SpeedSix.TrailKey
PURPOSE
Draws a trailing brush along
a path set by key frames.
INPUT CLIPS
TrailKey Clip:
to draw the trail on.
Brush Clip: to create
brush from.
Setting Up
-
FIRST set you sequence length
if different to the input length.
-
YOU MUST SET Sequence Length
to match. If at any time they differ, the value in the control box will
take precedence. (The api tells you the 'user set sequence length' up to
the point of processing and then it reverts back to the actual input length
- if you wanted to know why you have to set the value.)
-
work through the clip setting
X/Y Key frames as necessary to track the area of the image you want
to draw a trail on. (OK so you want to have this automated, well I'm on
the case and hopefully you will get an automatic trailer soon. )
-
you will see a path drawn over
the clip representing the path the trail will follow. Adjust the path using
the timelines created at the key frames set.
-
The length of the trail is set
by Head/Tail Fade; the number of frames positions along the path
to fade out over.
-
by default the Peak of
the trail intensity follows the frame by frame position on the curve. move
it around with the Peak Offset control.
-
the Path Resolution will
set the smoothness of the curve of the path. The minimum it can be is double
the sequence length or mayhem ensues.
That is the basic setup to trail
the default brush.
The Brush
-
you can set the Size, Orientation
and Intensity; though the orientation will only become really noticeable
when you use a brush other than Blob.
-
the Seed will only have
a minor affect on the basic Blob brush patterning.
-
the colour of the trail can be
set either using Own Colours which are taken directly from the colours
in the brush chosen, or from the RGB settings. With Trail Only you
get a trail of the one chosen colour, while with Blended you can
have a change of colour over the trail length.
-
you can read in an Image
to be your brush mark or select a paint Brush to draw with. Make
your choice and use the Browse button to select the desired brush.
-
if you want to you can cut out
part of the second input clip to use as the brush. Select Boxed Luminance
and a magenta overlay appears.
-
Drag this into position to define
the brush.
-
select for Over or Add
for the way the trail is composited with the background image.
Adding Depth
Beware this can slow things
up! but adds another dimension to the trail.
-
for each key (or anywhere if
you prefer) set a value for Z Key going from -5.0 (furthest away
from you) to 5.0 (nearest).
-
as the distance away changes
a smaller/larger brush is drawn. The trail can then appear to grow/shrink
along its path.
-
the size calculated always refers
to the Base Size setting as a starting point.
-
switch from Basic to
With Z Depth and observe.
Rotating the Brush
-
set up key frames for the Orientation
control.
-
select With Rotation
and the brush is rotated along the path adding a swirly motion.
-
the Z Key information
will be ignored!
-
put both the Z scaling and the
rotations together with Both Z and Rotation. As you can imagine
a lot of brushes have to be scaled and rotated at this point so things
can slow down.......
FULL...1/32 (Default:
FULL)
Use lower resolutions for
faster results but less detail.
SOUND
Channel curves from SpeedSix.AiffExtract
can be imported into the Amplitude Import curve to control any of
the animation channels.
Import Amplitude File
Using the file browser select
the file you saved in SpeedSix.AiffExtract. The data is then loaded into
the Amplitude Import channel.
Amplitude Import (
Min: -1000.0 Max: 1000.0)
The value range of this
channel matches the potential range within
SpeedSix.AiffExtract. Scale
and translate the imported channel data to match the value range of your
target channel. Use the usual copy and paste controls to
get the sound information into the desired animation channel.
HELP gets you here!
Reset sets default
values for the current frame.