Advanced Parenting

Adobe After Effects

Advanced Parenting

Posted by Ash Carter on October 5, 2012 at 4:06 am

bare with me whist i try to explain this the best way.

I have 4 circles which move independently. However i wish to have a line from each circle to the other so as to create a moving rectangle that will morph or whatever according to the way i move the circles independently.

I am wondering if there is a way to parent the points of the rectangle to each of these circles? As what i have tried so far is animating the points which worked fine until i wanted to curve the paths of the rectangle points which you cannot do.

I would love it if there is a way(which im sure there is) to parent each of these points(on the one layer) to different objects so that when you move 1 object(circle) the line point will follow

Thanks for your help!

Walter Soyka replied 13 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Walter Soyka
October 5, 2012 at 11:11 am

[Ash Carter] “I have 4 circles which move independently. However i wish to have a line from each circle to the other so as to create a moving rectangle that will morph or whatever according to the way i move the circles independently.”

Don’t use a rectangle; use the Beam effect [link] to generate the lines between points. You pickwhip the position of the beam start and end points to the positions of your circles, and adjust the other beam parameters to achieve the look of the line.

Search this forum for beam, and you’ll see plenty of examples of how to use Beam to connect points with lines.

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
Ash Carter
October 8, 2012 at 12:28 am

Thanks… works like a charm, Beam tool FTW!!!

Another question is can you pick whip points of a mask so that a masked shape could follow points?
Ash Carter
October 9, 2012 at 4:42 am

Thanks… works like a charm, Beam tool FTW!!!

Another question is can you pick whip points of a mask to points?
Walter Soyka
October 9, 2012 at 6:53 pm

[Ash Carter] “Another question is can you pick whip points of a mask to points?”

Nope.

If you are familiar with expressions, you might find MaskVertexExpression [link] helpful.

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

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