How to accomplish the glowing eye effect?

Hello fellow Motion 5 folks. A Motion noob here. How do I get the glowing eye effect similar to what was done here:


http://youtu.be/GqQ5i3sTg5A


I tried searching all over the net for tutorials in doing this but came out empty handed. Most of them were for After Effects which I do not use. Anyway if someone could tell me how to do it or at least point me towards a link of a tutorial or a book that could get me up to speed on this effect, that would be great. TIA!

Motion 5, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jun 20, 2013 10:52 AM

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2 replies

Jun 21, 2013 2:10 PM in response to Hey Ryan

Here's an outline for how to do this effect, it should get you close enough to do what you need. BTW, this is how I would approach it, that doesn't mean it's the only way. You will need to be familiar with:


Motion Tracking

Bezier Shapes

Blend Modes

Keyframing & Animation


If you haven't already, check out the Motion user manual sections on these topics, they go into deeper details than I'll give here for how to use and control things.


-Use the Analyze Motion behavior to track the eyes. If you plan to do mimic what's happening in the example video, I'd do a reverse track since the eyes start out closed. Track each eye, and then go back and clean errors in the track if needed.


- Once you have the tracking done, use the shape tool and create a bezier shape for each eye. Make the shapes fit as close to to the border of the eye and eyelid as possible.


-Apply a match move behavior to each shape and reference the Analyze Motion behavior. The shapes should now be tracking to the eyes., but depending on the camera movement, head movement, or blinking, the shapes won't always match, we'll fix that next.


-Turn on animation recording, and at the first frame and the last frame, adjust the bezier shapes to fit the eye, this will give you the start and end points for the shape animation. Now go through the shot and look for "extreme" movements,( the end of head turns or tilts, blinks, etc). Continue to adjust the shapes to fit, but not on every frame. Try not to create too many keyframes so you get a smooth animation. At this point, you are basically rotoscoping the shape. While doing this I usually turn off the layer, so you just see the shape outline and control points. Turn off the animation recording when done.


-For each eye, change the shape color to blue, red, green, whatever you want the main glow color to be. This will create the foundation shading like your example clip (blue edge glow glow). Go to the Blend mode for the layer and change it to Add or Screen.


-Duplicate the layer, change the top copy to a lighter version of the original color, or almost white. Don't use white, that will limit control for later steps. Change the blend mode to Screen.


(Here's where things get fun)


-Add a blur or feather the shape for the bottom, darker colored layer. As I mentioned previously, this is what will primarily affect the color part of the glow.


-Now you can continue to duplciate either the colored or light shape layers and play with the blur or feather to adjust and build up the glow. When set to Add or Screen, each layer will make the overall appearance brighter. Here are a few additional suggestions possibilities to play with.


-If you want the pupils still visible, use screen and adjust the brightness of the color, or opacity of each layer.

-Use different amounts of blur or feather for each shape layer. As I rule of thumb, I always use at least 3 layers for glows. Just don't go to heavy, remember, subtle always looks better.

-Try slight variations in color and brightness for each shape.

-Have fun experimenting!



Good luck!

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How to accomplish the glowing eye effect?

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