Star Twinkle Teeth Effect

I'm trying to get a head start on a project I'm doing next week because we have a tight turnaround. One of the scenes involves the cheesy (but in a fun way, of course!) Twinkle Tooth effect. Like in the Orbit gum commercials.

I though I could find a quick generator in Motion and make quick work of it, but I'm not having luck. I also tried surfing the tutorials, and I'm not having luck finding anyone who has done this in FCPX or Motion.

The Star Generator in Motion apparently does not allow for editing the number of points. It's just a four pointed star. I had a different shape in mind for mine. There also is a 5 pointed Star in Shapes, but it also is not editable.

Does anyone have any ideas? Or know of a tutorial or plug-in that would help me get ahead for next week's project?

Thanks!

debesch
Motion 5.1.1
FCPX 10.1.2

debesch wrote: .. I had a different shape in mind for mine. ..

I'm a huge fan of Motion5, but......

The Twinkle Teeth I have in mind are just a few frames (!) long - so, why not use any paint-app (I prefer Pixelmator), paint your personal kind of star-shape on transparent bg, save as png, apply it in FCPX as connected clip, shorten it to 3-4frames, apply 3 keyframes to size/rotate it.. done.

Thanks for the suggestion, Karsten. Even though that sounds super-simple, I was hoping for something even easier & faster with some glow effects presets, perhaps, since we have a very short turnaround.

But perhaps I shouldn't get too bogged down on this one effect...

Thanks again!

the crucial point in your OP was for me.. :

… It's just a four pointed star. I had a different shape in mind for mine. There also is a 5 pointed Star in Shapes, but it also is not editable.…

So, what IS in your mind?
That's why I recommended "built your own!" It then is a 7-point, asymmetrical, chrome-colored star with some nice, blurry lens-flares .. or, whatever :lol:

For sure, a helpful hand can create a simple 'twinkle star'-generator; but it is hard to create a 'universal' star-generator, with a dozen knobs to adjust form, size, animation, color, glow, flare, younameit...

I know exactly your dilemma: you have something in mind - but not at hand; only way: built-it your own. In case you need it frequently, use Motion; for a single-shot, I would rely on FCPX' comp qualities plus a 'paint app'.-

As said above: a 'twinkle' is just a few frames .. couldn't be too difficult....

Sorry, of being no constructive help .........

debesch wrote: Even though that sounds super-simple, I was hoping for something even easier & faster with some glow effects presets, perhaps, since we have a very short turnaround.

I just tried something really quick this morning. Hopefully this is something you are looking for.

www.dropbox.com/s/5m2v07evfm60usu/Starburst.mov

The motion project can be downloaded here, you can play around with the parameters.

Starburst.zip

Oh I should say that if you want more points, you can duplicate the "star" inside the group and rotate it to your liking (actually played with it earlier as well). Right now, it will only do multiples of 4s but I'm sure there's a way to make it flexible.

Holy Cats! Thank-you so much, rhoydotp! I was not expecting anyone to make me something special! I was hoping it was one of those common simple effects that already existed!!

I really appreciate this! I just imported my first batch of rushes this evening. I will look at this tomorrow when I have more brain available. I'm not sure if the shot I need this for has been done yet. It might happen on Monday.

I will post back with the results!

Thanks again!

debesch

no p****-contest intended , but ......

a) debesch asked in the OP NOT for 4-pointed-star

b) animation needs a much higher twinkle factor, doesn't it? more like that:
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14246875/twinkle%20h.mp4

... just as a suggestion ...

LOL! What I did was a starting point

I am fairly new to Motion and I enjoy the new things I learned in trying my hands on this task. Win-Win situation for both of us!

rhoydotp wrote: LOL! What I did was a starting point ..

For sure, and you demoed debesch, how easy and fast you can accomplish a result!

What I intended was, how easy you can 'customize' those canned effects: I just stacked 3 stars, applied a 'turn behavior', a few keyframes for size and color - done (even applied motion blur, but in that short period of effect, it doesn't show up) ...

I'm no pro either, just a good observer ... :lol:

e.g. tons of inspirations for 'animators' here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_basic_principles_of_animation

.. independend of software-in-use ...