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Reducing a layer's motion in x axis

Enthusiast ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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I did an animation and in one section the person wants the motion reduced. Basically I believe the motion in the Y axis is fine, but not the X axis.

I did use the smoother tool and also used the graph editor to adjust keyframes, but that didn't produce the result they wanted (and also, doesn't the smoother smooth both X & Y?).

Basically what I would like to know how to do is for the layer's keyframes, keeping the average X position the same as they are currently (so the layer/object does all it's motion centred around the same X position it currently does), reduce the amount of motion in the X axis by a certain amount - eg. make it move in the X axis 50% (or other some other percentage) of the amount it currently does, but keeping everything else the same (same amount of keyframes etc., same motion, other than it being reduced in the amount it moves on the X axis).

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

People's Champ , Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

What I would do for the manual moving is...(if you imagine the snakelike path having a line up the center) select all the points on one side of the line then use the arrow key to nudge them all over together, keeping count of how many times I hit the arrow key.  Then select all the points on the other side and move them the exact number of times.   That way it'll be a perfectly uniform 'scaling in' of the path.   Use SHIFT+Arrow to move them in larger increments. Remember you have to have the cu

...

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LEGEND ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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Put the timeline cursor over the offending keyframe.  Move the layer left or right.  That's it.

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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But there are 13 keyframes (but I'd also like to know how to easily do this whatever the number of keyframes if possible) , he's says he was happy with the motion before but that it was too "exaggerated" (and here I'm sure he's talking about the X axis only). So it won't be just 1 keyframe.

I'm thinking I'd have to, from a centre line on the X axis of that layer (or an approx one - eg. the average of all the X keyframes), look at all the X values on the keyframes, see how much they were from the centre x value for that layer and put in a new figure that was eg. half the X value away from the layer's centre X position. I'm wondering if there's a simpler way in After Effects to achieve this.

eg. say the object (layer) moves in a certain path but you want to tone down the path it moves in the X axis (but not the Y axis). Basically make the path the same but narrower.

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LEGEND ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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Well, why don't you just ASK the guy and make sure you're both on the same page before you go to any more work?  That's a no-brainer.

And I'm sorry, I really can't get a good mental picture of what you're doing from your description.

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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Basically the object moves in a snake-like way up and down the screen. He wanted it less exaggerated. When I smoothed it with the smoother tool (which works on X & Y not just X) and also adjusted frames with the graph editor he wasn't happy.

Another way of describing it is: Say a path is an image file of 100x100 pixels, and you want the same path but lessened in width, in an image editor, you click "resize" and uncheck "constrain proportions", and reduce the image dimensions to 50x100 (so the whole path has lessened in the X axis but stayed the same in the Y axis).

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People's Champ ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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I think you can right click on the position attribute and choose 'separate dimensions'. You can then just adjust the x dimension.

You could also just select points on the motion path itself & move them in.

~Gutterfish

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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When I click "seperate dimensions" and then just select the X keyframes, it then won't let me apply the smoother to the "Spatial Path". It will only let me apply the smoother to the "Temporal Graph".

I think you're probably right, I think I'll just have to move each keyframe manually in the X axis to a lesser amount (and I'll do it in the normal view). I was just hoping there might be some other, faster way of doing it (while ensuring the motion was exaclty the same but reduced by a certain percentage on the X axis). But if not that's what I will use thanks.

Unless I can export the layer's keyframe values (X & Y positions) eg. as a .csv, then run a little program on them then re-import them (assuming there's no built in X axis motion reducer).

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People's Champ ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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What I would do for the manual moving is...(if you imagine the snakelike path having a line up the center) select all the points on one side of the line then use the arrow key to nudge them all over together, keeping count of how many times I hit the arrow key.  Then select all the points on the other side and move them the exact number of times.   That way it'll be a perfectly uniform 'scaling in' of the path.   Use SHIFT+Arrow to move them in larger increments. Remember you have to have the current time indicator (CTI) directly on one of the keyframes in the timeline so that all the selected keys move together.  If it's not you'll just wind up creating a new keyframe where you don't want it.

~Gutterfish

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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Thanks. Selecting all the points like you say and using the arrow does seem to be the best way to do it (for a while I couldn't get that to work as intended - maybe it wasn't positioned over a keyframe in the timeline, but it's working okay now), thanks.

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People's Champ ,
Feb 03, 2017 Feb 03, 2017

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Cool. You're welcom.  Yah that's a little trick to move entire sets of keyframes.  Like if you have an animation and you want to move the whole thing someplace else but keep the animation,  you put your CTI on one of the keyframes & then select them all and you can just drag the whole animation around.   Sometimes it's easier than creating a null

~Gutterfish

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