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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Jittery motion on a simple animation

  • Sami Bayley

    November 6, 2021 at 12:38 pm

    What frame rate is your composition? And have you exported at the same frame rate?

  • Lisa Olshanski

    November 6, 2021 at 2:31 pm

    30fps and exporting at 30 as well.

  • Lisa Olshanski

    November 6, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    I think I solved it. I changed it to 60fps and it looks great!

  • Michael Szalapski

    November 6, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    The issue is called “judder” and, if you search for that term, you’ll learn a lot!

    One way to solve it is to use a different frame rate (as you’ve done), but another is to change the pace of the motion.

    Judder doesn’t just appear in motion graphics. It can appear in any movement where frame rates are involved. I went to see Cowboys and Aliens in the cinema and the opening shot had a TON of judder because of the speed at which the camera was panning. Terrible way to start a film. Almost as bad as that gopher at the beginning of Indiana Jones 4 to make you go, “Oh no, this movie is going to suck!”

  • Lisa Olshanski

    November 7, 2021 at 4:36 am

    Thanks Michael! I was googling a lot about this issue but I did not search the term judder. This is the first time I’ve heard of that. By change the pace of the motion, do you mean the speed?

  • Michael Szalapski

    November 7, 2021 at 3:35 pm

    Yes. The issue is how our eyes process motion and frame rates. You’ll need different horizontal speeds depending on what frame rate you’re working with.

    Really good camera operators working in Hollywood have their formulas for each lens and how fast they can or can’t pan. It’s way easier in motion graphics because we can just see it and retime. A lot harder when you’ve got a whole set and crew and you can’t see it until it’s been printed! (Of course, with digital it’s much easier, but still… hundreds of people on set having to redo everything just because your panning sucked isn’t great.)

    If you’re working in 60 frames per second, you’re less likely to have judder because human eyes work at basically that speed too. Signals pulse from the eyes to to the brain at about 60 per second, but that varies person to person. The issue is that you MUST have control of the playback in order to be sure that 60fps is your solution. If you’re just putting it on YouTube, someone could still be watching at 30 and getting horrible judder.

  • Lisa Olshanski

    November 7, 2021 at 5:22 pm

    Wow! Thanks for the info. It will either be on Youtube or Vimeo. So, you’re saying that if I export 60fps, Vimeo or Youtube may convert it to 30? Because I don’t think the end-user can choose which frame rate to watch it at.

  • Michael Szalapski

    November 7, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    Users do get choice. Generally speaking, you should be fine. YouTube defaults to playing 60fps videos at that frame rate. If somebody has a poor connection though, it’ll throttle down.

    And also some devices are limiting, but, again, generally speaking you’ll be fine.

  • Lisa Olshanski

    November 7, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    Thanks so much. I really appreciate your help.

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