14 Replies Latest reply on Feb 22, 2017 12:02 PM by Rick Gerard

Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 20, 2017 7:08 AM

Hi i need help in a project i am currently doing i want to create an effect that looks similar to the example image where you almost have layers upon layers of your movement or another example the movement is stacked so you still see the previous move along side the new and so on, i was also wondering if there was a script in after effects that would automatically configure that effect so i don't have to do by hand say over a 700 frames and place them one after the other to create that trail effect, it would do it for me. if you anyone knows a similar technique or a way to help me that would be fantastic as i need to have this project done in four weeks and i am dead inside

1. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Mylenium Feb 20, 2017 7:24 AM (in response to katherined43548974)

Effects --> Time --> Echo and similar "Feedback" effects in commercial plug-in collections, combined with masking, keying, pre-composing and lots of other effects to control the overall appearance of the effect along with a properly prepared shoot, of course.

Mylenium
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2. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 20, 2017 7:37 AM (in response to Mylenium)

hi thank you for replying another question would i be able to do that effect with a moving character in video create that trail effect of frame by frame and the example you gave me are they already in the after effects or will i have to pay for the plug ins and what do you mean by similar feed back effects
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3. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Rick Gerard Feb 20, 2017 9:47 AM (in response to katherined43548974)

Echo comes with After Effects. Several other manufacturers have similar effects available.

You do not have to do things frame by frame but if you have video of someone running through a scene you will have to put a copy of the actor on a separate layer by duplicating the layer and rotoscoping. Rotobrush may help this process but it will be more difficult if your shot is complicated or contains a lot of other detail. If the actor passes behind other elements in the scene you will also have to duplicate the footage again and isolate those elements. These kinds of visual effects shots are a lot easier if you do some careful pre-production planning and you do not have a moving camera.

If you can show us the shot you are using we can give you some more specific suggestions. If you have not done the filming yet please explain exactly what the shot involves and what you are trying to accomplish. Even pencil sketched story bards would be helpful.
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4. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 20, 2017 10:04 AM (in response to Rick Gerard)

thank you so much for your help, i will get the part of the clip i will be using the effect on will i be able to send you my footage over tomorrow when i can gather the correct footage.

regards
Katherine
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5. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 20, 2017 4:41 PM (in response to Rick Gerard)

i thought it best to send over the videos i put them into one clip theses are just little examples on possible moves where i would apply the echo effect to create the trail motion, some moves will be done in a side angle particularly the ones facing the camera, the clips are only my mocap video i will be creating a character doing the moves and then applying the effect in after effects, well thats the plan.
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6. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Szalam Feb 21, 2017 11:24 AM (in response to katherined43548974)

What software are you using to create the character? There might be a better way to do the trails in whatever you are using to render this character.
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7. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 21, 2017 11:46 AM (in response to Szalam)

I'm using 3ds max the software
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8. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Szalam Feb 21, 2017 12:20 PM (in response to katherined43548974)

There is likely a way in 3dsMax to use a particle system (or something) to achieve this kind of effect.

That being said, the fact that you are doing this with a render and not footage is really helpful even if you do just do this in AE. This means you can render out at a higher frame rate to make things smoother. And, you can render out your character on alpha so you don't have to cut out the background!

For some more interesting effects, you could get crazy with using a particle system in AE and using each frame of your render as a particle. Each particle could have a little bit of motion and could be fading out over its life. Could make some cool effects.
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9. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 21, 2017 12:29 PM (in response to Szalam)

out of curiosity how would i apply particles effects from AE on to each frame and is there a button or script that would automatically apply the frames say if i had frames that were about 700 long wouldn’t want to do all that by hand am i making sense
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10. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 22, 2017 10:34 AM (in response to Szalam)

out of curiosity how would i apply particles effects from AE on to each
frame and is there a button or script that would automatically apply the
frames say if i had frames that were about 700 long wouldn’t want to do all
tha
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11. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 22, 2017 10:36 AM (in response to Szalam)

im still relatively new to 3ds max how would i go about rendering my
animation into an alpha format which im guessing would make a smoother echo
trail effect
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12. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Rick Gerard Feb 22, 2017 11:27 AM (in response to katherined43548974)

When you render your 3DSmax render with an alpha channel. I would probably use an image sequence. If you do that and then apply Echo to the footage. If you want to do the entire effect in 3DS max then you'll have to study up on that.
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13. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

katherined43548974 Feb 22, 2017 11:30 AM (in response to Rick Gerard)

i tried png and because it was all in a separate images i could add the the echo effect in AE so what image sequence format would be be best so hat when i put in to AE i can select echo and it would begin the motion
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14. Re: Applying a almost ghost/motion trail effect to your videos character

Rick Gerard Feb 22, 2017 12:02 PM (in response to katherined43548974)

Import your png sequence into AE and make sure that image sequence is selected in the import panel. It's at the bottom. This turns image sequences into a movie.

Make sure that the frame rate matches the frame rate of your composition. You can change the frame rate by selecting the footage in the Project Panel and using the menu to go to File>Interpret Footage>Main

If you are going to be using a lot of image sequences you can set the default frame rate for importing image sequences in Preferences>Import panel. I have mine set to 29.97 because that is the frame rate for about 90% of my projects.
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