Kyle Hamrick
Forum Replies Created
-
I’m still having a little trouble seeing what you’re asking, but it sounds like one thing you’re having issues with is the spatial interpolation of your keyframes.
The “crazy tangents” you’re talking about are AE doing Auto Bezier on your position keyframes, which is the default behavior (I believe you can change this in your preferences if so desired). If you’re having problems with your animations being bezier curves when you’d prefer straight lines (that’s what I’m getting from your last post), you can fix them in one of two ways:
– In the comp viewer, where you can actually see that motion path, with all the “crazy tangents,” pick the pen tool (G), hover over one of those points, and hold Alt/Option until it turns into a little angle, instead of the pen. This is the Convert Vertex tool (you can also get to it by pressing G repeatedly until it comes up.) Click on one of those crazy tangent vertexes with this, and voila – straight lines. Rinse and repeat for any other vertexes needing to be de-beziered.
– In the timeline, you can select the keyframes you want de-crazy-tangented, then right click on one of them. Select Keyframe Interpolation. Under Spatial, choose Linear.
As I said, I’m still having a little trouble figuring out your question, but hopefully that answers part of it.
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
Glad it worked out for you.
“Not perfect but … it gets the job done.”
That’s the spirit!=)
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
-
Seeing that still helps a lot.
Does your shot have significant movement on the Z axis? If not, I’d forget about this whole 3D thing.
– Track the light on your footage.
– Apply your tracking data to a Null.
– Create a solid/adjustment layer with Light Rays/Lens Flare/etc.
Most of these effects will force you to position the center of the “light” from within the effect. You can either:
~ Precomp this layer, then parent it to your Null.
~ Use a pickwhip expression (plus some potential adjustments) to tie that effect’s center point to your Null’s position.– If necessary, do manual adjustments to the scale of your “light” to accommodate for Z-axis movement. (Also, brightness/spread/etc. if appropriate).
Does this sound like what you’re going for?
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
Aha.
So…. handheld footage? Is that where the tracking is coming from, I assume?
I’d suggest watching this, if you haven’t already. Will probably answer most of your questions.
https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/day_to_night_conversion/
Let us know if you need additional help!
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
After reading your post more carefully…. CC Light Rays is a 2D effect. Unless done correctly, tying it to a 3D light = not working as desired. It can be done though, relatively easily, with a couple expressions. Forget where this is off the top of my head. Probably MotionScript. Did Kramer do this recently? Hmmm.
Honestly, from your initial explanation, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in your project. Maybe if you explain what you’re trying to achieve instead of what how you’re trying to do it, we might be able to be more helpful.
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your explanation, but…
Are you individually clicking on the Position of each layer? You can simply select the needed layers in your Timeline (with the help of Shift, Control, using color groups, whatever) and then everything that’s selected will be affected by whatever transform you do.
Also, if you’re needing the layers to all move together, you could also look into parenting the layers together, or using a simple pickwhip expression to tie the properties of different layers together.
Was this what you were looking for?
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
Sounds like you might want to watch some expressions tutorials when you get the chance.
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
I just realized I mentioned expressions three times in my post, and that the nature of your question means you’re probably not going to have a high level of proficiency with those. Let me know if you plan to go that route, and I’ll be a little more specific and helpful.
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
-
Well, they’ve given you the “simple” answer you asked for.
If you’re looking for free:
Cursor/Type – Create a small rectangle shape layer, animate Opacity on & off w/ hold keyframes and a looping expression. Set it up to move through your text as appropriate (Typewriter preset will be your friend for that text), and spend lots of effort tweaking the timing. Switch between two layers – one solid for “actively typing,” one for “waiting” between typing spurts. Or, maybe some up with a complicated if/then expression to solve that back and forth.
Code – Check out Character Offset in the text animators. Perhaps that, with some randomizing expressions would achieve what you’re looking for?
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist