a weekly series where we recreate the most awesome effects from movies and music videos.
However,
this week we are doing something different.
This week we are creating an effect inspired by Anime.
And the effect will be the famous super speed dash,
which a lot of Anime heroes have.
Now like you know, or not,
I'm a huge Anime fan.
Like huge!
And recently with the lockdown, I have a lot more time at home in the evening,
and that's why I'm currently in a Anime overdrive.
I'm rewatching one of my favorites, Samurai X,
and I'm also watching two new ones,
Boku no Hero and Demon Slayer.
All three are, by the way, super good.
So, go watch them
after this video, ok?
Now, when watching them I noticed that a lot of the main characters had super fast reflexes
and speed powers,
especially with Samurai X and Demon Slayer.
And that got me thinking and brought me to this video tutorial.
So,
addictions can be useful sometimes.
Now what do we need for this effect?
Well, we are going to need tripod shots.
First we need an empty shot of our environment,
then keep rolling and let your actor come in the shot and take position.
Let him do his acting and make him do a movement towards the direction he will speed dash.
Then keep on rolling and let your actor move to the next position he speed dashed to.
Here let him act like he moved in with speed.
Then you can let him stand still and do whatever
or you can repeat these steps a few times
so that he dashes for place to another place.
Your creative choice.
And that was it for the shots that we need.
The most important thing is that you keep you camera rolling, so you don't have to touch it
and accidentally move it.
Now, before we can start with the post production,
we first need Anime assets.
And where can we find them?
Well, on Storyblocks Video of course,
the sponsor of today's video.
They have multiple awesome packs with cool animations,
which are perfect for recreating Anime effects.
Just look for cartoon elements
and be amazed with the huge amount of awesome assets.
Now, of course you can find a lot more on Storyblocks Video.
Like muzzle flashes we very often use,
light leaks, lens flares, transitions and so much more.
Their stock Library is huge
and you will definitely find something you need.
Like, who doesn't need an After Effect template that is super easy to customize?
I do.
But the best thing about Storyblocks Video is their pricing.
For one price per year you can download an unlimited amount of video assets.
So if you want to start downloading right away,
don't hesitate and go to the first link in the description below.
Do it!
Okay, let's open up After Effects
and start creating our own super cool Anime Super Speed Dash Effect.
The first thing is to place the empty shot in your composition.
Then look for the part where your actor is standing and also does the movement to the side.
Once you have that, drag that clip to the composition.
Next up, look for the point where you actor is moved to the new spot.
Start that clip in the beginning of his fake side movement.
Once you have that, also drag that to the composition.
However, this clip needs to start when the actor starts his side movement in the first clip,
so they are overlapping a bit.
Now, in your timeline we are going to look for the middle point of the side movement
in the first actor clip.
Here we are going to make a cut.
You can easily do that by pressing ctrl + shift + D.
Then select the clip after the cut
and let's rename that ripple out effect.
Next, duplicate the ripple clip and let's rename it to blurry movement.
It's important to keep a clean workspace when working with effects,
otherwise you are going to have a bad time afterwards.
And last, select the second actor clip
and here you can also set your playhead in the middle of his side movement.
Then again make a cut and rename the clip before the cut ripple in effect.
Now select the ripple in clip and drag that in between the blurry movement clip
and the ripple out clip.
Now if you followed correctly,
your timeline will look something like this here.
Okay, let's first start with the blurry movement clip.
Place the playhead in the beginning of the clip,
select the clip and right click on it.
Then go to time and here you want to select the freeze frame option.
This will make your actor stand completely still.
Next up is creating a rough mask around your actor,
and this can be really rough.
You can even place the mask inside the actor.
Once this is done we are going to animate the blury movement layer.
Open up the position property and enable the animation for it.
Then go five frames further in time
and animate the blurry movement to the next location of your actor.
If needed, you can animate the scale to fit the second actor clip.
