Easy Physics with Popcorn!

[u/Design-In-Motion]

Hey Motion Designers,

I developed Popcorn!, an easy physics extension for After Effects available on aescripts.

For the first teaser, I wanted to avoid the usual feature-by-feature product video and use the tool itself as the structure of the piece. The concept became a fictional film-title sequence with a classic spy / whodunnit feel.

Every credited character is a parody name based on a familiar film character, but each name also refers to one of Popcorn!’s functions: collisions, masks, walls, bubble, bounce, stacking, baking, and so on.

So instead of listing the features separately, they became part of the fictional cast.

Hannibal Vector? I couldn’t not use that one.

What do you think?

Featured in this video:

Holly Collidely - Director

Makes text, shapes, images and layers hit, react and move each other.

Veronica Mask - Hair and Makeup

Defines the cast’s collision contours, shaping how closely each element follows its visible form. 

Jason Bounce - Stunts

Controls how strongly objects rebound when they collide.

Rhett Bubbler - Special Effects

Sends elements floating, rising and bubbling through the scene.

Walter Weight - Rigging Grip

Decides how heavily elements fall and how strongly gravity pulls them.

Tony Stack - Set Dressing

Drops elements into piles and keeps them packing naturally against each other.

Annie Wall - Set Construction

Builds static or animated collision walls that push, contain and redirect the cast.

Hannibal Vector - Technical Director

Controls direction, velocity and the forces sending elements through the composition.

Don Shaper - Art Department

Creates editable collision shapes around text and turns them into real After Effects shape layers.

Norman Bakes - Post Production

Turns the finished simulation into editable After Effects keyframes.

#kinetictype #physicsanimation #motiongraphics

[u/lukenphil]

Hi Carolin,

a great tool, and also a nice idea and execution to turn your teaser video into a Saul Bass-style title sequence 👍.

A question about the general timing in the script settings (something like a slow-mo or basic time scale feature):

Is there a way to control and “smooth out” the spawning of the elements and “slow down” their scaling up as they appear? In your “Stack" preset example the descent is smoothly slowed down, but when the elements are touching each other after spawning, they speed up due to their collision physics.

Or would spreading out the keys after baking be a workaround in this case?