movie paseq source content problem

[Leonardo Souza]

Hi,

I´m trying to generate a source content paseq step. I´m using a movie and SA 4.03 on windows 7.
this is the folowing steps:
1) open source movie
2) record action::Paseq timeline::record context::source
3) keyframe every frame in source content step.

This last step (nº 3) always shows the same image no matter the frame that I click and this leads to incorrect bezier.

4) Path::Convert to paint synthe::convert paseq source context to morph context

Please some one help me?

[Synthetik]

Are you using the source context action step to associate a movie file or a series of individual frame images to the source area?

If you want to record a movie file and associate it to the source area, then you only have to record a single keyframe that corresponds to the first frame of your movie file. If you record multiple source context keyframes for the same movie file, then each one will restart the movie at frame 1.

[Leonardo Souza]

A movie file.

[Synthetik]

If i'm groking what you are trying to do correctly (build a morph sequence from a series of source images), then you want to work with a series of individual source images keyframed in a source context action step, since the menu command you are using for step 4 works off of keyframe positions in the source context action step.

You'd also need to build your PASeq so that it includes action steps to build the bezier curves that would be incorporated into the Morph Context action steps that menu command automatically generates. It generates a Morph Context action step, and then builds individual keyframes for it at each keyframe position in the selected source context action step. The entire PASeq is run at each source context keyframe position, and then whatever is in the current layer's bezier path frame is used for the bezier part of the morph context keyframe being automatically generated.

Also, you want to make sure the source context action step is selected before you run that menu command. Ideally the menu should gray out if one is not selected, but that is not currently the case. It works off of the selected source context action step, so you need to make sure one is selected.

[Leonardo Souza]

So, there is no way to do it using a movie? I must split it to a sequence of images?

[Synthetik]

Talk a little more about what you want to do just so i'm clear.

Generating a morph keyframe at each frame in the movie isn't really going to do anything other than reproduce the movie if all of the keyframes are adjacent to each other. You'd have to then time expand the timeline to get tween frames that were actually morphing.

Any keyframes in a context action step that reference a movie synch to the first frame of the movie.

[Leonardo Souza]

Ok,

I have an animation already painted in 4 frames per second. I would like to build a morph animation between each frame expanding the time to 12 frames per second.
My problem is that I don`t want to draw bezier paths manually to do the morph.

[Synthetik]

You'd have to split out the movie frames to sequentially numbered frame images in a folder. You could then use the Action : PASeq Timeline : Multiple Keys : Source Context menu command, select the entire folder of frame images, then press ok, then when the dialog comes up a second time press cancel. you'd have a sequential set of source context keyframes.

You could then build the rest of the PASeq. Like using erase bezier paths, then generate bezier paths from source edges.

You could then select the source context action step, and run the path convert source context to bezier morph context menu command you were asking about. it will run the paseq at each source context keyframe, and use the generated bezier paths for the morph context keyframes it's building. so after it runs the paseq for all of the keyframes you end up with a new morph context action step that is keyframed everywhere there was a source context keyframe.

you can then delete the older parts of the paseq and use the morph context as you see fit. so you could run a time expansion menu command on the paseq timeline to spread the morph context action steps out.

if you just want to do crossfades between the different frames during the time expansion, you can just use the multiple keys : morph context menu command to select the source frames, and then do the time expansion command for the paseq timeline. morph context action steps with no embedded bezier paths do linear fades.

There's some other things you need to deal with if you are working with bezier paths. each morph context keyframe will probably have a different number of bezier paths in each keyframe, and the association from keyframe to keyframe is the index order of the paths. So the morphs you define are probably bezier curves flying all over the canvas somewhat randomly from keyframe to keyframe, and the associated morph will be very bubbly.

So, typically you want to normalize the number of paths to be the same in each keyframe, and then reorder them so they are associated via minimal distance. You can do this via paseq timeline menu commands. the re-order via minimal distance menu command can take a long time to run if you have a lot of keyframes with a lot of bezier paths.

[Synthetik]

The normalize and reorder bezier path operations i described above are discussed in this tip.

[Leonardo Souza]

Ok,
Every thing goes fine, except for the normalize, split and recycle.
I have made an automatic bezier with only one line and all the frames have a very similar bezier.
But when I execute the morph animation, after time expand, the bezier lines came from one part of the image to another.
I mean, shouldn't the bezier's line of one frame detect the closest bezier's line of another frame?
After execute the split, recycle and normalize, nothing of this is happening.

[Leonardo Souza]

Ok
Many thanks!!!
I will try and give a feedback.