Author Topic: animation/motion graphics (Read 17810 times)

suz7 · « **on:** March 08, 2016, 06:28 »

Hi,

Can anyone give advice on starting out with animation videos?

I use illustrator for vectors and was thinking of trying animation, perhaps using After Effects? Or can somebody recommend software?

How well do they sell in comparison to real life videos?

Thanks

motionguy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2016, 08:26 »

I do animations with After effects and camera footage. A general answer about what sells better is impossible to make. It depends on quality of the content.
First I would look at agencies of what kind of animations are best selling as an orientation.

suz7 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2016, 09:23 »

Thanks BlackJack

ccbcc · « **Reply #3 on:** March 08, 2016, 10:25 »

If you're a very experienced and talented motion graphics designer, sales will be great. Same goes for video, or photos really. Experience, training, talent, luck, all are important.

Only way to get there is to start. But truthfully, if you've never done this, be prepared to have very few sales. What you make must be as good, and preferably better, than all those other people selling motion graphics.

VB inc · « **Reply #4 on:** March 08, 2016, 11:10 »

Quote from: ccbcc on March 08, 2016, 10:25

If you're a very experienced and talented motion graphics designer, sales will be great. Same goes for video, or photos really. Experience, training, talent, luck, all are important.

Only way to get there is to start. But truthfully, if you've never done this, be prepared to have very few sales. What you make must be as good, and preferably better, than all those other people selling motion graphics.

I wonder how many talented motion graphics people submit their work on micros... Back around 2007, talented motion graphics freelancers were getting anywhere from $500-750 a day working in commercials and movies and such.

JoeClemson · « **Reply #5 on:** March 08, 2016, 17:24 »

I took advantage of the poor British winter weather a couple of years ago to leave my DSLR and video camera in their bags and venture into the world of 3D animation using the open source Blender program. I had no 3D animation experience at all and I suspect Blender is not the easiest program to get to grips with. I spent many weeks learning how to use it and how to produce relatively simple animations of an acceptable quality. I have made a few sales but have not set the world alight.

I am no longer young and take time to get to grips with new ways of working, so maybe the experience of a younger person would be different. However, for me it was necessary to invest many, many hours of work on producing a just a few animations.If you have skills with animation software to begin with, it is probably worth pursuing if you have time on your hands.

When the day comes that I find it more difficult to get out of the house to do photo and video work, I may return to 3D animation as something I can easily do from home with little additional investment. But as an easy route into large number of sales, I would say not, at least no in my experience.

k_t_g · « **Reply #6 on:** March 08, 2016, 23:30 »

If you have illustrator and PhotoShop. You have a good start. You can start with a vector of yours. Make sure you have all the objects you want on separate layers. Then you can prepare and actually animate in PhotoShop. From there you can assemble the various animations in your favorite movie making programs and then bring to market.

I only just started selling simple animations as well. Only have one to two kinds so far out there. Still waiting for a sale from those. $:-\$

suz7 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2016, 03:30 »

That's all great info, thanks for taking the time to reply everyone

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #8 on:** March 09, 2016, 06:05 »

About 95% of my stuff is motion graphics and animation. Can sell very well if your stuff is of a decent standard. If you already know what you're doing in illustrator then you might be best making sci-fi style HUD kits for After Effects. They're very popular right now, and mainly consist of animated vector shapes that are created in Illustrator or directly in After Effects. You could create all your assets in Illustrator, bring them into After Effects and then add some animation.

You could make stuff purely in After Effects and learn a 3D program, but it'll take some time before you're proficient. If you stick with what you know for now, when it comes to design and vectors and stuff, you should be able to pick up the basics in After Effects to put together some kind of HUD kit pretty quickly. Comparatively I mean, it's not like you'd have a project all ready to go in a matter of days!

This one will probably be quite a bit more advanced than you'll be able to muster on your first attempt, as it contains a lot of 3D animation as well, but $3000 a month isn't too shabby for one item!

http://videohive.net/item/quantum-hud-infographic/8678174

That one is an exception though, most decent HUD kits will get about $200 to $300 a month.

suz7 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2016, 07:38 »

My next question was going to be - how is After Effects for animation? Thanks for answering!

I learnt it a little bit last year but stopped paying for the whole cc package and just used illustrator.

I sometimes use sketchup for work, but I think 3d videos would be WAY too advanced for me at the moment.

So AE looks like a good option, especially as I could use vectors.

It'll be a long while before I get to do anything as fab as your HUD video, that was amazing!

Thanks for the great advice
suz

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #10 on:** March 09, 2016, 07:51 »

"http://videohive.net/item/quantum-hud-infographic/8678174

That one is an exception though, most decent HUD kits will get about $200 to $300 a month."

