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Simple After Effects 3D buildings

W

wheatgrinder

Hi all,
I have a client who wants something similar to my Rowans Cool Yak Hat video.
http://www.vimeo.com/16504908

But set on a city street. Iv been having a heck of time finding suitable city street assets, anyway, I realized that I might just have to make my own. In thinking about this, I recalled seeing free down loadable paper scale models of various buildings. As a test I downloaded this PDF http://www.illinoishistory.gov/ps/construct_mainstreet_tinsley.htm I used the images in the pdf as layers to form a primitive model in AE. It seems to work OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsE-3zNz_6I
It will be fine for what Im going to do. There are other models for entire street fronts so it should go fast. This silly flyby took about an hour. Which is not bad. (the camera move was just random, took a few mins)
 
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Not so bad. Better than I expected from 3D. I've been underwhelmed and dissapointed by a lot of the stuff I've seen.

The building, standing on it's own in the mindscape, gives it a surreal, mildly post apocalyptic look. The drawing itself is half-decent, but it's the zooms and 'camera' work that give it an interesting feel.

Some of the transitions between zoom directions are a bit jerky. (Specifically at 0:05 and 0:08) I think they need to curve more, be more gentle. If they were smoothed out it'd be a quality piece.

It sticks in my mind....
 
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thanks,
to be clear this is a test to see how easy\complicated using the paper scale model assets would be. I did not spend but 5 minutes on the camera moves. It was a snap. It works well with the AE work flow which is NOT a true 3D modeling application.
 
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I did this exact thing when I made the 3D cross comp a bit ago. Not sure if you need/figured this out yet, but you can precompose the layers making up your 3D object for more ease of control if you need to move/rotate the building :)
 
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There's an after effects project called "top of the town 2" that you can buy for 30 bucks on videohive. It has an entire city prebuilt, and you can modify it to your needs faster than building from scratch and with better results. However it's a modern city so I'm not sure it's exactly what you want, looking at your example. Might be worth checking out.
 
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Nate, that looks cool, but I don't think you can actually change the camera or anything.

EDIT: I did want to say that there are some other projects though that might just work perfectly. Thanks Nate!
 
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Camera moves

Just FYI, you can definitely change the camera movement, If memory serves, it's in a locked subcomp (double click on one of the lines or click padlock icon and repeat) or is controlled by a Null layer. I think it's the null layer. Just start screwing around with that layers orientation, and you've got custom camera moves. Whatever project you choose you will likely find the camera controlls placed similarly, if they are not obvious to begin with. Project creators like to "protect" you from screwing up anything important, so that's why cameras are often locked or hidden.

Or you can always use Max, if you enjoy programs with thousands of dials and levers and minimal explanation. That's what I resorted to for cites, and I still have a way to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfaCV-5xTvA
 
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wheatgrinder said:
pointer to max? Do you mean 3d studio max?

To be clear I really need a nice block of urban hiphop style street.
Click to expand...

Yes I mean 3DS Max. I'm not sure but I think I would be violating forum rules to point you to a non retail copy, and you can of course find a retail one via search. I believe trial runs of both max and vray are available.

What you want to do is pretty tough, since the area would be damaged and not clean. This would be something like a 20-30k project to do right for a minute, so gauge whether you should try for this level in whatever financial context you are looking at.

If you would like to proceed with max despite this warning, you can email me and I'll send you some cities to get you started. Hope you have a good computer.
 
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Not too shabby there, wheatgrinder. Just disregard my advice about Max and Vray if this is all you need. It's worlds of hard work and time lost inside those boxes.

I'd only suggest it if you are competing against pros. Then you can beat your competition because it's so complex that few take the time to really learn it.

Anyway, best of luck with your project, and if you need any AE help, feel free to ask. Seems like you know your way around it already though.
 
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