Recreating The Last Of Us Titles Was A Challenge...

[@Jeeves]

The titles were created by Elastic using Houdini, Cinema 4D and Octane. I was working as a designer for part of the sequence doing lookdev as a freelancer for a little bit

[@mooma0912]

Awesome! Where did you start to learn what you do as a career now?

[@Jeeves]

@@mooma0912 Went to college and got a BFA in Motion Design, had a couple internships during my time at school, and have worked with multiple studios freelance post grad

[@TeHzoAr]

i was working as a designer for part of the sequence and we used MSpaint and Alias 3D on silicon graphics hardware

[@rbmedia8798]

@@edenassos you act as if Houdini is some insanely complex program only pros can use. It isn't. I was able to make stuff in Houdini with no tutorials within a month. Also, PS and AE aren't easy programs either.

[@divBy0]

@@edenassos Yeah, why not?

[@BrOrlandi]

Any chance to have a detailed tutorial on this? Or the assets to reproduce. I'm trying to recreate it my self with a different text also.

[@theimpossiblegirl16]

Yes I’d love to see a tutorial of this!

[@visveswaranvishnu6945]

Yes I too 😍😍

[@wydua]

what is that currency

[@snovbird]

@@wydua South african rand, they basically donated 1.38 US$

[@RaoniLima43]

@@wydua Brazilian Real

[@ytuseracct]

The game title sequence is actually photography + premiere pro. The veins are practical. So cool.

[@HolyGayfish]

Is there a behind the scenes of the title card? Or how do you know

[@BenMarriott]

I had no idea. The first time playing that game everything was incredible. Really set the tone like it was a movie.

[@ytuseracct]

@@HolyGayfish I saw the studio portfolio on Behance

[@pedrohenriquefurtado2497]

@@ytuseracct what's the studio name?

[@NaironDavid]

@@BenMarriott I would love to see you recreating the Peacemaker TV Show opening.

[@ayushijain9045]

SO many emotions flowing just watching this!! Amazing work!

[@BenMarriott]

Thanks for riding the wave!

[@RaoniLima43]

Thank you for this Ben, your content is incredible.

[@DarkNessBear]

First time watcher, but CHEERS to you for giving love to the Original Creators of the Effect. I immensely dislike when KZbin creators act as if they are better or like, "theres no reason you had to spend any money on this!". I'm a fan of you now, great job too!!

[@jeehoonoh]

Your talent and creativity to come up with the ways to recreate the effect is inspiring

[@kayiu102]

Never been interested in editing, but this video popped up in my recommended since I'd been binging some Last of Us content. Glad it did! This was direct, well-explained, and aspirational. Good shit!

[@KO-MODO]

As a motion designer myself I'm very very impressed Congrats Ben!

[@faerystories2819]

Something that might also have helped is to use something like the oil filter in photoshop to give it that more sticky veiny feel

[@CatalinGulan]

Amazing recreation Ben! Big Congrats! ❤

[@BenMarriott]

Thanks Catalin! :D

[@stillremain.artwork]

This is amazing Ben! For the gradient grow I would have tried stacking only one delayed layer of the growing veins map, invert it (maybe use minimax and gaussian blur), set it to multiply (this would have only output the tip of the layer) and then use echo for the smooth fade out

[@State7Studio]

That is exactly what I was going to suggest 🤓

[@generalfishcake]

The pain of experiencing the post-apocalypse < the pain of learning about the Physarum plugin way too late

[@BenMarriott]

I cry everytime.... :(

[@KennyHonors]

@@BenMarriott 🤣

[@dmirales]

I think you made the right call using autofill. The physarum plug-in is really neat but can be a fit fiddly trying to get the results you want.

[@borktheorc]

Glad I’m not the only one who feels that way. I went ahead and bought Auto-fill because it seemed to handle what I want in Physarum, but also has a ton of other potential for projects that I work on.

[@emilyl2419]

@@borktheorccould I achieve the same effect without autofill? I don’t really want to spend 50$ on something I’m only going to use once lol.

[@matheusyamamoto3256]

if you can't use the autofill plugin, you could mask the veins and use the stroke effect, with the "sequentially stroke" disabled, is the same technique for signatures

[@kungfuremix]

This is incredible to watch no matter which approach you used for any project. The process, breakdown and final results were identical to the real deal especially this one that looks really difficult! I must ask how do you know which approach, plugin or technique to use or to try help reach the results faster? You hit it right on the head each time and I'm forever impressed ALWAYS!

[@caminanteespectral]

Awesome work dude! Love it

[@monoporfiado]

I would made a white to black mask in the vascular animation and control the fade with a echo effects. The result can be the same but you have a parametric way to control the time, expansion, etc. And use an emboss effect to add some dimension to the veins. Also i think Autofill have a way to control the speed of propagation trough alpha or luma layers. A turbulent noise for that maybe add some kind of dynamism.

[@leoimbert2733]

Looks super nice ! I would have try to add some slight CC glass over the veins to add this bumpy/light/Plastic effect that we see on the original. Really cool result tho !

