Linking the Psunami camera
Use expressions to link Psunami to a comp Camera
[ from: Digital Anarchy ] f/x tools for revolutionaries
psunami : camera linking via expressions Psunami: Camera Linking
This tutorial will go over how to link the Psunami camera to an After Eects comp camera using simple expressions. artwork, or 3D elements into the Psunami water scene and want to match the water up to an animated camera move. This is ideal for artists who are compositing text, additional
step 1: create a composition
In After Eects, create a new composition. For this tutorial, we will use a 720x540 NTSC Square Pixel composition, but this can be adapted to a composition of any size. If you are importing 3D graphics with a 3D camera move that you want to match, make certain that the After Eects composition matches your 3D scene settings, and be sure of your 3D cameras Field of View.

step 2: create a camera

Create an After Eects camera by going to Layer> New> Camera. You can animate the camera as necessary before or after this tutorial; the linking expressions wont hinder the animation.
A color-coded guide for expression linking.
Its worth noting that the Psunami camera starts o relatively close to the water surface in relation to the initial central origin of After Eects 3D space. Depending on your outcome, it might be worth raising the camera and 3D element a bit before linking. This can be handled quickly within the expression we are about to go over, but keep the idea in mind when planning your camera and scene.
step 3: create layers, apply psunami
Create a new Solid layer by going to Layer> New> Solid. Make sure the Solid is the same size as your comp. With this layer selected in the Timeline, hit F3 to bring up the Eect Control window. Apply Psunami by going to Eect> Digital Anarchy> Psunami.
Create a 3D Text layer above the Psunami layer. Type the words Ocean Optics. Make the layer 3D by clicking its 3D switch in the Timeline.
TIP: If you are importing 3D scene and camera data from an outside 3D app such as Maya or 3D Studio Max, check out Trish & Chris Meyers Creating Motion Graphics with After Eects Volume 2: Advanced Technique. This book has a great section on how to import camera data from various 3D apps.
2007, Digital Anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | Psunami: Photoreal 3D Water Simulation & Effects.
psunami : camera linking via expressions
step 4: prep the palettes
Twirl down the Psunami layer in the Timeline, then twirl down the Psunami Eects. Open the Psunami Camera parameters in the Timeline. Twirl down the actual Camera layer as well, to expose its transformation information. Now expand the Timeline window until you can see both the Psunami camera controls and the AE Camera controls at the same time. This makes the expression linking much easier. Alright, lets get to whipping our parameters into shape!
step 5: pickwhip your position
Under the Psunami camera section, Option+Click (Mac) or Alt+ Click (Win) on the little keyframing clock next to the X East-West parameter. A section called Expression: X East-West will open directly underneath. This contains the buttons for our expressions.

Left-click and hold down the pickwhip button (the little spiral) and drag the resulting whip line to the Position parameter for the AE Camera Z-axis. An expression will generate in the layer area of the Timeline that looks like this: thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform.position[2]
Circled in red, the pickwhip button.
Once you let go of the pickwhip and this text appears, its text eld should be active and ready for text entry. We need to divide all of the Position parameters by 35 in order to translate them into the Psunami camera space. You can adjust this value later if you feel that you arent getting good results, but 35 is a good approximation to start with. Add /35 after the recently created expression in order to divide it by 35. Your text should look like this: thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform.position[2]/35 Continue this process for the Y North-South and Elevation parameters. Option/Alt+Click on the keyframing clock next to Y North-South and pickwhip it to the AE Cameras X-Axis Position. Divide this by 35 as we did with the X East-West expression.
step 6: special whip for position
Now pickwhip the Elevation parameter to the AE Cameras Y-axis Position. Theres a little more math to this particular expression than just dividing it by 35. In our particular comp, the expression for Elevation should look like this: 7.714-(thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform.position[1]/35)
The 7.714 comes from dividing the height of our comp by 2, then dividing that result by 35. So (540/2)/35. You will need to recalculate this number and adjust the expression accordingly when using a dierent composition size.
Why do we need to do this? The reason is that After Eects sees 0 as being at the top of the screen, but Psunami sees 0 as being in the middle of the screen. The Psunami unit equation is: Vertical Center of screen = (Height of Comp/2)/35
step 7: pickwhip the rotation
Round and round we go! Now that we have the Camera position linked up, we need to hook up the Rotation. Option/Alt+Click on the keyframe clock next to the Psunami Camera Tilt parameter. Pickwhip this parameter to the AE Camera X Orientation. Tilt needs a bit of math added to the resulting expression. Add 90 to the AE Camera orientation, and subtract that result by 180. Be mindful of the parenthesis in this expression. It should look like: 180-(thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform. orientation[0]+90)
Pickwhip the Pan parameter to the AE Camera Y Orientation. This expression only needs to have 90 added to it, so it should look like: thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform. orientation[1]+90
Pickwhip the Roll parameter to the AE Camera Z Orientation. No additional math is necessary on this expression. It should look like:

