How to grab AE 5.5 and 6.0 Position Data for pIllusion 2 or 3

(this may also work with AE 5.0 (not sure if it had expressions)

Part 1: Linear Interpolation

To get position keyframes from After Effects and bring them into particleIllusion is quite simple, especially if they are linear keyframes. That means that if the keyframes are just going from point A to B, and they aren’t curved, nor do they ease in or out while coming into a keyframe it’s an easy 5-step process.

Here’s how you do it:

1) After you’ve set your keyframes in AE, select the layer’s position property in timeline. All of the keyframes will be selected.



2) Next choose Edit > Copy from the menu (or Ctrl+C).

3) In pIllusion, go to the point in time where you want the keyframes to be pasted (i.e., where in time you want the first AE keyframe to be)

4) Then in pIllusion’s hierarchy window select the emitter you want to apply your position keyframes to and right-click on it – A popup menu will appear.

5) Choose Import > Position data - from the pop-up choose “After Effects 5.0 (from Clipboard).”



That’s it. You should have your AE position keyframes in pIllusion.

Part 2: Non-Linear Interpolation

The trouble starts when you are using different methods of spatial or temporal interpolation between frames – i.e., if your motion path is curvy, or if there is a change in speed from point A to B (such as an ease in or out). To get around this, we need to use After Effect’s Expressions – but don’t worry you don’t have to actually type out an expression.

1) After you set up your position keyframes in AE, Alt+Click on the position stopwatch (the button for setting the first keyframe).



- An expression will appear. Just hit the enter button (not the one on the number pad) - the blank expression that appears (“Position”) is an innocuous thing that means this layer’s position = whatever the position values are set to - i.e., don't do anything to the position that it isn't already doing.



- There will also be an “=” sign next to the word position, indicating that position = whatever is written in the expression area. Also the position values will now be written in red instead of blue.

2) Select the layer property for position and choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Convert Expression to Keyframes - You now have a position key for every frame.



- if there is already an expression for position you don't have to add the expression to the position property (Actually you can’t – it already has another expression there). You can just go straight to the convert expression to keyframes command (step 2).

3) Now just copy the keyframes as we did in Part 1, and continue on from there. The only difference in this situation is how to deal with keyframes in AE. Once you are in pIllusion, it’s all the same.