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using a camera to zoom out of an image
Hi everyone,
I am hoping that someone here can give me a walk-through on how I can accomplish this:
I am trying to create a DVD menu graphic which does this:
1) We see a close up of a background (sharp and high quality)..
2) logo fades in, signature animates (I have already created this animation)
3) Camera zooms out, and final dvd elements appear (menu choices), some windows containing video previews…
… What I am uncertain of is, how do you maintain high quality between the close-up of the background and the zoomed-out version? I created this in illustrator, and then brought it into photoshop.. I am using a .TIF image as of now in my AE file. The zoomed in version looks kinda fuzzy and not so good, so I am wondering am I supposed to export this at some super high DPI so that it looks really big in AE?
Or am I going about this wrong and if I should be using the same paths from illustrator in AE, and keeping it vector– Does it work that way in AE? Just to explain– the background is rather simple, it’s basically shapes on a black background– the shapes were cut-out revealing a gradient background behind them.
Thank you.
-patrick
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9 Replies
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Yes, the raster (TIF, PSD, JPG) image needs to be really big to stay sharp when you enlarge it (zoom in) in AE. If you zoom in on a small portion of it, that portion needs to be about 720×540 pixels. From there you figure out how big the image needs to be in total.
And (size in inches) X DPI = (size in pixels).
An AI or EPS file can be enlarged from a small size (and stay sharp) if it contains vector info only. Look up “continuous rasterization” in the Help.
I’d go the AI/EPS route in your case.
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Thank you for the reply. Let me ask you this: If I am simply starting zoomed in at the top left corner of the background, and then zooming outward where the background is at 100%… Is there any beneit using a a camera angle for this, compared to just using scale & position?
-p
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The speed of a scale will be linear, whereas the scale of a camera pullout (dolly back) will be exponential.
Do a comparison test: a) pull out with a camera, b) scale down. The pull out will slow down as you move away, like a real camera pullout would. The scale down will maintain a uniform speed. It depends on what look you want.
If I recall, zooming with the camera looks the same as scaling. But I never zoom with the AE camera. Just me.
You can also use “exponential scale”, but I find that needs tweaking, so I just use the camera.
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Hmm.. ok, so I am trying to do this vector AI/eps thing, and I am not sure what I’m doing wrong.. Here are my steps:
https://www.collinatorstudios.com/www/steps.png
1. I started in illustrator.. selected the shape paths, and copied them.
2. I created a new file in photoshop where I pasted the clipboard as a “shape layer”
3. I saved this as an EPS and imported into AE.. However I don’t see my shape outlines, but rather some strange horizontal lines?
… If you look on the .png image above, the 4th image down is what I want the image to look like– a black background with the shapes filled in with a gradient. I am not sure how I get this effect via the eps method. Could you please help walk me through this?
thank you!
-patrick
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Don’t use Photoshop. Just save the AI and import it into AE. No copy, no paste, just import.
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ok gotcha..
One other question now… I am trying to set the gradient to my image in AI (or is there a way to do this in AE??)
But as you can see here:
https://www.collinatorstudios.com/www/gradientissue.png1) The gradient is grayscale– I cannot figure out how to set this to color! In the color window, there are settings for “linear” and “radial” under gradient, but I can’t figure out how I define what color is the start and end of the gradient!
2) If you notice, each path has an individual gradient applied to it specific to it’s height and width. I was hoping for a way to apply a single gradient that affects all paths equally… Is there a way to do this?
thank you.
-patrick
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Is this an AI question? If so, wrong forum. 🙂
If you want all paths to go from black to white the same way, try this in AE:
1. new solid (on top of the background layer)
2. effect>generate(or render)>ramp
3. tweak the ramp settings
4. set the mode of the ramp to “multiply”
5. tweak the ramp settings again if necessary -
thanks you very much for your help, I greatly appreciate it.
OK.. Now my problem is, when I am zoomed in, the image does not look sharp, unless I check the box “for vector layer: continously rasterize”– but once I turn this on, the 3D camera stuff seems to no longer work.
For example, I can adjust the camera angle so that I see the image from an angle, but once I click on continuous rasterize, it jumps back to how it was as if there was no camera.
How do I fix this?
-patrick
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The CR switch also acts as the “collpase transformations” switch.
It sounds as if your Illustrator file is in a comp, and you’ve hit the switch for the comp, thus collapsing it.
Try this: a) place the AI file in the main comp, not inside another sub-comp, or b) make the sub-comp really huge, and enlarge the Illustrator file inside that comp, hitting the CR switch for the layer inside the sub-comp. This way, when you move into the Illustrator file, you’re moving into a file that already is big.
Workarounds are necessary when hitting that switch in 3D.
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