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Bounding Box, Anchor Point, and Transform Widget

Click on the basketball to select it. There will be three different elements surounding it:

  • A blue frame representing the layer Bounding Box which is based on the image width/height including the transparent pixels

  • A transform widget with multiple controllers to move, rotate, scale, and skew the layer

  • A plus symbol with a little dot in the center representing the Anchor Point; if needed, it can be moved while pressing the Ctrl/Cmd+ key but for now, we'll keep it at the center

|||IMAGE DE LA BALLE AVEC LES CONTROLLERS

The blue box around the basketball doesn't touch the edges of the ball. That's because the PNG image isn't cropped and there are transparent pixels around the ball. To automaticaly remove these transparent pixels and set the Bounding Box as close to the ball as possible, please refer to this section

Notes

To know more about Bounding Boxes, please refer to this section

Moving Layers in the Viewer

With the ball selected, you can apply transformations in several ways.

Transform Widget

The transform widget has two modes that each display two transformation types:

  • Move/Scale: this mode is the default mode

    • Move: the two arrows pointing up and to the right will move the layer in only one dimension; the icon with four arrows will move the layer freely

    • Scale: similarly, the icon at the bottom left corner will uniformly scale the layer up/down, while the two other icons will scale it in one dimension only

Notes

When clicking on a scale controller, the parameter value is based on the distance between the mouse cursor and the Anchor Point. To adjust the sensitivity, you can adjust the distance between the transform tools and the Anchor Point. See how to change the widget's aspect to know more.

  • Rotate/Skew: this second mode can be quickly accessed by pressing the Alt key

    • Rotate: positioning the mouse away from the controllers, then clicking and dragging will rotate the layer; the values in the center indicate the angle covered in degrees

    • Skew: the four icons around the two rotating arrows will skew the layer along one dimension

Notes

While rotating a layer, you can press the Ctrl/Cmd key to activate Angle Snapping with a value defined at the top the Viewer.

|||VIDEO COMBINANT TOUTES LES MANIERES DE DEPLACER UN LAYER

Scaling a Layer by Altering the Blue Frame Corners

You can also alter the edge corners of the blue frame to change the Scale parameter.

Before clicking on one of these dots:

  • Press Ctrl to activate the Center Scaling option instead of Corner Scaling

  • Press Shift to active the Uniform Scaling option to maintain the initial the aspect ratio.

Notes

To know more about these options, please refer to [this section] ||REGARDER SI LA SECTION EST A JOUR. FAIRE UN MIX ENTRE Viewer > Move Layer et Layer > Transform

|||VIDEO MONTRANT LA MANIPULATION DES COINS

Direct Interaction and How to Remove the Transform Widget

Alternatively, you can directly click on any layer pixel to reposition it. Remember that this interaction takes each layer's Alpha channel into account by default, but it's possible to make this selection based on Bounding Boxes, without taking transparent pixels into account.

If you don't want to use the Transform Widget, you can get rid of it by going to the overlay menu and unchecking it.

|||IMAGE DES OVERLAYS

Warning

Keep in mind that if you remove the Transform Widget, you'll only have access to the Move and Rotate controls and will need to rely on the numerical values of the Scale and Skew parameters to change those parameters.

Moving with Arrow Keys Depending on the Zoom Factor

If you're migrating from After Effects, you know that you can move a layer using the arrow keys.

In Autograph, the Left and Right arrows on the keyboard are used to move forward or backward in time by one image. The Up and Down arrows are used to change the current selection in the stack, after clicking on one of the layers.

To use the arrows to move the currently selected layer(s), press the Alt key at the same time after placing your mouse cursor over the Viewer area. This also prevents you from accidentally adding a keyframe to an animated layer when using the arrow keys.

Warning

In Autograph, the result of using shortcuts depends on where your mouse cursor is at the time. To move a layer using the arrows, make sure your mouse cursor is over the Viewer.

Distance Covered Depends on the Zoom Ratio

Using the arrows in this way will move the selected layer by 1 pixel on your screen, regardless of the zoom value. This means that the lower the zoom value, the greater the distance moved.

Here are a few examples of the number of pixels covered as a function of the zoom rate, each time you press one of the arrows:

  • 100%: displacement of 1 pixel
  • 50%: displacement of 2 pixels
  • 400%: displacement of 0.25 pixel
  • 17%: displacement of 5.88 pixels

As you can see, you're not restricted to multiples of 2.

Notes

If, in addition to pressing the Alt key, you also press the Shift key, your displacement will be multiplied by 10. This makes it possible to move a layer more quickly.

Inspecting Transform Parameters

Info

In Autograph, the coordinate system used to define the position of a layer is the same one taught in school. The origin of the coordinate system is at the center of the composition, (0,0).

This is a major difference from After Effects, where the (0,0) is at the top left, and Nuke, where the (0,0) is at the bottom left. Learn more about Autograph's coordinate system in this section.

Transformations in the Inspector Panel

After selecting the basketball, go to the Inspector to view its parameters:

  • In the Selection Overview section, the first line is selected by default, displaying the Transform group in the Properties section.

  • Expanding this section will show the parameters that update automatically when you're applying transformations to the ball, whether you are adjusting the rotation, skew, scale, or position.

Notes

To know more about the Inspector, please refer to this section.

Transformations in the Timeline

These transformation parameters are also accessible in the Timeline. Click on the triangle at the left of the layer to unfold the parameters, then do the same for the Transform group.

You can also directly display a parameter without having to unfold them, by using the Filter Params menu at the bottom right of the Timeline, or by using the keyboard shortcuts associated with each transformation parameter:

  • T for Transform
  • P for Position
  • R for Rotation
  • S for Scale
  • A for Anchor Point
  • D for Skew (D as in deformation)

Notes

To know more about parameter filtering, please refer to this section.

|||VIDEO DES CHANGEMENTS AVEC L'INSPECTOR ET LA TIMELINE


Adjusting the Size of the Basketball and Positioning the Net to Fit the Hoop

Now that we know how to transform a layer, we can:

  • Reduce the scale of the basketball to 0.1 and move it above the hoop.
  • Drag and drop the Net.mov file as a new layer at the top of the stack.
  • Move the playhead to the beginning of the animation to be sure that the net is visible on screen.
  • Set the net's Position to 0.0 / 204.0 to place it according to the hoop.

|||IMAGE DE LA COMPOSITION FINAL AVEC LE BALLON A LA BONNE TAILLE