Animated Grid effect/Tech lines

[JazzyDJ]

Any one know how to make a grid and animate it in motion? I'm trying to make a grid (or tech lines) that I cam lay out as the floor and make it look like it is moving in motion. (Kind of the same movements a treadmill makes).

Actually a good example of this would be what you see in the intro of the old Transformers show from the 80s. I'd post a y o u tube link, but since this place doesn't post them and busts up any url or mention to the tube for some very strange and petty reason, I won't bother. You could always look up "Transformers intro" to get an idea of what I'm talking about though.

Anyone know how to acheive this grid/tech lines in motion look?

[Chez]

There is more then one way to achieve this the harder way would probably be to make a lot of solid lines with some px width to them and creating your own grid layout then key framing them to move in at their own pace. Maybe if in after effects Parenting the lines to the first one each at a even distance from each other so they all fly in at the same time so to speak.

If you have After Effects the Grid effect might have some options available to you, but you might have to play with it a bit.

[JazzyDJ]

Yes, After Effects is my program of choice. There seems to be alot of clutter when I search for "grid". Apparently there is a grid that is only used to measure and coordinate your image, as well. I willl keep fiddling with it though to see if I can figure anything out.

Thanks for your reply.

[Vivaldi]

In After effects, take a white solid, make it 3D, and apply the 'grid' effect to it. (Should be under the generate panel) There will be options in the effects tab to control the width and spacing of the grid lines.

After that, just adjust the size of the white solid to be as long as you need and position it in 3D space accordingly.

[blabbler]

this is what i would do:

make a new comp
make a comp sized solid
apply the grid effect to the solid
adjust the grid lines and spacing to taste
add mask>new mask to the solid
apply the offset effect, then a stroke effect
tweak the stroke so that it matches your grid lines colour/weight

now you should have a grid on transparent which you can animate by moving the vertical or horizontal offset parameters. the mask + stroke add a border to the layer which will kind of hide the new lines popping in on the horizon as you scroll the grid.

keyframe the vertical offset or use an expression to set the gridlines scrolling (the loopOut expression is perfect for this kind of thing)

drop the grid comp into a new comp, make it 3d and position it next to a particle system that emits little pink hearts and "i love blabbler" text.

be sure to abuse the add blend mode and slap a great big cheesy glow on top.

job done

[JazzyDJ]

Thanks Guys. I've been offline (no net access) so I haven't been able to give that a try. But I will.

Also has anyone seen the new Transformers DVD set of the original show from Shout! Factory? The DVD menu with the grid and 3d environment they put in there is exactly the kind of thing I was going for when I originaly posted this thread. Who would have guessed I'd come across someone who actually did it. (Though my vision uses different colors and uses something else instead of those bubbles).

I'll see if I can do that with your suggestions.

[JazzyDJ]

Thanks babbler and Vivaldi. Your instructions are working great. Exactly what I wanted to do! So far so good.

[JazzyDJ]

How do you use the loop out expression in the instance? Or if I use offset keyframes does it even apply?

Also, when I change the Blending Mode (under feather) to add, it just makes the white solid again. What am I doing wrong? How do I give the grid a shiney glow cheese?