Lightning following a path

[Russell_...@adobeforums.com]

Hi,

I can't believe I'm stuck on this but ... I'm trying to get the end point of the lightning effect to follow a path. I pasted in a path that I made in illustrator and then positioned, scaled it and recopied the path. I then created a keyframe for the end point of the lightning and pasted the path to get keyframes for endpoints.

The end point of the lightning follows the shape of the path but not it's position. Regardless of where I position or how I scale the path, the lightning's end point ends up way off to the left and up from the path's position. I hope this is clear.

Any ideas?

[Aaron...@adobeforums.com]

Works perfectly for me. You did position the path on the same layer as the lightning, not on another layer, right? And when testing the results, are you saying the control marker for "Direction" doesn't follow the path, or is it that the actual end point of the lightning doesn't meet up with the Direction marker? Do you have your Lightning Type set to "Strike"?

Aaron

[-st...@adobeforums.com]

I think aaron is using "advanced lightning", and you're using "lightning".
try using advanced lightning instead.

-stev=o

[Russell_...@adobeforums.com]

Yup, the path is on the same layer as the lightning.

What's happening is that the "end point" of the lightning, which is supposed to follow the previously pasted path, is NOT on the path at all.

It does race out the correct shape but it's in the wrong position (i.e. not on the path. offset from it some 200 or so pixels)

"Do you have your Lightning Type set to "Strike"? "

.... I don't see that attribute in the Effects Control list for Lightning. Where is it?

[Aaron...@adobeforums.com]

Oops, sorry, missed that finer point.

However, "Lightning" works just fine for me as well. The end point follows the path perfectly. Is it possible this is a Pixel Aspect Ratio problem? Try (temporarily) changing you comp to use square pixels, then see if copying and pasting the path into the end point works. then you can change the PAR back to D1/DV if that is what you were using.

Aaron

[Russell_...@adobeforums.com]

Advanced Lightning is not in the effects list. Is this something new to After Effects that wasn't in version 5 or earlier?

[-st...@adobeforums.com]

ditto.
same results as aaron, here.
the endpoint follows the mask shape precisely.
can you try to create a brand new solid, paste your maskshape on it, and apply "lightning" (pasting keyframes into "endpoint")? does the same thing happen (still off by x pixels)?
as a side note, i think advanced lightning has been available since 4.1,
but with the pro-bundles.

-stev=o