plug or technique for layers revolving?

[Jeremy Fabiano]

I dunno about plugins for this, but for techniques I can kind of point you in the right direction based on things i’ve done/seen…

Now before I go into detail please remember a few things: 1. I’m a noob at this stuff. 2. I’m sure some of the regulars can (and might) correct me a few times with this. 3. I’m going to go off the top of my head – not basing it on anything. All in all, I’m hoping to point you in the right direction at least, but also hope it helps.. here goes..

i’m only going to explain for 1 layer (just duplicate and change as necessary for the rest) so please bear with me.

You’re gonna want a new comp size solid – create a motion path and close the loop (make it a circle – shift i think?).

Make a null object. Copy the mask shape i believe it was and paste it to the null object’s position parameter. Now it should follow that same path and go in circles (not sure wether you need it to face camera – if so turn on auto-orient for the null). Then make it a 3d layer and rotate on the X axis till its flat (90* i believe).

Next part might be tricky… one of two things will have to be done – first the easier way:

position thenull at the top of the “tornado” and set a keyframe. move forward however long it would take to “suck” the layer to the bottom of the tornado and then move the null there.

i THINK this affects the Z axis… if i’m wrong then this wont work and you’ll have to do this instead:
make a 2nd null object and parent the first to it.
position the 2nd null at the top of the “tornado” and set a keyframe. move forward however long it would take to “suck” the layer to the bottom of the tornado and then move the null there.

Repeat with scale as well going from 100% to 0% (on the same keyframes.

After all this, parent the layer you want to spin to the 1st null (maybe add some random rotation to the layer with the wiggle statement).

Now preview it (and pray it works hehehe).

I’m really hoping this works for you, it’s completely theoretical as far as I’m concerned, I’ve never tried anything like this before. Good luck, lemme know if it works 🙂

-Jeremy

[Joey Foreman]

You might want to think about the fact that as these “elements” are revolving,that unless for some strange reason they are rotating on their axis counter to the direction of the tornado motion, then naturally one would see the sides of the elements as they are spun.
Without a 3d package, it will be obvious that these elements are completely flat layers – as they will momentarily vanish as they turn.
Unless they start slowly and then get suddenly “whooshed” into the vortex with tons of motion blur.
Just something to consider.

Joey Foreman
Editor/Animator
Nowhere Productions, Athens, GA

[Jeremy Fabiano]

Oh yah – the comp size solid we made in the begining is just to make your path on – when you’re done using it as a cookie sheet, go ahead and delete it.

You only need 1 for the whole project, just copy the path from it and delete it when you’re done with however many layers you did.

[Darby Edelen]

The easiest way I can think of to do this would be to create a Null object, make it 3D and parent your layer to it. Then move the layers up above the Null on the Y axis and away from it on the Z axis. Rotate the Null on its Y axis to achieve the spinning motion and scale the Null down from 100% to 0%. The layer should rotate around the Null and scale down toward it.

There are a lot of things you can do to make this more believable, such as applying a wiggle() expression to the layer’s position so that its rotation isn’t perfect, and maybe a wiggle() to the layer’s orientation as well to make it look like it’s floating.

You can use the same Null to control all the layers if you like, although the rate at which they are ‘sucked in’ will not vary with this method, you can stagger the layers around at different heights and distances from the Null object to give a more ‘random’ feel to the motion.

Darby Edelen
Lead Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA

[Jeremy Fabiano]

LOL Thanks Darby 🙂 That’s a much better way of explaining what my sleep-deprived mind was trying to get out.

Yeah – what he said 🙂

[Clayton Light]

Thanks all for the great advice!