aescripts + aeplugins

Laurence Yates

Hi Jenny,

The panel can take a bit of getting used to in the beginning. 

The default settings create keyframes for each brush stroke 0 to 100% over 3 frames with no overlap or space between each brush stroke – so they run back to back.

Sequence will re-order the existing keyframes and apply an overlap so you can start the next stroke before the previous one finishes. You can also use a negative number to add padding.

Stagger offsets the first keyframe for each stroke by a set number of frames. So you could have each stroke start drawing on at 2-frame intervals. The main difference between Sequence and Stagger can best be seen if you have adjusted the durations of each stroke individually then run the Sequence or Stagger function.

For example, it's possible to select strokes and apply a different duration to their keyframes – so you might select short strokes and use only 3 frames, and then select longer strokes and use 10 frames each. You can then select them all and resequence or stagger the keyframes using offsets for the first frame or overlaps of the first and last (sorry this is getting a bit jumbled). Depends whether you want all strokes to animate one after the other, or maybe just start one after the other and finish based on their individual OUT keyframe.

I hope this helps.

Jenny Conway said:

Total newbie question: I'm confused about the difference between Sequence & Stagger? I thought Sequence was back to back keyframes and Stagger was w overlapping. But I also see I can adjust Frame Staggering w Sequence, so I'm not sure how that compares to Stagger itself? Thanks!

Jenny Conway

Thanks so much for the detail, Laurence! Makes sense- very helpful and will try it out, thanks for explaining!

vpost eng NBC Universal

Hello, is floating license server an option for this plugin, or standalone only?

Jenny Conway

Hahaa, sorry Laurence it's me again I've been searching the board and couldn't find the answer: I have a reveal of a shape then almost bends in on itself so, to avoid revealing any later edges of the shape, I paint slowly. But then my animation really slows down at that point- even though I have "Constant" checked in the Paint panel. Is there any way to make the speed of the reveal constant even in the tricky corners? Thanks!!

Laurence Yates

Hi Jenny!

No worries. If you have been taking your time and drawing detailed line-work I would recommend using the "Measured" keyframing process. You can set a start and end time then Quickdraw will animate all of the lines between the two timecodes at the same pace. 

You can also combine this with "selected only" and animated selected brush strokes (easiest selected from the layer view panel but also possible from the timeline panel) – this can help break up the timing of your reveal across the image.

Alternatively, if the section is much slower because of the extra detail, selecting those strokes and applying an increased "Constant" speed could the the answer. You will probably then have to use the resequence function to close the gap to the the keyframes that come after this section, or you can drag those keyframes in the timeline.

I hope this helps.