[@solilogy]

Wow,I still can`t believe it! It`s truly wonderful to see you recreating those with ease and really interesting, to see how you achieved such. I`m here with my jaw on the floor about the fact, we all can achieve a few of those wonderful projects by ourselves with time and knowledge (and a bit of online help)😄

[@fixmysync]

The literally first thing I did when I saw this opening last Sunday, was to think: Ohhhhh, I'd like to try making that! Thanks sooooo much for this tutorial Ben!

[@huskiilove]

Hi Ben. Thanks so much for this tutorial. I found the easiest way to get a smooth darkening of the veins is to pre-comp the original vein growth, then in a new comp duplicate the vein growth, offset by a bit in the timeline, and apply the autofill effect to those dplicates. I upped the speed of each a little and in the compositing settings used a colour fill with a darker colour. (I did this with two duplicate layers, the top layer being almost black). I also used a speed map so the autofill followed the vein lines in a more controlled manner for my particular image. Having fun with this, thanks so much

[@stijnbarneveld3999]

I love the respect and recognition you give to the original, really makes the video more enjoyable

[@geneduran4509]

02:40 I tinhk you can achieve the fading effect using Cycore CC Time Blend FX. There is a video from Texturelabs called Purple Haze showing how to use this effect.

[@K1ll0r83k1ll3d]

The snickers at the end really got me 😹

[@BenMarriott]

Not everyporject deserves a Snickers metaphor, but this one certainly does :)

[@scottrgarland]

Shout out to the Japan World Cup cameo in this. And as always, AMAZING JOB

[@Neyrow_HTD]

This is fire please do a detailed tutorial !!!

[@daveb3989]

This was sick - haven't watched the show yet. Thanks for reverse engineering effort to give ideas for future projects LUV IT.

[@brucekennedy5274]

Brilliant as always. And this one I can totally get my head around, which it rare LOL.

[@jacobblumberg6299]

I am impressed with your ingenuity good sir, your work here is some really quality stuff!

[@antroxity]

This somewhat inspired me to push through the week. Thanks, Ben!

[@duckbusiness]

AutoFill also has a Speed Matte function, where you can input the speed through certain areas. A bit tricky to time, but can save some time remapping.

[@willeklof]

I used it a lot for a music video, the speed remapping is great

[@bracken.design]

you truly are a wizard larry, so sick mate, well done!

[@BenMarriott]

You honor me. Thank you :)

[@fabienpath]

Bro that plot twist at the end had me laughing for a while 🤣

[@gamatoszaras]

That's awesome Ben! I think a subtle CC plastic would look good on it

[@RealNetBusters]

O man that's awesome why don't you sell it as template i am so interested to buy

[@TheRustedPixel]

Woohoo! Congrats man you got it out before Friday re your LinkedIn post! Great content as always.

[@ggSaturn]

I feel like that layering some emboss/edge detect can help getting that vascular effect you are tryin to achieve!

[@nad829]

you can duplicate the autofill in the same layer, reduce the speed number and check the alpha inverted matte box on the composing drop down menu

[@JIVOStudio]

Realy impressed by the tought process in recreating this, amazing work !

[@Kyncaid84]

Maybe some innerglow or bevel to pop some thickness with cc glass or something? Love the work btw!

[@jack_merc2205]

That looks amazing! Great Work!

[@I_am_Spartacus]

Fantastic work Ben!!

[@PanewsONE]

Very nice! I feel like the veins could have been enhanced even more with something like cc glass or cc plastic or whatever that’s called to give it a bit more of that wet look the original has. Nevertheless quite impressive Ben!

[@ralph7752]

The final result shocks me, you nailed it!

[@aescripts]

Awesome! 🔥🔥

[@VibeVoyager4]

This work is more Beautiful then my whole life.

[@ghost1fer]

the fast of us got me so good 😭

[@AceCmbatguy25]

"..goes to help clickers double click" LMAOO Excellent tutorial my man 🤝

[@BenMarriott]

If only they would focus, ther would be free of their shackles! Thanks my friend :D

[@AceCmbatguy25]

@@BenMarriott My pleasure, I want to try a plugin free version of this now lol...gotta get this 3D firefly pendant done first !

[@PrinceCharmantt]

Someone can explain me how he did to get the image modified on photoshop at 01:38 I don't understand what operation he did.

[@stillremain.artwork]

Trust me when I say that Autofill is way more convenient than Physarum, I happen to have tried both of them for a similar work, and Autofill not only is more intuitive, it's way less heavy for the processor

[@brynocerouss]

I DIED AT THE BIG REVEAL! I didn't really read it (I was just admiring your work) and then heard Vinny D come on and re-read the text: G O L D E N

[@azraelyoutube]

as a lover of the game from when it came out to see the work they have done for the series is more than praising, it's glorifying, it's fucking beautiful.

