[Steve Renard]

Yes, you could use expressions for this, but it sounds like hold keyframes would be better.

If you feel you must do it with expressions, probably a time-based if/else statement would work, or you could use a marker trigger. I’m not quite sure how to use the marker information in an expression, so here’s the code for doing it on a time basis, roughly. Apply this to position property:

if(time<10){
pos = [960, 540, -1500];
pos
}
else{
if(time<20){
pos = [0, 0, -1500];
pos
}


Remember, too, this this will only change the camera’s position, not its anchor point. If you want it to stay straight, you either have to turn off the anchor point (right click on the layer and select Transform => Auto-Orient… and set it to “Off”).

Really, though, unless you have some mathematical input to trigger the change in position, or something like that, I think you’ll be better off with hold keyframes.

And in proof that there are about seven different ways to skin any particular AE cat, you could also just use multiple cameras – set them up in the right positions, and make sure they don’t overlap. This is a little more cumbersome, though.

Good luck!
Steve

[Steve Renard]

Could be any number of things, but check your project and output bit depth first, I would say.

[Steve Renard]

If you have the green line, try rendering the sequence out (so the green line turns grey) and that may help, but I think probably a limited amount of RAM is your issue. 6GB is fine for most things but if you’re working with HD footage it might not be enough for FCP to play back efficiently. One way to test this would be to shut down everything else you have running, close any other sequences you have open, and just try to play it again (after rendering). If that fixes it, you probably need more RAM in order to keep up with the demands of the project.

You might also try exporting the sequence as a .mov file out of FCP, then open that same file back up in FCP and play it back. Theoretically this should be the same as rendering the sequence, but I have seen it give different results on occasion.

I don’t have experience with the DeckLink cards so perhaps someone else can speak to a more specific issue regarding that.

Steve

[Steve Renard]

Funnily enough, I just stumbled upon how to create this exact effect yesterday.

1. Make a new layer.
2. Draw a mask spline on that layer.
3. Apply the Stroke effect to create your “fill”. Make the Brush Hardness 100% and animate as desired. Set the Paint Style to “On Transparent”.
4. Right-click on the layer and select Layer Styles => Stroke

You should be good to go.

Cheers,
Steve

[Steve Renard]

If every frame has a different configuration, how are those configurations being determined? I understand you have a mathematical formula for it, but is your real question how do you translate that formula into the particular configuration that appears in a particular frame? Or is it actually about making the boxes appear and disappear? The method I’m describing doesn’t involve any smooth motion – the if/else statement makes it a simple on-off depending on where the nulls are in relation to the box – so maybe the way to do it is some sort of combination of methods where a script lays out the boxes and an expression determines whether they’re on or off.

The description you’ve given, though, is too vague to give any better advice than any of has given, IMHO. Maybe post some screen shots?

Steve

[Steve Renard]

Quite so!

QTX was once installed on my system but has long since been removed.

[Steve Renard]

I am aware I must have the precise frame rate in AE.

Perhaps I’m not explaining the problem properly, Dave, and I appreciate your efforts but I’m still not getting an answer to my question. That is: somehow, FCP decided that the “TC Rate” on this file was “30” rather than “24” and I’m wondering if I did something to give it that idea, or if this is some default that I’ll just have to deal with when taking a file from AE into FCP. Or, is there something in my AE output settings that is writing metadata to the output file that tells FCP that the TC Rate should be set to 30?

I’ve been working with AE and FCP for 10 years, but have done very little work at 24fps until recently, and I’m just trying to figure out if this is a quirk, or something I did wrong in either creating or importing the .mov file.

I have solved the problem – I just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

[Steve Renard]

Perhaps I’m being a bit too literal or simple about this, but what’s to prevent you from creating something like your own C4D MoGraph-style modifier?

I don’t know if I could write the code for it, and it assumes you want the blocks to appear in some sort of linear sequence, but this is how I would start to break it down:

1. Establish the configuration of the blocks.
2. Create two null objects – one at one end of the space in which your blocks reside (“End Null”), and the other at the other end (“Start Null”).
3. Add an expression to the blocks that measures the distance from that block to “End Null”, compares it to the distance between “Start Null” and “End Null”, and determines the opacity based on that comparison. Very roughly, I’d put this expression on the Opacity property:

blockToEnd = length(thisLayer.position, thisComp.layer(“End Null”));
startToEnd = length(thisComp.layer(“Start Null”), thisComp.layer(“End Null”));
if(blockToEnd > startToEnd){transp = 100} else{transp = 0};
transp

I have not tested this yet, but that’s where I’d start.

Good luck!

Steve

[Steve Renard]

No problem on the typing.

What I shot it on is irrelevant because I didn’t *shoot* any of it. The problem shots were rendered out of AE. The other shots (without problems) have been rendered out of a combination of 3DMax and Fusion then the Targa sequences compiled into .mov files using QuickTime Pro. All the .mov files are ProRes4444 in the case of the AE renders, and ProRes422(HQ) in the case of the 3D stuff.

There are some clips in this project that I did shoot using a Canon 5DMkII at 1080p24, and then ingested using the Log and Transfer window. I have not run into any problems with the shot clips – just the stuff out of AE.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear about this before.

Cheers,
Steve

[Steve Renard]

Right-click on the clip in the timeline and select “Remove attributes”. In the window that pops up, select “Basic Motion” for sure, and maybe “Crop”, “Distort”, etc. This will return the clip to it’s native settings, rather than squeezing it to fit on the timeline.

Good luck!
Steve