Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 235

Using the Puppet Pin tool
2
• Click any nontransparent pixel of a raster layer to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline created
by auto-tracing the layer's alpha channel.
• Click within a closed path on a vector layer to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline defined by
that path.
• Click within a closed, unlocked mask to apply the Puppet effect and create a mesh for the outline defined by the
mask path.
• Click outside all closed paths on a vector layer to apply the Puppet effect without creating a mesh. Outlines are
created for paths on the layer, though an outline is only visible when a Puppet tool pointer is over the area that the
outline defines. Place the pointer over the area enclosed by a path to see the outline in which a mesh will be created
if you click that point. (See "How the Puppet effect creates outlines" on page 230.) Click within an outline to create
a mesh.
A Deform pin is placed where you clicked to create the mesh.
Note: If an image is too complex for the Puppet effect to generate a mesh with the current Triangle value, a "Mesh Gener-
ation Failed" message appears in the Info panel. Increase the Triangle value in the Tools panel and try again.
3 Click in one or more places within the outline to add more Deform pins.
Use as few pins as possible to achieve your desired result. The natural deformation provided by the Puppet effect can
be lost if you over-constrain the image. Just add pins to the parts of the figure that you know that you want to control.
For example, when animating a person waving, add a pin to each foot to hold them to the ground, and add a pin to
the waving hand.
4 Go to another time in the composition, and move the position of one or more of the Deform pins by dragging
them in the Composition or Layer panel with the Puppet Pin tool. Repeat this step until you have completed your
animation.
You can modify the Deform pins' motion paths as you would any other motion paths.
See also
"Work with pins and the distortion mesh" on page 231
"Creating and modifying motion paths" on page 199
Record animation by sketching motion with the Puppet Pin tool
You can sketch the motion path of one or more Deform pins in real time—or at a speed that you specify—much as
you can sketch the motion path of a layer using Motion Sketch.
If your composition contains audio, you can sketch motion in time with the audio.
Before you begin recording motion, you may want to configure settings for recording. To open the Puppet Record
Options dialog box, click Record Options in the Tools panel.
The ratio of the speed of the recorded motion to playback speed. If Speed is 100%, the motion is played back
Speed
at the speed at which it was recorded. If Speed is greater than 100%, the motion plays back slower than it was
recorded.
Set this value higher to remove more extraneous keyframes from the motion path as it's drawn.
Smoothness
Creating fewer keyframes makes motion smoother.
, do one of the following in the Composition panel or the Layer panel:
AFTER EFFECTS CS3 229
User Guide