Rotation

[workingday Profile Private message]

I have a picture of a bear and I want it to wave its arm. I have the body and the arm on two layers andI can wave the arm by rotating it but it always dislocates from the body because the rotation point is not in the centre of the image, Can you set a rotation point off centre and if so how please

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Not that I am aware of -- what I have done in the past is
create two slides that are identical EXCEPT for the arm
position then quickly fade back and forth between them.
Not as good as rotation, but I know of no way to move the
center of rotation -- I guess you could always move the
picture so that the pivot point is in the middle of the page

mikey

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Mikey

I think you have hit it.

If the arm is on a layer so that the pivot point of the arm is in the centre of that layer (bit of Photoshop work), and then the layer is positioned at the shoulder it will work irrespective of where the shoulder is in the image.

Mind you I gues this is what you meant.

Brian

[workingday Profile Private message]

Thanks for that Mikey - I had just thought that might work and was beginning to experiment with it when I received your reply. I will now persevere and get it spot on. Thanks again.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

While not as good as actually having the arm rotate, you can
make it look pretty good if you keep the amount of motion
between the two positions fairly small (90 degrees doesn't
work, but 5 or 10 degrees can come out fairly nice.).

mikey

[workingday Profile Private message]

Sorry - my previous reply was meant for Brian although I thank Mikey for his input. As Brian suggested, if you put the fulcrum in the middle of the layer, you can then use the rotate motion tool and position the layer anywhere in the final image, so the arm will rotate from the shoulder even though it is off centre of the image. Thank you both for your inputs.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Here was a quick example of what I was talking about using the
two images and a crossfade ...
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 3742&alb=0

mikey

[andy]

Hi Mikey and Colin,
mikey just seen your example it's just fantastic and I'm sure it can not be bettered, so 10 out of 10.

But Brian’s way works if one is after a greater movement (up to 360 degrees). It's the way I always do it, and it always stays centre pivoting around/on the point selected, no mater where on the background image I place the added layer e.g the bears arm.
( I have always (mostly) got my motions to work!!!!)
andy

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Yeah, I like Brian's way -- I guess I was still thinking in the old
Proshow Gold (I bought it 3 years ago). Had not occured to me
that while the center of rotation was the center of the layer, you
could move the layer. Haven't tried it that way, but it makes
sense. Have to file that one away for future use !!

Actually if you want to see a good example of moving stuff around,
check out the recent post by Kaylef ...
http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewtopic.php?t=4518

mikey

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Software is great ... there is usually more than one way to crack a nut. Mikey's comment just lead me to thinking further in the same direction.

Brian