-
Tracking and Particular?
In the attached comp I have particular set to emit from a light. The shot is hand held and I tracked the motion so that the layer with the smoke particles would move with the camera (instead of staying static). But because particular is on a solid layer, and the particles eventually move offscreen, I am seeing hard edges with the boundaries of X and Y, as the frame is moving after the particles are rendered.
What is a better process to have the particles render independantly of the frame (or first)…
Thanks!
MAtt -
10 Replies
-
The comp you uploaded is missing its footage. There isn’t a camera in the comp (was there supposed to be?). Also Particular should almost always be applied to a 2D layer, that is unless you’re looking to bend spacetime 🙂
Darby Edelen
-
Darby is right….keep you particle layer 2D. As long as you have tracked the position and use a light as an emitter you should not have any issues. (you do need a camera in there)
-
matthew
Unparent the particular layer from Null. No need to attach the particular layer since Light Emitter has been used here which is parented to the Null object to follow the Motion of camera.
Vishesh Arora
3D and Motion Graphics Artist
Films RajendraBlog:
https://digieffects.wordpress.comDemo Reel(3D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHPgIJU_BR8 -
Sorry I have been having trouble uploading the right project (the project with footage). I uploaded a ZIP file with the footage. The problem is that I don’t want the smoke to be moving just from the camera. There is a waterpipe (Bong) that the character moves in the shot. The footage is handheld, so the smoke should emit from the pipe (which I keyframed).
HOWEVER, once the smoke is out of the pipe, it should move with the camera, as it is technically in the air at that point. This is the problem. If I link the emitter to the motion track, then it only follows the motion of the camera. I want the smoke to follow the pipe, THEN behave as though it is in the air.
Tall order, I know. Here is the file with a small proxy version of the footage.
Is there an easy way to save a file that includes the footage (the equivalent of a media managed file in FCP?)
Thanks guys!
Chap -
matthew
Yes you can use Collect Files feature .
Vishesh Arora
3D and Motion Graphics Artist
Films RajendraBlog:
https://digieffects.wordpress.comDemo Reel(3D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHPgIJU_BR8 -
[matthew chapman] “The shot is hand held and I tracked the motion so that the layer with the smoke particles would move with the camera (instead of staying static).”
A point tracker won’t do the trick — you need to do a 3D track [link].
3D tracking analyzes your scene, locates tracking points, and solves for your camera. This creates a camera in Ae that matches the camera in your footage and allows you to integrate elements in the scene.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
So let me see if I have the lay of the land now.
1) Motion tracked some background element to pick up the camera
2) Parented an AE camera to this Null.
3) Keyframed a light’s position to roughly match the bong’s position.
4) Applied Particular to a 2D composition sized solid and set it to emit from lights.If that’s not working I don’t know what to say. There are some details that you might want to work into the shot (like matching the field of view/focal length of the camera you shot with) but overall that should work.
However, in your posted file I didn’t see a camera parented to the null (this is important) and your Particular effect was applied to a 3D solid (this is wrong, needs to be a 2D solid).
Darby Edelen
-
It is a nice looking feature, Walter. Unfortunately there might be too much movement in this scene or something because when I run the camera tracker it only gives me 2 points over the whole clip, and they are gone nearly immediately.
I tried it for the last hour without much luck. Maybe the 2D camera track points are better?
-
matthew
Check Render Track points option.
Vishesh Arora
3D and Motion Graphics Artist
Films RajendraBlog:
https://digieffects.wordpress.comDemo Reel(3D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHPgIJU_BR8 -
A 2D track of the bong will do nicely. Look at using mocha or AE’s point tracker; with mocha being more advantageous in this instance. To get the smoke to move appropriately, you can look into using Particular’s Physics>Air>Wind properties.
HTH
RoRKIntensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations
Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects ACE/ACI (version 7)
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up