3 Ways to Make Your Comps Better When You’re Not at Your Desk

I set out with high hopes for this test. I started by stringing together some expressions and slipping their sync to try and create some kind of visual cohesion. The first render looks nice, but the timing doesn’t flow. On this occasion I was out of time, frustrated, I had to call it done. And sometimes, that’s how it goes.

Stop, and let your brain get to work

Two days later, I took another peek. It was curiosity rather than a game plan. I was struck by the ‘obvious-ness’ of how I had got tangled, so it was game [back] on. There’s a science-backed thesis that says your brain carries on working on problems when you stop — and that I find it to be true; sometimes the last place you will solve a shot is sitting at your desk working on it. Deadlines might be tight, but when you come back, you’re just better.

Go Back To the Start

I’m a big fan of starting over, often in part. The rebuild are fast. They usually include everything you learned from the first build. Miraculously, they bring forth none of the glitches. They add cool new tweaks. This time I got unexpected playback improvements on my build; just a better view really, more scrollable, but it was key. I remember thinking, ‘Ah! now I can see!.’ I was able the slip the timings & that’s why the squares now move in a flock.

Save Brain RAM by Outsourcing Recall

I love this one → secret weapon. Point all your Ai tools at your user docs. This eliminates Ai general knowledge. It gives you a willing co-pilot who flings facts your way at just the right moment — like if you have a lengthy expression string to dig up. Instruction manuals aren’t usually where you go for creative problem solving, but reducing the brain traffic eases bottlenecks, and timely new facts are frankly, inspiring. Unfortunately, most manuals are thousands of pages long, and there can be a lot of heavy duty reformatting to make it work, but I swear by it — a user doc for everything on tap.

Here’s the new smooth and much improved video below. It flows much better thanks to the soft skills that happen when I am not making shots.