Comments on: Script to automate rigging a camera in After Effects

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:18:28 +0000

Figured it out … I was selecting the camera AND the Controller together before applying the script.

It works now. Thanks!

By: Dale

Dale — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:34:16 +0000

Hey Peter,

Which version of AE are you using?

Dale

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:22:21 +0000

I’ve tried to use the script with the rig, but everytime I get the same error when I try to apply the script to the active comp :

Unable to execute script at line 51, Null is not an object.

what am I missing?

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:13:36 +0000

gobomus – you’ll know when!

But thankfully this is all pretty much moot with AE CS4 anyways.

By: gobomus

gobomus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:47:45 +0000

so why would you even want that kind of complex setup for a camera???

By: Creative Workflow Hacks » Blog Archive » Exporting Camera Data from After Effects to Cinema 4D

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:10:53 +0000

[...] Paul was also kind enough to send me his upgrades and update to my Auto Rig Script for After Effects. I’ve posted his version of the script and I hope to make his changes permanent once I can get some field testing of it working out in all situations. So, I’d appreciate it if you’d download it and give me feedback if you have any issues. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:40:32 +0000

I’m looking for a solution to the problem of losing motion paths for cameras when their position is controlled by expressions/parenting.

Separating the keyframes for x,y and z pos. via a camera rig such as this is a great way of making smooth camera movements. But because the keyframe data is stored in effects parameters rather than postion values, you have no visible motion paths, and hence animating along irregular curves is difficult.

My current method is to simply parent the camera to a null and animate Y rotation and usually one position value (Y for a ‘landscape’, Z for a ‘wall’) on the null. I then animate X and Z rotation and the other position values on the cam itself.
This corrects the ‘wrong’ rotation calculation order, and leaves me with a 2D motion path and a separate ‘trim’ control. It’s far from perfect, especially when I need a truly 3D motion path which swoops in all three planes.
AE CS3 now shows you separate xyz values in the graph editor, a slight help, but you can’t keyframe them separately which can still cause untold headaches. In C4D you can make a Y only keyframe, go to top view and you can’t move it – it has no X or Z value to alter. Yet go to perspective view and you can slide it up and down, altering the motion path shape. The control handles behave similarly – you can’t drag them into a plane that isn’t also keyframed (hope that makes sense).

Or maybe I should just do all my animation in C4D. I’ve only been using it a month and it’s helping me see a few shortcomings in AE’s implementation of 3D.

Steve

By: Dale

Dale — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:31:24 +0000

Hey Kyle,

Glad you tracked it down!

Dale

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:12:59 +0000

Hey Just came across this – i was the one that made the original request – so thanks a million!

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 01:37:34 +0000

Hey Stu,

I seem to be limited on the Slider Control range. I’m going to send that one off to aebugs@adobe.com.

I could, however, block the max and min values in the expressions. Should the max and min match the range of the slider control in the sample project?

The layer name should be Camera Control, can you check if you’ve got source name selected instead of layer name? Jeff pointed that one out to me on another script and I did a big Doh! If it still isn’t named correctly, I’ll check the script, but I’m pretty sure I can change the Null name if necessary.

Dale