That is crazy cool, and crazy cheap to give that much away...

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #11 on:** March 09, 2016, 08:02 »

Not sure if you meant 'your HUD video' as in it was my product, but just to clarify... it's not! (Unfortunately)

I just 'dabbled' with After Effects for a few years before getting any good at it. I was mainly using it for titles and effects for corporate videos and the like, so it was a bit of a slow learning process for me, as I didn't really need it for anything too fancy. I guess it's relatively easy to learn the basics, and most people can get to an intermediate level without too much trouble. It's a bit like the chess saying I guess... a moment to learn, a lifetime to master. Or however it goes.

For a HUD it's pretty simple though. You're just animating position, rotation, a bit of masking and the like. They're all pretty easy to pick up. As far as I'm concerned, the key to most good After Effects projects is the design and the concept, rather than the flicking of switches, twisting knobs and pressing of buttons... so you've got a head start if you're already designing and creating.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #12 on:** March 09, 2016, 08:22 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on March 09, 2016, 07:51

"http://videohive.net/item/quantum-hud-infographic/8678174

That one is an exception though, most decent HUD kits will get about $200 to $300 a month."

That is crazy cool, and crazy cheap to give that much away...

Yeah, it's very cheap for the work involved and the usability/quality of the file. However, I think VideoHive have got a pretty good sweet-spot when it comes to prices for After Effects stuff. I know Envato aren't that popular here for actual stock footage and photography, but the sales are really good for motion graphics and After Effects stuff.

Take three of my clips for example....

http://videohive.net/item/global-network-orange/12004875
http://videohive.net/item/global-network-blue/12006073
http://videohive.net/item/global-network-green/12526375

All the same, just changed the colors a bit.

Yes, they're only $8, but I've had 253 sales. After Envato's cut I've made $727 so far, or about $90 a month. In that time I've made $392 for those files from Fotolia, Artbeats, iStock, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, VideoBlocks and Pond5 combined. Food for thought!

Now I just need to learn how to make Wordpress themes and I can retire... http://themeforest.net/item/avada-responsive-multipurpose-theme/2833226

k_t_g · « **Reply #13 on:** March 09, 2016, 16:58 »

Love your Martian landscapes. Very cool.

Also they let you have your own logo or is that a premium thing?
Just curious.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2016, 02:55 »

Quote from: k_t_g on March 09, 2016, 16:58

Love your Martian landscapes. Very cool.
Also they let you have your own logo or is that a premium thing?
Just curious.

Thanks very much! On VideoHive you have to create a preview image, a preview video and a thumbnail for each video you upload. The downside is you have to do that in the first place, when you don't on nearly every other site. The upside is you can have what you want in those... choose the exact frame you want, brand it with a logo, add text and stuff to grab attention etc.

ccbcc · « **Reply #15 on:** March 10, 2016, 05:35 »

Is there money in After Effects projects? I'm not talking about epic huge UI kits, but more general "replace title" "replace photos" type projects?

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #16 on:** March 10, 2016, 06:06 »

Quote from: ccbcc on March 10, 2016, 05:35

Is there money in After Effects projects? I'm not talking about epic huge UI kits, but more general "replace title" "replace photos" type projects?

Absolutely. Check this one out, it's made the guy $145k or $3.5k a month...

http://videohive.net/item/photo-gallery-on-a-sunny-afternoon/3209013

And if you don't have the kit to shoot the video for a project then here's one that's all animation...

http://videohive.net/item/kinetic-typography-pack/6210510

That's made him $98k, but it's not been up as long, so it's still about $3.5k a month. Make one of those a month over a year and you'll be on $40k a month!

Obviously those are exceptions to the rule, extreme examples, and its unlikely anybody would be able to bash out 12 best sellers in a row. Just like all stock, it's not some kind of get rich quick scheme, but there is money to be made.

ccbcc · « **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2016, 10:45 »

Thanks for the info!

Noedelhap · « **Reply #18 on:** March 10, 2016, 11:14 »

I started out with vectors illustrations and last year I decided to try selling stock videos, using my skills in After Effects and 3D Max. I'm no expert in vfx but I do know 2D animation. So I'm learning day by day and whenever I have spare time, I spend it on creating stock animations. So far they're selling okay, especially on VB.

There's a lot of good stuff already for sale, so the competition is fierce. There's also some lower quality out there, so pick your niche and try to create something better.

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Author Topic: animation/motion graphics (Read 17810 times)

suz7

motionguy

suz7

ccbcc

VB inc

JoeClemson

k_t_g

suz7

SpaceStockFootage

suz7

Sean Locke Photography

SpaceStockFootage

SpaceStockFootage

k_t_g

SpaceStockFootage

ccbcc

SpaceStockFootage

ccbcc

Noedelhap

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