[Roland R. kahlenberg]

It’s a good idea to restart AE prior to initiating a render. Quite often, I find my render times drop significantly when doing this.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

A good answer depends on knowing which Text Shape Mode and the Text Selector and the values for the latter you’ve used. Having said, the Ease High, Ease Low properties are normally where you’d head to, to smoothen your end points. Another tip is to add superfluous text at the end of your existing text. The trick is to have an additional Text Animator Group to deselect these additional characters – they won’t appear (since they’re deselected) BUT they will be accounted for by the Text Tool’s built-in animation engine.

I’m actually working on something that should be plentifully easier to use for creating animated type in AE. Check back in a week or two.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Howzabout animating the sphere?

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

It’s really simple – you draw a mask path. To have beam-like structure, apply Effect>Generate>Stroke and set the Stroke Mask property to the mask that you drew earlier.

To translate/copy a mask path into a position property, you then select the Mask Path property and copy it to the clipboard (CTRL+C). Then you select a Transform>Position property and paste. The result is such that the mask vertices will be translated into position coordinates, with each mask vertex translated into a position keyframe.

You should take note that the default duration of the position keyframes created when pasting Mask Paths onto a position property is two seconds and that the type of keyframes created are known as Roving Keyframes. You can easily change the default 2-second by time-stretching the keyframes to suit your needs.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

If the source for the clone moves in a different manner to the target then you will need to track them separately. An Expression can only help if the movement can be described in a simple linear manner.

Otherwise, a separate track is required and it’s really no different from tracking the target for the clone routine.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Instead of the Beam effect, you could also use a Mask and apply the Stroke effect to invoke the Mask Path. Then use the same mask as a position path by copying the mask path property and pasting into a position property.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

There is no built-in shortcut key for selecting/applying a First Vertex. Can KeyEd Up.jsx link a user-created shortcut to a menu item?

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Hi Ross, I’ve had some good results from tracking flat colors with mocha. Chris, it’s impossible to see/say what your issue is. All you’ve provided is a single image and absolutely no indication of the tracking/search parameters in mocha. Your tracking spline is also non-existent in the screen capture.

Your issue could be due to a fair number of causes but you’ve not provided sufficient information with which to assist you.

Common/Basic causes for poor tracking results are incorrect search parameters – for example setting the search/motion parameter to include perspective or shear when the tracked object doesn’t display such characteristics. There is also the case of setting the % of pixels used to too low a value – as Ross has suggested, up this value to obtain better results under most circumstances.

Another common/basic issue pertains to drawing the tracking spline across two planes/surfaces with different movement characteristics.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Are you using the terms preview and render interchangeably?

The dark/flat shadows are what you should expect with the Fast Draft, Fast Preview setting enabled. The softer shadows will appear only with Adaptive or Off (Final Quality) Fast Preview settings.

Regardless of the Fast Preview settings used while working, only the Final Quality setting will be used during a render; unless you override this default behavior in the Render Settings dialog.

Of course all this takes into account that your Light/Shadow settings are set for such shadows.

HTH
RoRK
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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Unfortunately, you’ve not provided us with any information with which to assist you with your issue(s). I suggest that you post the original clip and provide screen captures of the –
1) tracking spline
2) tracking related parameters in mocha
and explain clearly, what happens during the tracking.

HTH
RoRK
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