Long motion trails in AE
 

I'm moving through a still photo that I cut up in photoshop and I wanted to add motion trails as I move through it quickly but I'm having a real hard time understanding how I should go about doing it.

None of the motion blur techniques I've tried have done much.. just VERY subtle things.

What is the proper way to handle this?

Attached is a very crude example of what I'm talking about.

The boy in the front is cut out on his own layer (as is the 2nd boy). As I push through to the 2nd image, I want the boy in front to have trails reaching out as far back as the 2nd boy probably.

You can see "some" blurring has occurred but not nearly enough. I'm moving through that shot in less than a second if I remember correctly.

Any ideas?

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Ok, so I know why things like "Time/Echo" aren't working.

It's because I'm not moving the object around I'm moving the camera around.

So is there anyway to achieve this effect while just moving the camera around?

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

I can't help you with the filter you need (you'll have to hunt around)...
But as far as motion blur is concerned. I believe that's reserved for graphics that are imported.

Not for pre rendered footage imported into AE...

Good luck...

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Well, it's not really footage that is being imported.

It's a composition from a PSD file.

3 layers, 1st boy, 2nd boy and background. They are cut out and the background "replaced" (rubber stamp style). I then set up a virtual camera in AE to move through the scene that I created by spacing the objects around. Push the background backwards and increase the size to compensate, pull the 1st boy forward and shrink him down to compensate. In the end if you orbit around 90 degrees you would see 3 slices like this | | |

But for the most part AE doesn't see movement so it doesn't treat it like it's moving. The camera is doing the moving in AE.

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Hi Kevin. Have a look at Effects/Generate/CC Light Burst. Keyframe the ray length and you should be able to get what you are wanting. You might want to add it to a 2nd instance of your boy layers if they get washed out too much.

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Excellent!

That is a good bit more work but it is a great solution. I did need to duplicate the layer but it looks pretty good for the quick dirty effect that I need it for.

Just figuring out the right angles and following the movement takes a little bit more thought and playing around.

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

I would also try the "Blur & Sharpen -> Directional Blur" filter. You would still need to keyframe it manually, but perhaps it's more suitable. In fact, if you like you could try both the Directional Blur and the CC Light Burst together.

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

I'm a bit late, so we'll see if it matters, but what was the shutter angle being used in the original move at the top?

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

I'd have to dig up the camera and look... but they are stills from a DVX100a

I'm gonna say "standard" though I know that isn't really a number... but we weren't going for any sort of effect or look so it was in my typical shoot mode.

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Sorry, I meant for the After Effects comp not the actual footage. (I can't recall how streaky that can get off hand anyway. Probably not greatly)

Re: Long motion trails in AE
 

Ah, that was the first step I took in trying to get the effect. Almost no effect.