"Rotate Layer XY" Tool and Camera Immunity

[drumlug13]

Since the Rotate Layer XY tool is a 3D tool I'm doubting this can be done but... I don't have screen cap software so I'll have to draw you pictures.
In this scene I'm trying to cast a shadow of the blinds and window onto the wall that will look something like this...



I need to have the camera pan from the desk to the wall. (Note the position of the blue/purple camera box.) But since the tool moves the layer in 3D space I end up with this...



I would just use a .png image but the blinds are actually rigged to bones so they open and close. I've tried to adjust the position of the layer as it pans but it's not looking so hot.
I guess the question is, is there a way to make the camera see this layer as if it's sitting in 2D space? I've tried all the "Face Camera" options but I haven't found a solution. Of course I could always redraw everything at this angle but this cartoon is a detective noir style story so there's going to be lots of similar shadow casting. Hoping that there's a quicker solution than the redraw option.

[synthsin75]

Try using perspective and shear points instead?

Might have to have it controlled by a smart mesh to keep it from interfering with the rigging. If so, just do perspective and shear on the smart mesh.

[slowtiger]

2 possible ways:

1. Fix the camera, move the belnds with bones, export this video, paste back into scene, do the pan.

2. Reset the blind layer, transform the points to match perspective, use point animation for the blinds instead of bones.

[hayasidist]

have you considered breaking the background wall into two (or more) layers and placing / rotating them in 3d? This is work-in-progress -- so there's plenty wrong with it right now; it's all done in moho https://youtu.be/KFcyaKehHxc -- it's an external shot, but the principle is the same -- the house / roof / chimney / hedges ... are all placed and rotated as necessary in 3d. The vital thing is to get the origin of rotation in the right place -- so, for example, the walls are rotated about the vertical external corner. But having been placed once on frame 0 all the rest is done with just camera motion / PTZ

[drumlug13]

Thanks for the tips gentlemen. I'll try them this weekend and hopefully have some good results to share soon.

[drumlug13]

Well all in all I wasted about 4 or 5 days with this shot before I came to you guys with it. Then yesterday I tried some of your suggestions with mixed results.Thanks again for the tips. (I take full credit for failure to follow suggestions properly)

Then I decided to stop doing what I always do, which is waste a lot of time looking for a work around solution for a pretty straightforward problem. So I redrew the damn blinds and it only took a couple of hours. And even then I was doing laundry and watching reruns of Cheers on my tablet.

I don't know about you guys but if I had all the time back that I wasted looking for solutions to "problems" that some of the pros here more than likely see as the basic process of animating.... If I had that time back, I probably could have finished this cartoon a couple of years ago. I probably spent months, if not more, trying to build the perfect master rig for my characters with full body turns and all, when I could have probably done separate 3/4 and back views etc. and have them finished a loooong time ago.

Add up all that wasted time and it's probably months and months of nothing but tilting at windmills. Hopefully I can keep this all in mind going forward.

Anyway, just thought I would vent all that I feel better
Here's where that pan shot is after today

[synthsin75]

Nice results.

Everybody runs down a few rabbit holes.

[drumlug13]

Sooo true

[synthsin75]

Sooo true

Jesus Christ!

[slowtiger]

Just to frustrate you even further: in classic film noir movies, we'll see either the blinds or the shadow, but rarely both in the same shot (except in a pan, but still they won't be visible both at the same time). And the shadow needs some perspective distortion on the wall ...