Graham Quince's Blog

Makin' Saturn: Adding a 2.5D Ring

Here's what I thought would be a challenge, but turned out to be quite straight-forward, (I won't say easy). In this video, I use Video Copilot's Orb plugin to create Saturn with a texture map from Solar System Scope, then I use After Effect's built-in effects to create a ring and have the planet appear inside the ring (with a bit if help from expressions)




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Links:
Video Copilot's Orb plugin can be downloaded here: https://www.videocopilot.net/orb/

Solar System Scope: https://www.solarsystemscope.com/

Makin' Mercury using VC Orb:




Makin' Mercury with CC Sphere:





Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hjyg1bal0vlt9wf/Saturn.zip?dl=1

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShiveringC

Makin’ Jupiter: Animated Textures vs Procedural Clouds

Here’s a tutorial on how to create a texture for the largest planet in our solar system. I’ve actually take two approaches to creating The Gas Giant and in this video, I’ll show you how to both animate a static texture map and use Fractal Noise, Tint and Turbulent Displace effects to reproduce the look procedurally.



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Links:
Video Copilot's Orb plugin: https://www.videocopilot.net/orb/

Makin' Mercury using CC Sphere:





Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g41mbm68mr8sg80/Jupiter.zip?dl=1

NASA JPL Gallery: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA07782

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShiveringC

Makin’ Mars: Adding orbiting moons and having them cast shadows in Video Copilot Orb

Here’s the next instalment of Makin’ Planets. This time it’s Mars. In the tutorial, After creating Mars, I then create Phobos and link it’s orbit to Mars. Then using expressions and lights, I have it cast a shadow onto the surface of the red planet.



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Expressions:
L=thisComp.layer("Phobos NULL");
L.toWorld(L.anchorPoint);


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Links:
Video Copilot's Orb plugin: https://www.videocopilot.net/orb/

Pixel Planet Emporium: http://planetpixelemporium.com/
Celestia Motherlode : http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/

Makin' Mercury using CC Sphere:





Tutorial without background music:





Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wxupzsrmj9cian4/Mars.zip?dl=1

Makin’ Earth - storms, labels and auroras

Here are three separate tutorials for adding extras to a 3D Earth using Video Copilot’s Orb. There’s no point in a tutorial in recreating Earth, as Andrew Kramer has already made an excellent tutorial covering that (which is also included below), so instead, I’ve focused on adding some extras:

Adding a hurricane:

Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s08ipraj1jt31xl/Earth%20%20-%20Storm.zip?dl=1

Adding 3D labels based on geographic coordinates:

Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/65grll005utomwd/Earth%20-%20Labels.zip?dl=1

Adding an Aurora using CC Particle World:

Project file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kiuux7idtt0oew/Earth%20-%20Aurora.zip?dl=1
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Expressions:
L=thisComp.layer("Position NULL");
L.toWorld(L.anchorPoint);

CC Particle World Producers:
x=thisComp.layer("Particles NULL").transform.position[0]-thisComp.width/2;
x/thisComp.width;

y=thisComp.layer("Particles NULL").transform.position[1]-thisComp.height/2;
y/thisComp.width;

z=thisComp.layer("Particles NULL").transform.position[2];
z/thisComp.width;


Here are some additional helpful links:

Andrew Kramer's Ultra 3D Earth tutorial


Video Copilot's Orb plugin: https://www.videocopilot.net/orb/


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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShiveringC