DNA Chain
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DNA Chain

Posted on 28. Jun, 2009 by Jerzy Drozda Jr in After Effects

You think you need a 3D application to create something like this? Well… think again. Nice DNA chain made entirely in After Effects and Trapcode Form.


Three dimensional shapes are pretty hard to create in After Effects. Usually you are forced to use some 3D application like 3D Studio Max, or Cinema4D. But there are exceptions. As I mentioned in my blog post More 3D stuff coming soon some time ago I will be posting more of these tutorials to show you how much of 3D you can actually have in After Effects.

This tutorial was originally made for AETuts.com. It focuses on using Trapcode Form and it’s layer maps as a main tool to create an illusion of three dimensional shape.

Download: Tutorial project file (After Effects CS4)

Download: Tutorial project file (After Effects CS3)

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84 Responses to “DNA Chain”

  1. Michal Janowski

    28. Jun, 2009

    Is there any chance to post also CS3 files?

    Reply to this comment
  2. Joey

    28. Jun, 2009

    WhoOO! Finally! I’ve been waiting for this one. Oh and I love the new site!

    Reply to this comment
  3. Andrew

    29. Jun, 2009

    Is this any different from the one you posted on AETuts?

    Reply to this comment
    • Jerzy Drozda Jr

      29. Jun, 2009

      No. I just wanted it on my site as well. But there is going to be a follow-up tutorial to this – extending the look with Particular and Photoshop, so stay tuned.

      Reply to this comment
  4. A3

    29. Jun, 2009

    Great Tutorial and awesome tips !!! Thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  5. Name (required)

    30. Jun, 2009

    Great tut. I always enjoy watching them. Props to the new look for your web page. Finally, I have a fav-icon for your page on my Bookmark toolbar .

    Reply to this comment
  6. peter

    30. Jun, 2009

    hey great. but no SWF player for the FLV?

    Reply to this comment
    • Jerzy Drozda Jr

      30. Jun, 2009

      I’m running a very low end server. It takes a while to actually load all the little scripts and widgets. Just give it some time after the seems to be loaded – it will work just fine. Hope that helps.

      Reply to this comment
  7. Amit Zinman

    30. Jun, 2009

    BTW, the DNA thingies are called “Strands”.

    Reply to this comment
  8. PioPi0

    01. Jul, 2009

    Thanks Jerzy, eh po prostu świetny tutorial, tak trzymaj!

    Reply to this comment
  9. ALtitude29

    02. Jul, 2009

    youre a great after effecter…
    wahaha!
    nice tutorials, you really are pro…

    greatings from the Philippines
    (oO,),\m/

    Reply to this comment
  10. Melkoret

    02. Jul, 2009

    wow. Thats ridiculously cool. RIDIGEROUSH!

    I have a question for you Jerzy.

    Can we know the specs on your computer you use to render and make your tutorials on? :)

    Reply to this comment
  11. Dwelle

    07. Jul, 2009

    Sweet. Great tutorial and really helpful

    Reply to this comment
  12. [...] Link [...]

    Reply to this comment
  13. Marko

    12. Jul, 2009

    congratulations , i’m new at after effects and i’ve one of your tuto on youtube and then i find this awsome site and i’ve to say that i love it… so much great tutorials. take care and continue the great work.
    P.S: i am not english or american, so sorry any bad english =)

    Reply to this comment
  14. tskssh

    22. Jul, 2009

    I’s realy cool,thx

    Reply to this comment
  15. chloe

    27. Jul, 2009

    Type your comment here…

    Reply to this comment
  16. Furansu

    29. Jul, 2009

    Hello,

    First I want thank you for all these great tutorials, but I’ve one major problem with this tutorial.

    Because when I use the Form Trapcode and do all these settings, I get stucked by setting: Layer Maps> Size> Map Over> XY. When I set Map Over to: XY, my box on the screen gets black.

    When I set it to None, the DNA stripes/pattern box returns back on the screen.

    I’ve tried a few things to make it work. But I’m new with After Effects and I really want to learn it by these tutorials.

    Anyway I hope I explained it in a clear way, so you understand the situation :)

    Thanks already for looking too my problem.

    Reply to this comment
  17. luis T.A

    30. Jul, 2009

    Hey, Tank’s for this tut, you are great happy aftereffectingman,
    jaja, tank’s again..

    Reply to this comment
  18. Brian K.

    31. Jul, 2009

    Great tutorial, I am impressed.

    Reply to this comment
  19. sentinel

    19. Sep, 2009

    holy shit!!! been waiting for this, thanks bro

    Reply to this comment
  20. ball

    23. Sep, 2009

    Great tutorial.

