[Paul Roper]

I would just create an adjustment layer above your text with the Channel > Invert effect applied to it, and a matte added to crop just the top (or bottom) half of the adjustment layer. Try changing the type of invert (YIQ or Quadrature Chrominance, anyone?) in the effect settings; there are all kinds of effects you can create.

It’s also worth noting that shift+ and shift- cycle through the blending modes – can save a lot of mousing.

[Paul Roper]

Assuming you’re not going to need to tweak the soundtrack within After Effects, your composer should just export a fully mixed track from Pro Tools (as an AIFF or WAV), which you then import into AE and use as a guide for your graphics. Any time he changes the audio track, he should just re-export, overwriting the previous audio file. Then you can simply right-click on the audio file within the project window inside AE, and select ‘Reload Footage’, and that’s it! No need for any OMFs or any of that kerfuffle.

[Paul Roper]

Select the layer to rotate, select the rotate tool (or press w). If you look at the toolbar at the top of the screen, you’ll see a drop-down menu which can be adjusted to set Orientation or Rotation for 3D layers. You can also adjust whether the rotation is around the object/world/view axis.

[Paul Roper]

Thanks Dan…I suspected it might not be controllable, but was secretly hoping you, being The Undisputed King of Expressions, might reply with some kind of magical hack!

[Paul Roper]

Diego, there’s no way you’re going to be able to export video of any useable resolution out of USB2; the interface was never designed for such an application and its bandwidth is just way too low. Really, your only options are specialised breakout boxes like the Intensity one mentioned or an additional video card. If you’re using a laptop without in-built support for more than one monitor, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Unless your laptop has USB3 or Thunderbolt.

[Paul Roper]

The speed DOES go to zero, but only for the single frame between the ball descending then bouncing back up. Because the deceleration and acceleration of the ball is so quick (as it should be, assuming the ball is bouncing off a hard surface) the speed goes from around 2000px/sec on the way down, to -2000px/sec on the way up almost instantly. Any time the graph displays zero, the ball is not moving. And the ball only stops moving for a fraction of a second between the bound & rebound, hence the graph only being at zero for this very short length of time.

It also goes to zero at the top of the ball’s motion, but the graph is much shallower, showing a more gradual deceleration and acceleration.

You could right-click in the graph and set it to display position instead of speed keyframes, which might give you something that looks more like what you’re expecting.

[Paul Roper]

Yes, you CAN link all three hands to the one slider:

Create a null called controller_null with an angle control on it.

On your hour hand’s rotation, put:

thisComp.layer("controller_null").effect("Angle Control")("Angle")

On your minute hand’s rotation, put:

thisComp.layer("hour hand 2").transform.rotation*12

On your second hand’s rotation, put:

thisComp.layer("minute hand").transform.rotation*60

Keyframe the angle control from (for example) 0 to 1 to get a 12 hour animation.

– Paul

[Paul Roper]

What a coincidence, I was just responding to a post by Dan (from 2 years ago) on a very similar topic (rotation speeds and expressions) when I noticed this thread. The post is at:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/227/15551#15559

and might help you out a bit.

My response was regarding motion blur using this technique.

[Paul Roper]

A response to a post lost in the mists of time…

I came across this while trying to fix the same problem the original post highlighted. So I used Dan’s expression, which worked perfectly…except there’s no motion blur!…(and yes, I do have the motion blur switch on!)

My layer rotates beautifully, but no matter how fast it goes, no blur occurs. To check things, I duplicated the layer, deleted the expression and did an old-fashioned keyframe rotate animation, and lo and behold we have motion blur, so it’s not a problem with my comp.

I’ve made a fix using Radial Blur linked to the speed slider which works fine.

Anyone else come across this possible bug? I guess it’s something to do with the cumulative nature of the rotation expression. Maybe.

[Paul Roper]

Thanks for the quick reply, Dan. I have filled out and filed a feature request. Come on Adobe! Please!