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Moving Layers in 3d around a center point
I know this is really easy, but after trying a few things I just can’t seem to get it to work.
I basically want 7 layers, to move around a center point of a circle at my command and always face the front (not the camera).
Think of it this way, top view in comp window there is a center point. I have manually placed (couldn’t figure out to do it automatically) 7 layers around the center point based on a reference circle mask. All layers are facing the front view with one layer directly in front of the camera.
At certain points I basically just want to rotate everything around the center so layer1 that is facing the camera moves around and layer 2 comes up in front of the camera. With some handy DOF added later I’m basically giving the illusion of a 3d ring of layers where one comes up, plays its video, then the whole unit rotates and brings the next layer into view.
I’ve tried using a null and parenting the anchor points of the objects to this, then simply rotating the null on the y-axis but this obviously doesn’t work.
Any ideas here? Sorry if my explanation is confusing.
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4 Replies
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One way – arrange your layers in a circle, position a 3D null at the center of the circle, make the null the parent of the other layers, and add this expression to the y rotation property of the layers:
-thisComp.layer(“Null 1”).transform.yRotation
Then animate the null’s y rotation.
Dan
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Thanks a lot Dan! While that rotated everything around the null, they didn’t continue to face the front. I got it working thanks to another post by adding *-1 to the end of the expression. Works like a charm!
Thanks again for the help.
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You must have left off the minus sign at the front of the expression (does the same thing as multiplying by -1). Glad you got it working though.
Dan
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My apologies for missing your -, I assumed it was just your indent or way of pointing out the code 🙂 Your method with the – works like a charm as well. Thanks again Dan.
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