GridLines plug-in> Grid group

This section allows you to determine where the GridLines particles sit against a typically invisible, underlying grid. The grid is your key to directing the lines initially.

 

 

 

Height, Width

Together, Height and Width set the size of the grid in pixels.

You need to be careful about Height and Width. If you set the grid size too small, the lines will go off the edge. If you set the grid size too large, the animation will be slowed down unnecessarily. For example, if the grid's Height/Width is bigger than your comp's height/width, you are telling GridLines to keep track of lines you're never going to see. If you are going to move the grid Position or Rotation, the lines might move into view and then there is a benefit to a big Height and Width.

Grid size affects the rendering speed so don't make its Height/Width any bigger than you need it. If you just need a bunch of lines running across the width of the screen, at the top or bottom, don't make the grid the size of the entire comp. Just make it a 100 pixels high and however wide the comp is. This will save the extra hit on computing power that a large grid would have given you.

Keep track of how big your Producer Point is going to be as well. If you have a small Producer Point, it may not be necessary to have a large grid.

 

At left, the grid is small and doesn't cover the entire screen. The lines are the same size on both grids because Height/Width only affects the grid size.
At right, the Height and Width is 1000x1000 on a 640x480 layer.

 

 

Make Size Match Comp Size checkbox

Makes the grid match the size of the comp. If this is checked, then grid ignores the Height and Width values . If the Height and Width are 300 and 200 and the comp size is 640 x 480, turning this option on will make the grid size 640 x 480.

 

 

Position

This sets the center of the grid.

 

 

Rotation

Sets the rotation of the grid. Since all the lines follow the grid, it's not possible to rotate the lines themselves. To get around this, use the Grid Rotation. This allows you to create diagonal lines by setting the angle you want the grid to be at. This can be animated, and will rotate all lines on the grid by the same amount.

If you want to have diagonal lines and straight lines in the same project, you'll need to use two copies of the filter. Something to keep in mind, tho: If you're going to do this, make sure your grid is larger than your layer (See Grid Width/Height). If you have a 640x480 layer and the grid is set to 640x480 as well (covering the layer with lines), when you rotate it, around the corners you'll see the edge of the grid. See the illustration in the sidebar for an example.

 

At left, the grid rotates when it's the size of the layer. Notice the edges show in the corners.
At right, a rotation with the grid size large enough to not have the edges show.

 

 

Rows, Columns

Together, Rows and Columns define what a 'grid space' is by defiining the division of the grid. You can see them by turning on the Show Grid parameter.

Make sure you turn on the Show Grid checkbox so you know what you're getting as you adjust the setup parameters. Show Grid will make setting this part up easier.

The lines are linked to the spaces between the rows and columns (or grid spaces). How many you have and how they're spread out due to the size of the grid will determine the structure of your animation. There are a variety of controls that determine how rigidly the lines stick to the grid spaces, but these divisions will set up the underlying foundation.

Rows and Columns act as the Squares on a Tic Tac Toe board. The squares are only allowed to appear between the Squares, just like X's and O's in Tic Tac Toe. If you have three rows and columns like a Tic Tac Toe board, the squares really only have 9 places to appear. There are ways to make the squares not follow the grid so strictly, and we'll go into those later.

Rows and Columns are not animatable since they're the underlying structure for the whole animation. Like any good foundation, the grid needs to stay stable. There are other ways to change the look of the animation but this grid has to remain the same throughout. Give careful consideration to what you're going after when you set these up.

 

 

Show Grid checkbox

As you may have guessed, this checkbox visually displays the underlying grid. It is turned off by default. Turning it on can be very helpful in setting up your basic grid-related parameters.

 

 

Line Width

Sets the width of the Squares that the Show Grid checkbox causes to be rendered. Very useful at half or quarter resolution, when 1 pixel line sometimes don't show up.