Adobe After Effects - Manual (Page 583)

Focal Length
Transform Order
Upper Left Corner, Upper Right Corner, Lower Left Corner, Lower Right Corner
Auto Focal Length
Focal Length
Note:
Note:
To the top
The zoom factor. Smaller numbers zoom in.
The order in which the camera rotates around its three axes, and whether the camera rotates before or after it is positioned
using the other Camera Position controls.
Corner Pins controls
Corner pinning is an alternative camera control system. Use it as an aid for compositing the result of the effect into a scene on a flat surface that is
tilted with respect to the frame.
Where to attach each of the corners of the layer.
Controls the perspective of the effect during the animation. If this option is deselected, the focal length you specify is used to
find a camera position and orientation that place the corners of the layer at the corner pins, if possible. If not, the layer is replaced by its outline,
drawn between the pins. If this option is selected, the focal length required to match the corner points is used, if possible. If not, the correct value
is interpolated from nearby frames.
Overrides the other settings if the results you’ve obtained aren’t what you need. If you set the Focal Length to something that
doesn’t correspond to what the focal length would be if the pins were actually in that configuration, the image may look unusual (strangely
sheared, for example). But if you know the focal length that you are trying to match, this option is the easiest way to get correct results.
Creating a custom shatter map
All layers in After Effects are represented as an RGBA image, including black-and-white images. The Shatter effect calculates the luminance
threshold of each channel to create a custom shatter map. Shatter calculates the 50% luminance threshold of each channel, creating an image
composed of only eight colors: red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, cyan, white, and black. These eight colors become possible combinations of the
channels set either all the way on (255) or all the way off (0). The shatter layer splits along the edges of these different colored sections.
When designing custom shatter maps, you can find it useful to manually set a threshold for each channel of the image at 50% (you can use the
Curves effect to do so). When you set the threshold, you can see how the image will be broken into pieces. Alternatively, you can create custom
shatter maps by drawing an image using only the eight colors listed above, with no intermediate shades or anti-aliasing.
Use the Colorama effect to posterize the colors of an image to these eight colors. Turn off Interpolate Palette in the Colorama effect
controls. See Colorama effect.
The alpha channel determines whether a shattered piece exists. A white alpha channel value results in a shattered piece, and a black alpha
channel value results in no piece. Using an alpha channel, you can make a tile map with holes in it or generate simple 3D models like extruded
text.
The custom shatter map determines the shapes of the pieces a layer shatters into, but not when the pieces shatter. The timing is
determined by the Force controls and can be further controlled by a gradient layer.
The Toolfarm website provides a tutorial that shows how to create a custom shatter map for some real-world bricks.
Wave World effect
Use this effect to create a grayscale displacement map for use with other effects such as Caustics or Colorama. This effect creates waves based
on a simulation of the physics of liquids. Waves emanate from an effect point, interact with each other, and realistically reflect off their environment.
Use Wave World to create a top-down view of a logo, with waves reflecting off the logo and the sides of the layer.
Eran Stern provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website in which he demonstrates how to use the Caustics effect with the Wave World
effect.
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
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