...a thousand army plug-in efx.

both of the movies that you mentioned used high end-3d software/hardware to create these effects. Not 2d AE.
LOTR created their own software and hardware to make these scenes, and they rendered using a system called 'Massive', just to give you an idea on what it takes to do this kind of work. On a side note: LOTR developed the technology, not to animate 10,000 orcs, but to create 10,000 orcs and tell them where to run. BIG DIFFERENCE.

Having said that, if you hunt around the pasture you'll find a couple of tutorials that can show you some amazing effects that will get you quite far. Using Trapcode's Particular is very powerful.

Good Luck,


Todd at UCSB
Television Production

Massive was developed not BY LOTR, but FOR LOTR, by Weta Digital, Peter Jackson's FX company behind LOTR's effects. This was a cheap and easy task by NO means. It must have taken TONS of knowledge and smarts to write Massive, which basically allows you to set behavior for thousands of characters, even based off of what is going on in the scene.

Anyway, start small if you don't really know how after effects is used. I'd suggest googling "After Effects Tutorials", and first getting a feel for the capabilities of the program. Then, you can start tackling fancy effects, etc. AfterFX is great for compsiting, 2D/2.5D animations, and motion graphics, but it's not a 3D package, and you won't be able to generate life-like 3D figures with it very easily.

For 3D packages, check out softimage xsi, maya, and cinema 4D to name a few.

Hope I helped a little bit...

Alexander Gao

"When the revolution happens, I'll be leading it."

ONE more thing!

After further review, I am not positive that MASSIVE was developed by Weta.

Alexander Gao

"When the revolution happens, I'll be leading it."

O! gees...you guys have really done well. I appreciate all your responses and was really satisfied with all the replies I got from all of you...

I have visited the massive software website and read all about the capabilites of the software and what I read was really great...well, I want to beleive what I read will be as good as what I'll see..lol! Just kidding, I saw some sample still images on the website and I really liked it....thank you so much guyz...

I think I have asked this question..is there a possiblity I get DVD's on 'the making' of some films...films like 'star wars', matrix, 'LOTR' e.t.c...I really want t o know all that happened behind the scenes...

Once again, thank you guyz for all your responses, I am ever so grateful...

Regards,
'kk'

Yes. I know the Matrix and the LOTR DVDs both had features on how some of the effects were done. It tends to be a broad overview, rather than at a level of detail that you could duplicate the effect, but I did have a few moments of "Now that's a really good idea!" when watching both of them.

Doing this in After Effects is actually pretty simple.
Gareth Edwards, director of the feature film Monster and the BBC film Attila the Hun (part of Heroes and Villains) invented an After Effects techique called the 'Poor Man's Massive Shot,' a name inspired by the software that was invented and developed specially for The Lord of the Rings, called Massive, which is now widely used in the industry for creating digital and fake crowds to fill up places with more life than possible by extras and shooting-people.

He has made several videos about the technique, but they only show breakdowns. He made a tutorial for it though, for the online VFX course called FXPHD. I own the tutorials he made. There is also one for matte painting.

Well, basically, you just shoot a person running in front of a green screen, following him as he run. Then you key out the background and the ground bellow, and then you just loop the shot so the person on-screen keep running. As well as centring the person in the shot.

Then you either track the person to a single 3D layer in a software such as Boujou or you use Mocha. You duplicate the layers and let them slide forward, so that it gives the illusion of a running person, or an army. To add some more realism, create a 3D shape for the layer to interact with, like simple hills, and project an image, like a landscape, onto it.

To create stationary armies or crowds, or just crowds running or walking around in a still shot, or one that is moving slightly, like in a town or something like that, simply duplicate people by using rotoscoping or a green screen, and use something like Mocha, which comes with After Effects.

Thank you for taking the time to read this short text tutorial :D

Stay creative, and healthy,
Best,
- Lukas

Believe. I do.