In this graphic, you can see the expression code manifesting itself as the overbearing burden of humanity on the soul of the camera path, juxtaposed with black to create a sense of wonder and awe at what lies beyond the tutorial.um. Oh wait. This is a screenshot of the cameras path animating around the ocean optics graphic, along with a composite of the expression code.
thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform.orientation[2]
If your animated camera isnt using the Orientation parameters for motion, you can substitute the Rotation parameters for them. Tilt links to X Rotation, Pan links to Y Rotation, and Roll links to Z Rotation. All of the math added to the Tilt and Pan expressions still applies.

step 8: tweak the code

And thats it! With all of these expressions in place, your Psunami scene will move around as you adjust the AE camera. Again, all of these expression can be applied before or after you animate your AE camera. They can also be applied after you load in external camera data from a 3D application. The initial expression for the Camera Elevation might prove to be too low for your composition. You can either raise the AE camera and your 3D elements before or after you pickwhip the expression, or you can add numbers to the Elevation expression yourself.

step 8: before

For example, lets say that we want to raise the Psunami camera 50 units (that is, lower the water surface away from the camera). To this, you can add 50 to the Elevation expression that was created in Step #6: 7.714-(thisComp.layer(Camera 1).transform. position[1]/35)+50

step 8: after

step 9: a real world example
To nish o this tutorial, you can download a QuickTime movie and After Eects project le. These les show a simple but real world example of Psunami camera linking. If you havent already, download this Zip le to follow along: http://www.anarchyunderground.net/tutes/psunami_camera-link.zip
The AE project le is a 720x540 NTSC Square Pixel 5-second composition.
The Text & Bars pre-comp contains the animated text and decorative bars. Collapse Transformations has been turned on in the Final Comp, allowing it to update in its own 3D space while the AE Comp camera is being animated.
The AE Comp Camera is animating in a clockwise arc around the text. The Ocean Optics text itself was animated using the built-in text animation features present in both After Eects 6.5 and After Eects 7.0. In the nal comp, Psunami has been linked to the AE Comp Camera using the settings found in this tutorial. The comp camera and the text have been raised to give the AE Camera clearance over the water. Have questions about this tutorial? Just email Marco at marco@digitalanarchy.com. Thanks!

