Alphabloks - Motion typography

This was a response to a brief set by a tutor called Colin Evoy Sebestyan at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

Creative Brief:

Using the techniques we have covered in class lecture, produce 3 short videos that will function as "motion glyphs". I will assign you your respective letters or numbers. The free typeface from Crol.rene, "wodenbloks" will be our basis.

Process:

Our typefaces will be based on Crol.rene's "wodenbloks", however, the paths are not optimized for the creation of geometry, so you will need to retrace the paths in Adobe Illustrator, and merge them into c4d. Once in c4d, I've created a stock setup for all of the designers to utilize. It includes preset materials, a lighting setup, and a camera setup with isometric projection. You'll need to extrude your geometry with a movement of 50 in the z parameter of an extrude object. From this point forward, design an effective and eye catching animation to reveal your glyph, using the mograph module and the techniques we have covered over the course of 15 weeks. 

If you choose to use color, I've included a color palette for use and to aid with consistency. You'll have 60 frames to resolve the intro animation and then hold the animation for 10 frames. You may not use any bleed of any sort on the edges of your compositions- so no revealing elements from the edge of the screen. An example of allowable techniques might be to have elements scale, fade, or push through a boolean "floor". I have included guides for the "floor" (baseline) and a plane object for a guide of the x-height.

Also, Nonagon has provided us with 2 second audio clips which will be assigned to each letter. You may use the audio procedurally to drive your animation using the sound effector and the mograph data node if you like, or just sync it after, or sync with keyframes, the audio usage is up to you. 

This is essential for the end product, because every word we lay out will be accompanied with a different sound composition, creating a unique sound design experience with every word, with the vowels triggering more frequently.

Once you have completed the animation of your letters or numbers, group all of your geometry to a null and create a compositing tag with an object buffer enabled so that we will have a track matte for the creation of alpha channels when we bring the animations into after effects.

Using the charAt expression we have review in class in AE, a file has been generated that will drive the time remap values of your precomps so that you can type whatever you like using your glyph animation using the type object in After Effects. Audio Reverb and Delay effects have also been added on each precomp.

I look forward to your design solutions! I've assigned myself 3 as well, to join in the fun.

Technical Specifications and Outcomes:

• You must render your compositions at 800 x 800, 30 fps, with an RGBA pass and an Object Buffer pass.
• You are required to use the style guide included in the dropoff.
• You must create 3 animations, 70 frames in length
• You will be critiqued based on the technical skills demonstrated on each of the 3 animations, as well as your creativity.



ALPHABLOKS - Motion Typography from Colin Evoy Sebestyen on Vimeo.