# My 2.5D Video



## tasteofjace (Mar 5, 2012)

Decided to try out some 2.5D conversions with my photos. Here's the result.

Questions, comments and critique are certainly welcome! 

3D Is For Suckers


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## thundermonkey (Mar 6, 2012)

*Holds gun to head*

I demand you tell me:

*Where I can learn to do the 3D effect.
*What you edited in FCP7
*What you used to capture your screen
*Name of the song
*What transition effects you used


What exactly did you do in AE, that you then edited in FCP7? For example, the shot of the individual looking up at the building, I take it that whole sequence was actually done in AE? What settings did you use to export from AE for use in FCP?

Also, fantastic work!


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## Waterdonkey (Mar 6, 2012)

Just Cool 8)


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## Terry Rogers (Mar 6, 2012)

WoW!!!!

+1

LDS?


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## Terry Rogers (Mar 6, 2012)

thundermonkey said:


> *Name of the song



Awolnation - Sail


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## CJRodgers (Mar 6, 2012)

This is probably my faveourite video of this technique. Are the photos yours too? Would love a tutorial on this.


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## caMARYnon (Mar 6, 2012)

+1


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## marekjoz (Mar 6, 2012)

Great job. Parts with no HDR I liked most.
+1


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## markbueno (Mar 6, 2012)

Fantastic video! great job.

Here is a cool video tutorial:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/fuller_mathew/AE_Advanced-2-5D-Animation/video-tutorial


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## tasteofjace (Mar 6, 2012)

thundermonkey said:


> *Holds gun to head*
> 
> I demand you tell me:
> 
> ...



I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply. Thanks to everyone who has checked this out, and thanks for taking time to leave feedback ;D

I'll do my best to answer any questions. 

*Where I can learn to do the 3D effect.*
You can sit down and google key topics like "2.5D" Photography, and mix in terms such as "tutorial" or "how to". This, hopefully will lead to helping you understand the basics behind the process. I wasn't able to find an end all article or tutorial that was able to walk me through the process. I just got the basic idea, and ran with it. This is the first project I have ever done using After Effects.

*What you edited in.*
My workflow went something like this. 1.) - Open photo in Photoshop. Determine 2 to 3 layers, usually a foreground, midground, and background. Cut these out placing them on their own separate layers. Save the PSD file. 2.) - Open the saved PSD file in After Effects. Here I would manipulate the scene by moving the layers around in 3D space. Essentially, I would just move the assets along the "z" axis, either towards or away from me. So the background would be the furthest away, then midground, and finally foreground would be the closest. 3.) - Finally I would add a "camera" object that I could then animate to view the scene. Animating the subtle movement of this camera is what would give me a sense of depth and the final "2.5D" look. 4.) - In After Effects, I worked in a project space of 1920x1080, and when I would finish animating the camera movement of each photo, I would then render this clip out. 5.) - Once all my clips had been rendered out, they were all opened inside of Final Cut Pro where the final edit was put together with the music. 

*What you used to capture your screen.*
For the intro and outro of this video I wanted to give a quick glimpse of what a photo goes through to achieve this effect. All you are seeing here, is hundreds of screenshots that that I took during the process, and when sped up appears to show what looks like a video screen capture of my computer. 

*Name of the song.*
The song name is "Sail" by the band "Awolnation" 
*
What transition effects used.*
Basically the only transition used is what looks like static on a television. It is a default transition inside of Final Cut Pro 7 and I believe it is called "Bad TV".

I hope my response has answered your questions, if not feel free to let me know! 


Also, all the photographs used in this are my own and were taken in 2011. They are not technically my best photos, rather they are the images that mean a lot to me for one reason or another. Thanks again for watching!


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## Janco (Mar 6, 2012)

Nice video, haven't heard or seen anything of this technique yet. Interesting effects possible... So thanks for introducing.

Off topic (off photography): Thanks very much as well for sharing a song of Awolnation. Also never heard of them!


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## tasteofjace (Mar 6, 2012)

Janco said:


> Nice video, haven't heard or seen anything of this technique yet. Interesting effects possible... So thanks for introducing.
> 
> Off topic (off photography): Thanks very much as well for sharing a song of Awolnation. Also never heard of them!



Yeah, it's a pretty cool technique. I think it's a great way to share photographs using video. The movement and depth add another level of interest.


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## M_Max (Mar 15, 2012)

This video is brilliant! What a great way of displaying pictures. Does the editing/movement in the photos take long?
The gas mask picture is my favourite of the lot but I couldn't find it on your blog page, do you have a link?

Great choice of music too, I'd heard it before but didn't get the name so thanks.


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## Axilrod (Mar 15, 2012)

I've been told numerous times over the years that I was the best/fastest editor that so and so had ever seen. I've been editing for almost 15 years, worked for several different TV stations, I've edited hour-long specials that aired on tv, and I've edited 240 music videos in the last 7 months. Rarely do I see something that I can't find something wrong with.... but I have to say, you got skills, nice work 

I didn't mean for that to come off as arrogant, just letting you know where I'm coming from.


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## pelebel (Mar 15, 2012)

Wow! Just wow!


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## CowGummy (Mar 15, 2012)

Awesome work! Hats off to you - great photography and the editing is spot on.
Your images look very familiar - I've seen these before somewhere - are you on flickr per chance?


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## tasteofjace (Mar 16, 2012)

CowGummy said:


> Awesome work! Hats off to you - great photography and the editing is spot on.
> Your images look very familiar - I've seen these before somewhere - are you on flickr per chance?



Thank you very much! I appreciate that. I'm actually not on flickr. However, some of my images have been reposted on blogs and photo websites before, so perhaps you caught some on one of those?


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