Also trim the blurry movement clip to that point,
enable the motion blur for the clip
and then we are finished with this clip.
Next up is the ripple out clip.
The first thing we are going to do is create a mask around your actor,
this can again be a rough one.
Then animate the mask to follow along with your actor,
and this can also be rough.
Once you have that we are going to add some effects.
But first I want to mention that the values that we are using
work perfectly for us.
However, that doesn't mean they will look good on your footage.
So keep in mind to use our values as a reference,
but yours can differ depending on how you want them to look.
Let's start with the first effect, the venetian blinds.
This effect will chop up your actor in lines.
To start, you can set the direction to ninety degrees.
Next, we will set the transition completion to 60%,
the width to 35
and the feather to 20.
Now, we want this effect to come in,
because at first you see your actor completely
and then he disappears.
So let's animate the tranistion completion.
At the beginning of the ripple out clip, set the transition completion to zero
and at the end set it to sixty.
Next up we will add the roughen edges effect to the clip,
and this will make everything more damaged and less clean.
Set the edge type to spiky,
the edge sharpness to zero point five
and the complexity on two.
Now the following properties we need to animate.
Let the border start at 8 and towards the end set it to 23.
For the evolution let it start at zero
and at end set it around 2X.
This means two whole turns.
Then the last effect, the turbulent displace.
This will give a wavy look to it all.
For this effect we need to animate two properties.
The first one is the amount.
It starts at zero and in the end we change it to 40.
The next is the evolution.
Again let it start a zero, and towards the end we are going to set it to 1X.
One whole turn.
Now, if you want you can also decrease the size to your likings.
Okay,
I lied.
We have one more effect to finish it,
the directional blur.
Set the direction to the same one as your movement
and animate the blur length to start at 0,
and go to 60 towards the end.
Damn.
That were a lot of properties.
Luckily from here on out it's super simple.
Select your ripple in clip and again create a rough mask.
Also animate it so that it follows along with your actor.
Now go back to the ripple out clip and select all four effects.
Copy them and now we are going to paste them on the ripple in clip.
The only thing we now need to do is switch the keyframes,
so the end keyframes will now become the start keyframes.
This will make sure that the ripple effect comes in,
starting with nothing visible.
Exactly the opposite of the first ripple.
Now, you are probably thinking "What about the shadow?"
Well, duplicate both the ripple in and out clip,
place them underneath the other layers
and delete everything on the duplicates.
Now, draw a mask on both duplicates around the shadow on the ground.
And for the ripple out clip we are gonna animate the opacity from 100 to 0,
and for the ripple in clip we are animating the opacity from 0 to 100.
And that fakes the shadows and finishes the effect.
Of course you can repeat these steps as much as you want,
making your actor jump around like crazy.
And to finish the effect you can add those super cool Storyblock's Anime assets.
Pssst... Yannick.
Hey Yannick,
can you come downstairs?
I got something to show you.
Ok.
Why is it so dark in here?
Lorenzo?
This is my one shot.
This will give me glory.
My road to eternal success!
Stop talking to yourself.
Oh yeah. I wanna show you something.
See this potato?
Place it on your head.
What do you want me to do?
I can feel his power.
Control your breathing.
Ultimate focus.
Cinecom Speed Form.
Last but not least,
Yannick's Fun Fact Fountain!
Apparently in Japan, more paper is used to print manga on than to make toilet paper.
That's insane.
However,
it could be due to the fact that they have fancy robot toilets.
No paper needed,
if you know what I mean.
Wink, wink.
Also, I found out that the first Anime was made in 1917
and was a two-minute clip about a samurai testing out his new sword.
After seeing it, I must say it's
special...
And I'm glad they evolved to the style and quality they have now,
because I really love it.
Now, if you have some Anime I definitely need to see,
let me now in the comments below.
I would love to hear them.
And that's it for today, guys.
Thank you so much for watching,
I hope you learned something new.
Thank you Storyblocks Video for the support.
And like always...
Stay creative!