Graham Macfarlane
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COW Coin
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I know what is going on. You must be using either CS4 or an earlier version! I’m using CS5 which appears to act differently on this issue.
Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
Ok now you got me curious. In principal what your suggesting sounds like an automated version of my previous suggestion so if it works great!
I tried your method out and it didn’t work for me.
Where exactly are you adjusting the output to, is it:Output Module settings > Resize > Resize to 720 x 394
Whilst also unlocking the aspect ratio from 1.44:79 (1.82)Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
The term I should have used is Opacity rather than transparency. Look for the Opacity parameter for your comp layer (highlight layer and press T).
I agree with John that I think you really need to cover the basics before you jump into a project like this else you will likely end up with a less than great result and fragmented knowledge to boot.
Have a look through the massive amount of tutorial material on the web for a few days on various beginner subjects and you will get a firm footing in AE.
In addition to Johns link I recommend:
https://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeaftereffectsbasics
https://www.videocopilot.net/Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
Animated transparency!
If you want something a little more interactive in your workflow though you could consider connecting position and transparency parameters of different layers with the pick whip and a little added basic math if required. This way you could get one to drive the other which could make changes quicker.Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
The content of the page would be added and animated in a straight forward 2D comp in AE then once completed you can precomp the whole thing. This precomp layer can now be made into a 3D layer and with the use of a camera you can easily achieve this result in no time by animating the camera in 3D space around the precomp layer.
Note: I don’t see any evidence of a light being used as the pages are completely evenly lit although there is a little bit of vignetting.
Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
Your working with PAL DV Widescreen which has a pixel aspect ratio of 1.46. The FLV format doesn’t support non square pixel aspect ratios so at render time AE converts this for you.
To check, go to your render queue job to the output module settings. You should see a yellow exclamation mark in the bottom left which says that changes to your output have to made to meet format constraints.
The black bars top and bottom are generated because you specified an output size of 720×576 (PAL DV Widescreen) but this will only look wide when displayed with pixel aspect 1.46. If displayed at pixel aspect 1 (FLV requirement) then your image would look very horizontally squashed. To prevent this AE scales down the size of the render whilst keeping the 720×576 area you specified so that you see all your comp without squashing. Unfortunately the top and bottom areas are now empty and default to black.
A solution for you would be to precomp all the layers in your final comp, then change that new comp to 720×394 (576 / 1.46 = 394) and square pixels.
Finally, change the scale of the precomp within this new comp to 68.5 (100 / 1.46 = 68.5). You might need something fractionally higher to avoid gaps at edges.Rendering this out to FLV should work perfectly
Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
If your rolling numbers are in the same comp as the text blocks then yes but I thought you had precomped the text blocks without the rolling numbers which means that the rolling numbers are outside the text block comp.
See the following image for a visual explanation of how to move the tabs:
aeui.jpgOnce moved you would in this case be able to see comp4 and comp3 at the same time making for easier pick whiping – of which there is a good tutorial here:
https://magazine.creativecow.net/article/after-effects-expressions-simplifiedGraham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
I wouldn’t bother tracking anything.
You already have the exact position data of the floating text blocks in your precomp, you just need to pass it to the rolling numbers with the pickwip.
This can be a little tricky when pickwiping between two different comps but I find it useful to temporarily drag one comp tab up next to the effects tab (top left) then whilst seeing both comp stacks you can pickwip between them easily.Additionally once pickwipped you can add additional expressions to the rolling number position to add secondary motion if desired.
Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
Set particular to a point emitter
on frame 0 keyframe particles/sec to 1000 or some high number
on frame 1 Keyframe particles/sec to 0
set velocity random to 0away you go!!
The spacing of the particles is still random but they will form a good spherical shape now. Trapcode form may get you exact spacing if you need it although my first choice would be to use 3D studio Max.
Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK -
I’m not quite sure how you’ve animated the camera to follows the line. However if you animate a null object to all the main key points that define the cityscape line as it travels and link the camera to it, then by default you should get a fairly smooth result (if I understand correctly what your after)
(its good practice to put animation on a null rather than a camera but it should work fine on either)If you are still getting problems, find the point in time where a problem occurs highlight the nearest keyframe, right click and choose “keyframe interpolation”
There are 3 sections in the box that appears
You need to focus on the spatial interpolation section and make sure it is set to continuous Bezier. This will allow you to alter the path of motion directly in the composition window with tangent handles for that keyframe.
Repeat on other keyframes as required.Graham Macfarlane
3D animator and VFX specialist
London UK