UB nodes

iaian7 » tutorials » lightwave   John Einselen, 25.05.08

A list of surface nodes I find especially helpful in the universal binary version of Lightwave 9.3 and 9.5.

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Fading on Distance

iaian7 » tutorials » aftereffects   John Einselen, 15.06.07

Fades layers based on distance from the camera, allowing you to fly through compositions without layer snapping as the camera passes through. Especially effective for flying through layers of clouds.

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Channel Multiply

iaian7 » tutorials » aftereffects   John Einselen, 15.06.07

Multiply a layer’s channels by a specified amount. It’s ridiculously simple, but invaluable when dealing with 3D tracking camera data, where scaling the global animation can really help fix After Effects insistence on importing meters as pixels.

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Null Averaging

iaian7 » tutorials » aftereffects   John Einselen, 14.06.07

Tracking in After Effects can often result in data too jittery to be of any use. If you’re able to get multiple tracks, however, it’s possible to average them into a single, smoother, track. Even if the single tracks are decent, averaging will help increase the accuracy of the data.

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Multiplaning

iaian7 » tutorials » aftereffects   John Einselen, 14.06.07

Use a slider or null to control a 2D multiplaning effect. No 3D, no cameras, no fuss.

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Channel Additions

iaian7 » tutorials » aftereffects   John Einselen, 14.06.07

Basic positional modifications, especially useful for effect center points that need to be attached to a null by a specified offset.

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Rotational Displacement

iaian7 » tutorials » lightwave   John Einselen, 18.05.07

Lightwave includes a vortex distortion plugin, but unfortunately it’s a clumsy setup and especially difficult to use with other displacements. Here’s how to create the effect using nodes, and take it beyond the simple vortex.

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Blending Parents

iaian7 » tutorials » lightwave   John Einselen, 10.05.07

This is a simple Expression setup that animates a single child between two moving parents. It’s a lot more powerful than the keyframed parenter, and allows you to smoothly transition between object paths.

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