Creative Communities of the World Forums

The peer to peer support community for media production professionals.

Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Auto-orient in only 1 axis

  • Auto-orient in only 1 axis

    Posted by Graham Quince on April 11, 2005 at 7:54 am

    Hi guys

    Does anyone know if there’s a way to auto-orient a layer’s y-axis to permanently point to a camera? I need the X and Z axis to remain static, but have the layer keeps it’s face pointing towards the camera.

    Graham

    Anthony S mcgrath replied 20 years, 9 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Yoondo

    April 11, 2005 at 8:38 am

    I don’t think you can auto-orient individual axis. It’s basically locked in all axis.

  • Mylenium

    April 11, 2005 at 9:22 am

    You need to re-create the auto orient behavior using a simple expression. Add this to the orientation parameter:

    my_orient=lookAt(position,thisComp.layer(“Camera”).position)
    X=orientation[0];
    Y=my_orient[1];
    Z=orientation[2];

    [X,Y,Z]

    You may need to add an angular value to compensate for flipping.

    Mylenium

    [Pour Myl

  • Graham Quince

    April 11, 2005 at 11:35 am

    Many thanks, that’s worked just as i needed it to

    Graham

    http://www.qcit.com

  • Graham Quince

    April 11, 2005 at 11:54 am

    Thanks Mylenium,

    The only change i had to make is to add a negative setting to the orientation.

    my_orient=-lookAt(position,thisComp.layer(“Camera 1”).position)
    X=orientation[0];
    Y=my_orient[1];
    Z=orientation[2];

    [X,Y,Z]

    Graham

    http://www.qcit.com

  • Anthony S mcgrath

    July 14, 2005 at 8:25 am

    I created a plane and have used this expression to point it at the camera. It only seems to work halfway around then the plane flips.

    How would I go about spinning around it fully and avoiding that flip? the nearest example I can think of is the way sprite particles act in Maya.

    Do I have to point the plane upward somehow with some kind of upvector? ..I’m really pants at this expression stuff!

We use anonymous cookies to give you the best experience we can.
Our Privacy policy | GDPR Policy