Polyline 1.1 User Guide

Table of contents

Introduction

Polyline is a plug-in for Adobe After Effects CS6 or later, for creating a 3D polyline from an existing motion path. A polyline consists of a sequence of connected straight segments.

The effect can be found in Effect > Motion Boutique > Polyline. Typically, you apply Polyline to a 3D null layer for which you have set position keyframes.

Structure
Structure

Polyline analyzes every position keyframe of the layer, and creates a 3D segment between every pair of consecutive keyframes. Each segment is a precomp layer so it is easily customizable. Furthermore, since each segment is a section of a unique master precomp, you can quickly modify the appearence of the whole polyline by editing the master precomp.

For a better control of the polyline, the plug-in also creates a null layer at each corner of the path. This allows you to adjust the path of the polyline by moving the null layers in 3D space.

Polyline provides additional features such as the ability to create a closed polyline, a reveal animation, or colorize the polyline with one the many color themes.

Polyline Interface
Polyline Interface

Getting Started

For a quick test of what Polyline does, you can follow these steps:

Parameters

Polyline provides some parameters to customize the look of the default polyline built when you hit the Create button.

Width

This parameter specifies the width in pixels of the polyline.

Width
Width

Color Theme

This parameter allows you to colorize the polyline. You can select a single color, define a gradient, or choose one of the most popular Adobe Color themes.

Note:

ThemeResult
Single Color
Gradient
Hue Shift
Random
1944 Mustang
Afternoon Chai
Appalachian Spring
Birdfolio Blues
Cherry Cheesecake
Cote Azur
Firenze
Friends and Foes
Gettysburg
Granny Smith
Harbor
Herbs and Spice
Honey Pot
ThemeResult
Japanese Garden
Neutral Blue
Ocean Sunset
Oddend
Optimist
Orange on Gray
Orange on Olive
Pear Lemon Fizz
Phaedra
Pistachio
Salmon on Ice
Sandy Stone Beach Ocean Diver
Sea Wolf
Tech Office
Vitamin C
Watermelon
Zen and Tea

Reveal Animation

This parameter allows you to create a reveal animation of the polyline. Animation is done with masks. Note that mask animation is using expressions so that the reveal is synchronized with the original path keyframes. For instance, moving the last keyframe of the path 10 frames forward would lengthen the reveal animation by an amount of 10 frames.

Reveal Animation
Reveal Animation

The default reveal animation can be easily customized by creating the reveal effect directly in the master path precomp. For instance, in the example below, 3 instances of the Linear Wipe effect were used to reveal the polyline.

Custom Reveal
Custom Reveal

Closed Path

Polyline provides the ability to create a closed polyline, by adding an extra corner at the position of the first corner. This additional corner is linked by expression to the first corner, so that their position always match.

Closed Path
Closed Path

Note:

Animated Closed Path
Animated Closed Path

Uprez Factor

When you create a polyline with Uprez Factor set to 1 (the default value), the size of each segment corresponds to the distance between the corresponding path keyframes. If you later decide to move the null controllers (i.e., the corners) to modify the polyline a posteriori, segments will be dynamically rescaled. In some situations (important changes between the initial path and the modified corners, or camera very closed to the segments), increasing the Uprez Factor allows you to upscale every element by a certain factor so you get better resolution.

Uprez Factor
Uprez Factor

Corner Joint

Once the segments of the polyline are in place, a corner pin effect is used to connect them so that they join nicely. In general, you wouldn't have to change this parameter as both options produce the same results in most situations. However, for compatibility reason and to better handle particular cases, you may choose either the standard Corner Pin or the CC Power Pin effect. For cases where the two options yield slightly different results, CC Power Pin usually provides better anti-aliasing, but it's sometimes less precise (i.e., the layer might exceed the area defined by the four corners of the effect).

Corner Joint
Corner Joint

Material Options

Polyline provides the ability to control the Material Options of the segments. This includes all usual After Effects material parameters such as Ambient, Diffuse or Specular settings.

Troubleshooting

If you detect a bug or have any questions about Polyline, do not hesitate to contact our customer support team.

Please visit Motion Boutique website to be informed about Polyline updates, tutorials, and more.