Kevin Camp
Forum Replies Created
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PosNeg = normalize(value);wouldn’t give an error with 0, but would return NaN (‘not a number’).
maybe try and catch….
try {
PosNeg = Math.abs(value)/value;
} catch (err) {
0;
}Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
you may be encountering some of the issues with blending modes over transparent areas… if you were to hide the stencil layer, you’d see the color bourn layer over the whole comp (assuming it was a comprised layer). so the edges of the branches that are slightly transparent are now getting treated a little differently by the color burn layer.
what you can trying is not using the stencil layer, and instead, click the mysterious ‘T’ option just to the right of the blending mode of the color burn layer. this will clip that layer to the alpha transparency of all layers bellow it, and i think it should work for you.
if not, you may be able to simply add the fractal noise effect to the branches and use the blending mode setting within the effect to blend it with the original image.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
if your emitter is directional and (as you said) there’s no turbulence or directional spread, you’d definitely think the particle’s shouldn’t shift in depth.
what you might try is using 2 or more particle systems on separate layers, emitting fewer particles. the idea being that if each emitter is emitting few enough particles that there won’t be enough particles to encounter the issue you’re having. and particle systems on separate layers will always obey layer order not 3D space, so those particles will always stay behind the top layer system, but allow you to have the same number of particles as a single system.
you can use the random seed value to vary the systems (emitter>random seed)
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
yes.
what you need to do is add the levels effect to the null, then twirl down the layer attribute to effects>levels so you can see the histogram settings.
then on one of the layers that has the levels effect that you want to link to the null’s, option-click (OS X) or alt-click (windows) the stopwatch for the histogram to enable expressions for that property. next, from the expression attribute that pops up, grad the pcikwhip (spiral icon) and drag it to the histogram property of the null.
now if you change the histogram on the null, it will make the same change on the other layer.
to easily apply the same expression to the other layers, right-click the histogram of the expression-linked layer and copy expression only. then select all the layers that have the levels effect that you want to link to the null’s and choose edit>paste.
now the histograms of all those layers should be linked to that of the null’s.
this will work for any keyframable property, so it would apply to nearly all properties in other effects.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
the easy way is to simply use the pen tool to make a shape layer or a mask on another layer that is the shape that you need.
I’m not familiar with the script that you are using, but if it connects all the layers in a way that is all on one layer (like consecutive beam effects all on one layer, or creates a shape layer that connects them) you might be able to add two more layers at the bottom of the graph to complete the shape and runs the script again to create a second layer that connect them all. then, if it’s a shape layer, you could just set a fill color and turn off the outline, or if it’s a series of beam effects on a single layer, you could try adding the paint bucket effect to fill the shape made by the beams and then set the paint bucket effect from ‘normal’ to ‘fill only’ (in the option at the bottom of the effect settings) to hid the ‘lines’ and leave only the filled in a area.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
as Dave mentions, finding someone who knows how to add ram to a machine is probably a good idea, but if you know the make and model of your computer, doing a google search with that information and ‘adding ram’ will probably give you a lot of information.
then you can decide if you need more help.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
position the CTI (current time indicator) in the timeline to be on the keyframe that you want to keep. then turn of the keyframes (click the stopwatch). the current state of the mask will now be set and will not change unless you keyframe it again.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
It could also be a preference file issue, if you’re still having issues, hold Command+Option+Shift while starting AE it should prompt you to reset the preference file to default settings, click OK and see if it loads without crashing.
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
the reports shows version 13.0. the latest update for cc2014 should be 13.2. i would try updating to the latest version.
you might also check for the latest update to yosemite.
you didn’t mention it, but if you are double-clicking a project file to open AE, try opening AE first, then opening the project file. as a troubleshooting tcp, that would start to point at a possible corruption of the project file, or bad effect, media, or something along those lines.
if you can open ae, but not the project, try importing the project into a new project.
if it still crashes, try enabling the caps lock and opening the file. caps lock disables preview, so if it works, that often point to a bad effect. so, before clicking caps lock off, hide all the layer in the open comp (click the ‘eyeball’ icon for each layer), then click caps lock and start enabling each layer individually until you find one that crashes. then go back and try to track down who’s different about the layer (effects, file type, etc). it’s often plugins, and it maybe that there is an update for the plugin…
Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW -
you can use seedRandom() to set the random seed, and also make it ‘timeless’ (so it doesn’t keep generating random numbers).
try this:
seedRandom( index, timeless = true );
rate = random( 20, 40 );
time * rateKevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW