I think that it would be cool to have the possibility to re-expose an existing animation, like repeating a cycle, without having to duplicate the original keys.
The advantage of that method is that one would only have to modify the initial cycle to see the updated result in every duplicated instance.
The way one can achieve ‘Re-Expostion’ or ‘Time Remapping’ of an existing animation (or imported video or image sequence) in Harmony is to put it into a symbol and re-expose its frames at the symbol’s top level.
This works. But, I find that this is a bit limited and unclear compared to solutions that other programs come with.
→ (PART 2)
The 2 solutions existing in other programs I have in mind are:
1. FLASH’S SYMBOLS:
The keys of Flash symbols can be set to 3 different play modes.
A: Single Frame (shows the held image of the chosen frame of the animation that it contains, displaying it throughout the whole duration of its exposition.) - That is the play mode Harmony symbols have.
B: Play Once (plays the animation that it contains once, starting at the chosen frame)
C: Play Loop (plays the animation that it contains repeatedly, starting at the chosen frame)
If there were the play modes B and C, the number of keyframes one would have to duplicate in the timeline could be reduced in a considarable way.
As one would only have to set the keyframes of the starting points of every new repetition the timeline would become more ‘readable’ (clear).
2. AFTER EFFECTS’ TIME REMAPPING:
This feature allows the user to create a keyframe for any frame of the given animation and to re-expose them as he wants. The keys can be held or interpolated.
→ (PART 3)
I personally like both methods, as they allow to re-expose an existing animation by keeping the timeline relatively clear.
The thing that I don’t like with symbols is… that they are symbols. More precisely, I don’t like that you have to enter into them in order to acces the timeline/node view of the its contained elements.
This works in Flash (the whole workflow is based on that feature). But, I find it rather constricting within Harmony’s open timeline (and node view) as you loose the advantage that every element can be accesses at the same level.
That’s why I think that it would be cool to have an separate module that could be plugged underneath a composite module.
Knowing only the 2 solutions I mentioned above I would imagine that module to work either like a symbol with the 3 different play modes or like the ‘Time Remapping’ feature.
I’ve put together a ‘prototype’ of an approach that strongly resembles to the time-remapping tool of After Effects. I think that this re-exposure module could easily fit to Harmony’s environment.
It would work like an Image-Switch module, switching or interpolating frame exposures instead of port indexes.
) →