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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Tracking & Parenting Question

  • Tracking & Parenting Question

    Posted by Sascha Engel on February 12, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    Hi Everybody,

    Quiet a while since I used following workflow, so I forgot some parts. Need some help here:
    As you can see in the image, I want to insert the Pre-Comp Footage of the TV content into the moving TV (the two guys dancing with it).
    The tracking worked fine (including scale tracking since the TV moves forward and backward also).
    Then I applied the data to a Null Layer and I parented my TV Screen footage to the Null, both the Position and the Scale.
    It moves perfectly with the movement of the TV, just that the Scale and basic starting position are totally offset (see image).
    How can I adjust scale and position on the starting frame to match the TV’s position?
    Thanx.

    Greetings,

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

    Sascha Engel replied 12 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Sascha Engel

    February 12, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    Sorry, forgot the image. Yes, I know I can do it in Moca, but I got already this far in AE.
    I am sure it’s something small, I just don’t know.

    Here is the image:

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Sascha Engel

    February 12, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    Yes, the Null is perfect, and the parented Screen content moves perfect with it, once parented to the Null – in position and size.
    My only problem: The starting point of position and size is not right. How can I get that to match? From then on it’ll be fine.

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Sascha Engel

    February 12, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    But the TV scale is linked to the null layers scale, so I cannot change it.
    And the the anchor point ( that’s how I usually adjust the starting point) needs to be in the middle of the real tv screen, to go right with the tracked movement of the TV.
    Any other way? Pre-Comps don’t help here neither.

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Sascha Engel

    February 12, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    I’m not in the studio anymore, so I cannot try, but I know for sure, that the moment you I parent a parameter, e.g. The scale to the null, the numbers turn red, and they directly linked to the scale numbers of the Null and can’t be changed. They snap back.

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Walter Soyka

    February 12, 2014 at 8:24 pm

    [Sascha Engel] “I’m not in the studio anymore, so I cannot try, but I know for sure, that the moment you I parent a parameter, e.g. The scale to the null, the numbers turn red, and they directly linked to the scale numbers of the Null and can’t be changed. They snap back.”

    You are describing linking the parameters via expressions and the pickwhip.

    What you are describing is not parenting [link].

    When you make one layer a child of another layer, then you create a hierarchy where the child is transformed relative to the parent’s layer space, and any transforms that affect the parent will also affect the child. However, since the child layer also has its own layer space, you can make additional transforms to the child that will not affect the parent.

    If you hold the Shift key while dragging the parenting pickwhip from your layer to the null, it will not only establish the parent/child relationship, but also snap the child to the position of the parent’s anchor.

    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

  • Sascha Engel

    February 12, 2014 at 9:46 pm

    Thanx Walter, I will try this first thing in the morning.

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Sascha Engel

    February 13, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    Worked! Thanx a lot!

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

  • Matt Davis

    February 13, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    More than one way to skin a cat as they say.

    If you position the footage over the tv screen for a single frame (whatever frame is easy for you to do so), so that at that one frame it is correctly positioned, and THEN parent it to the null it will move with the null from that starting point.

    Once it’s parented to the null it matches the motion (scale, position, etc) relative to the frame you were on when you parented it.

    Glad you got it fixed anyway, this is another way that should work.

  • Sascha Engel

    February 13, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    Thanx. Actually I did it exactly like that 🙂

    Sascha Engel
    TIME BANDITZ Productions
    http://www.youtube.com/taikang

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