Chris Smith
Forum Replies Created
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I do know that the Core Aresenal Particle tools could probably do something very similar. It would use the trajectory of particles to extrude actual 3D geometry.
I agree, the CU shots are definitely the real thing.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
But the light did make it to AE, yes? Is it moving exactly how it should? If so, then there is probably something set wrong in particular.
I wasn’t aware that name convention had anything to do with getting lights to transfer to AE. It is my understanding you can name them anything and they will still be a light in AE.
You do need a name convention when importing .ma into AE though. For example to make a locator from Maya appear as a null in AE it should be named “null_NAMEHERE”.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Download the free demos of each and spend a few days with them.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
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You don’t need to change anything on the interpolation options unless you want to change the type. Like mentioned in a previous message above did you engage the ‘Mask Shape’ parameter? If you don’t not a thing will move.
What you are doing with the matte painting, I do all the time. It’s pretty simple. Although I don’t do that kind of thing in AE so you’ll have to interpret it for how you want to work:
Basically use a linear keyer or hand drawn mask (or most commonly a combination of both) to create a matte that will define the limits of where your painting shows. Then Open the tracker and track a suitable point. There are many ways to use the tracking data. My personal fave (although I track in another program and paste in keys if I use AE). Is to parent the mask layer to a null layer that has the tracking data on it. That way the mask will move with the tracker, but you can grab the layer or mask and repo it easily and it will still ride along.
You should really do yourself a favor and check out these books (After reading your AE manual):
“Creating motion Graphics” and “After Effects in Production” by Trish and Chris Meyer.
They are essentials.
Have fun.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
You don’t need to change anything on the interpolation options unless you want to change the type. Like mentioned in a previous message above did you engage the ‘Mask Shape’ parameter? If you don’t not a thing will move.
What you are doing with the matte painting, I do all the time. It’s pretty simple. Although I don’t do that kind of thing in AE so you’ll have to interpret it for how you want to work:
Basically use a linear keyer or hand drawn mask (or most commonly a combination of both) to create a matte that will define the limits of where your painting shows. Then Open the tracker and track a suitable point. There are many ways to use the tracking data. My personal fave (although I track in another program and paste in keys if I use AE). Is to parent the mask layer to a null layer that has the tracking data on it. That way the mask will move with the tracker, but you can grab the layer or mask and repo it easily and it will still ride along.
You should really do yourself a favor and check out these books (After reading your AE manual):
“Creating motion Graphics” and “After Effects in Production” by Trish and Chris Meyer.
They are essentials.
Have fun.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
When you set a key at say frame 1 and a key at frame 10. AE will interpolate values between those two keyframes. So frames 2 – 9 are values between what the two bookmark keyframes are. Just like original cel animation. An animator would draw Mickey Mouse in key poses (or keyframes) every 10 frames or so and an underling will do the work of drawing in between frames of Mickey so he appears to move from one key frame to the other.
To draw those inbetween frames, the underling needs to “interpolate” thedrawings in his mind. So that the movement natuarlly moves from one key to another.
So when you set any two keyframes in AE that are more than a frame apart, AE will interpolate the motion (or parameter change of any sort) for you. That’s what I was saying you should do with roto. Let AE interpolate movement as much as possible between keys because it will do it perfectly smooth. If you truly reshaped your roto mask on every frame, then you will most likely get “Roto Chatter”
Roto chatter is when you go frame by frame redrawing or reshaping a mask, you think you are doing it well, but due to being human you make tiny errors or differences on each frame. These differences only show up when you play back the footage at full speed. The edges will chatter. So the challenge in roto is to use as little keyframes as necessary and let AE interpolate between them for a smooth result.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
When you set a key at say frame 1 and a key at frame 10. AE will interpolate values between those two keyframes. So frames 2 – 9 are values between what the two bookmark keyframes are. Just like original cel animation. An animator would draw Mickey Mouse in key poses (or keyframes) every 10 frames or so and an underling will do the work of drawing in between frames of Mickey so he appears to move from one key frame to the other.
To draw those inbetween frames, the underling needs to “interpolate” thedrawings in his mind. So that the movement natuarlly moves from one key to another.
So when you set any two keyframes in AE that are more than a frame apart, AE will interpolate the motion (or parameter change of any sort) for you. That’s what I was saying you should do with roto. Let AE interpolate movement as much as possible between keys because it will do it perfectly smooth. If you truly reshaped your roto mask on every frame, then you will most likely get “Roto Chatter”
Roto chatter is when you go frame by frame redrawing or reshaping a mask, you think you are doing it well, but due to being human you make tiny errors or differences on each frame. These differences only show up when you play back the footage at full speed. The edges will chatter. So the challenge in roto is to use as little keyframes as necessary and let AE interpolate between them for a smooth result.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
No. To do that you need to use a (the) tracker. But I’m saying that AE’s tracker will not use it’s tracking data on any of the mask points or the mask itself. But you can apply it to the layer the mask sits on. So the net result is that the mask as a whole will move on the X&Y according to whatever point you tracked.
Some compositors will allow you to assign tracking points to each mask point so that it will reshape the mask depending on what the tracker can track.
There simply is no completely automated way of rotoing complex objects. Trackers help, but still need a lot of futzing with. In my experience, not worth tracking individual points.
But I do think having a tracker – let’s say track a point on someone’s hand – making a mask shape move generally with the hand. But Still use the keyframe techniques Steve and I argued about above to actually reshape the mask for the hand 🙂
So when you are using interpolation keyframing, You are only changing the local shape to comply with the hand while the tracker moves the overall X&Y of the mask to follow the hand. This is generally how I roto and it can be pretty fast (relatively speaking).
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com