Motivation (visualizer)E

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Check out the menu in the Audio Portal too! https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/885707

The original description is on the YouTube upload, and I don't think it's a good idea to put it here because I can go explain something more technical on NG. Most of you guys are into art and games anyway. Nevertheless, if you wish to read that desc, here it is. https://youtu.be/AWpwynvGmXA

This is the result of months of design and design and design, and, on top of them all, implement. Following the first paragraph of the end note in the video, I spent most of the work hours figuring out what to store in the object and what to be sent through MIDI messages. I used MIDI notes as a cue for transitions in the visualizer (middle part) overlay transitions, as well as the end screen. Once the whole bunch of expressions is set up in After Effects, it's much easier to control the transitions straight from FL Studio than manually animating it in AE. Other than that, the MIDI message can give a precise timestamp. At least, it's more precise than something relative to frame rate like keyframes. Even the beat count thing is made from MIDI notes. Actually, I also make a slightly stronger pulse on the word 'Beat' in the layout to indicate which beat is a bar. That's from the pitch value of each note.

The most bothersome part of the layout is that there are actually 2 transition types in there: lower part only, and full transition. The latter is for the menu logo and the transition before the end screen kicks in. Combined with the lack of proper proxy comps in AE (I mean, the way to tell AE which comp to display in one place. Something aside from copying the same opacity expression to every layer), all of that reeks many corner cases. Add an ability to add more transition animations in the future (it's a template, after all) as a cherry on top and...Boom, yo, gahh.

TL;DR: It's not really that hard, but it's frustrating trying to make an After Effects project a program. It's not like AE was made for that kind of thing, though.

Wanna continue writing about the design put into this thing, but the desc is already going essay, so...a news post, perhaps?

The details on the texture can be seen in the wallpaper. Feel free to check it out at the art portal. https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/noisysundae/motivation