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Closed: Straight Lines Only

UPDATE – Thanks for all the great entires. Over 200! Stay tuned for the next project. Winners will announced soon.

Straight lines are everywhere! Sometimes we take them for granted. So for this five second project lets see what you can do with them.

What Are Five Second Projects?
We all want to make cool shit for our demo reel right? Sometimes you just need a theme to get you started… Some rules to fight against. Use the theme “Straight Lines Only” to make a five second motion piece and enter it into the form below. Please be sure to post a link in this post’s comments to ensure me seeing it. If your new to five second projects, why not check out the Five Second Projects Archive to see all of the past themes.

Rules

1. Submissions must be Five Seconds Long!
2. Only animation is accepted. Video only submissions will not.
3. The animations has to do with the theme in some way.
4. Original Work only. Don’t cut out 5 seconds of already made work.
5. Link back to GSG on your Vimeo Post

Why Should You Enter?

1. Try new techniques or software
2. Limitations help get the mind working.
3. Make short, awesome pieces for your reel.
4. Get critique from your peers.
5. Promote yourself.

How Do I Enter my Video?
We are gonna try something different this time around. Instead of posting your entry in the comments we will be using a Wufoo form to take entries.

1. Create a five second animation based on the theme.
2. Upload your video to Vimeo. Don’t forget to add a link back to this blog post.
3. Submit your link to the Wufoo form below and I will add it to the channel
4. Deadline is Wednesday May 5th

Watch the videos at the vimeo channel, or at the FiveSecondProjects Archive

Winning Entry

Honorable Mentions

Latest Five Second Projects

eggs Bounce 12979.jpg 12747.jpg
Light Kit Pro
City Kit

Comment Rules

This is a friendly community. Please treat everyone with respect. We don't all have to agree, but we do have to be nice. Criticism is fine, but rude comments and name calling will be deleted. Use your real name and don't be spammy. Thanks for adding to the conversation.

182 Comments

  4. Matthew Carlin

    Cool, i’m up for this. There’s a typo on the “What are five second projects” paragraph though Nick. Still refers to “Self Portrait” rather that straight lines.

    Reply

  5. arleksey

    true challenge!
    there are no too much things we can do with straight lines… couse they are straight, and that “only” condition is a great limiter or maybe motivation for finding creative ideas.

    Reply

  6. Maksim

    Nick can you ask? How have you achieved such success and how many years studied the program to make such a beautiful and simply stunning stuff?

    Reply

    • Neal Carroll

      I may not be Nick, but I believe anyone can be just as successful if they just go out and make cool shit! Don’t be scared to just jump headfirst into C4D and mess around. I believe the classic saying applys here, Practice Makes Perfect!

      Reply

  7. Bryan

    Glad to see you’ve got an actual submission section now for the videos instead of linking them in the comments. Much better.

    Reply

  8. Fabrice

    Hey Nick, I’m french, so I don’t really understand english : “straight lines only” means “free theme” isn’t it ? :) ))

    Reply

  9. DaniSang

    Woot! Awesome! I like you challenges Nick. I do others also on other websites but notting beats yours tbh.

    My entry wil be there ones I am back home (Bloody volcanic ash)

    Reply

  10. spany

    This is the first time I taking part in these 5sec projects. Pretty challenging but that what I look for in such projects :)

    Bdw great tutorials Nick!!!

    Reply

  12. Mr.Rubber

    Dude we are so up to the chalange….thats gona be so awesome just imagn making all the peeepl make beatityfull lines…..i will tryz some serious raytraysing shiit to make my lines shine…try to beat me sukkaz

    Reply

  17. Christian Zschunke

    Hey gorilla,

    this is my first contribution to the five second projects as I just started with motiondesign recently.

    http://vimeo.com/11133594

    Thanks for the awesome learning ressources to you and all the other educational sites out there.

    I’ve got a question though. If I do have some more ideas for that special theme, can I contribute more then one five second clip?

    Reply

    • Neal Carroll

      Did you submit via the form? Cause I didn’t get it…
      Anyway I think you can only submit once, but don’t let that stop you from creating some awesome stuff for your reel!

      Reply
    • The Gorilla

      The Gorilla

      Yeah, Be sure to use the form above to submit your work. Also, try to spend more time on your ONE entry instead of doing many of them. That way, you will end up with a stronger piece.

      Reply

  20. Guillermo

    Dude , nick or someone else , i submited my video today in the afternoon (in the right place) , but i can´t see it in the gallery . in fact i just see one submition .. so..

    what´s going on ?

    thanks

    link : http://vimeo.com/11133688

    Reply

    • Mr.Rubber

      Dude iam blind have to write withaopihfoih seeing anztihng cause all of your lenseflareness at the end of the spot..

      Reply

  26. Borislava

    i have an idea for people in need:
    a line walking down the street, wearing high heels like pink with glitter fur scarf etc.
    walking down to a club (music is head.
    the camera moves along with him as he goes and stops at the club entrance. there’s a sign up there by the door “straight lines only”. the line gets pissed, takes out a machinegun and goes in guns blazin.

    :)

    Reply

    • Rado

      so maybe u should have taken up time than just putting 5 sentences together and let them reveal…

      i want to know how far u take your animation seriously? because i think,your animation don´t fit the actually theme!

