Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

FCE4: How to create an analog round faced clock ?

Hi all video editing experts,

I need some help here.

I wanted a round faced analog clock to superimpose onto my video. I need to be able to programmed the clock to move from say from 6::29:40 to 6:30:00 and I need to see the second's arm to tick 20 seconds in this case.

I think I can do those digital clocks using livetype but I need a round faced analogue clock with the second arm's ticking ....

Any ideas how I can do it (or where I can purchase this plugins ) ?

Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 24 inches, 4GB RAM, 2.8GHz, 320GB HDD, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

Posted on Feb 16, 2010 9:50 PM

Reply
39 replies

Feb 17, 2010 3:17 AM in response to RyanManUtd

A lot more work, but:

You could create each element in Photoshop (the clock face, the separate hands, etc.) then position them how you want them. You could set their anchor points to their base at the center of the clock then animate their rotation as necessary.

The second hand would have to move 60x as fast as the minute hand, and the hour hand would have to move 1/12x the speed of the minute hand. This is a whole lot easier to do in After Effects because of the presence of expressions, but if you're determined it can be done.

I'll edit later with a link to a test video I made the other day using After Effects; the principle's the same.

Otherwise Ian's suggestion is easier and will work great too.

Feb 17, 2010 4:07 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

A further refinement to my suggestion would be to put the clock ( ideally one of those large plastic wall clocks you can get for about £3) on a blue or green cloth. Then you can use the Blue/Greenscreen Filter so that just the round face of the clock floats above the background video.

Sasha's method is the ideal one as it gives you complete control but is time-consuming and you do need AE which costs more than FCE!

Feb 17, 2010 7:42 AM in response to RyanManUtd

Hi(Bonjour)!

You can animate a such clock in Livetype (you want just 20 seconds, yes?).

Design the bezel without hands, and separate 3 hands (hour,minute,second)in photoshop over a transparent background, save those 4 elements in PNG to keep transparent BG.

Import them in livetype and animate hands for 20 second.

Import this livetype project as it into FCE. You can also animate hand in a FCE sequence (bezel on V1, hands on V2,V3 and V4). Nest this sequence in your main one.

You can use opacity slider combined to screen composite mode to get a translucent clockwatch (like those found in early TV era) and use it in right bottom corner.

Michel Boissonneault

Feb 17, 2010 8:54 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Ian R. Brown wrote:
A further refinement to my suggestion would be to put the clock ( ideally one of those large plastic wall clocks you can get for about £3) on a blue or green cloth. Then you can use the Blue/Greenscreen Filter so that just the round face of the clock floats above the background video.

Sasha's method is the ideal one as it gives you complete control but is time-consuming and you do need AE which costs more than FCE!

Yes Ian, sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. Hahaha

I think your suggestion is the cheapest. I went out to buy a cheap alarm clock this afternoon and as well as a plain green colour paper. I will shoot a video of the clock over the green paper tomoro because it is getting late over here now.

Thanks & good night

Cheers

Feb 17, 2010 4:11 PM in response to RyanManUtd

So as promised here's a short test I created in After Effects the other day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hKqgOR1ZJI

The exact same effect could be created in FCE if you're interested, with a bit more work. For example, say you want a 30 minute clip going at normal speed.

1. Photoshop the hour, minute, and second hands and put them on separate video tracks above the clock face.

2. Set the respective anchor points of the clock hands to their bases, so that when rotated eventually they will get rotated around their base and not around their center.

3. Arrange the hands on the clock to where you want the time to start, say exactly 12:00 so all the hands are facing up.

4. Place a keyframe at the beginning for the minute hand's rotation, then go to the end of the half-hour clip and change the value to 180 to place another keyframe and rotate the minute hand so it is now pointing at the 6.

5. Place a keyframe at the beginning for the second hand's rotation, then go to the end. Since 30 minutes have gone by, we'll want the second hand to undergo 30 complete rotations. So you should set the keyframe for the second hand at the end to 30x360, or 10,800.

6. Place a keyframe at the beginning for the hour hand's rotation, then go to the end. Since only half an hour has gone by, we'll want the end value of the hour hand to be 1/24 of a full rotation, or 15. Change the value to create a second keyframe.


If I explained this right, you should be able to see that with a bit of math you can animate your very own analog clock. You'll just need to adjust the values based on the time you want the clock to be showing, and how fast you want time to be going.

After Effects makes this especially easy because of the presence of expressions (little bits of JavaScript code that control how parameters are animated). I could set the value of the second hand's rotation to +thisComp.layer("minute hand").transform.rotation*60+, and no matter how I change the minute hand the second hand's animation will automatically be updated to follow it. I could similarly do the same kind of thing with the hour hand. The advantage of this is I could experiment with different values and animation of the minute hand without having to constantly update the other two hands' keyframes to follow it.

However, if you plan in advance and decide how you want your animation to look before you start keyframing, you should be able to create the same type of animation without too much trouble in FCE.

Hope that made sense,
Sasha

P.S. If you find it easier, you could always use Ian's approach!

Feb 18, 2010 2:59 AM in response to skalicki

That is extremely impressive!

Do you have to photograph (or obtain in some other way) the clock face and fingers etc. or can they be created in AE?

Roughly how long did it take to create?

Michel, I also thought about using a matte but when I tried it I couldn't get it to work, though I am sure I have done similar things.

I tried with the Shapes generator and though I could get the round clock face peering through, I couldn't get rid of the black rectangle around it.

I probably shouldn't have used a generator . . . . . so how could I do it?

Feb 18, 2010 6:58 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Ian R. Brown wrote:
Michel, I also thought about using a matte but when I tried it I couldn't get it to work, though I am sure I have done similar things.

I tried with the Shapes generator and though I could get the round clock face peering through, I couldn't get rid of the black rectangle around it.

I probably shouldn't have used a generator . . . . . so how could I do it?


Hi(Bonjour) Ian,

It's easier to designt a matte in photoshop itself. A plain black an white silouhette of the clock and using the luma matte composite mode.

Michel Boissonneault

FCE4: How to create an analog round faced clock ?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.