Absolute Curves

Cool new public beta from Frischluft.

Comments

[bart]

This is interesting - I like the UI, tho panning and zooming is a bit odd, it's cool that I can pan and zoom! I particularly like the feedback gradients on the x & y axes, but I'm not sure what the three circles underneath the curve graph are... Tension, Continuity and Bias? The first one seems to set the tension of the selected point, but the effects of the other two are more subtle and seem to feed on each other... dunno.

I've long felt that the AE curves effect needed an overhaul. This one gets me part way there, I'll have to play more to see if it's a must-have.

bart

[philipp (frischluft.com)]

Hey Bart,

The sliders underneath are supposed to be tension, bias and continuity. But just like you I'm not sure they are implemented correctly. I will look into that again.

Also can you pinpoint what the problems with zooming and panning are? There are some limitations imposed by the AfterEffets api. But if you let me know what bothers you i will try to make it better.

Thank you very much for the feedback! Anybody with comments and wishes is more than welcome to contact me directly!

[bart]

re: problems with zooming/panning

They're not really "problems", more just "differences" from what I'm used to. Once I got used to the zoom centering about where the mouse was first clicked, panning and zooming became a lot more controllable for me. Perhaps the only thing I'd add is a way to do a symetric zoom, which your website says is a planned feature.

I very much like that I can horizontally stretch the Effect Controls window and AbsoluteCurves stretches with it, giving me greater horizontal resolution. If only it could also stretch vertically, that would rule. Of course, with the ability to pan and zoom, that's much less important (though, being basically greedy, I'd still like vertical stretch).

The level of control your product provides is a lot better than the standard AE curves: for example, I use Primatte Keyer as my main keying plug, but I really like the "Status" view of KeyLight. I've cribbed together an AE curves preset to approximate the "black, grey, white" Status look, but it's tough to get a good flat curve with AE's curves tool. It's servicable, but not very precise. With the tension controls on AbsoluteCurves, though, it's a snap! Very cool, and surgically precise.

The only other thing that I'd mention is I can't seem to select a node without moving it slightly. While not terribly important on most nodes, I do like my Zero node to stay at zero most of the time. When I click it so I can set it's tension, it moves to (-.004, .001) or thereabouts. I know, it sounds petty, but I'd like a way to select a node without accidentally moving it... maybe with a control-click or something?

Stu, thanks for indulging me with these comments. From here, if I have more observations I'll direct them to Philipp via the mail link on his website.

bart

[Anonymous]

Thanx Bart,

I'm still thinking about zoom and navigation. Maybe a slider (or one for each axis with a link button) that will zoom to the currently selected Node will be fine. Another suggestion was a navigation panel like in Photoshop. Sounds like overkill for me but I'll give it more thought.

I would love to be able stretch the curves Parameter window in both directions. Unfortunatly the api does not let me. I will post a feature request to the AE team about that.

I made activating Nodes a little bit more robust so they don't move as easy when activating. Good observation! Also i changed the number and grid behaviour. I'll post that version later today.

If you mailed me alread than that mail has gotten lost. If so please try again using philipp % frischluft.com