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offseting layers in z space
Hey I want to create an effect of a 2 sided postcard that rotates.
I would imagine it should be easy .
Create a comp w 2 layers offset one from the other in z space, parent them both to a null and rotate the null and poof magic is created.
Alas when I tried it there is always a flicker of black at some point when the object is perpendicul;ar to the camera.
Is this a limitation of AE or something I am not getting?I have been searching for a tutorial i think by serge, where he did the same thing w poker cards.
Any help would be appreaciated.
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7 Replies
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Layers cannot be seen when at 90 degrees to camera. Someday it would be nice for AE to add an “edge visibility” to layers, maybe with a width slider, but it doesn’t have that functionality yet.
The workaround is to time the rotation so the layer is never at 90 degrees. Place your current-time indicator at the invisible point, then drag either keyframe until you can see the layer.
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Steve is right.
Another technique is to create an edge using a thin Solid layer or some other footage.
Essentially you create a box with a shallow depth. You can nest this object in another Comp so it behaves as a single layer. Or use a Null object to control the rotation/position of the object.
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Or you could use the shatter effect z-depth trick and set the back map to be a duplicate of the front layer..and that way you could set the extrusion to whatever you wanted.
Mark
Final Render Films -
It’s a good trick, but Shatter is limited in its motion capabilities: you can’t move the extruded object, just the camera.
This may or may not be a problem, of course.
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Of course, it depends on how far he wants to take the effect.
Mark
Final Render Films -
For a two pixel thick card, if you sandwich 19 layers between the Front and the Back, you can get a very close to side on view without the thinning. I looks good until you get to between 89.6 and 90.4 degrees.
Put this expression on position of a duplicated layer:
position+[0,0,(index-1)*0.1]
It separates all succeeding layers by 1/10th of a pixel, so you need to dup the layer 19 times, then add your back (with the same expression), and parent them all to the Front. I think it looks better when the sandwiched layers (all those between the Front and Back are a different color than the back.
Anyway, like Steve said, don’t linger on 90 degrees and you’ll be good. This 21 layer sandwich lets you get much closer to 90 degrees than just two layers. Also the final card is two pixels thick, anything less can flicker if at an awkward angle.
If you want a thinner card, a one pixel setup isn’t so bad (just looked at one)depending on the compression of the final output, i think.
Also if you add bevel Alpha to the front and the back of the card, you get a nice little dark line around highlighting the edge of the card. I used 1 pixel as the Edge thickness.
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