Log In (draft) from AM on Vimeo.

The video is entitled Log In, which features a virtual world loading into existence, then a virtual avatar. The plot in more detail consists of the following:

1. Title screen — command executed in CLI-like interface
2. A montage of various environmental elements loading in a 2.5 dimensional space, ultimately building the scene’s backdrop
3. The avatar’s body loads
4. Avatar’s body textures load
5. Avatar “comes to life”

Process

I wanted to explore the technical limitation of After Effects — particularly its 2.5 dimensional nature. The camera can capture 3d space, but all the elements in the space must be 2d (images and videos, no 3d objects). I tried to take advantage of this limitation by creating a narrative based in a virtual space, so that the 2d imagery, the pixellation, the unnatural movement and other digital artifacts would appear deliberate in this context.

I initially wanted my character to be a 3d object that I could pan the camera around and place image textures onto the surface of, but since that’s not a possibility unless done through After Effects CC’s regimented and limited 3d pipeline, I took a different, more tedious approach of screen recording animations of 3d objects in Blender with a shader that renders the object completely black on a white backdrop, then used that footage as a mask to color key in AE.

The footage appears pixellated before properly rendered in Blender, which I thought was an interesting effect and kept it.

Credit

I created the music and of course the After Effects composition. All the images of the bits of sky, grass and trees were pulled from public parts of the web. The 3d model was created and shared by Blendswap user AlexanderLee.