Falling Leaf effect - how to?

[denwell]

Can anyone give me any pointers to creating the effect of a leaf falling to and fro ?

Also an object describing a smooth arc trajectory.

Seems to me it could involve a lot of complicated keypoints, I hope I'm wrong but I haven't succeeded yet.

Any thoughts?

DEN (NE UK)

[Ken Cox]

DEN

i seem to remember Tom Court doing something with leaves - maybe search Tom's entries

ken

[Lin Evans]

Hi,

It does not so much require complicated keypoints, it just requires moving the center of rotation for the object the necessary amount to create the desired arc, changing the XY axis relationship and such.

Put your mouse cursor on the center (small square in center of frame) hold down the shift key and drag the center out of the rectangle. Now rotate the object and notice the "arc". The degree of "arc" depends on where you place the center. You can move this center at different keyframes to get different effects. Do all programming of leaf movement in linear then change to smooth and separate keyframes for each of pan, zoom and rotate after all movement is completed.

If you could describe exactly what you want the leaf to do, I can explain how to accomplish it...

Best regards,

Lin

[denwell]

Thanks for that Lin

I'd grasped the fundamentals of moving the centre of rotation etc but I would want the object (leaf) to fall fluttering side to side in small arcs, zig-zag style as it falls but keeping the same orientation to the viewer.

Peter A has given me a starting point which I'll pursue but any further pointers would be welcomed.

DEN (NE UK)

[uuderzo]

Wow.

I missed the possibility to change the rotation pivot of the image.

Mmmmh... next slideshow will be better

Regards. Umberto

[Tomuk]

Can anyone give me any pointers to creating the effect of a leaf falling to and fro ?

Also an object describing a smooth arc trajectory.

Seems to me it could involve a lot of complicated keypoints, I hope I'm wrong but I haven't succeeded yet.

Any thoughts?

DEN (NE UK)

Hi! Den,

Below is a link to a little show I produced early 2007, please download and play it, if it's what you want, contact me and I'll send you my project files so you can see how I did it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lzvjegmnkzy

Tom.

[Ken Cox]

TOM

i guess my memory is not going

"DEN

i seem to remember Tom Court doing something with leaves - maybe search Tom's entries

ken"

thought this would bring out of hibernation

did you not do something like Den's other request -- maybe he needs to be more explicit

"Also an object describing a smooth arc trajectory."

ken

[Lin Evans]

Here's a quick sample PTE file - could give you some ideas.... Slide the keyframes closer together, farther apart, etc., to see different possibilities. Also you could possibly move the center of rotation back to the center and rotate the leaf 360 at one location in the series of arcs, etc.

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/leaf.zip

Best regards,

Lin

Thanks for that Lin

I'd grasped the fundamentals of moving the centre of rotation etc but I would want the object (leaf) to fall fluttering side to side in small arcs, zig-zag style as it falls but keeping the same orientation to the viewer.

Peter A has given me a starting point which I'll pursue but any further pointers would be welcomed.

DEN (NE UK)

[denwell]

Thanks Lin and Tom

I think the penny has dropped! Lin your animation is very realistic and is just what I was looking for - I'll try variations as you suggest.

Tom - your leaves are good too but they don't seem to 'turn' towards and away from the viewer as Lin has managed.

Lessons to be learned - I'm more and more amazed by this very powerful tool.

thanks all

DEN (NE UK)

[liebgott]

Tom

I liked your little show of leaves. Could you send me the way to do it?

Barbara

liebgott@netvision.net.il