Victoria Nece

Peeling Gold Leaf Effect

Thursday, 03. 4. 2010  –  Category: Graphics

So I’ve been experimenting with BCC Reptilian. It’s normally used to make lizard skin-style textures, but I discovered some other interesting things to do with it, and this was the most realistic effect I managed:

It’s a nice look if you need to create some peeling gilded text on the base of an old statue. It’s also great for a faux antique gravestone or building ruin. And the type is still fully editable so, I dunno, evil posessed statues can come to life and write things? Some archaeologist could unearth something demonic? Okay, I admit it. I actually have utterly no idea what to use this for, but it’s pretty cool looking so I thought I’d post it anyway. And all you have to do is change the typeface and it looks like an artifact from a completely different era, so it might actually have some practical application after all.

The basic setup is a mix of BCC Reptilian, Fractal Noise, Bevel Alpha, two instances of Roughen Edges and a lot of hue-sat tweaking. There’s also a Gaussian Blur adjustment layer with a Fractal Noise solid as its luma matte. And then there’s a vignette. Because there’s always a vignette.

If anyone’s interested it I can make this into a preset or upload the project file.

“Snowbot” — New Animated Short

Monday, 03. 1. 2010  –  Category: News

One of the Android blogs I follow had a video contest, so I put this little film together in an evening. It’s all After Effects + Illustrator, and done on my teeny tiny S10 netbook. Animating an HD film on a 10″ screen is probably insane, but at least it saved me a trip to the office!

Alas, much of the evening was spent dealing with render errors (lesson: overflow volume settings are REALLY IMPORTANT on a netbook), so I only managed to upload the rough version before the contest’s midnight deadline. Oh well, maybe an extra couple hours is ok?

People are clearly pretty intense over their entries though… within seconds — seconds! — of posting the rought cut I had a flurry of one-star votes and comments like “GARBAGE.” Oh YouTube. At least no one’s claiming that my film is an Obama conspiracy yet. But seriously, if you’re that into winning a Nexus One, just go buy the thing. It’s a phone, not fifty grand.

The snowed-in robot idea was suggested by Chris Needles (thanks Chris!). I simplified it into something I could animate in a couple of hours, storyboarded it out, then found an .ai of the Android logo (which is Creative Commons licensed! Hooray open source!) from which to build my puppets.

The sledbearing penguin is just the robot colored black and white, with the addition of pointier arms and a beak. And he’s not an intentional Linux reference, although I’ll take the free geek points. He’s actually there because my stuffed Android tends to hang out with a penguin-shaped pillow, and they make a cute pair.

Rigging the two puppets was unbelievably easy… no knees or elbows or hands or feet …

Abstract Cube Wallpaper

Thursday, 02. 18. 2010  –  Category: Downloads

Finally, another big batch o’ wallpaper for your enjoyment!

If anyone’s interested I can post the After Effects project that produced these.

They’re all 1920×1080.

Amusing Phrases from Spam Commenters

Thursday, 02. 4. 2010  –  Category: News

Akismet does a wonderful job of blocking all the spam comments my site receives. (I get a ton!) And part of the fun is reading the posts it has blocked, particularly the ones with dummy text designed to hide a random link. Here are some recent highlights:

The Generic Blog Comment: “I was studying something else about this on another blog. Interesting. Your perspective on it is diametrically opposed to what I read in the first place. I am still contemplating over the various points of view, but I’m tipped to a great extent toward yours. And regardless, that’s what is so great about modern democracy and the marketplace of ideas on-line.”
Travel-related comments on a Photoshop tutorial: “Fellow Tourists April should be good for a Long Island Romantic Getaways .Options are many- I grew up near that area, so I would definitely like the Places to visit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Until my financial situation improves, you can’t beat the Places to Visit in Florida Any thoughts?”
Full, detailed rules of Backgammon, too long to post here.
The purely baffling: “After the sewing machine needle has continued in its’ upward motion to a point at which it is above the fabric, the feed-dogs rise”
Ditto: “Bgure hurrying through the rain. Down the steps and along the corridor, to take the buy cialis online day—of the rain! I punched up the”
In response to a post about my inflatable cube-frog: “Hey Wassup? My name is Jett I’ve been browsing these forums for a long time now, and I finally found something worth writing here:
I bought my wife a motorscooter, repaired our kitchen |,but the thing that excited her the most was without a doubt my intention to Buy Loose Diamonds for our silver wedding anniversary. These Loose diamonds are Emerald diamonds,and are engaging. The Diamond has …

What have I been up to lately?

Friday, 01. 22. 2010  –  Category: News

Things are busy here at The Documentary Group.

I’ve been working on several different projects over the past few months. The biggest one is Lafayette: The Lost Hero, an hour-long documentary which will air in April on PBS. Here’s the trailer:

I’ve also done a lot of animation for three Constitution Project films: two about Supreme Court cases, Ledbetter v. Goodyear and Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company, as well as one about the Bill of Rights which will be turned into an interactive game. Once these have made it through the final online edit, I’ll post some of the fun things I’ve made for them as well as links to where you can watch online.

Next month, I finish up Ledbetter and start on a project about jazz and American history. Meanwhile, DocGroup is embarking on their biggest-scale production since I began working here (big enough we’ve run out of office space!), and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a four-part PBS series about the history of TV called America in Primetime, and I’m really looking forward to working on it.

Crochet an Android Robot

Thursday, 01. 7. 2010  –  Category: Tutorials

I love the Android logo guy. He’s adorable. So I thought I’d make a stuffed one! A break from the usual Photoshop/After Effects stuff for something a little cuddlier. He’s not too hard to make, but requires a bit of improvisation.