How can I make these 3d layers multiply to fill up screen?

[Kevin Camp]

it sounds like the head is on a different 3d plain than the rest of the character.

try precomping the character layers (try moving all attributes). now enable 3d for the character precomp layer, but do not collapse transformations. this will make the precomp layer 3d, but not the layers within the precomp.

now you should be able to duplicate the character precomp and position as needed.

if you wanted you could try an expression to arrange the grid (from a dan ebberts tutorial (i think i might add the desk to the character precomp to make it easier align them):

numRows = 10;
numCols = 10;

row = Math.floor((index - 1)/numCols);
col = (index - 1)%numCols;
x = col*width + width/2;
y = row*height + height/2;
xOffset = (this_comp.width - numCols*width)/2;
yOffset = (this_comp.height - numRows*height)/2;

[x,y,position[2]] + [xOffset,yOffset,0]

set rows and columns as needed, paste that into the position of the expression field of the character precomp the duplicate the precomp to fill the grid.

you may also be able to use the motion tile effect to duplicate out your character, you will probably need to adjust the precomp size settings to get it right.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Daniel Haskett]

hey man, thanks for your help, much appreciated.

I tried what you said, but the main problem is that when precomposed if i dont collapse transformations, the precomp is a flat layer, even though it is 3d. this means the head is on the same plane as the hands which doesnt work when using the 3d camera….do you see what i mean?

so when i do collapse transformations thats when it goes wrong too cause motion tile wont work and this whole position problem comes up whereby the head moves cause i gues its on a different plane from the others…

i tried that expression, which kind of helped, except it moves the precomp way outside of the compsoition and then when i duplicate they line up but you cant see them cause they are outside of the comp….

this is really tricky!

any other tips you may have would be much appreciated.

thanks

dan

[Kevin Camp]

since the character layer needs to be layered in 3d, i think i would work on just the boy and the desk layers in a single comp.

for positioning, add a 3d camera and position it so it is looking at an angle that will allow you to see the layers in 3d space (something like an off angle 3/4 view looking downward). position the various layers so they seem to be at the correct heights, then delete the camera.

take that comp into you 3d scene comp, enalbe collapse transformations, and then duplicate and position away (as you found out. motion tile won’t work too well on 3d precomps with collapse transformations on).

as the character precomp moves towards the edges of the frame, the layers will begin to separate/slide (as they would in 3d space), if the sliding is to great, reduce the layer spacing of the character layers in the precomp (they may only need to be offset by a few pixels).

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Daniel Haskett]

hey man,

thanks for your help, i think ive found a way whereby i manage the head and body seperately, then motion tile them both on different 3d planes.

however the only problem im having is because i start of zoomed into the hands, at 1920×1080, the whole composition of the boy is around 3000×3000, and then when i motion tile it in the final comp it reaches something silly like 9000×9000, and occasioanlly i get some error message about cache etc….is there any better way to manage this, or is this just how it goes?

cheers

dan

[Kevin Camp]

you can try to decrease the ram cache in the memory/cache pref. this will allow more ram to be used for the image buffer. enabling disk cache may help make up for the lost ram cache.

you may want to find a way to have only the first boy be ‘hi-res’. then the motion tile boys can be much smaller, thus reducing the size of the image buffer required to make the motion tile layers.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you can try to decrease the ram cache in the memory/cache pref. this will allow more ram to be used for the image buffer. enabling disk cache may help make up for the lost ram cache.

you may want to find a way to have only the first boy be ‘hi-res’. then the motion tile boys can be much smaller, thus reducing the size of the image buffer required to make the motion tile layers.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Daniel Haskett]

hey moldy,

that sounds like a good idea about motion tile with only one hi res boy…but i have to be honest i dont know how to…is that actually possible?

i imagine that would only be for preview options, as in when you render out they would all be full quality?

cheers for your help

dan

[Kevin Camp]

this may get a bit tricky…

duplicate your boy layers. and remove motion tile from the duplicates. these will be your hi-res boy layers.

precomp each of the other boy layers separately, choosing to leave all attributes in the main comp and opening each precomp.

for each precomp boy layer, set the comp size to half size (this is arbitrary, if you thought 25% would be better try that). then scale the boy layer down by the same amount

go back to the main comp. all the tiled boy layers should look to small. scale them up by the factor you scaled the precomp down (so if you scaled the precomps 50%, enlarge the precomp layers by 200%).

now you will need to cut a hole in those precomp layers to make sure they don’t interfere with the hi-res layers. just make a mask large enough to cut the hole, then choose ‘subtract’ from the mask mode pulldown. this should knock a hole in the precomp layer.

copy and paste that mask to the other precomp layers.

Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW