[David Cabestany]

It should, but for some reason it didn’t work. I’m in close contact with Videocopilot’s tech guys trying to sort out the problem.

Thanks for your help,
D.

[David Cabestany]

Thanks Kalle, but that didn’t work when I first tried it, hence why I tried the expression instead. The weirdest thing is that I made a test comp within the same project and everything worked fine.

I contacted Videocopilot and they asked me to send the file, I’m waiting to hear back from them.

I ended up making a new layer (precomped) with a similar alpha, the only difference is that instead of a shape layer as a source for the precomp I used a solid with a mask, that worked. Why? I have no idea.

Best,
D.

[David Cabestany]

So was this ever implemented?

[David Cabestany]

True, but too impractical if revisions are needed down the line. Anyway, I found an expression that was close enough to what I needed, I only tweaked it a bit to fit it to my needs. I’m pasting it down in case anyone else finds it useful.

The expression was written than none other than Dan Ebberts, so once again many thanks to him.

if(numKeys >= 2){

t1 = key(1).time;
t2 = key(2).time;
x=valueAtTime(t2);
p1 = thisComp.layer("scl & xp").effect("hq pos")("Point");
linear(time,t1,t2,x,p1)
}else
value

[David Cabestany]

This one does the trick.

It’s kind of reversing the function by specifying a max amount of characters per line; the original expression I was trying to use divided the number of characters and if the result was 0 then it would break the line (or at least that’s what I tried). Yours is a much more straightforward solution.

I’m reading now who substr() works, on your website. I never used it before.

Thanks a lot Dan.

[David Cabestany]

Thanks Dave. The track seemed to be ok, the problem was with whatever I added to the scene.
You’re talking about playback ability only, right? Not improving the quality of the file by transcoding it?

Anyway, I worked it out. I retracked the scene and unchecked Auto-delete points across time, also, instead of creating my camera using several feature points (with the “bullseye” icon) I used only one null. Everything is working now.

Best,
D.

[David Cabestany]

That makes sense, thanks.
Still, I think it would be a nice addition for the next release.

Best,
D.

[David Cabestany]

Thanks Adam,

I’m not questioning your statement as I know you are far more experienced than me on C4D, but would you mind elaborating on why? Is it because GPUs are more important than RAM for 3D applications?

[David Cabestany]

Thanks Dan,

It just doesn’t make sense that pick whipping doesn’t guarantee the correct item is being used, I could understand if I type the name in the expression, but the pick whip should be able to recognize which object it’s being used.

Anyway, I solved it with keyframes, no big deal, but I still think this is a huge limitation for expressions.

I appreciate you taking the time to look into this.

[David Cabestany]

The project bin? Really? Didn’t know that but it seriously throws a wrench on my project.
Never knew expressions worked with project bin elements, I always thought they were comp/timeline based.

Thanks Dan.