)=.... Then, change (3x0) to 0, so now it is showing 2+0=.... So, the final answer can be shown 2.

so, do I have to prepare layers / graphic parts for each 2 , + , 3 , x , 0 , = , ( , ) , new 0 after (3x0) calculation , and final answer of 2 ?

This is still a text-based calculation, haven't go further with graphic, round, degree, square spaces, or 3D mathematic volume (or Physics / Chemistry ~ but it's on their long term plan)

Boris RED (or also alternate TP4) is using separate timelines for each work, while mBehavior plugins work from the same timeline of FCPX, mixed together with Compound Clips feature. Must admit mBehavior FCPX simplify a lot...

Set

Rory Cooper wrote on 1/29/2016, 6:19 AM

i use Boris nearly every day but you will battle to do this type of thing quickly.

you need an app that has independent text motion for each element and can attach elements together quickly and still maintain its independent keyframe motion no matter how many elements are linked together. AND SHOW YOU MOTION PATHS INDIVIDUAL AND LAYERED ELEMENTS TOGETHER
so i would use simple version of smith micro animi studio = you will be up and running quickly.

the pro version will do stuff in 3D

JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/29/2016, 7:38 AM

> "so, do I have to prepare layers / graphic parts for each 2 , + , 3 , x , 0 , = , ( , ) , new 0 after (3x0) calculation , and final answer of 2 ?"

Yes, there is no getting away from the fact that each individual piece that you want to animate needs to be a separate part.

> "Must admit mBehavior FCPX simplify a lot..."

That's because under the covers it's using Apple Motion which has the notion of Behaviors built-in. So instead of key framing, you drop a behavior on a layer and it animates all by itself. They are similar to the Animation presets in Sony Titles and Text. In fact, you might want to use the Animation presets in Sony Titles & Text to animate the numbers. It just can't be used for objects. Now having said that, you could use a font like WingDings that contains objects and animate those. ;-)

~jr