Distortion - Been trying for over a year

[monte]

I finally found the perfect example of something I've been trying to do in AE for some time but could never get it to look correct

I want distortion - an easy example would be drops of water on the lense - ie:


http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8662/picture2ji2.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/2859/picture3ag7.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9449/picture4py8.png (http://imageshack.us)



I have had people tell me to use a distortion map or whatever they're called but there's no way to really control it or control the movment in after effects


I feel like this is something I'd have to use Inferno for, yes? Unfortunately the post house I work at sold theirs before I got there, and now uses after effects exclusively

[Steve_Arm]

You want water/liquid drops on the lens which distort the bg image?

[Matt Grunau]

That's just the use of displacement maps and compound blurs. Simple stuff.

The displacement maps move the pixels based on whatever control you use (red channel, green channel, Luminance) and compound blur adds "X" amount of blur depending on Luminance, where 0,0,0 is no blur and 255,255,255 is full blur.

And, the drops themselves may be a separate adjustment layer with a circular mask, slightly distorted to not be a perfect circle, with the magnify effect on it. Add a feather to that mask, and the magnify effect dissipates as it reaches the mask boundaries. Bring in the compound blur with a solid layer using the masks from the Adjustment layer, and you have what you see.

So there are three ways to do it. Displacement maps with compound blurs, or the magnify effect with compound blurs. Either method will look cool.

[Steve_Arm]

He can use the optics compensation filter too. Which will give a lens distortion.

[monte]

Okay here's what I've got so far - text is just placeholder ATM by the way....


http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9536/picture1ss7.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4313/picture3uv3.png (http://imageshack.us)

Added Bulge, Magnify, Lense Blur, and emboss - I feel like something's still missing - for one thing the fact that it just looks like a blur spot rather than a bit of water on a lense

The reason being that there is no point of light hitting the water droplet - in the original there is a red light hitting the side of the water droplets - any ideas guys?

Thanks

[milksac]

Been trying for over a year
Holy cow!

[Neil Rowe]

if you have AE PRO you can use the cycore effects filter called: CC glue gun. this will effectivly let you simply draw beads or streaks of clear or whatever color liquid you would like onto the image. they will warp and distort the background just like beaded water would. very very easy. you can change its color, effects over lifespan , (i think there may be lighting adjustments as well but im not on my edit machine right now), ect ect. im pretty sure that there is another simple effect that will work for you as well but i cant think of what it is right now. ill take a look when im editing later.

[oneinfiniteloop]

If you read Matt's response it says compound blur, not lens blur, it makes a difference. Read up on compound effects in volume 2 of Creating Motion Graphics.

Oh, and anything that can be done in an Inferno can pretty much be done in AE.

[monte]

Ok so I fooled around with it a little more today - here's the result::

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3641/picture1zi8.png (http://imageshack.us)

I added the compound blur (which I think looks the best so far) as well as a light source via glue gun

It still doesnt feel like it's "thick" as far as the droplet is concerned - any ideas to achieve a more thick look to the blurring?

Ideas?

thanks guys

[oneinfiniteloop]

I did this quick little test in about 20 minutes...nothing special and I was just messing around. Here's a recap of what I did.

1. Created a pure red solid (this is important for the displacement map) with two circular masks, one inside the other like a ring. I linked their expansion with a simple expression using the pickwhip. I also linked their feather with an expression.

2. I duplicated that layer and did the same thing except the circle was smaller so that it looked kind of like the target logo.

3. I then animated the masks to expand out like a drop of water. I feathered them to give it a smooth look. I then precomped these two layers together.

4. Next I created my background, then created an adjustment layer with the displace effect and the compound blur effect on it. Both effects were set to use the animated mask precomp as their target layer or whatever they're called. With the displacement map I changed both horizontal and vertical distortion to be fed from the red layer (hence the red solid) and lowered their distorion amount a bit.

That's pretty much it. You can see the results here...

http://www.andrewjfallon.com/displace_web.mov

I would post a project file, but I'm using CS3 and my most wouldn't be able to open up. If there's interest I'll rebuild it in 6.5 and post it up.