#Crossing Edges
18 messages in this thread
Overlapping edges are the single most frustrating thing I've found about ER.
Sometimes I have two shapes which are miles apart yet still, somehow have
crossed edges. I search frame by frame, increase correspondence points, zoom
in, render wireframe previews, etc. etc., and I usually end up having to delete
shapes and start over. It would be a HUGE time savings if ER would highlight or
indicate in some small way WHERE (and when) the offending edges are taking
place. Is that on the upgrade "wish" list yet?? Until then, are there some tips
you can give in avoiding these dread goblins of the night?
Thanx!
Zone (may I call you Zone? I prefer a first name basis 🙂
First a short description of the crossing edge problem: The control
information you create (to tell ER what to do with your pixels) is the
shapes you draw. When two shapes on the same roll cross you're telling
ER that you want the intersecting pixels to go to one place (for one shape)
and another place (from the other shape). Actually…it just gelled for me
even clearer…in fact you're asking ER to GET pixels from the same place
twice (once for one shape, once for the other…as it turns out you can
SEND more than one pixel to the same place, the one which will be visible
is the one from the shape in a higher layer).
Here are some things you can do about (to speed things up): First, if you're
doing a morph (as opposed to a morph) you can isolate which roll the cross
is occuring in by temporarily turning on the "Don't Render B" in the
render options dialog. If the cross is happening in the A roll, you'll still
get it in the preview. If you don't get it, the cross is happening in the
B roll.
Second, if you turn on the JIGSAW setting in the render option dialog,
crossing edges should disappear completely since JIGSAW was designed to let
edges cross as much as they want BUT…it actually warps either all shapes
seperately or all groups seperately…this produces vastly different result
than then JIGSAW is not on, but it's easy to master the differences and even
use them to good effect (in fact, most TransJammer effects are done in
JIGSAW).
Third, if you can turn off shapes for the purpose of the warping (where
crossing edges happen) individually or in bunches from the shape options
dialog. This will let you "delete shapes" as you mention you're doing now
without actually deleting them…since once you find the shapes which are
making the cross edge, you can fix it, then turn on the shape options for
the shapes you disabled while looking for the culprit (without ever having
actually deleted a shape).
Forth, if you're not in JIGSAW or COOKIE CUT, then shapes which travel
off screen/on screen will cause crossing edges without appearing to cross
any other shapes. If this isn't in the manual, it definitely is in the
on-line help.
Fifth, we'll definitely have a cross-hair kind of feature in the next
significant ER upgrade.
Jason
What they got when they crossed my mom with my dad
Jason,
You explained this rather well. I had similar problems as well.
Mei-Tien
Mei-Tien,
All in a day's work. All in a day's work.
Jason
Pixel Pixie
Jason,
Let me try another question on you. I just got Painter 3 also, it is good in
painiting and export EPS files, but it does not tween between frames. I have
tried to tween in ER and found it is not os easy, I need to carefully trace the
entire picture, do you have any suggestions for doing tweening for cartoons
inside ER? Or, the best approach you know?
Thansk again!!
Mei-Tien
Tweening in ER is not a very difficult process at all. Assuming you are using a
motion sequence, all you need to do is adjust the shape's posittion relative to
the motion in a given frame and, whala..you have created a key frame and ER is
good enough that is not nescessary to key every frame as it can handle the
in-betweens itself.
Also, if you like, we can fax you sheet of tips that will help you avoid
crossing edges in your project.
Chris Edgin
ERI Tech.
Chris,
I will appreciate if someone can fax me the tips for not crossing edges to
Mei-Tien Hsing
908 537 7935 *
Yes, there is a "*" as the last digit, sometimes it works with out it.
I will try tweening in ER again.
Mei-Tien
Mei-Tien,
This is a public forum and you have posted addresses and Phone/Fax numbers for
all to see and use as they may see fit…The announcements warn you of this.
If you wish, the staff can move the message to a safe area of the forum..Your
call. Reply to this thread if you wish it moved.
Richard Lindner
Forum Staff
Richard,
Thanks for reminding, please remove my meesage Right Away.
Mei-Tien
Elastic Reality has been used a great deal for making tweens for animation.
Just ask the belly dancing Ritz(r) crackers or the Coke(r) sun :-). You should
take key frames from your animation source, probably twice a second (assuming
you working with 24 or 30 frame frame rates).
Load the project up as if it were a moving morph. Duplicate all the source
frames (all A roll images being the same source frame). Do the same for the
B roll.
Trace the shapes you want to control on the first frame of the A roll.
Select them all, then copy (EDIT/COPY) them. Then shift into the B roll
and PASTE them on the first image of the B roll. Move to the last image
of the B roll then tweak the shapes so they line up on the last image
only.
In render options set the check box Don't Render B roll. Perform the
morph as usual….pixels will be picked up from the A roll where they were
supposed to come from and will be deposited in a tweened location between
the first key frame (the a roll) and the next key frame (the b roll).
You can control the rate of interpolation from the source to final shape
using the motion curve for groups you've assigned (if any). And, you can
add tweaks to the motion in the B roll if necessary.
Jason
Ritz Cracker Dance Instructor
Jason,
Thanks a lot for the best description I have ever had in tweening in ER,
however, there are some points I need to clarify:
<Trace the shapes you want to control on the first frame of the A roll.>
Is this the only way? Since I will produce these figures in Painter 3, I hope I
can expprt them as EPS or something that ER like and tweek them into shapes
instead of Trace them again. Even with my ArtZ pen, I found it not easy to
trace perfectly, never mention the time spent.
I really hope there is an even easier way, please.
Is there an example of this type of tweening anywhere?
Mei-Tien
Mei-Tien,
Shape importing from other programs is something the programmers are
said to be interested in. (Us tech support dweebs sometimes have to
gleen such things from the scuttlebut since the hallowed halls of
engineering are reserved for the immortals, whack! ok ok back to
our oars! stroke! stroke! stroke!) This functionality isn't there now
(to import EPS shape definitions) but this could happen int the future.
I didn't understand you final question…an example of what kind of
tweening where?
Jason
Three oars from the rear, second guy in
Jason,
An example of cartoon style tweening done in ER windows was what I was trying
to find. Anything available? I saw examples of face morphs etc, not cartoons.
Thanks again.
Mei-Tien
Mei-Tien,
The Coca Cola commercial in which the Sun is thirsty and the earth is
dry, the sun has a Coke and the earth turns green, is an example of
cartoon style tweening done in ER. If you're looking for a worked example
(including a project) of cartoon style tweening, I'm afrain we ourselves
don't have one we can post. If you're working on a cartoon, maybe you
could email us a couple of keyframes and we could do one for you to get
the idea.
Jason
Was not breastfed, and it shows
>> Jason
>> Was not breastfed, and it shows
Love those containers…..
Bruce
Breast fed in NY
Jason,
Sure, when I cleaned up a couple keyframes, I will mail to you right away.
Thanks a lot for the offer.
I wish I have a steadier hand when I do tracing my cartoons.
Mei-Tien
Jason,
Thanks for the insight. I definitely had edges that did the
on-screen/off-screen jig. Your explanation also provided more help.
Now its back to the drawing,er morphing board.
Thanks
Mike R.