[Mike Clasby]

Card Dance quickies:

Gradient Layer 1 & 2: Select a layer with variation in it, like luminosity, or a layer with ramp (You need to Precompose it) and the layer in the comp with card dance can have the eyeball turned off, card dance just needs to reference it.
These layer will drive dynamic changes in the cards.

For Properties like “Z Position”, any of the scales and rotations, the “Source” choose “Intensity for starters,
Adjust the “Multiplier until your seeing close to what you want, offset add to this, tweak it.

As you can see under multiplier, the choices under intensity are many, Red, Green, Blue, Alpha and combo’s thereof.
There is a tut online (only one I’ve ever seen), Google Card Dance and After Effects. Unfortunately it’s at that place, like the Evil Wizard in Harry Potter, the name is unmentionable. Sounds like we need a card dance tut here, yikes to do that you really need to know the nuances of it and I think card dance has mucho nuances.

[Mike Clasby]

This might work for you. Effect > CC Lightsweep, with half the screen masked of (say left half), then animate the center so you get half you “V” boat wake going bottom to top (for my example). The light intensity/width is adjustable for a future displacement map. Make another layer, masking the other side, changing the angle, and even linking centers (via pickwhip expression). You can change the straight edge hard “V” with Wave Warp on an adjustment layer above (interesting results). Pull this comp into your water surface comp and use it as a displacement map (Distort > Displacement Map). It seems to work.

[Mike Clasby]

This might work for you. Effect > CC Lightsweep, with half the screen masked of (say left half), then animate the center so you get half you “V” boat wake going bottom to top (for my example). The light intensity/width is adjustable for a future displacement map. Make another layer, masking the other side, changing the angle, and even linking centers (via pickwhip expression). You can change the straight edge hard “V” with Wave Warp on an adjustment layer above (interesting results). Pull this comp into your water surface comp and use it as a displacement map (Distort > Displacement Map). It seems to work.

[Mike Clasby]

Your (gruniongal) solution sounds possible, or maybe similarily masking out the lamp revealing a layer underneath that matches the wall. It all depends on the shot and lighting asn such. Can you post a pic somewhere (Putfile?) , maybe 2 pics, 1 before zoom, one after or near end?

[Mike Clasby]

I never really use GIF’s in AE so I did what you did in Image Ready and get the same problem in AE. It seems like it shouldn’t be a problem, but it is. I think the best solution for you is to take the layered file back into to Photoshop, then Save As a psd file, then import that into AE as a Composition (will have all layers in a composition) or as footage (and you choose a layer).

[Mike Clasby]

Aharon has a section in the 3rd part of his cartoon tut that track the motion of an eye, like you want to do. Click on his head above and scroll down, or:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=2&page=https://www.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/cartoon_look/index.html

Like he says it’s no a detailed tut for tracking but you should be able to follow it fine, lots of tips on tracking problems, the tracking part if right at the 5 minute mark.

[Mike Clasby]

Stop motion is done in the camera… take a pc… move an element… take a pick… move an element… then import the sequence.

You could animation things in AE (position, rotation, etc)one frame at a time, a keyframe on every frame, but why not let AE interpolate the inbetweens? Maybe I don’t understand the question?

[Mike Clasby]

It’s obvious yikesmikes has a looming deadline (a contest, not for a real employeer) and for some reasons feels compelled to help others even if he only partionally knows an answer, yikes.

[Mike Clasby]

It’s obvious yikesmikes has a looming deadline (a contest, not for a real employeer) and for some reasons feels compelled to help others even if he only partionally knows an answer, yikes.

[Mike Clasby]

Shayder’s first suggestion would be the obvious quick-fix, but it sounds least desirable (unless you use a total inside reference as License plate number like “OS POIS” or the Director’s name or Your Name… that’s crazy forget it…

Hey, I don’t know about awkward planes of focus, but does that mean you can’t create a cloned still (in PS) of the Background that’s being blocked by the car? Is it mostly the grain your worried about? If so, this from Andrew Kramer if for Blemish removal, but it shows how to make a matte to only effect specific areas of the screen then add grain as needed (he smoothes, then adds grain):

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_page_wrapper.cgi?forumid=2&page=https://www.creativecow.net/articles/kramer_andrew/blemish_removal/index.html

AE has Add Grain, and Match Grain, although I’ve never used either in this serious of a situation.

Gives you some more to think about anyway.