FLIPPING camera.

[lukeh65750347]

Hi All,

First-time poster, long-time reader....

So... Been having headaches today trying to create a satnav-style map effect in after effects. Nothing to fancy, just a typical satnav scene.

I have some stacked maps at different scales, this much is fine. I then have an arrow icon representing the car, now obviously i want the arrow to move along a path which it does nicely, this then orients the set path. So far so good. However, when I create a camera and a null to then follow this icon the map flips back and forth meaning that the map has flipped and become inverted. I can't find and such keyframe to suggest why it would do this?? I have been through all the layers, effects, cameras and can't find why it would do this...

I'm now at that point where the only thing that will help is a sledgehammer to my machine - Obviously, this won't improve the situation so I'm appealing to other souls who share my pain of being up against a deadline and hitting a dead end!

PLEEEEEASE HELP!!

Ive attached a video which should help explain things.

Thanks in advance.

Luke

[Roei Tzoref]

no video here... but try this: if it's a "two node camera", set the camera to be "one node camera". you do that by clicking on the camera layer twice and you can see the option in the upper left corner.

[Rick Gerard]

You are probably experiencing gimbal lock. This happens when you have the camera pointed straight down. Another solution is to attach all of your 3D layers and camera to a 3D null located at comp center (1/2 width, 1/2 height, zero) and then rotate the null 90º in X. This will line up your map layers on the X/Y plane. Once you have done that you can either delete the null, just leave it, or remove parenting. When you have the scene properly set up for the AE camera you can then animate the position of the point of interest so that it follows the arrow - which can be easily be done with an expression or by selecting the motion path of the arrow, copying all of the keyframes, and then pasting them to the Point of interest (a on your keyboard will reveal point of interest when a 2 node camera is selected).

Without a screenshot of your project with the modified properties of the layers giving you problems revealed (uu with a layer selected) this is only a guess but it's the most likely problem.

Take a look at this video. It is a little off topic but maybe it will help:

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi LukeH,

Sorry for this issue. Did you ever find a solution? Please let us know if our experts’ advice helped you or if you still need help.

Thanks,

Kevin