Animate illustrator-objects in AE

[Kenneth Tolaas]

oh, I did not notice the mention of CC Particle world. I’ll see if I can make it work.

otherwise I’ll consider buying some Particular some day…

[David Bogie]

[Kenneth Tolaas] “hats the kind of answers we like.. =)

I havent used 3d before, but I will try your recipe, and see if I can make it work..
“

That’s not an answer, it’s a recipe for frustration and disaster. If you cannot figure out how to import and use AI paths as masks, you cannot hope to tackle a 3D project.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Kenneth Tolaas] “I made it work quite well, but when I turn around the blue lines with 3d, they are totally flat, is there a way to make them thicker, to make them 3d as well, I guess it would be..?
“

Hmm, another goo reason to open the manual.
There is no depth in AE’s 3D objects because it is not really a 3D application.

bogiesan

[David Bogie]

[Kenneth Tolaas] “and I want to animate the blue lines flying around the text.
“

What exactly does that mean, “flying around?”
Why would anyone suggest Trapcode or Particle World to make a couple of shapes fly around? why would anyone suggest 3D?

bogiesan

[Jon Geddes]

The reason for the 3D suggestion is that the shapes need to rotate on an oval path. This can be achieved by turning the shapes into 3D layers, then rotating them slightly on the x-axis.

Imagine looking straight at a perfect circle, then rotating it on the x-axis. From the front perspective, it becomes an oval.

Now back to my suggestion… using CC Particle World. You could create the blue streaks with particles (no velocity, high particles per second, and scale down over time). With particles, the streaks become 3D and the logo can be viewed from any angle. You also have much more flexibility with special effects when using particles if he wanted to spice up the animation at all.

Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com

[Bob Root]

Wow…

You seem pretty bitter David.

Before you go tossing out insults to responders in this forum you might want to take a closer look at what Kenneth is trying to achieve.

No need to be rude.

[Kenneth Tolaas]

Im just happy that I’m living in Europe, so hopefully no one will kill me today…

I appreciate all help and emotions that are put into this mystery.

[Bob Root]

Hi again Kenneth,

Here’s something that should work a little easier.

I attached another project for reference.

For the Precomp Swishes, you’re basically following my earlier post up to (but not including) the rotation of the null on it’s x-axis. From there, you can keyframe a z-axis rotation on the null.

After that, I dragged Precomp Swishes into a new comp (Final Comp) and scaled down the Precomp Swishes layer on the y-axis.

Doing it this way will help you avoid 3D z-space issues such as intersecting planes. It also ensures that your swish images will stay the same size as they spin.

Hope this makes better sense.

494_aepath2.aep.zip

[Kenneth Tolaas]

Hello again. Your project worked very well, bob, it was easier to understand now, and I can make it go around the text well.

What would be nice was if I could make lines not only go 2d around the text, but also closer to and further away from the camera, in front of and behind the text.

I tried to put the cc particle effect directly on the “line-layer” from illustrator, but gravity made it a bit wrong when upside-down, and also if I tilt it on the z-axis(?) the layer disappears/becomes totally flat at one point.

My question would be if it is possible to add the producer point for particles to the corner of one the other layers in bob’s comp, and keep its 3d, and not become 2d-flat when rotating..?

Another thought – is it possible to set the cc particle producer point to a mask path..?
If I could then make the producer point follow a circular/oval mask path, and then 3d-animate the mask-layer..?
parenting, pick whip, something like that..?

I tried to set keyframes for the producer point position in cc particle, but no good results.
I also tried searching for cc particle tutorials, but I could not find much. Any good tips?

Thanks,
-Kenneth

[Jon Geddes]

Follow Andrew Kramer’s tutorial here on creating the particles, and mapping it to a null object (making it much easier to control):

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/3d_stroke_effect/

Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com