    (Rozwiazanie Problemu z rozmyta krawedzia particli miales tuz pod myszka – typ particla byl “Sphere” – nizej wartosc “Sphere Feather” – ustawiona blizej “0″, powinna zadzialac)

    ["can`t see the forest for the trees"] ;)

    You Rock.

    Reply to this comment
  21. illd

    19. Nov, 2009

    Hi Maltaannon,
    thanks for this nice tutorial. Shortly I used this technique on a project with costum particles and a big problem occured. The Particles started to flicker (just like it sometimes in Trapcode Particular does), no matter if I used loop or still frame in the costum particle settings. I found a solution by animating the twist of the DNA with the rotation and twist parameters instead using a quickmap like you did. But can you tell me why this flickering happens ? – I also have that often in particular 2.

    Reply to this comment
    • Jerzy Drozda Jr

      19. Nov, 2009

      Never happened to me. Try sending me a project file over skype. We’ll see if your setup is a glitch of particular, or is it your machine.

      Reply to this comment
      • illd

        20. Nov, 2009

        Strange thing: I just prepared the project to send it to you and replaced my prerendered Videofile (QT Animation) for the customparticle with an proxy (QT Foto JPG): Now its runnig smoothly… Maybee my XP dont like that codec, I dont get it.
        Anyway, thank you!

        Reply to this comment
        • Jerzy Drozda Jr

          20. Nov, 2009

          No. It’s just that I scare the hell out of After Effects. I’m like Chuck Norris.

          Reply to this comment
          • illd

            21. Nov, 2009

            Huh? i always thought you are the polish Steven Segal ;)

  22. Anil Bishnoi

    15. Dec, 2009

    Really its a very nice tutorial…..

    Reply to this comment
  23. Anonymous

    02. Jan, 2010

    [...] [...]

    Reply to this comment
  24. ankush

    22. Jan, 2010

    hey u r g8t…….

    Reply to this comment
  25. [...] 原教程地址 作者:Jerzy Drozda Jr (aka Maltaannon) [...]

    Reply to this comment
  26. ali

    08. Mar, 2010

    thank you

    Reply to this comment
  27. erkin

    22. Mar, 2010

    дабоп сигип кетем

    Reply to this comment
  28. falconer

    03. May, 2010

    youe are the one in AE

    I love your way in AE

    better than anyone

    Reply to this comment
  29. Madeline Morgan

    09. May, 2010

    Flicker is really great when sharing photos over friends and families. I love the resize feature of Flickr.*;`

    Reply to this comment
  30. [...] was asked to convert the DNA Chain tutorial from CS4 to CS3 and I decided to do it since I had a few minutes. While doing so I started [...]

    Reply to this comment
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  32. Psyco

    17. Aug, 2010

    this is cool
    i’ve made something similar to this using trapcode
    but is more cool
    thx

    Reply to this comment
  33. the digital taoist

    01. Sep, 2010

    Mr Maltaannon… Can you P L E A S E provide a 1080HD version of this ae-proj… or give a quick advice on the key aspects to a successful upscaling of the build elements… it’s just not quite workin for me

    thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  34. lecrash

    07. Sep, 2010

    Just finished this, let me tell you, it DOES look pretty cool. But I’m having one problem. When I export it, the speed on the chain goes up exponentially and by the time it gets to 6 seconds, it’s just way too fast. Is there anyway to fix that? In the video the chain has a constant speed. =(

    Reply to this comment
  35. lecrash

    07. Sep, 2010

    Nvm, fixed it… But, how do I change the bpc from 8 to 32?

    Reply to this comment
  36. mets

    12. Sep, 2010

    THANX! LOVED IT!!

    Reply to this comment
  37. james vijendar

    15. Sep, 2010

    i have learned the coolest tricks……. thank god i watched your tutorials… else i would have been the worst vfx artist in this commercial world…………

    Reply to this comment
  38. sajad

    12. Oct, 2010

    thank you

    Reply to this comment
  39. levin

    14. Dec, 2010

    我的MSN levin9@live.cn

    Reply to this comment
  40. melusine

    18. Jan, 2011

    Very good tuto mat, thanks a lot :).

    How did you generate the “dna chain” (preview.jpg) ?
    did you reduce the blur and took a screenshot ?

    Reply to this comment
  41. vick

    09. Mar, 2011

    hii
    i haven’t any trapcode plug-in in my AE cs4.
    wht should i do now??
    whr from i can got it?
    pls do mail on my id…
    thnks in advance

    Reply to this comment
  42. vick

    09. Mar, 2011

    n even whn i download ur dna tutorial project file (cs4)…its showing a error of missing file of ‘form’
    wt should i do now??
    thnks again

    Reply to this comment
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