scrolling background

bbrooks wrote on 1/4/2005, 7:02 AM
I am creating a silly little stop motion animation with my 6 year old (who is very excited about making his first movie). He has done a drawing that is basically 3 pages long. I have edited the pages so that they will scroll (track motion) while a car is "driving" / sitting steady in the foreground. I want the background to loop (a la old movies that used a backdrop on two poles and just kept rolling it continuously). I can't get the backgroup to loop without a "hic-cup" and it seems like it slows down and starts back up again.

How can I achieve the correct affect.

bbrooks

Comments

J_Mac wrote on 1/4/2005, 7:26 AM
To reduce or eliminate the loop hiccup, overlap the individual segments and not allow them to butt up to each other. It should play smoothly although shorter overall. John.
bbrooks wrote on 1/4/2005, 8:44 AM
John,
Thank you for your response
Will this work even though it is a still image. Are you talking about a short cross fade? How do I set the scrolling then. Do I set it for each individual event given that it is the same image repeated or do I set it for the whole track from the beginning of the first event running until the end of the final repetition of that event?

bbrooks

J_Mac wrote on 1/4/2005, 9:19 AM
Will this work even though it is a still image. Yes

Are you talking about a short cross fade? Yes, at least the length of the hiccup.

How do I set the scrolling then? At the track level. In the Y position axis.

Do I set it for each individual event given that it is the same image repeated or ... the fade must be on the end and beginning of each event. The scroll on the entire event or segment.
An example would be to set a keyframe in Track Motion at the beginning of the timeline to position Y= -640 and the end keyframe to 640. (Do not include the + sign in the positive values). This will allow the car to scroll once from below off camera to above off camera. Switch the values if you want it to scroll down. Repeat keyframes as needed for the number of scrolls desired.

...do I set it for the whole track from the beginning of the first event running until the end of the final repetition of that event?
Two keyframes must be set to (begin and end) 1 scroll. Either will work, but at the Track level would be smoother and easier to copy paste keyframes.

Good Luck. John

Chienworks wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:05 AM
Also, set the "smoothness" of the keyframes to 0%. If the smoothness is set to 100% then the pan will start off slowly, build up speed in the middle, then slow back down again at the end.
bbrooks wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:22 AM
Thank you John

Brandon
Orcatek wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:22 AM
I would get one loop and render it out. Then use the video file which you can easily loop.
bbrooks wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:26 AM
Chienworks,
Thank you. That was actually a problem I was having too and just thought it was part of the hic-up issue.

Brandon
J_Mac wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:29 AM
Good point Kelly. Also, to eliminate the black gap between scrolling images, duplicate the image track with correct key frames to a second track. Set your cursor at the beginning of the second track. Right click and click 'Select events to end', this will group them together. Then slide the group of events to the Timeline point that the bottom of the first image, on the first track, leaves the bottom of the preview window and the black shows, somewhere close to the middle of the image on the first track.
Then the 2nd track images will show through the scrolling black gaps on the first track. Too much like fun. Good Luck. John.
bbrooks wrote on 1/4/2005, 10:29 AM
Excellent, I hadn't thought of it that way. You guys are all very helpful.

Brandon