Weird shape bug

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Level 1

4 points

Weird shape bug

So, I needed to mimic in Motion a lower 3rd done in After Effects. The anim-on section draws an outline of a rounded rectangle which then fills-in with colour and the lower-3rd text. The result looks something like this:

The outline animation should start and end at the bottom-right, above the curve of the corner, and travel in an anti-clockwise direction. For example, part way through the anim-on (and with the fill and text hidden) the outline would look something like this:

To create this particular direction of movement (and to have the movement start after the curved corner) I had to change the locations of the individual points of the geometry such that they ran anti-clockwise (point 1 at bottom-right, point 2 at top-right, point 3 at top-left and point 4 at bottom-left), and then animate the end offset of the outline. (Running the coordinates clockwise and animating the start offset means that the line starts before the rounded corner of the rectangle, which is not what I'm after).

So far so good, it works just fine in Motion, so I publish to FCPX, where it doesn't work properly - the outline draws itself clockwise from bottom-right instead of anti-clockwise. Huh?!! When I then reopen the motion file I find that the positions of the individual points of the shape have been modified so that they run in clockwise order (essentially point 2 and point 4 being swapped). So FCPX is following the instructions in the Motion file, but Motion is overruling my express instructions in order to force a shape to flow anti-clockwise. Why does Motion even care which order the points are in? Surely it should just accept the coordinates that it's given and work with them.

I've found a bodge to get me around it, but it would be better to know if there's a way to get Motion to accept an anticlockwise shape.

Posted on Feb 18, 2016 7:44 AM

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Answer 1

fox_m

Level 6

13,384 points

Feb 18, 2016 2:16 PM in response to AdamC_UK

How are you outlining the shape? Using a Write On behavior? If so, leave it at its default settings and rotate the shape 180° - X and 180° - Z. That will turn it around (and it will not change how it is positioned). To set the bottom right (just above the curve) start point, Convert to Points (type Option-Shift-S or Object menu > Convert to Points or right click and select Convert to Points from the popup menu.) Once converted, right click on the lower right corner point and select : Set Start Point. The animation will start right above the curve.

The problem with "points" rectangles (and circles) is that once converted, it is impossible to maintain an even curvature if you change the dimensions of the shape. If you can live with that, going back to the "old" point system is not a big deal. You can add points to any part of a shape and select any specific point as a starting point for a write on animation (or simply keyframe the Start and End Point Offsets in the Shape>Outline inspector.)

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Answer 2

AdamC_UK Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 25, 2016 4:23 AM in response to fox_m

Thanks fox_m. I was trying to think of what rotations would work, but with the deadline staring me in the face I was somewhat distracted - perfect solution though 🙂

I'm not on the latest version of Motion (cos I'm currently on Mavericks - long story, soon to be resolved!), and don't have the convert to points option. It would appear that the version I am on uses the shape tools simply to create a set of points, as it does not then retain that shape when editing the points (so, yes, it messes up the shapes - manageable for rectangles but a pain with circles!). So it would appear that my older version of Motion is forcing any collection of points to run in a clockwise direction, which I still say is daft! (I'd experiment with hand-drawn shapes to see what happens with them, but I'll be on El Capitan by the middle of next week so probably not with the effort)

Thanks again

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