      Reply

    • bollon

      Sometimes it’s not always about taking the words literally. Good thinking out of the box. Could have used a little more flair though.

      Reply

  32. Trevor

    Hey Nick!

    All the best Man. You rock it as usual

    Any idea what happened to the “Mograph” site?

    Is it down?

    Reply

  37. dotcom

    straight lines… huh! Einstein would say that it does not exist. Does it mean we can interpret it as bezier or curves as far as that state of view is concerned ?
    Or am i really looking too much for details.
    I can show these lines but it won’t really be straight infinite lines anywhere, anytime, but Probably on your screens by the 5th of May.

    Reply

  55. Maksim

    Although I am not in one your video did not understand nothing but Having reviewed according to the translator, I knew only the 5 th paragraph, that “a need to advertise.”

    (Let me remind you I’m from Ukraine and sings spruce fir figured out!))

    Reply

  57. fabian

    I’ve tried to link my Straight Lines animation by filling in the entry form above, but I haven’t seen my animation in the Vimeo Channel. Maybe something went wrong, but just to be sure here is the vimeo link once more:

    http://vimeo.com/11261149

    Reply

  61. Tiago

    My fist video too….like it….not the final result, it could be better, but it was a long time that I didn’t make anything non commercial….so….no strings attached, thanks Nick…That really made me think about trying hard to learn more techniques…
    http://vimeo.com/11335386

    Reply

  63. ptitpunk

    My first participation to 5 Second Project. I began to do motion for a copple of weeks so let’s try ! Here’s my video : http://vimeo.com/11353612
    (Sorry for my english, I’m French :p)

    Reply

  65. Joe

    Hey Nick,
    Can you please relink my submission to the Five Second Projects, there was some kind of error on vimeo and my original video got deleted. The new address is http://vimeo.com/11345117. Thanks.

    Reply

  71. arleksey

    i submitted my entry (http://vimeo.com/11395662) via form but i see that there are duplicates in comments for submitions so i decide to follow.

    Nick, i think you`d add some text like “your video will be added to channel in a few hours” couse i was checking my video in 5sec-queue every two minutes but that text will calm submitters

    Reply

    • Matt

      I’m also having some strange, and seemingly exaggerated visible compression issues on Vimeo, and I can’t crack it. If anyone has any ideas (I go into more detail in the comments on the Vimeo page) or wants to share their optimal export settings for motion graphics to Vimeo, please feel free to hit me up. Thanks everyone!!

      Reply

    • arleksey

      i have no problems with uploading and codec.

      I render my compositions or 3d-scenes to png or jpg sequences with no compression (use 90-95% of quality, the same we have in Photoshop when set 11 in compression dialog). Then i use Windows Media Video with quality based settings QUALITY – 90-95%. NOT BITRATE but QUALITY!

      Reply

  73. Bryan Zilar

    Howdy Nick,

    Was great to meet you in Austin. Your talk inspired me as usual. I actually completed a version of the 5 second project. I could have spent hours tweaking, but giving myself a deadline and just turning it in felt liberating.

    Going from the production art world to design world is a lot of fun.

    http://www.vimeo.com/11339519

    Reply

  79. Jordan Cain

    Finally got my video submitted. Good luck to everyone! Saw some really great entries.

    Reply

  84. Manuel F. Rugeles

    Hello, finally I decided to participate on this one, this is my second time. Maybe to simple but here it is:

    http://vimeo.com/11462114

    It was submited through the new form also. Cheers!

    Reply

    • Ray Houghton

      my compression issues were way worse… think vimeo doesn’t like fine lines

      Reply

  89. abel

    NOOO!!! just when I finished my entry, my whole internet died, except for the internet on my phone… guess that should teach me to never start late again, since now i’m unable to upload anything, and the due date is tomorrow… all i can do is wait and hope that it’ll start working soon enough here in amsterdam… and listen to some relaxing ray charles…

    Reply
    • The Gorilla

      The Gorilla

      Sorry to hear about your internet. That would SUCK!
      But, Just to be clear, your work won’t be added to the channel after the deadline or be eligible to be a winner or a runner up. Maybe there is another way to get your video in on time?

      Also, feel free to drop late entries in the comments section so that everyone can see it. I’m sure it’s awesome!

      Thanks for making dope shit!

      Reply

  95. Michael

    Hi Nick, is the deadline by the end or the beginning of May 5th? I only now got to work on the project and the bloody render is taking forever…

    Reply

  98. Daniel Amedoda

    i probably wont be able to finish in time but is it ok to post my submission anyway just to tbe shown?

    Reply

  104. Jordan Scott

    Hey Nick,
    I am having trouble uploading my video to the Straight Lines Only 5 Second Project. It says that only one submission per user, and I haven’t submitted yet. So here is my link if you can add it to the channel: http://vimeo.com/11502125

    Thanks for taking the time,
    Jordan Scott

    Reply

  109. Micaela Croskey

    Not sure why but Vimeo added an extra second to my entry.The last frame lasts for an additional second. It is 29.97 fps and both the project file and final export are 5 sec.
    Please don’t disqualify me.
    Here is the link.
    http://vimeo.com/11513910

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Comment Rules

This is a friendly community. Please treat everyone with respect. We don't all have to agree, but we do have to be nice. Criticism is fine, but rude comments and name calling will be deleted. Use your real name and don't be spammy. Thanks for adding to the conversation.