Wave Warp stops moving

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

I've got a Wave Warp that animates at a Speed of -5, right to left. It only works for 615 frames, then sits there motionless. This happens in CS3 and CS4. What am I doing wrong? :)

[Kicke...@adobeforums.com]

Maybe a simplified answer here, Mark, but have you checked where your keyframes end? Press U on the layer to reveal the keyframes. If this is a preset effect, they usually end at 5 seconds or something like that.

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Many thanks for the suggestion, Kickerlight. The solid the waveform has been applied to has no keyframes on it at all though.

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

I have no idea and cannot reproduce this here on my end. Is it perhaps possible that you are ramping up the speed and at the point where you think it stops, it actually only plays so perfect in sync that for every frame the visual result is the same?

Mylenium

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

I'm not changing the speed of the wave at all - in fact I want it to remain constant throughout.

Here, let's see if anyone can replicate this sudden cessation of motion! I've now done this in CS4 and 3, on two separate XP PCs. Same result every time.

Create a new comp. Mine happens to be 1028 x 760, 24 fps and have a dureation of 3:28:20 (to match some audio I am working with).

Now, import a JPG or something. I've tried this out on strokes on paths in solids, JPGs, AVI - all of it reacts the same way.

Throw down your chosen item and choose Effects > Distort > Wave Warp. Your media will go all wiggly! Now set the Wave Speed to -5. Change no other settings on the Wave Warp distort.

Play. What I get is, the wave moves from right to left at a constant rate until 25:15 secs, when it stops dead and moves not again for the rest of the comp.

I've experimented with different speeds, too, and they all seem to stop after different times. It's as if Wave Speed somehow gets 'used up'.

So, another way I might put my question is - how do I get a Wave Warp to stay at a constant speed over 3:28:20? :)

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

[Andrew...@adobeforums.com]

You're 100% correct - I can duplicate the problem exactly in CS4 on a Mac Pro. The only parameter that seems to change the "stop point" of the effect is Wave Speed. The higher the number, the longer the effect lasts.

I believe you've found an honest-to-goodness bug. I have posted a Bug Report, drawing Adobe's attention to this Forum thread. Feel free to also post a Bug Report yourself:

<http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform>

You can work around the issue by trimming the layer at the point it stops, then duplicating it and distributing it along the timeline to fill your time requirement. Precomposing them may make things more manageable. You may need to play with your layer trim-point to remove any kinks in the animation at the layer change point.

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for that Andrew, much appreciated.

I like your work round, but don't think I can make it work (without a lot of fuss!) with what I doing to the Wave Warp next. Check out Aharon Rabinowitz's Creative Cow tutorial on creating custom wave forms to see where I am going with it...

<http://library.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/waveform_1.php>

I am actually wondering if I can do something with keyframes on the Phase property of the wave to get it to move at a constant rate throughout...? I'll have a tinker this pm.

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

I can report that a keyframed Phase also stops unexpectedly after a while.

[Navarro...@adobeforums.com]

What if you put a "time*10" expression into Phase?

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Navarro - *10 made for barely perceptible movement. *1000 - it still stops unexpectedly at about 33secs in. Thanks for the suggestion, tho.

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

Actually I believe I know what happens: At the time in question it reaches the maximum internal value of 32000 in its counter, which, without specific precautions is the limit for integer value sliders, if I recall correctly. Wonder, why I didn't see it the first time. So yes, it's a bug. Anyway, there's a workaround. Leave the speed value and animate the Phase. To create the illusion of continuous motion, use the modulus (%) to reset the values after they have reached a maximum.

wLength=40;
wCycles=20;
wCount=wLength*wCycles;
wTime=timeToFrames(time);

[wTime%wCount]

The trick would be to find a suitable seamless value for the wave length. Should be something like the acos of the wave speed value for sinus waves, but my brain is fried at the moment and I'm not in the mood to test it, so forgive me. Just experiment a bit and you surely will find the right values.

Mylenium

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Mylenium, thank you, that's quite amazing.

It's evident that the wave now animates for the entire duration of the comp. I've hit another snag, though, in terms of getting it to move at a useful speed, and I was wondering if your brain might be a bit less fried at some point and be able to guide me!

In essence, Mylenium, I want it to move just like it does at Wave Speed -5. I'm afraid (ashamed?) to admit that my trig just isn't up to the task...

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

The formula used in the plug-in caused me some experimentation, as it uses a linear transformation as opposed to associating the phase with the angle (it calculates the wave first, then moves it), but here is something you can use.

Mylenium

//-----------begin expression--------------

//wave length

wLength=thisLayer.effect("Wave Warp")("Wave Width");

//convert time to frame count

wTime=timeToFrames(time);

//frames for one phase

wSpeed=7;

//direction, 1 for negative, -1 for positive

wDirect=1;

//reset after x cycles

wCycles=5;

//reference cycle for 1 sec

wRefFps=timeToFrames(1);

//reference angle for 1 sec = 1 full phase

wAngFps=360/wRefFps;

//remap values

wAngFrame=linear(wSpeed,wRefFps,0,wAngFps,360);

//reset

wCount=wLength*wCycles;
wReset=wTime%wCount;

//calculate angle

wAng=wReset*wAngFrame*wDirect;

wAng]

//----------------end expression---------------

[a...@adobeforums.com]

or you can find the last frame of motion on the clip. trim it there. then loop it.

tested, it works

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Great idea a t, but I need to play with the height of the warp throughout the whole duration (it's simulating a curvy audio wave - something AE's built-in Audio waveform doesn't do. It's also simulating a mouth too...yeah, I know, kinda weird, but it'll make sense when it's finished!).

Mylenium, I've had my head buried in Drupal for a while, so I've not had a chance to try out your expression - but wanted to say that I really appreciate the time you've evidently put into that and I'll let you know how I get on as soon as I get back to the mysterious waveform project (which will be soon)!