• Adobe After Effects

  Scaling Masks from 720X480 to 1280X720

  Posted by Eric Goldstein on November 22, 2006 at 8:51 pm

  Hi,

  I’m scaling a project up from 720X480 to 1280X720. Footage is being scaled up seperately. I have existing masks that are keyframed. Is there a way to make a global change to the different key frames to scale everything at once?

  Thanks for your help. Happy Thanksgiving.

  Eric

  Eric Goldstein
  Giraffe Film Company
  Los Angeles
  er**@*********lm.com

  Ht Davis replied 11 years ago 3 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Eric Goldstein

  November 22, 2006 at 9:48 pm

  Hi it turns out that AE scales the mask according to the new layer size. So, I don’t need to scale it. However,
  the mask isn’t positioned correctly. So, is there a way to globally change the position of the mask for all key frames?

  Thanks,

  Eric

  Eric Goldstein
  Giraffe Film Company
  Los Angeles
  eric@giraffefilm.com
• 

  Straight A

  November 22, 2006 at 11:02 pm

  Put your timeline bar over one of the masks key frames, highlight all the keyframes you want moving together then move your mask.

  All the mask positions with keyframes highlighted will be moved together.
• 

  Eric Goldstein

  November 22, 2006 at 11:39 pm

  Thanks,

  I tried what you suggested, but only the keyframe unter the CTI changed. I’m working in AE 6.5. Does this work in 6.5?

  Thanks,

  Eric

  Eric Goldstein
  Giraffe Film Company
  Los Angeles
  eric@giraffefilm.com
• 

  Straight A

  November 23, 2006 at 12:48 am

  Hmmmm…

  Just tried it and you are right it doesn’t work !!

  I know that selecting all the key frames for other values (like position) and moving one – moves them all, but it doesn’t seem to work for masks 🙁

  Can you not just move the layer position to where you want it ?

  Or copy the mask onto a new white solid, put it on a black background pre-comp them both and use this a matte.
• 

  Eric Goldstein

  November 25, 2006 at 5:00 am

  Hi Dave,

  I’m working with 720X480 .9 pixel size. Actually the mattes are coming up slightly off horizontally and vertically. But once I line them up, they fit without any other adjustments.

  Eric

  Eric Goldstein
  Giraffe Film Company
  Los Angeles
  eric@giraffefilm.com
• 

  Ht Davis

  April 28, 2015 at 6:15 pm

  It sounds to me like you are doing something with the position because they all come out a little off. This is like placing a transparency or paste into photoshop. You have to do it one at a time on the keyframes. However, there are instances where you could move all the positioning. Scripting for instance. I’m not much for scripting myself (truth be told I’ve done it once and that was following a how to).

  I can offer you only my algorithm for what you want, not the code or script, because I stink at that part.

  Assumptions:
  the keyframes are all within the same entity\layer separate from other effects
  the keyframes all need to move both horizontally and vertically by the same amount each path but not necessarily by the same amount in both directions
  This movement can be scripted by using the position values associated with the position modifiers of the keyframes, and the keyframes themselves can be scripted into an array for use (that second part is less necessary)

  There are a number of possibilities here.
  First, if you can script the keyframes themselves into an array or a For loop\post test loop, you can process each one in the script.
  Algorithm:
  set defaults to zero
  Wait for input{
  Get horizontal move
  get vertical move
  endbutton
  change button}
  if changebutton{
  do[
  add to horizontal position
  add to vertical position]
  While there are more keyframes
  return to wait for input}
  else endscript

  if you can’t figure out how to script the test or array the keyframes, you’ll need to apply it to every keyframe separately. But that doesn’t mean you can’t adjust one of them until it’s right, then apply it to every other keyframe.
  IF you set the movement in the script and apply that script to 1 keyframe, keeping track of your adding\subtracting, you can get the values to apply to all the others, or you can note the current values of one keyframe, move it into place, and then use that to get the values to apply to the others. After that, you simply put those into the script, set the script to a hotkey, and click each key frame, pressing the hotkey as you go, which will apply the movement.

  Algorithm:
  Set x
  Set y

  with current keyframe{
  move x horizontal
  move y vertical
  }

  For a script to set the x\y you could have it ask the user for the value, and store it in an environment variable. This would be a defaults container you could reset with another script. Once set, the algorithm changes to use the x\y from the environment variable\object, and you can reset that value as you wish, with another script that prompts the user for it. Resetting the defaults for this variable allows you to set this to zero or null, and that way you don’t accidentally use old values on a new layer\comp. This last part is, however, a lot of work for little payout.

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