Animating an Effect Over Time
In Harmony, to animate an effect over time, create a function curve by adding keyframes to the parameters you want to animate. To do this, you will use the Layer Properties view and the Timeline view. You can fine tune your animation using the Function view.
1. | In the Timeline view, add the effect and connect the layers to it. |
2. | Select the Effect layer. |
3. | To create the function curve: |
‣ | In the Layer Properties view, click on the Function button you want to animate to create a function curve. |
OR
‣ | You can also expand the effect layer's parameters in the Timeline view by clicking on the Expand Function button and add a keyframe using the F6 key to the parameter you want to animate. |
4. | In the Timeline view, click on the Show Data View button. |
5. | In the Timeline view, go to the frame where you want to start animating the effect. |
6. | In the Data view, click on the Add Keyframe button. |
7. | In the Value field scroll to the keyframe value or type the value in the field. |
‣ | If your keyframes are stop-motion keyframes, in the Timeline view, select the new keyframes. Right-click on the selection and select Set Motion Keyframe. |
8. | Repeat this process for each keyframe to be added. |
When compositing your scene, it will often happen that you want to animate the parameters of an effect over time. You may want to have an object fading in or out by changing the transparency level over time or increasing the colour contrast on one of your drawings over a certain frame range.
To animate an effect over time, create a function curve by adding keyframes to the parameters you want to animate. To do this, you will use these views: Layer Properties, Network and Timeline. You can fine tune your animation using the Function view.
1. | In the Network view, drag an effect module from the Module Library view and to the Network view. |
2. | Plug the effect between the drawing element on which you want to apply the effect and a composite module. You can do this by manually unplugging and plugging, or by holding down Alt as you drag it through a connection. |
The effect should also appear in the Timeline view.
3. | To animate the value of the parameter, you must create a function curve and add keyframes on it. For example, you can set the Blur-Radial effect to have no blur on the first frame and become very blurry by the end of the scene by animating its Radius parameter. Do one of the following to create the function curve: |
‣ | In the Layer Properties view, click the Function button you want to animate to create a function curve. |
‣ | Expand the effect layer's parameters in the Timeline view by clicking the Expand Function button and press F6 to add a keyframe to the parameter you want to animate. |
4. | In the Timeline view, click the Show Data View button. |
5. | In the Timeline view, go to the frame on which you want to start animating the effect. |
6. | In the Data view, click the Add Keyframe button. |
7. | In the Value field, scroll to the keyframe value or type the value in the field. |
‣ | If your keyframes are stop-motion keyframes, in the Timeline view, select the new keyframes. Right-click and select Set Motion Keyframe. |
8. | Repeat this process for each keyframe to be added. |