Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera.
by Joey English
on
Nov 4, 2008 at 7:43:27 am
Hey guys, looking for some help. I'm trying to achieve a certain effect within AE that I've had very little luck with thus far. Hope there's someone that can help me along.
First, while I'm relatively new to AE, I'm very proficient with most of Adobe's other applications and the AE UI, so feel free to speak as technically as needed.
Here's what I'm trying to do; I'll explain this within a 2-dimensional space: I'd like a line to be drawn in from the left side of the screen and then draw from the middle of the screen downward at an angle. That's at the basic level. What I'd like to really achieve is have this line be 3D, so that I can turn the camera at an angle to see its perspective. I'm not really certain what to do here. To start, I'm not sure how to draw a line with substantial height that angles downward in an animation, and second I'm not sure how to give that line (or shape, rather) a 3-dimensional value.
I'm working on the title sequence for some future video reviews for my site, and would really like to add this little effect to that sequence.
Thanks so much for any help provided. Been a fan of creativecow for a while now, so I know you guys can lend a hand ;)
Re: Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera. by Roland R. Kahlenberg on Nov 4, 2008 at 3:26:13 pm
Start with long thin Solids. Each Solid will form a line. In your scenario, you have two lines. You'll need to know how to re-set the Anchor Point so that your rotation is accurate. You'll also need to know how to animate a simple mask shape so that the masks reveals your line in a manner that depicts it as being drawn.
Here are the steps.
Create a thin Solid at 1000x20 pixels. Draw a mask and animated its shape so that the mask slowly reveals the Solid. You'll only need two keyframes for this task.
Make the Solid a 3D Layer. Duplicate it. Re-set the Anchor point for the duplicate such that it is at the end of the line and it is at the corner where you want the second line to be drawn from. Rotate this Solid's y-rotation until you the reuired angle. Parent this line to the original line. Move the original line such that it starts at according to your plans.
Perform a RAM preview. You'll notice that the second line draws on together with the first line. That's not what you want. So, select the duplicate line and move its two mask keyframes in time such that it draws on when you want it to.
HTH
RoRK
broadcastGEMs.com - the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops
Re: Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera. by Joey English on Nov 4, 2008 at 4:41:05 pm
First off, thanks for the quick response Rork. This helped me achieve another effect I was looking to accomplish (and I appreciate the detailed step-by-step, gave me a lot of insight on how to do a few things I was iffy on, such as moving the anchor point for correct rotation), however, I'm trying to achieve something slightly different.
Here's a pic to help explain what I'm trying to accomplish (I'll ask that excuse the crappy quality, I'm on my laptop out of the house and don't have any image editing applications or my Wacom handy):
So you see, I'm trying to create something that draws in from the left side of the screen and downward, a 3-dimensional box, rather than just a line. The mask reveals a line perfectly, but what I want is for the object to "extrude" from off camera, draw down seamlessly at an angle and subsequently animate off screen. A simple mask animation won't work for this (I'm assuming) because I want the object to appear in 3D as it's drawn; like a box leaving a trail, perhaps? I imagine what I would have to do is create a Square brush, and have that brush animate along a path, drawing itself repeatedly as it is doing so -- but I'm not sure if this is possible, or if this is even the correct method for achieving said effect.
Again, thanks for the help. Hopefully you'll have a better idea of what I'm trying to accomplish and can lend a hand again.
Re: Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera. by Joey English on Nov 4, 2008 at 5:21:19 pm
Yes, and as I intend to pan the camera around in the 3D space I'd like to keep it that way, as I will have graphic elements in front of and behind the line to create a feeling of depth.
Re: Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera. by Joey English on Nov 4, 2008 at 6:11:43 pm
Thanks again Rork. I've actually done the 3DShapeExtruder tutorial with text before. Not sure whey I didn't consider using it for this particular situation. I'll give those a shot and see how it turns out.
Re: Trying to achieve a simple 3D line, drawn in from off camera. by Joey English on Nov 6, 2008 at 2:07:25 am
You were so helpful Rork, I was hoping you could check out an almost finished version of the animation I've been working on to give me any tips or pointers on ways to improve what I already have. I know the audio needs some work (that mainly comes from my not understanding exactly how to preview my comp with audio at the moment; so it's difficult to sync things up).
I'd like to speed up the beginning segment and make the text appear as if it bounces up for a split second at the end of its animation. Not sure how to do this, honestly.
I realize this goes beyond the scope of this thread, and if this should be posted in a different area please let me know.