[@boogssanjuan5676]

you can put CC glass on top of everything to get that slimy finish look

[@agfirs_o2579]

Ben marriott your just built different dude

[@GermanFragEditing]

More of these, concept is soo good

[@alexbernatzky5646]

that gradient fade out looks like a job for cc time blend fx

[@AlexPresa]

This was AMAZING Ben!!! 🙏

[@_Dr.PepperPHD]

Yeah I tried engineering a similar spreading vascular effect in AE, my first thought was also funky masking (tho the lightning effect does surprising heavy lifting as a vascular form with some tweaking, and in retrospect maybe a matte choke and a time displacement would have been a good fix for evolution). Physarum ended up saving me the whole headache. Rly cool method u came up with, love seeing how different ppl crack challenges I've faced before.

[@JakeInMotion]

Just a day's work for Ben! The Fast of Us had me loling.

[@julienboreau]

that joke on the "double-clickers" .... Nice !)

[@PabloVegaAudiovisuales]

You can do the fading efect duplicating the layer you added the efect to show the picture and use set mate inverted on the main veins comp with the alpha of the duplicated layer. It will cost a lot less resources and you can control the fade with the plugin setings of the second layer.

[@FLVXVLF]

This was awesome! Great work!

[@Soundbwoy38]

What a great job. I would like to know what effects you used in photoshop to fix the image, I don't handle that program very well

[@BenMarriott]

Thank you! The main ones were Blur to hide the small details & Curves in increase the contrast.

[@Soundbwoy38]

@@BenMarriott Thank you

[@EfySmasher]

Omg you're so talented!

[@LipNeedsMoreCoffee]

One of the guys responsable for the Intro scene is from my city and this when into the newspaper, so i happen to have him on Facebook and i asked him how they dit it, and he said the entire secuence of the cordyceps is made on Houdini, and then post on After. I didnt even knew what houdini was.

[@AbyssalSoda]

I was hoping at the end you'd play the sound bite of "You're not you when you're hungry"

[@carlosnaota3332]

As a suggestion, you could play with the displacement map just to have a little bit of distortion when the text appears.

[@hellobipo]

As always amazing work !

[@fernandoguerrerobonilla2019]

Amazing job Ben

[@RaoniLima43]

"Always label our layers" hahaha brilliant! I hate unlabelled layers with all my life 😂

[@hanheecho6437]

How did you get the so cleaned black background? 2:05

[@HouDeani]

@2:45 Maybe could've tried a gradient ramp?

[@KaizenTutorials]

Great video!

[@JCunliffeUK]

That turned out great!

[@BenMarriott]

Thanks mate! Next time MORE VEINS!

[@TRANQUILITY4urheart]

@@BenMarriott

[@RodrixMaster]

MAN! THIS IS AWESOMEEEEEE!!!!!

[@nickqtv]

Yours came out great! A lot of really good problem solving here

[@papirflyczechia4370]

Good job Ben! I love it

[@vultan2000]

Using the lightning effect in ae can give some interesting growing roots effect with the right settings.

[@divBy0]

You should have created multiple roto's for your reveal of the vaines or whatever they are. Variation is key.

[@jamaldpeat7950]

Fhe results is awesome 🍻

[@BenMarriott]

You're too kind :)

[@fredcastro4252]

Great stuff, Ben! I just feel like you could have used something like a bevel and emboss or that tecnique from Andrew kramer to simulate bump maps within after effects to create some of that glossiness and little volume that the original one has. Other than that, superb work! And thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us all the time! Cheers!

[@greenscreener420]

Yeah, the glass effect would do the job ;)

[@carcas3d]

CC Plastic can add that shiny look in the veins

[@TOBEtastic]

I think adding a CC glass or plastic over the veins would have given it a bit more depth and "gooeyness", and they are basic effects as well! Great work as always! Keep it up :)

[@Kuazzy]

Physarium is cool but I find it tricky to use efficiently in a comp as it takes forever to render or even to process the growth. Great recreation though!

[@Kelkkaaslak]

1:51 is what my wife tells me every day D:

[@howardsend6589]

Great work. The Zodiac film titles are cool and would take no time for someone of your talents to recreate. A quick win as they say.

[@LawDraws]

I like doing stuff like this too lol, I recreated the Disney+ intro in Blender, and the DIC logo... I want to try making this now

[@aadipie]

Really well done. Very creative

[@DaftRebel]

You lean something new everyday ❤️

[@nikkoXmercado]

Wish you embossed the text like it is in the actual intro!!!! Great job, by the way.

[@cdertschei]

I used to do a similar animation a while ago; I think I generated the fadeout of the tentacles with the echo effect. But I think Autofill also has a special gradient function for such effects (at least I think I`ve read that).

[@ifeanyiekeoma3432]

You just gave us a tutorial worth $5 Million

[@jarmel3745]

Great content, loved every second if it

[@DavisSutcliffe]

Amazing work Ben, was thinking roughen edges on the text would look good too!

[@davimotion]

autofill and something sensational

[@Donnosaurus]

This is really incredible!

[@direktive4]

i haven't used it, but there's a plugin on aescripts called Physarum which may have saved some time on something like this -EDIT: nvm, caught the end where you found it already. great job btw

[@FlatThumb]

Makes me want to replay Last of Us. Great tutorial!

[@AshishChandran9722]

OMG wow that was too close you are awesome Ben I'm not even 1% of you. ❤ loved it.