Float a Beachball in Psuanmi
How to composite objects into Psunamis water surface
[ from: Digital Anarchy ] f/x tools for revolutionaries
psunami : float a beachball in the waves Float a beachball in Psunamis waves
In this tutorial, we will go over how to place an object along then make it oat in the Psunami waves. Psunamis ocean surface. You and I will make a nifty beachball,
step 01: create a composition
For this tutorial, we will use an After Eects composition set to 720x540 NTSC with a Square Pixel aspect ratio. In After Eects, create two new compositions. Set them both to the NTSC D1 Square Pixel composition preset. Name one composition Beachball and the other one Final. Each composition should be 5.0 seconds long using a 29.97 frame rate.
The nal image: A bobbing ball.
step 02: make a beachball
Open the Beachball composition. To make 10 stripes, well need 10 solids that are 72 pixels wide and 540 pixels tall. Create 10 separate solids using those dimensions and color them as you will. I made 5 dierent colored solids, arranged them in a row, then just duplicated them and positioned them until they lled the entire frame. Here are the X positions that I used to create an evenly striped texture:
Solid # X Position 682 10
step 03: inflate the beachball
Once you get a nice pattern extending across the composition, drag the Beachball composition into the Final comp. Select the Beachball comp and apply the CC Sphere lter; go to Eect> Perspective> CC Sphere.
NOTE: If you do not have this eect, you can install it FREE from your After Eects installation CDs Third Party plug-in folder. The Cycore (CC) eects are free and very fun to use.
Once the lter is applying, change these settings: Set the Sphere radius to 63. Set its Oset to 640 on X and 370 on Y. Then walk away from the ball, er. lter. Well come back to the beachball animation a bit later.
Our beachball texture map
2007, Digital Anarchy : f/x tools for revolutionaries | Psunami: Photoreal 3D Water Simulation & Effects.
psunami : float a beachball in the waves

step 04: apply psunami

Create a new Solid layer (New> Layer> Solid). Select the Solid and go to Eect> Digital Anarchy> Psunami to apply our lter. A default water scene will appear. This tutorial will use the Default setup, but our technique will work with all of the included Psunami presets or ones of your own design. Name this layer Psunami. We are going to sandwich the beachball between two layers of Psunami water. Then we will create a third Psunami layer to show a shadow as the ball passes across the scene.
step 05: top of the sandwich
Set up Psunami as you normally would, and set the Rendering mode to Realistic. Again, this tutorial is only starting o from the default settings. Drop down to the Primary waves section and set Wind Direction to 0. This will make the water ow from right to left, which is how we will animate the ball. Duplicate the Psunami layer. Put this duplicate layer above the Beachball comp in your timeline, and move your initial Psunami layer underneath the Beachball if it isnt there already. Name the top-most Psunami layer Front. Open up the Psunami parameters on the Front layer. Pop open the render options section. Switch the Render What pop-up menu to Water Only to Max Distance. Set the Max Distance (KM) parameter to 0.055.

Psunami with Wind Direction tweaked.
This will make the top layer of Psunami only render the water, and will have the rendered water cut o at a certain point while retaining the wave distortion at the edge of the rendering area. At this point, you should see the beachball poking up between the Front Psunami layer and looking very out of place; you now have the Beachball sandwiched between the two Psunami layers making it look as if it was actually in the water.
step 06: bobbing with the ocean breeze
We now need to light and animate our ball to properly t the object into the Psunami scene. Lets start with animation. Key the CC Sphere Oset parameter to go from 640 at the very beginning of the clip to 185 at the end of the comp. Set a keyframe for the actual Beachball layers position at both the beginning and end of the clip, so that each keyframe has the same value.
You now have a beachball oating across the screen. At 19 to 20 frame intervals, key the Layer position parameter to move up and down on the Y axis by about 8 to 10 pixels. So 19 frames out of the beginning of the clip, key the Layer position to 278 on Y. Then 19 frames later, key it back to a value around 270. Vary the values a little bit for a more organic bobbing animation. Keep the keyframes evenly spaced between the beginning and end keys.
step 07: rolling around aimlessly
You can mimic the rolling eects of the ball moving through the water by lightly animating the Y and Z rotation values in CC Sphere. First, set the X Rotation to 14 for a more dynamic beachball pose. Key the Y Rotation to spin about 300 to 360 degrees over the course of the composition. Key the Z Rotation to bounce between values of around -10 and 30 for a slight back-and-forth motion. You should now have a beachball meandering across the water in the same direction as the waves, half obscured by the front water layer. Were almost there!

