Tutorial used : http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/particle_explosion/
Background: added a solid layer with a Ramp effect to basically include a gradient on the background.
Text: Scaled up the words and then used a Forced Motion Blur on them to make them shatter.
Particle1: the first particle generator was created using the Particle World and a eventual Lens Blur and Curves effect. I linked up (an expression) the Birth Rate (Particle World) to the position I use later in the Control slider layer. I also linked up (used an expression) the X,Y, and Z positions to the corresponding X,Y, and Z positions of the later CCNull layer. ( I have technically 5 particle layers that all use the Particle World effect of various sizes and colors; the ones named Sprites however are linked to using a glow.png as the image instead of the particles found in After Effects for brighter "glows" and automatically larger spheres).
Control Slider: I used the Slider effect and adjusted keyframes along the timeline that have the Particle World(s) linked to them to create the bursting and dying of the particles.
CCNull: This layer actually has nothing on it but I had to copy the expression information from my other composition (3DRoom) in order to use an expression to attach the X,Y, & Z in the Particle(s) to something; in this case a blank null object.
Part 2 3-D Room with Strobe Light (this actually had to be made before finishing the Particle Explosion because it relies on the 3-D information found in the expressions on the layers in this composition).
Tutorials used: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/3d_room/
Background(s): I had to take a Black/White jpeg and utilizing the Unified Camera Tool and Rotation Tool to position and copy them into 3-D space to create a room. To extend the room I added a Motion Tile and changed the Output Width to 500 to make the hallway extend. I also set up an exposure on the back wall to tone down how "hot" and bright it was.
Camera: I moved the camera along the Z space and pickwicked the Position to move back in space.
Light: I added a light source in the middle of the room and added the Wiggler to allow for it to flicker while in motion.
Text: I moved the text up and allowed for it to appear by changing the opacity levels. I pickwicked it and added Wiggler expressions to allow the words to hesitate and "float" back after the camera stops zooming in.
Particles (strobe): I used another Particle World and the Glow effect. I attached the strobe light to a null object in order to move it around in Z space successfully. I then added to the Wiggler effect to allow to dip and dive.
The tutorials (vidoecopilot.com) themselves were okay as far as videos go when Andrew Kramer finally got around to talking about After Effects instead of telling lame jokes. He's either really cocky or really lonely but he did have a nice speaking voice and the audio was sharp and clear the whole time. Sometimes it would throw me for a loop when he used something in the older versions and I couldn't find it in the current one, but it's to be expected with older tutorials. His (company sponsored) videos were no where near as bad as when I tried to watch this user created video off of creativecow.com. I know that all the videos on that site aren't like this one I saw but since its open for user content sometimes really old a poor quality videos stay on there. This one that I looked up was about making 3-D text but it was sooo old like, windows '98 old. It looked like it was made in the first After Effects. Whoever the guy was had a horribly dry voice that didn't help when combined with poor audio quality. His "solution" to making text appear "3-D" was to simply copy and paste the text about twenty times and displace each layer to make it look 3-D. So after having view that and a horrible one on Youtube that didn't even bother to full screen the video (so you were forced to just follow their mouse the whole time) I found Andrew's little annoying comments not to be so bothersome. He actually moved slow enough to where you could have it playing and work at the same time in some moments. He would occasionally playback his progress so you could compare your's to his to make sure you doing it correctly. Another detail that I which was addressed in Andrew's was the fact that half way through the video I realized that I couldn't make the particle effect by just watching one video but was forced to build the 3-D room. That would have been a helpful notice under the video. Also he used a plug-in blur effect that made some of his particles look and move differently but there was no description like in others of plug-ins. Granted it wasn't completely necessary like other tutorials to make the video but it still would have also been nice to say beforehand that without it your video will look slightly different.
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