Cubic Distribution Light
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We’ll skip Insert Keys for now and jump right to Repeat Layers. Repeat layers allows you to take the selected layer(s) in the Timeline and essentially duplicate that layer and then have the new elements be distributed as well. You have to be very careful with this option as you could quickly turn 10 layers into hundreds of layers unintentionally.
Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your view), you can only repeat the layer 10 times. Go ahead and enter this in the window. [an error occurred while processing this directive]Finally, Layer Orientation is designed to position the layers in a particular direction. If you have a Camera Layer in your Timeline, you can have the layers orient themselves in that direction. This is not the same as Auto-Orient discussed in the last installment. You can also choose to orient the layers randomly for interesting effect, or not change orientation at all.
When you have made the necessary adjustments, click the Apply button and view your results.
I said in the last installment that I would show you how to create hundreds of particles, but so far we have only been able to generate 11 layers total. To generate more layers and distribute them, select all of the layers in the Timeline, and in the Cubic Distribution Light window, click Apply again. Providing you still had Repeat Layers turned on, you should now have somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 some odd layers.
In this example, we have only used a single solid, but imagine the results you could achieve with hundreds of video layers. You could create a minefield of video images for your camera to navigate through to reveal your company logo, opening title, or other goody waiting around the corner.
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| Create a sea of video layers for your camera to fly through. Footage courtesy Artbeats. |
In the final installment of our three part exercise, we’ll combine Auto Orient along with Cubic Distribution Light to create our final animation.
When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicher
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