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ok Take 2 on my camera animating efforts… I’ll try to explain the problem better this time
I’m trying to move a pan across a large psd file (4000 X 4000 pixels) with many photos layed out on it. I have a specific order that I’d like to view them in and have drawn out a path in AI that I’d like a camera to follow while “looking down” on this psd file from above. As if it were laid down on the ground and you were panning the camera over top of it very close by hand.
I first tried pasting the path from AI into the position property of the psd file, but that definitely didn’t work. (unless I just missed some small change that I needed to make)
I then tried tinkering with adding a camera to do the work which makes sense in my head, but is not translating to the screen. I pasted again the path to the position prop of the cam and that wasn’t helping. I did just try creating a null, parenting the cam to the null layer and then pasting the path into the position prop’s of the null layer. It’s kind of working, but it’s not cruising over the right areas of the psd file. The path doesn’t seem to be center over the right location as it moves along. The path is the same, I can see that when I compare it to AI, but like I said, it’s not moving over the right areas (photos) on the psd file. Hopefully this makes sense.
I guess what I’m asking, is if YOU were trying to accomplish this, how would you go about it?
Oh yeah, when I did the null layer with the cam that I mentioned earlier, and set the orienting to “off” like you suggested. I think that was what got me a little closer.
Sorry if I’m not being clear enough here folks. Have a good night!
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5 Replies
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I’d switch off auto-orient, then animate the camera’s position by hand, using the Front view to see the overall scene. Maybe set up two views: Camera, and Front.
Make sure that your default spatial interpolation is bezier to get smooth curves on the camera’s path. And to even out the pacing, use roving keyframes for the camera’s path.
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So you wouldn’t bother using the path from AI here? I figured that would be the easiest way to accomplish this? I mainly wanted to figure that part out so that I could do it or something like this more quickly in the future.
Make sense? I have to turn this project in on Sunday, so I’ll do it manually for now. I just hadn’t had much experience working with paths and hoped to add something new to the ol’ bag of tricks.
Thanks for the info Mr. Roberts!
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Easy = fast. Since you have to draw the path in the first place, then it may be no faster than animating the camera by hand. Paths are usually faster when someone else has drawn them before you, or when your path comes from an existing logo.
But if you prefer to use a path, after you paste it into the camera property, parent the camera to a 3D null, then move and scale the null to move and scale the camera’s path.
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have you looked at this tutorial? it really helped me out when I started
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well, if the camera is not rotating in any way and just looking straight down and panning, you could also try animating the PSD’s anchor point and scale properties (I think this technique is explained in the Creating Motion Graphics book by Chris and Trish Meyer, as a way to fake what used to be done with motion control rigs panning a camera over photographs).
If you want to use a camera, I’d forget about trying to paste a path and just set it up directly in AE. Turn off the auto orient, make sure your cam is looking straight down, select the “track x-y camera tool” (pressing “c” cycles trough the orbit, track and zoom camera tools), and just drag in the comp window until you get to the right start position. Set keyframe, track camera to the next position, set keyframe, repeat until done 🙂
As said by others, make sure that you use bezier spatial interpolation if you want the camera to move trough the keyframes in a smooth motion. You can switch to a top or front view (depends on how your comp is set up) to tweak the path of the camera.
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