Hi guys, I need a to find a step by step tutorial on animating an effect. I am doing an electrocution scene and the subjet cathes fire. When he moves the fire does not. I know this is a basic beginner question (for me) to have the fire move with him but I don't know how? Please help. I laid in the fire so I just need to be able to adjust it as he moves.
Re: animating a effect by Simon Bonner on Jul 8, 2008 at 11:00:31 pm
We would need more information on how you've created the fire. Is this a particle effect, or a fire element you've brought in from outside?
If it's an element, it's not strictly speaking "an effect". In that case, you would bring up the position property of the fire layer and alter it over time, adding keyframes where appropriate.
If it's a particle effect, you may want to keyframe the position from which the particles emanate (the name of this property differs between the particle effects).
Re: animating a effect by Tommy McNally on Jul 9, 2008 at 12:00:53 pm
It sounds like you want to animate the position of the fire itself in relation to the subject in which case there are two basic options that I can think of. The first, and most laborious, is to keyframe the position of your fire layer to follow the person who's meant to be burning - you do this by basically going through the footage frame by frame and, as the other comments says, add position keyframes to follow your subject.
Another option could be to motion track your subject, apply the results to a null object and then parent the fire layer to the null which should make it follow your main figure.
I'm still learning AE too and these are the easiest ways I can think to achieve your effect. If you've already managed to generate the fire then you don't need to worry about particle effects or suchlike. I recommend checking out every tutorial on this site and also on www.videocopilot.net - you'll learn everything you need.
