Mylenium
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It’s not impossible, I think. The SDK/ API for AE is quite complex, but you probably will only use parts of it. I’ve got tons of ideas, but it would take too long to explain them all. If you need some inspiration, feel free to contact me off list when the time is near. Most likely you should create a little universally usable tool like e.g. a color sampler or access to mask vertices or you could write a shape/ pattern generator. I don’t think going to exotic is feasible, as you will need a lot of research e.g. if you were to do 3D related functions and that research would probably consume more time than the actual programming.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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[jimmybee500] “Example: I’ve designed a massive layout comp for a TVC in PShop with a client sat next to me and a certain logo or shape is say 1/2 screen size in PS…we move to AE to animate it and the client says they now want it twice the size…I have to go back to PS, find that layer and size it up, save it out and then re-import it and then apply any animation/effect properties back onto it and slot it back in to my comp..just seems a long way round, but I guess that’s the only way for now!”
I don’t think that in this case AE is too blame. Sounds more like your workflow needs some rethinking. Except for larger layers consuming more RAM, there is no reason to not create them at larger sizes from the start. I also get the feeling that you are trying to do too much in external programs. Depending on the plugins at your disposal (both the standard ones and others you might have bought), almost any effect can be achieved inside AE. At least I myself only use PS for doing cutouts and removing blemishes (in addition to print stuff, but that’s not the issue here). All elements that I can create in AE, I create in AE and usually I create them large enough to have headroom for adjustments. With some thinking-ahead, you should be able to establish a similar scheme and from there be able to render out a PSD when you need it.
[jimmybee500] “but then it renames the layer and AE then can’t find the layer!”
That should not be a problem ever since AE 6.5, as the layers are referenced by their ID. You can also explicitely rename text layers in PS, which will override the automatic naming, so your problem effectively is none ;O)
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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lookAt() generates a set of orientation angles – you give it a source position from which to look, then a target at which to look. The angles are generated as an array, so you would extract any angle using something like this:
pos_new=position;
pos_old=position.valueAtTime(time-0.2);angles=lookAt(pos_old,pos_new);
angle=angles[0];
[angle]
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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lookAt() generates a set of orientation angles – you give it a source position from which to look, then a target at which to look. The angles are generated as an array, so you would extract any angle using something like this:
pos_new=position;
pos_old=position.valueAtTime(time-0.2);angles=lookAt(pos_old,pos_new);
angle=angles[0];
[angle]
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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Looks okay by me ;O). One could probably concatenate a few things into single lines, but the code is clean and understandable. As an alternative instead of calculating the angle yourself, you could use lookAt(new_pos,old_pos), but it’s basically meant for working in 3D psace, so results may sometimes be wrong.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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Looks okay by me ;O). One could probably concatenate a few things into single lines, but the code is clean and understandable. As an alternative instead of calculating the angle yourself, you could use lookAt(new_pos,old_pos), but it’s basically meant for working in 3D psace, so results may sometimes be wrong.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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Smart objects in PSD files are not yet supported. There’s no way around that. I don’t quite understand what you mean by “proper vector shapes”. For all intents and purposes all output from compositing apps is pixel based in the first place. It’s already a not so minor feat that AE is able to maintain vector properties for Flash output or handles sound – other programs don’t care for this at all. Having said that, I don’t see why AE should have explicit vector tools. You can re-create all effects using other functions – anything from fills to strokes to patterns to cropping layers has an equivalent function or effect in AE. Not sure what more you possibly could want.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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Effects –> Time —> Echo. But beware, it’s a render hog. The more frames it accumulates, the slower it gets (for obvious reasons) so make sure, you really only have the clips you need trimmed down to the last frame.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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You can convert anything to a string, but it wouldn’t do you that much good. You have to use explicit calls to reference items across multiple comps and unlike with JSX scripts, expressions do not have a parent.Comp() method for checking this on their own. So that means you would still have to take care to explicitely name each item and composition for the string filtering to make sense which is no different than adjusting the expressions themselves.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl
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You can convert anything to a string, but it wouldn’t do you that much good. You have to use explicit calls to reference items across multiple comps and unlike with JSX scripts, expressions do not have a parent.Comp() method for checking this on their own. So that means you would still have to take care to explicitely name each item and composition for the string filtering to make sense which is no different than adjusting the expressions themselves.
Mylenium
[Pour Myl