How to make this scaling look right ..?

[dmiraie]

(UltraNoob here)

Basically, I need to make the scaling of this music staff look smooth/correct/natural etc..

Of note:

-the music staff is comprised of 5 separate pieces

-the 'beginning state' and 'ending state' of the music staff are proportionately different

-in terms of numbers:  the treble clef/staff scales from 45.8% to 100%, the bass clef/staff scales from 45.8% to 100%, the bracket scales from 29% height/44% width to 100% height/100% width, the left border line scales from 29% height/50% width to 100% height/100% width, and the right border line scales from 29% height/50% width to 100% height/100% width

Thanks for any help/suggestions!!

[Rick Gerard]

Put all of the elements of your music graphic in a single comp, nest that comp in the main comp and scale the nested comp...

Same thing put another way: Select all of the layers that contain your music graphic and pre-compose, then scale the pre=comp.

With either solution you'll probably be better off if you turn on Collapse Transformations. If you don't understand any of these suggestions try using the search help field at the top right corner of AE.

[dmiraie]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion..

In this case, how would precomping function differently than parenting?

ie, I've tried all different types of parenting variations, and it's still largely a cluttered mess:

As you can see in the vid, I have the music components (parented to the Null) scale in-sync with the magnifying glass for the first half of the zoom, and then the null scale velocity begins to taper off as the music components continue to move outward in terms in of position. 

But clearly I'm still doing something fundamentally wrong though.. For one thing, if the individual music layers are being scaled together (with each of them starting at different scale values), how am I supposed to tell when they (each) reach 100% scale (which is the goal)? And how can I get the pieces to stay better connected/in-sync, instead of scrambled all over the place?

Again, thanks for your help!

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Put all of the elements that are in the pan in a single comp. Don't add any scale keyframes. Don't do anything but position your elements in their final resting place. Make all of the elements 3D and make sure that some of them don't get hidden.

Drop that comp in a new comp, turn on collapse transformations, add a camera to your new composition. Animate the Z position of the camera and you'll get a natural looking push in.

OR

Put all of the elements that are in the pan in a single comp. Don't add any keyframes, Don't do anything but position and size your elements.

Put that composition in a new composition, turn on collapse transformations and animate the scale of the nested composition. To make the scaling look like a real camera move you'll have to mess with the graph editor or the keyframe interpolation. You could also use the scale assistant to apply exponential scale and fix the problem. If you don't know how to do that then please use the search help field at the top right corner of AE.

This is really easy and basic compositing technique that you should be familiar with. Trying to scale a bunch of different sized items so they move together and look natural is, if you will please pardon my frankness, NUTS...

[dmiraie]

Hmm, actually I may have finally figured it out.. it was kind of like your second suggestion, but a lot more involved.