In fact, the ability to copy a mask path to a motion path attests to their shared Bézier heritage (see the sidebar, “Bézier Curves and the Motion Path,” later in this chapter). You can gain this control-without significantly increasing your work-by taking advantage of a type of calculation known as a Bézier curve.Īs you’ll see, mask and shape paths, spatial interpolation, and temporal interpolation are just different manifestations of the same Bézier principles. But to truly control animation, you’ll need some power over the interpolated values as well. If you set keyframes, After Effects calculates the values for the frames in between, a process known as interpolation. The beauty of keyframes is that they save you work. In the process, you’ll begin to realize that there’s a big difference between animating something and bringing it to life. You’ll not only learn to decipher how After Effects depicts the ineffable qualities of motion, speed, and acceleration, but you’ll also see how it harnesses them. This chapter explains how you can assign various interpolation methods to keyframes to impart nuance and variation to your animations using the Timeline panel’s Graph Editor. Calculating acceleration or deceleration in speed would present an even thornier problem. To create a curved movement would require so many keyframes you’d begin to wonder why you had an assistant at all. If animated values always proceeded directly and mechanically from one keyframe to another, all but the most basic animations would seem lifeless and robotic. Without a choice of interpolation methods, your loyal assistant’s abilities would be severely limited.

Movement can take a direct path or a curved route an action can glide in for a soft landing or blast off in a burst of speed.

Some methods create steady changes from one keyframe to the next others vary the rate of change. After Effects fills the role of assistant animator, providing all the in-between frames, or tweens, using what’s known as an interpolation method to determine their values.įortunately, you can instruct your assistant to use a range of interpolation methods. By defining only the most important, or key, frames, you assume the role of head animator. In Chapter 7, “Properties and Keyframes,” you learned to animate layer properties over time by setting keyframes. After Effects CS4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide

Adobe cs4 key how many digits