“Infinite stage” AE techniques, anyone?

[Isaac]

i am curious to see anyones answer to this. earlier this was posted.

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=2&postid=859043

which i think is right but it seems on a project basis whether you animate the comp or the camera…

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

[Trevor Gilchrist]

Very useful, but I for one would be indebted to (in fact, i’d be happy to pay) anyone who could walk me through a typical project of this sort

[Isaac]

i know what you mean i would also like to learn this smoothness in camera… as of now all i can do is experiment. if anyone helps you with the project of this sort let me know as well. i think something like this would really give me a boost in after effects as well… anyone?

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

[Joshua Ferg]

Seems like a popular question, I’ve wondered myself.

I’m really new to AE but trying to disect and simulate alot of stuff I see on the TV.

Steve’s suggestion regrading attaching multiple Null layers to fine control camera movement seemed to work really well, however I’m wondering how AE processes a project. IS AE only concerned with the math at the scrubber or playbar or are complex 3-D spaces behind and ahead of it going to slow it down?

[Otheronenorehto]

I myself am not an expert but I do know a fair bit. I believe that the sense of weight you are talking about comes from careful motion analysis. Just like an animator studies looped video of a person landing after a jump to give their character the same sense of weight you should study the specific aspects of camera movement that give a shot weight.

I think that the most common thing that takes away from that feeling of weight is linear acceleration. In the real world things can not instantly accelerate. I would look into methods of accelerating your camera on a curve. Do you understand what I am saying I don’t know if this is clear.

In student 3-d animations I see this a lot. The camera goes from being still to instantly traveling in a certain direction at a certain speed. The camera movement has to build up to that to feel real. This should also apply to any changes in direction or velocity.

I don’t know if you have to do this manually or if there is a plug-in.

As far at the “infinite stage” goes have you considered that they use a compositing program in addition to AE. I could definitely picture them using Shake which has more robust 3-d control.

I hope some of what I said makes sense or helps. I can not really offer you a specific tutorial but maybe I have given you some ideas.

[Joey Korenman]

Here’s a trick I use which makes the camera moves look more realistic:

Add an adjustment layer at the top of your comp, and add the Optics Compensation effect to it. Click the “Reverse Lens Distortion” button, then crank up the field of view to your liking. It simulates the effects of a wide angle lense, where objects on the edge of the frame move a little faster than things in the center of the frame. It’s also good to use roving keyframes with camera moves when you have curved motion paths because they’ll keep everything flowing smoothly.

joey

[Trevor Gilchrist]

A couple of very neat ideas, thanks. Just a touch of that Optics Compensation is sweet 🙂

[Trevor Gilchrist]

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you’re saying and I’m the last person to advocate skipping the homework required… but I have to believe that someone has tackled these issues before and might be able to condense their experience into some well-chosen examples for us all to learn from. It seems there are others out there with a similar desire to understand these advanced topics beter. When I turn up at a design house to freelance, I need to have this one in my list of can-do skills…

thanks again for your time.

[Miller]

He’s speaking of Easy Ease for the keyframes here, of course. (No instant starts)

[Stone Reader]

Perhaps I’m thinking this is easier than it is, but using Easing on the keyframes will create that sense of weight. Mess with the keyframe assistant & velocity and see if that works for you.