{"id":1239,"date":"2016-04-27T16:45:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T16:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobbyciraldo.com\/?page_id=1239"},"modified":"2018-05-09T00:11:51","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T00:11:51","slug":"manipulating-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx1\/topics\/manipulating-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Manipulating Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manipulating Time<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

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  1. Freeze Frame<\/strong><\/span>\n
      \n
    1. Right-click a layer, select “Time->Freeze Frame”<\/li>\n
    2. You’ll notice a weird new keyframe for an also new “Time Remap” property (described more below.) For now you can ignore that keyframe.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    3. Slowing Down and Speeding Things Up<\/strong><\/span>\n
        \n
      1. Time Stretch<\/li>\n
      2. Right-click a layer, select “Time->Time Stretch…”<\/li>\n
      3. This is more like a per-layer setting, as opposed to a property that you can animate or see in the twirled-down areas. This setting can be displayed\u00a0with UI toggles at the bottom-left of AE.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      4. Time Remapping<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0– aka\u00a0“keyframing the timecode of a layer”<\/em><\/strong>\n
          \n
        1. Sometimes you’ll want to do something fancier with the playback speed of a layer. For example, maybe you’ll want playback to get\u00a0faster and faster over time, or slower and slower, or some combo, or perform a gradual slow-mo reverse that ends with a freeze-frame, etc. Time remapping is handy in these more complex cases.<\/li>\n
        2. After enabling Time Remapping<\/strong><\/span>, a new property<\/strong> is added to the layer called Time Remap<\/strong><\/span>.<\/li>\n
        3. This Time Remap<\/strong> property will automatically have two (2) new keyframes added: One at the initial<\/strong> In<\/strong> point of the layer, and one at the initial Out<\/strong> point of the layer (plus one frame.<\/strong><\/em>)\n
          \"screen-shot-2016-11-29-at-3-08-14-pm\"
          Before<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          \""After"\"
          After<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
        4. The layer’s In<\/strong> and Out<\/strong>\u00a0boundaries can now be extended beyond their initial minimum and maximum positions. I.e., the layer can be lengthened\u00a0indefinitely.
          \n\"screen-shot-2016-11-29-at-3-59-45-pm\"
          \n<\/em><\/li>\n
        5. The timeline can display timecode<\/strong> or frame count<\/strong>. You can quickly switch back and forth by Command-clicking<\/strong> the time display in the top-left of the timeline panel:
          \n\"screen-shot-2016-11-29-at-4-02-50-pm\"\"screen-shot-2016-11-29-at-4-03-00-pm\"
          \nNote that the\u00a0values<\/em> of the time-remapping property change to reflect the current viewing choice. For now, let’s switch to the\u00a0frame count view.<\/strong><\/li>\n
        6. When working with time-remapping, it can sometimes help to imagine that each\u00a0frame of the original, non-time-remapped layer being\u00a0numbered 000<\/strong>0<\/strong>, 000<\/strong>1<\/strong>, 000<\/strong>2<\/strong>, 000<\/strong>3<\/strong>, etc.\n

          \"numbered-frames\"
          Imagine the frames of the original\u00a0footage being numbered like so.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
        7. The keyframes of the Time Remap<\/strong>\u00a0property indicate\u00a0what frame number should be happening at that particular point in time.<\/em>\u00a0After Effects will “tween” or interpolate what frames should be displayed between the keyframes. (This is why the initial two keyframes are set at the beginning and end, and their values are 0000 and whatever the last frame number is.)<\/li>\n
        8. Time Remap keyframes are little diamonds at first (values change at constant rate) but can be set to Ease-In<\/strong> or Ease-Out<\/strong> or Hold<\/strong> or any other variation. This allows for time to speed up or slow down gradually.<\/li>\n
        9. By default, AE will take a very simple approach to interpolating in-between frames of a time remapped layer. You can use\u00a0Frame Blending<\/strong> to improve the results.
          \n\"screen-shot-2016-11-29-at-4-37-21-pm\"
          \nFrame Blending<\/strong> has a per-layer switch<\/strong>, as well as a global switch.<\/strong> They must both be turned on to see the desired result. The per-layer switch will only be available on video sources (not sub-comps.) You must go into the sub-comp and turn on the frame-blending switch.<\/li>\n
        10. Freeze Frame<\/strong><\/span> is actually a special case of Time Remap, where a “hold<\/strong>” keyframe (looks like a block) is set with a specific time value.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        11. Looping the Time of Material<\/strong><\/span>\n
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          1. Simplest in some cases: Loop an Imported Video n Times<\/strong>\n
              \n
            1. Right-click on imported item and select “Interpret Footage->Main…”<\/li>\n
            2. Enter a value other than zero in the Loop text box and click OK<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            3. Loop with Expressions (for looping keyframes)<\/strong>\n
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              1. Typical examples:\n