Hi HRABX -

No - the motion path set by Motion Tracker cannot have a particle attached to it... but it does help you understand the path sequence if you attach a small graphic (like the one attached)... After the graphic is applied in Motion Tracker & you're back in the main timeline, open the object (star) in PiP Designer (see attached screenshot)

That's got nothing to do with particles, directly, but... it gives you an idea of how to set the motion path for your particle.

When it's opened in PiP Designer, save it as a custom path - then when you're in Particle Designer, you may be able to apply that path to your particle (I've never tried that).

I'll keep playing with it. Hopefully your magician is not too flamboyant with gestures like the dancer in the screenshot! (not a good choice for an example).

Cheers - Tony
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Quote Hi HRABX -

No - the motion path set by Motion Tracker cannot have a particle attached to it... but it does help you understand the path sequence if you attach a small graphic (like the one attached)... After the graphic is applied in Motion Tracker & you're back in the main timeline, open the object (star) in PiP Designer (see attached screenshot)

That's got nothing to do with particles, directly, but... it gives you an idea of how to set the motion path for your particle.

When it's opened in PiP Designer, save it as a custom path - then when you're in Particle Designer, you may be able to apply that path to your particle (I've never tried that).

I'll keep playing with it. Hopefully your magician is not too flamboyant with gestures like the dancer in the screenshot! (not a good choice for an example).

Cheers - Tony

Thank you Tony for an interesting solution. Being so new at this, I would have never arrived at such a clever workaround. I will give it a try and see if it works. The wand motion is not very complicated. It is shot from above on green screen and the motion is rather 2 dimensional and circular. I think I could reshoot it to be even simpler if needed.

I will try it now.

On another note, could you comment on the feasibility of producing a clip that is transparent? I think it is possible with animated gif and possibly MOV formats but neither of these are available in the production room. I have become very confused with the discussions on alpha channels and formats etc... Like I said, I am new to this. I am an engineer and used to using complicated software, but I am lacking familiarity with a lot of the terms used in the editing world. I am unable to even tell if this is possible or not. Some posts seem to indicate that it is possible, but you have to get the right format and compression and a few have said outright that it is not possible.

thank you again for your help. I do appreciate it

Quote Hi HRABX -

No - the motion path set by Motion Tracker cannot have a particle attached to it... but it does help you understand the path sequence if you attach a small graphic (like the one attached)... After the graphic is applied in Motion Tracker & you're back in the main timeline, open the object (star) in PiP Designer (see attached screenshot)

That's got nothing to do with particles, directly, but... it gives you an idea of how to set the motion path for your particle.

When it's opened in PiP Designer, save it as a custom path - then when you're in Particle Designer, you may be able to apply that path to your particle (I've never tried that).

I'll keep playing with it. Hopefully your magician is not too flamboyant with gestures like the dancer in the screenshot! (not a good choice for an example).

Cheers - Tony

Hello again, I am unable to figure out how to save the path. Saving only gives me the option of saving a template. I go to paths and it is not there - not that I expected it to be.

Can you please give specific instructions how to save the path?
thank you very much!!

Quote



Hello again, I am unable to figure out how to save the path. Saving only gives me the option of saving a template. I go to paths and it is not there - not that I expected it to be.

Can you please give specific instructions how to save the path?
thank you very much!!

OK I fell a little bit like a dunce for this comment, as I was abe to figure it out literally seconds after posting.

For those of you that are looking for this answer, you go to PiP designer and then click the Motion Tab. There is an icon to the right tht looks like an envelope with a squiggle on top of it. This will save the motion path


Adding this path to my particle created the effect that I wanted and I believe solved the problem.

Any answer to the transparency question would be appreciated but I think this topic can be close

thank you very much Tony. You are great

Cheers!

Hey - well done YOU!

That's great that you were able to work you way through it using your engineer's logic.

On the alpha channel question:

PDR can import & use alpha channel .MOV files but it cannot produce them. In effect, when you create a particle or PiP template you're making an animation with an alpha channel... but it only works within PDR. It's not the same as making an alpha channel video.

I said I'd keep playing with it & I did. Your question helped me learn something... i.e. that workaround had never occurred to me before. I barely use particles anyway.

Here's one I made that is kinda like the sparkles from a magic wand. I just modified an existing CL particle template.

Cheers - Tony
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