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Setting up layers in 3D circle (from a book)
Hi, I’m new here. Just started reading a book on After Effects. I know how to get by in AE on a primitive level, but this book is helping refine my skills and teach me new ones.
Although, at times, it’s hard to understand.
The problem is on page 63 of that book. I just can’t get that method to work. I assume it would allow me to set things up so that I could just duplicate the last layer and a line of images like that would appear, I wouldn’t have to keep moving the pivot point…or something.
The whole lesson on pan-behind tool and holding alt seems to be reversed. According to the book, moving the pivot point with the pan-behind tool should make the object conform to it, and holding Opt while doing so would move the pivot point without moving the object position. For me it seems alt actually moves the pivot and the position, and just normal pan-behind moves only the pivot point.
I am editing in the composition window, not a layer window, if it makes any difference.
Can anyone help me out here, or at least let me know what this trick is supposed to do? Maybe link to a video?
Thanks
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3 Replies
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Pretty clear, duplicate then offset the layer, then parent it to the first layer. Now duplicate the parented layer and hold down the option key to tie it to the previous layer and it offsets.
In the attached video the option/alt key is held down for parenting the subsequent duplicate layers.
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Thanks so much Brian! Seeing it in video makes it so much simpler. But I don’t understand just what’s going on with the whole parenting and holding alt thing. You think you could try to explain what’s making this work?
Also, when I used this method right now to make a little ring of 12 black solids, that worked fine, but when I tried replacing the footage of “black solid” with a video clip, it worked, but the ring became a spiral that heads upward.
I looked at the numbers on the anchor points and position and they haven’t changed from what the ring was, so is this a glitch or something?
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Without seeing exactly what you’re doing I can only guess that the replacement footage is a different size from the solids layers you’re replacing.
If all you want to do is create a cylinder or circle of layers why not use NAB scripts to help you?
https://www.nabscripts.com/downloads_en.html
See what you can do:
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