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CC Cylinder Layer Space Transform expression?
I’m attempting to use CC Cylinder to render the outside and inside of a cylinder that are offset in X. The effect I want is to create a seamless ribbon by aligning the layers using the X position within CC Cylinder.
I can line things up so they look OK but when I animate a camera, the layers overlap or separate. I’m assuming this has to do with how After Effects and CC Cylinder calculate 3D space. They just ain’t the same.
The following image should demonstrate the issue.
Is there an expression that will help or am I wasting my time?
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2 Replies
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the problem isn’t the layer space transforms, it’s the definition of inside and outside…. essentially inside and outside are defined by the camera position,a s the camera moves around the inside and outside get re-defined…
it may be easier to think of the inside and outside of the cylinder are always facing the camera, so as the camera moves around the cylinder, the part facing the camera also changes…
what you’ll need to try and do is create 2 complete (full) cylinders, one that contains the ‘outside’ bend of the film and the other contains the ‘inside’ bend of the film. if your film strip isn’t in a separate comp, select it and choose layer>pre-compose (leave all attributes), if it is already a separate comp, just open the comp up. then add a new solid (comp sized) and set the x-position to 0 (that’s zero) and set the film strip to use it as a track matte (alpha matte).
duplicate that film strip comp (the whole comp, not the layer or the nested comp), open it and set the film strip to use the above layer as a track matte (alpha inverted). this will give you two halves of your film strip.
bring both those comps into the main comp. add cc cylinder to both, rotate the rotation y values of both to 90. then set the position x values so that the ‘halves’ line up the way you need them. leave the render modes at ‘full’.
add a camera and orbit around the scene, the halves should stay together fairly well. there are some limitations you’ll find, primarily that 2d layers will always maintain the layer order hierarchy, meaning the topmost film strip will always be on top, regardless of the apparent 3d arrangement of the scene….
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Kevin, many thanks for your detailed reply. I’ll give this a shot. I always appreciate your posts on the Cow.
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