Element 3d aux channel scale – one axis ony

[Richard Garabedain]

Why did a null not work. Well the object does need to be centered in element 3d so that when you go back to the comp the null will be at the anchor point of the object…then you can animate the scale of the null

[Moog Gravett]

Hi,

A null would work for the whole object scale, but not when attaching to a part controlled by an aux channel, which only has one value.

Unless I’m missing something.

[Richard Garabedain]

yes you are missing the fact that the scale proportion can be unlocked and then the null can be stretched and squashed

[Kalleheikki Kannisto]

The long and the short of it is, you can’t currently do single-axis scaling with the Aux channels. The best workaround is to use Group nulls, parenting them if you need to emulate child-parent transformations as if the sub-object was a child of the main object. This becomes tricky if you’ve already used up all groups, as you need to use Unified Render. I find Unified render unreliable when trying to control the same group number animation.

Other options are very limited:

1) You may be able to use the Animation Engine, but with complex setups it is even more difficult than using nulls and unified render.

2) You may be able to set up (if the object is of suitable shape) an extrusion model and adjust the original path instead of the scale. You will introduce anchor point and refresh problems this way, but it is possible to overcome both.

Parented nulls are the most viable option.

Kalleheikki Kannisto
Senior Graphic Designer

[Moog Gravett]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I’ll have a play now that I’m back at work.

[Dalibor Mitic]

Have you found any simple solution to this?
I see this is 3 years old but there is no other forum or any other place where I can find the answer.