Child Tracking Part 2

Adobe After Effects Tutorial at Creative COW

Carl Larsen
Telescope Media Group
St. Cloud Minnesota USA

©2009 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Article Focus:
In this video tutorial, Creative COW contributing editor Carl Larsen shows you how to use the track a child expression to create an interesting title sequence in Adobe After Effects.

Comments

•

Re: Child Tracking Part 2
by Mark Keeler

Both Part 1 & 2 were awesome tutorials Carl; I find I have been gravitating to these fundamental tutorials far more than shattering glass and explosions; these two alone will help me better understand camera tracking too. Great work!

•

Loved It!!!
by Mark Downie

wow this tutorial is great im just new to after effects and ive been looking at a lot of theses tutorials on the website, just used this tutorial to create a intro to a video for my church, thanks a lot man, great work :)

•

Great Tut
by Gyorfi Szilard

This was great Carl, I like the way you first teached us the theory and than showed in a real life example.

Thanks!

Gyorfi

http://www.bluefx.net

•

Direct Numerical Manipulation
by Carl Larsen

Taken from Adobe mask attributes and methods expression reference:

You can link Mask Path properties to other path properties (paths in a shape layer and brush strokes), but the properties are not accessible for direct numerical manipulation through expressions.

•

Vert
by Kevin Cline

Hmm...
When mask paths get animated, there must just be an array/s with the coordinates. All you would have to do is know the structure of the array and insert the toWorld code in the right spot.

I'd guess it's simple, but I don't know the syntax.

•

Vert
by Carl Larsen

For general animation, you can animate the position of any vertex by keyframing the mask path property of a mask on a solid, or by keyframing the path parameter of a shape layer.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of a way to link an expression to the position of an individual vertex on a shape layer.

•

child tracking
by Kevin Cline

Nice - as soon as I wrote that last night I went and tried it with beam!

But now my curiosity is peaked - are there any other shapes that can have vertices animated individually?

And thanks for the tutorials, Carl. Great series.
Kevin

•

Kevin - I didn't use a
by Carl Larsen

Kevin -

I didn't use a shape layer - instead I "cheated" and used the beam effect.

•

animating a shape by tracking
by Kevin Cline

Awesome tutorial, sir.

I'm trying to figure out how the sweet demo graphic at the beginning was made. The point showing two planets connected by a straight line as they both orbit the sun.

I would track both planets to either end of an open path, but what parameter of the shape is that?

Anybody?

•

Child Tracking Part 2
by James Hooey

Excellent tutorial! Very good looking title build.

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Child Tracking Part 2
by Carl Larsen

Chris, Frank,

Thanks for the comments. It's always fun putting these together. I'm glad you're enjoying the tutorials.

•

Child Tracking Part 2
by Chris Pass

Carl, awesome tutorial. Loving your stuff. You give a really practical and stylistic application for these techniques.

•

Child Tracking Part 2
by Frank Maier

Great tutorial and a really nice animation.
I havent seen part 1 already, so thats the next thing I am going to do...

Than you very much and please show sus more of this stuff ;)

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