Communigate Pro AE-List@media-motion.tv Message 52212

i had the same exact problem a few weeks ago, and i hacked together an expression to do it. It actually does the same as Dan E's version, but ofcourse Dan's is much more elegant, simpler and works with the camera as a child under a null, something i struggled to get to work in my version :-D

thanks Dan for this, i will save that as an animation preset... with one small adjustment, adding support for the active camera:

cam = thisComp.activeCamera;

v = cam.toWorldVec([0,0,1]);

lookAt(position,position+v)

and for anyone interested, here is my simple much worse version that breaks if the camera is parented:

cam = thisComp.activeCamera;

fromPoint = cam.position;

atPoint = cam.pointOfInterest;

lookAt(fromPoint, atPoint)

DONT USE this :-D

and my expression for making it work under nulls was more complicated and needed 2 extra nulls for the expression to look to. I couldnt get .toWorldVec to work with the cameras position and target, only with nulls.

Happy Holidays to all on the AE-list.

Robert

2013/12/20 Dan Ebberts <debberts@comcast.net>

Try turning off auto orient and use this for orientation:

v = thisComp.layer("Camera 1").toWorldVec([0,0,1]);

lookAt(position,position+v)

Dan

From: Byron Nash

Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 1:23 PM

To: After Effects Mail List

Subject: Re: [AE] Expressions: Somewhere between Auto Orient and Auto Orient Y only

Probably so, I just need to find that math! :-)

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 3:28 PM, Lloyd Alvarez <lists@aescripts.com> wrote:

Do mean like a multi-plane? http://aescripts.com/pt_multiplane/

Cheers,
Lloyd

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 3:14 PM, Byron Nash <byronnash@gmail.com> wrote:

I need to keep some 3D layers flat in screen space. One immediately reaches for the Auto Orient switch. It seems to get weird on the screen edges as a layer approaches the camera. I tried Dan Ebberts go to expression for Y only orientation(http://motionscript.com/design-guide/auto-orient-y-only.html) but that doesn't do the trick either. I bascially want the layers to be rotated so they have no perspective but still stick to the 3D position.

I'm sure this has been done before...