[flow_default] Transcription: 02-11-Curve modifiers.json

transcriptions/02-11-Curve modifiers.json

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "audio_file": "02-11-Curve modifiers.wav",
+  "text": "In this video, we will have an overview of all the curve modifiers. In the graph editor, whenever I select a curve, I can access the modifier in the end panel or properties panel. While we have already set a cycle modifier in the previous video, what you may haven't noticed is that we were already using modifiers prior to this as soon as we have used the extrapolation mode. Whenever we pressed shift E and make our curve cyclic, basically we were adding a cycle modifier. Any modifier influence can be activated or deactivated by clicking the checkbox. The cycle modifier repeat the animation from the first key to the last key. We can change the modifier behavior before the first key and after the first key. By default it's repeating the animation as it is. We can get rid of the cycle or use the cycle with offset. If I use it right now nothing will happen because it uses the position of the last keyframe as the new starting point but since my first and last keyframe are the same it doesn't change but as soon as I offset the value of the last keyframe you can see that I get some kind of ladder motion the repeat mirror option will do what it says it will repeat the curve but each time it will mirror it based on the last frame changing the value will just set the number of repetition after or before your current animation. A value of 0 will make the cycle repeat infinitely. The restrict frame range and use influence properties are very useful but they are not the most obvious on the cycle modifier so we will have a look to it later on. Let's have a look to the next modifier. I will get rid of the second modifier and add a built-in function. My animation curve has totally changed and we now have a sinusoidal curve because the default function is seen. The phase multiplier will allow us to modify the frequency of the curve while the amplitude will allow us to increase the value of the curve. The fuzz offset will offset the curve on the x axis while the value offset will offset the curve on the y axis. The restrict frame range option is a super cool additional tool. As it is named, it will allow us to limit or restrict the influence of the modifier on the frame range. So we can set this frame range by tweaking the end value and the start value. The in and out value allow us to input easing, meaning that we can increase or decrease the influence of the modifier at the beginning and the end of the frame range. This way we can totally modify the behavior of the ball with a non-destructive workflow because I'm not currently working on any of the keyframe but only on the modifiers that I can add or remove. By default the modifier is replacing our current animation but enabling the additive option will add the modifier behavior on top of our animation. So setting the amplitude of the modifier to zero is like removing it when it's in additive mode. And as soon as I increase its amplitude, you can see how it's affecting the curve. While it works for this specific case, this is not the best way to play with the influence of the modifier. Fortunately, we have an influence factor that will increase or decrease the influence of the modifier on our curve. The drop-down menu upon the active button allows us to change the type of functions. So if you remember your trigonometry classes, you might recognize the tangent carcinous and sinus curves. The square root is a simple exponential function, so you can use it to make your ball rising like a balloon with a constant easing. The natural logarithm does look like the square root but it has a slight offset and it is more. Finally, the normalized scene looks like the scene function but it does ease very rapidly. So you can change this by moving the phase offset and the phase multiplier. So it can be hard to find a specific queues those modifiers, but you have to experiment with it and when you do motion design, for example, they are very useful. When adding the envelope modifier, we will see a couple of dotted lines appearing in our graph editor aligned with the minus one and one value. These are scaling values or reference values, if you will. I will just add a couple of points at the beginning and the end of my curve. Those control points will allow me to change the overall shape of my curve also known as envelope. Those control points are defined by a minimum and maximum value that appears as little white dot on the graph editor. They represent the current scale of the modifier. So if I tweak the maximum value, I will see my curve scaling up and down and we can clearly see the max point of the envelope modifier moving here. So it might look a bit abstract right now. So what I will do is that I will make the bounding box in a way of my envelope modifier as big as the curve. To do so, I will set the minimum value to zero, like the minimum value of my keyframe, and the maximum value around 8, like my keyframe. I will add a couple of control points and I will give them the same value, 0 and 8.4. Now you can think of your curve as being bound by a lattice modifier, or being transformed as in Photoshop with an uneven transform. And by moving the value of the control point, it's like moving the corners of the bounding box. And as into a lattice, we can add more than two control points. I can add a control point in the middle, set its default value as the other. And when I move it, it will break the curve and deform it from its position. Very powerful modifier to modify the amplitude of motion. The noise modifier is one of my favorites and guess what? It adds noise to your curve. It's perfect to create camera shake or if you have a shaky character you can use the noise modifier instead of encame it. The scale will change the frequency of the noise. The phase will kind of change its shape or its seeds. The strength is the amplitude of the noise. The depth value is the smoothness of the noise. To see it properly, I will increase the scale and the strength. As I reduce the depth value, you can see the curve smoothing. The offset allows you to offset the noise on the X axis or in time if you prefer. So using the noise modifier and the restrict frame range, I can create a slight shaking of the bow whenever it lands. The limits modifier work a bit as a limit constraint. Setting a minimum Y value and maximum Y value will clamp the value of the curve. Any value beneath the minimum value will be ignored. Any value upon the maximum value will be ignored. It's like creating a roof and a ground that will bound your curve. While the minimum X and maximum X value will currently ignore any value that is before the set frame or after the maximum set frame. So if I set the X maximum value to 10, any keyframe value after the frame 10 will be ignored. This can be very useful if for example you don't want the ball to go under the ground. The next modifier is the stepped modifier. It's a very cool and intuitive modifier. The step size allows you to change the length in frame of a step in your animation. So, basically this modifier is converting your curve as if we were blocking our animation with constant interpolation and it gives a fantastic stop motion style to your animation. So you can change the step size value, you can offset it in time and this modifier comes with a built-in starting frame and ending frame. It's a bit like the frame restrict range but you can consider it as an additional restriction layer. On a full character we will need to add this modifier on every single curve. What we can do instead is add the modifier on the NLA strip. Don't worry, we'll talk about the NLA editor later on. But just consider that we are applying the modifier to the whole animation instead of applying it to a simple curve. If we have a look to this quick animation I've made with one of my students, the stepped modifier really brings these top motion feelings to the animation. As explained before, those modifier act as object modifier. It means that they can be layered. You can add multiple curve modifiers to get different results. And the order in which you stack those modifier is important. If I add the limit modifier before the noise modifier, the noise will be applied after the limit and so I won't see any difference. I won't see the limits applied. At the time I'm recording this video on Blender 2.91, I haven't found any way to move the position of those curved modifier. Hopefully this will be updated whenever you will be able to watch this video. We can copy a modifier by clicking on the little folder icon with the arrow getting inside. To paste the modifier on another curve, just select the curve and click the second icon with the folder shape and the arrow getting out. If you have multiple modifier, they will be all copied and pasted onto the curve. To summarize, we have seen that we can use modifier to modify our curve behavior procedurally and in a non-destructive manner. Modifier can be stacked one on each other to get more advanced results. Modifiers can be copied and pasted from one curve to the other, we can add modifiers on a whole action through the NLA editor.",
+  "language": "en",
+  "confidence": null,
+  "duration": 685.59
+}