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Old TV Screen tutorial
I was trying to follow Aharon Rabinowitz’s Old TV Screen tutorial using AE CS3 and ran into a little problem. It has to do with the mask that actually creates the look of the TV ‘window’.
When I create the first part of the mask by dbl-clicking on the rectangle mask tool I get the perfect square mask as expected. I set a keyframe at frame zero then move down two seconds and dbl-click on the ellipse mask tool to create the circle mask. But I don’t get a perfect circle. I’m using DV clips, 720/480, so I’ve tried to squeeze in the sides and that looks okay until I rotate the circle mask 45 degrees and then it doesn’t stay in the shape of a circle. I can’t easily explain what the shape looks like because it doesn’t really look like a cross between a square and a circle. It kinda looks like a rotated rectangle with corners that curve outward.
Admittedly I’m a AE neophyte but I can’t seem to figure out how to fix this. Has anyone else had to deal with this or know what the problem is?
Thanks
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7 Replies
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I know the exact tutorial you are mentioning.
Here is the trick:
Make your solid square (for instance 480X480).
Once you have used the mask tools to create your rounded square, stretch the solid to 720X480 to get the rounded rectangle. -
Thanks for the reply, Jason. I tried that but it didn’t solve the problem. I ended up just creating a rounded corner box by hand without using the instructions from the tutorial.
To show the problem I’m having I created a video of what the problem looks like as I follow the instructions from the tutorial. You can check it out at my website
https://www.edreedfilms.com/dloads/aetutorialproblem.avi
You should be able to see that when I follow the instructions from the tutorial my results don’t match the tutorial’s. I’d still like to know why.
Thanks for the help.
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You need to click the stopwatch to remove all of your keyframes.
That way, AE uses the present frame for all frames.
What is happening in your video is AE is animating the mask change between the 2 keyframes. -
I realize that AE is animating between the two keyframes but that’s what the instructions in the tutorial say to do. According to the tutorial you’re supposed to let AE animate between the two key frames so it will produce a shape that is close to that of a TV window. Then once you find the shape that’s about right, you clear the keyframes so that the shape, at that point, is set. The problem is that the shape that’s produced on my machine doesn’t resemble anything like that of what’s in the tutorial. That’s why I move the timemarker back and forth in my video, so that you can see that my shape animation doesn’t even come close to the example. And I don’t understand why.
Thanks again.
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Sorry about that, I misunderstood you.
Now I see.It has something to do with a change instilled in CS3 for sure.
I tried it out in CS3 and 7. It worked fine in 7, but I got the same problem as you in CS3. -
I found a solution. (You probably already discovered this)
There is an easier way in CS3 that was unavailable in prior versions.
Create a shape layer and modify the roundness under the rectangle.
Voila, instantly the shape you want. -
I’m unfamiliar with shape layers. I’ll have to play it and see what happens.
Thanks again.
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