step 08: light the ball

The Beachball needs to look like it is wet and be shaded to t in with the environment. These settings are for meshing the beachball into the Psunami default lighting, so adjust them as necessary for your own compositions. Set the Light Intensity to somewhere around 118 and 120. Make the Light Color a light yellow, or use the color eyedropper to select a yellow from the horizon colors. Set the Light Height to about -30.
Default CC Sphere applied to our texture map.
The Light Direction will have to be animated as the ball is moving around in front of the light source. Using the position and animation values here, set the Light Direction to -25 and key it at the beginning of the comp. At the end of the timeline, set Light Direction to 25. Now as the ball moves across the screen, the light source should adjust itself to the position of the sun.

step 09: shade the ball

Pop open the Shading parameter set in CC Sphere if it isnt already open. We need to dene how the ball interacts with the light, also known as adjusting the shading.
Set the Ambient parameter to about 20. Set Diuse to 100. This will decrease the amount of contrast present on the ball and tie it into the global lighting in the Psunami water. Set the Specular setting to 53. Set Roughness to 0.081, and set Metal to 6.0. These shading settings will make the ball look smooth and wet with a sharp highlight glinting o its surface. Tweak them to come up with dierent surface shading settings, maybe make a steel or iron beachball (they might not oat in real life, but hey, we all have an artistic license, right?)
step 10: follow your shadow
So we now have a happy little beachball oating across the screen. but something is still not right. The ball isnt casting a shadow! Note how the water highlight stays even though the ball passes across it. Well x this with a cunning use of masks. Duplicate the Front Psunami layer and pre-comp it; select it in the Timeline and hit Shift+Command+C (Shift+Ctrl+C on a PC). Select Move all attributes into new composition, name the comp Shadowpass, and hit OK.
Our ball needs a shadow to pull o the believability of this scene.
Go into the Shadowpass composition and open up the Psunami eect controls. Change the Max Distance to 0.6 even. This will give you some room to blend the mask into the nal footage without any hard clipping edges. Head down to the Light 1 parameter set and twirl it down. Set the Light Aects pop-up to Air. This will get rid of the glittering highlights in the water. Add a Levels lter and tap the Black level in a bit to slightly darken the water. This layer is now ready to be masked.
step 11: a bit of masking
Head back to the Final comp. Go to the beginning of the Timeline and select the Shadowpass precomp. Select the circular masking tool and draw a circular mask in the general area of your beachball. Set the Mask Feathering to 10 pixels. You are going to want to make a tongue-shape that starts right at the point where the beachball touches the water, so atten the top of the circular mask. Place the top-most mask point at the middle
Select the Pen tool and and make two Bezier points between the side knots and the bottom-most point. Heres where you get to eyeball the shadow that the ball will make. Take the bottom-most point and drag it so that it lines up in the angle made from the sun to the highlight on the ball. Stretch it downwards to extend the shadow over the water surface, as the default Psunami sun is relatively low in the sky. Once you have the shadow shaped up, set a Mask Shape keyframe. Move to the end of the timeline, double-click on the mask so you can move it all at once, hold down Shift to lock the axis and drag the mask across the frame until the top three points match up to the beachball.

Our scene is more believable with a wave lapping over the beachball.
From here, move the bottom points until they meet up with the new angle created between the sun and the ball highlight, so more o to the left of the frame. The shadow will now animate along with the ball across the water, and will obscure the water highlights down the center of the frame when the ball passes over them.
How the mask should look like over time.
step 12: final sggestions
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the beach time. After you get the mask animated, you will have a happy little beachball oating across the Psunami water surface. Youve successfully composited an element within the waves using the main compositing method built into Psunami Water. To really sell the placement of the object, you can always use an animated displacement map along with your water layers to place underneath your comped object. We have a separate tutorial that covers using a displacement map in Psuanmi. That tutorial can be found here: http://digitalanarchy.com/psunami/psunami_tutes.html Have questions about this tutorial? Just email Marco at marco@digitalanarchy.com. Thanks!