Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 108

Adobe After Effects Help
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When you apply The Smoother to properties that change spatially (such as position), you
can smooth only the spatial curve (the curve defined by the motion). When you apply The
Smoother to properties that change only in time (such as opacity), you can smooth only
the value and velocity curves (the curve defined by the value or the velocity).
In addition to adding keyframes or eliminating unnecessary keyframes, The Smoother also
applies Bezier interpolation at each keyframe when smoothing the temporal curve.
To smooth a spatial or temporal curve:
1 In the Timeline window, either select all the keyframes for a property to smooth the
entire curve, or select at least three keyframes to smooth only a portion of a curve.
2 Choose Window > The Smoother.
In the Apply To menu, The Smoother automatically selects Spatial Path or Temporal Graph,
depending on the type of property for which you selected keyframes in step 1.
3 Set a value for Tolerance. The units of Tolerance match those of the property you are
smoothing. New keyframe values will vary no more than the specified value from the
original curve. Higher values produce smoother curves, but too high a value may not
preserve the original shape of the curve.
4 Click Apply and preview the results.
5 If necessary, choose Edit > Undo The Smoother to reset the keyframes, adjust the value
for Tolerance, and then reapply The Smoother.
Creating motion paths with masks
You can instantly create a motion path from any mask that you draw in After Effects (or
from a path that you copy from Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop), by pasting the
mask or path into a layer's Position property, a layer's Anchor Point property, or the effect
point property of an effect. The assigned keyframes are set to rove in time, except for the
first and last ones, to create a constant velocity along the mask or path. By default, After
Effects assigns a duration of 2 seconds to the motion path. Adjust the default duration by
dragging the first or last keyframe to a new point in time.
To create a motion path from a mask:
1 Do one of the following:
Select a mask.
•
Create and select a path from Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. For information
•
on creating paths in those products, see the respective User Guides.
2 Copy the mask or path to the clipboard.
3 In the Timeline window, select the destination keyframe property.
4 Paste the mask or path.
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Animating Layers
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