How to Create the Slit Scan Effect from "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Adobe After Effects

Re-creating the Stargate slit scan effect from 2001: A Space Odyssey using Adobe After Effects.
The Patreon link I mentioned: / nbcmotion
Videos I reference:
Doug Trumbull describes his process at the Toronto International Film Festival:
• DOUGLAS TRUMBULL | Mas...
Cinema Tyler discusses the slit scan as part of his series on 2001:
• How Kubrick Made 2001:...
Filmmaker IQ discusses the slit scan effect:
• The History and Scienc...
I create slit scan images by placing moving images (animated layers or video) in a narrow comp, then repeating that comp across a wider comp (with RepeTile), and displacing each instance of the comp in time. This simulates a streak camera (or document scanner). These images can then be distorted (corner pinned) to simulate perspective and depth, which is the foundation of the "Stargate" look.
Key effects used:
CC RepeTile
Time Displacement
#AfterEffects #SlitScan #TimeDisplacement

[@callumsunderling835]

Such an underrated video, its a crime this channel doesn't have more attention!

[@seraphinesallin-mason7001]

Thanks for sharing what you know in one of the most chill ways I've seen anyone do tutorials. content quality and vibes 10/10

[@defaultaccount9522]

This channel is very underrated.

[@defaultaccount9522]

Thanks for the heart, NBC motion

[@coffeeknuckles4802]

Great tutorial! I had some fun and learned some things going through this. I experimented with displacement maps in photoshop adding dots and lines of pure black and white throughout the image. This creates some interesting "delay" effects in certain regions.

[@ignaxing]

LOVED it!!! And in such a chilled way!! Thank you!!

[@pvillez]

Thank you very much for having made this very educational video and sharing the comp. Subscribed

[@weathermanfilms]

Here before this channel blows up! Awesome tutorial my friend!

[@NBCmotion]

Thanks, Weatherman!

[@Nachtjagerz]

I've been years looking for this. Thank you so much!

[@EnglishRain]

Thank you, this is awesome! I saw Francois Vogel using it all the time!

[@flajann]

Impressive.

[@electron2601]

Awesome tutorial! Very well explained.

[@philipames8583]

this is an invaluable tutorial and resource. thanks for sharing

[@anendfor]

Thanks man, I loved the video! I couldn't figure out that much the last part thou, I'm quite stuck trying to do something close to the result (like doing the slit scan with figurative images, like you did with your jump), not sure if it's the lack of fps or just lack of knowledge. Maybe both 😅

[@NBCmotion]

ah, and that's the part of the video where my screen capture crapped the bed so you couldn't see what I was doing. the fps limitation is real, but you should be able to get some sort of result with it. my guess is that you need to adjust the max displacement value t to capture a recognizable image. I used a fairly small value to stretch time a bit across the frame.

[@jayjha777]

Hello! A big Thank you for sharing this video tutorial. Will share the link to my creation soon!

[@NBCmotion]

I'd love to see what you end up making

[@Motivacehadr-db2kj]

Instructions unclear: My small laptop heats my room like fireplace

[@vorval96]

Thanks for the vid, man!! Very insightful!

[@maxmarkus6202]

Thank you for this video.

[@PistaKralovic]

thank you so much. this is fantastic!

[@jackbarron8880]

I wish we could download this ):

[@Chewbacca2000]

Thanks man!

[@bondell1840]

omg i love your vidoes!

[@NBCmotion]

Thank you so much!

[@crystalcityacademic]

Do you have time for a consulation?

[@jackbarron8880]

How do you do this in Davinci Fusion????

[@vaderbase]

This is the clip I was looking for. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Unfortunately, my CC 2015's time displacement fx has only the option to choose the layer (gradient) but there is no second option like 7:19 "Source/ Masks/ Effects & Masks". So my journey ends here. Maybe you have an idea how I can reach the result without this option?

[@NBCmotion]

You can work around that limitation by creating a gradient in photoshop and exporting that as a jpeg or png. Then you can import that into after effects and use it as your reference layer

[@vaderbase]

@@NBCmotion thank you so much for your nice reply. I really appreciate it. I'll stay tuned. :-)

[@vaderbase]

​@@NBCmotion Your work around is perfect. Problem was that AE just looks for the layer and not the fx on the layer. When I precompose the layer with the gradient, it works, too.

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Dumb question here. How is it different from simply passing an image past the camera, highly stretched?

[@NBCmotion]

Good question. The final result is really not super different. Mostly I just wanted to actually use a slit and scan to imitate the original process. And when I have created 3D layers and moved them past the virtual camera in 3D space I've run into After Effects' limitations with layer size and position. The real difference maker would be if I altered the time displacement gradient to be slightly non-linear which would create more of a variation in the scale of the stretch. But I don't believe I did that in this video. So yeah, the final result is basically just a long stretched picture.

[@oliverarent3375]

How do you replace the copy of Scan A with Scan B?

[@NBCmotion]

At 9:58 in the video i demonstrated very quickly. You select the layer to be replaced, then hold alt (option) and click and drag the replacement layer from the project panel onto the old layer

[@fidelreyna]

Can you share the template o project?

[@NataliaErre]