• Adobe After Effects

  Rotating around an anchor but keeping object upright

  Posted by John Shand on July 18, 2012 at 11:04 am

  Hi all,

  I have a set of shapes that i want to move around the screen but maintain its upright position when it is rotating.
  At the moment I have put the anchor point in the centre of the comp but when I rotate the object, the shape turns with it. There is text within the shape that is why I want to maintain its upright position so it is easy to read.

  I hope this makes sense to anyone.

  I found this example which might help you understand what I’m trying to achieve.

  https://www.hypertransport.org/images/productsMain2.jpg

  Manuel Madariaga replied 10 years, 6 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
• 8 Replies

• 

  John Cuevas

  July 18, 2012 at 11:45 am

  Assuming you arranged your shapes in the comp and parented them to a null object in the center of the screen. Open up the rotation property of of one your objects and “alt + click” to open the expression editor. Type in “-(” then pick whip to the null’s rotation property. Finally close the expression with another “)”. You should get this:

  -(thisComp.layer("Null 1").transform.rotation)

  Simply you are telling your objects to rotate the exact opposite way the parent is rotating.

  Here it is in action: 4411_rotationexpression.aep.zip

  Johnny Cuevas, Editor
  Thinkck.com

  “I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
  —THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.
• 

  John Shand

  July 18, 2012 at 12:08 pm

  John,

  Thank you so much for your time.
  The effect you made is exactly what I want.
  I applied the same expression to my image but my result was that it was rotating in an opposite direction but was not keeping upright like your text.

  Did I miss something?

  Thanks again.
• 

  John Cuevas

  July 18, 2012 at 12:55 pm

  You need to explain your setup a bit more, when you say you applied the expression to an “image”, are you just working with one layer? The method I used works when you have multiple objects parented to a single controller in the middle of the comp.

  If you have one layer, you would need to break the layer into individual components, parent them to a control in the middle of the composition(null) and then apply the expression.

  Johnny Cuevas, Editor
  Thinkck.com

  “I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
  —THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.
• 

  John Cuevas

  December 6, 2012 at 12:30 pm

  Did that answer your question

  Johnny Cuevas, Editor
  Thinkck.com

  “I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
  —THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.
• 

  John Shand

  December 6, 2012 at 1:23 pm

  Hi John,
  Sorry for the late response I just completely forgot. Yes that worked perfect. Thanks for your help and time.
• 

  John Cuevas

  December 15, 2012 at 1:44 pm

  Then I’m glad I was able to help.

  Johnny Cuevas, Editor
  Thinkck.com

  “I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
  —THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.
• 

  Lyubo Yanev

  August 6, 2015 at 7:49 am

  Thanks! Exactly what I was searching for too!!
• 

  Manuel Madariaga

  November 17, 2015 at 9:22 pm

  Thaks John, you just saved me a lot of time 😉

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