Project Notes: Trapcode Form

Project Notes: Trapcode Form

description:

This was yet another impromptu "project." I saw a project with a galaxy utilizing Trapcode Form, and I decided to explore the plug-in. I ended up creating four different projects using it, and each provided me a little insight to the tool. 

Black Hole:

This particular design was modeled after the Red Giant logo. Red Giant created the plug-in so I just went with it for basic practice.

I established the Base to Form a Box - Grid, to the size of my composition at 1920 x 1080. I set my particles to 300 x 300 x 1st 

I utilized a Fractal field, XYZ which was linked with a displacement of 150 to create waviness to the design. I then added a flow of 50 evolution to create a billowing effect type. I set the complexity to 4, and the F scale to fifth

To create the bubble in the center, I applied a Spherical Field with a strength of 100, a radius of 480 and a feather of the 55th

To add a little bit more dynamics to the animation, I added a twist of 2 to the overall effect, and then I rotated the x-axis on a loop.

I then applied a color map in the quick maps section to give it the color gradient it has.

The text was made utilizing a repeater node, to create a spacey kind of title.

Synapse:

This design essentially follows the exact same layout as the Black Hold above. The only differences are really the specific number parameters, the direction of the rotation, and the color map.

This began to take on a look to me of a synapse one might see in a medical animation, so I decided to try and push that idea further here.

elephant:

This was a simple idea I took as an idea of ​​creating a hologram style projections on a flat surface. I took a picture taken at Borobudur, in Indonesia and used it as the displacement map for the particles. I applied a fractal field to it to create the wavy look. I like the idea, but I do not think the image I chose was the best image for this idea.

Earth:

The particle earth took it's inspiration from the numerous holograms and such similar designs one usually sees in sci-fi movies such as Star Wars. For this, I decided to go in a cinematic direction rather than just display the particles as a title or such.

I began by creating a black solid to which I applied Form. The Base Form I changed to a layered sphere, and set the size to 600 x 600 x 600, 200 while keeping particles in the x and y, and only 1 sphere layer.

In the Layer Maps node, I applied an image of Earth in Black and White, utilizing the alpha and the size layer to project particles only on the landmasses. I then applied a color map under the Quick Map node, with a gradient from dark gold to light gold.

I duplicated this layer twice. On the first duplicate, I exchanged the Earth image with an image of the outline of the Earth and then increased the number of particles and size of these. The second duplicate, and animated to get larger over time. Both of these layers and their rotational axis linked to the first layer, so that all would rotate together.

I then duplicated the original layer again, but removed the mapping. I then expanded the layer to 650 x 650 x 650 and changed the number of particles in Y to 5. This created my latitudinal lines.

I duplicated the latitudinal layer, and then changed the Y to 200 and the X particles to 24 to create longitudinal lines. The longitude I then linked to the rotational axis of the original layer, while telling the latitude to rotate at x * (- 15) to create a varying some movement from the rest. 

For the interior sparks, I utilized Trapcode particular with it's Aux function to create the center slowly emitting particles. These too, I linked to the original layer's rotation.

The background I made a very dark purple. I then created a lens flare, to which I applied a tint and a gold gradient. I set a wiggle script to control the flare intensity. Opposite the flare, I created a lighter purple shape layer, and masked it with a heavy feather to give a nice complimentary color to the gold.

I then experimented with three different cameras, each of which I heavily changed the focus, zoom, and aperture to create the bluring effects.

Future Ideas:

I really like what I got out of this project and I can really see that it offers a lot of potential. Aside from creating a lot of space inspired imagery, it has opened up to me the possible methods of effects I've seen in other movies. 

One such effect, that I would like to try and create, is from the movie I, Robot. The AI ​​Viki in the movie is what I would like to create. I want to try and use a video of someone talking to create a heavy 3D displacement of a face. The particles would be made up the video itself, as it would reinforce the effect. It creates a very unique and strong impression, however in order to create the effect, I would need possible green screens, and high contrast lighting - which is not available to me at this time. So I'll have to shelve that project for later.