help using after effects

[massimou]

I'm trying to add lens flares in a movie I'm making, but I don't know how to make the flares to just stay in the picture for a moment. Now when I add lens flares (and other effects also) they stay in the same spot for the whole movie. HELP...

[housepig]

I'm trying to add lens flares in a movie I'm making, but I don't know how to make the flares to just stay in the picture for a moment. Now when I add lens flares (and other effects also) they stay in the same spot for the whole movie. HELP...

look in the manual about keyframing effects - you should be able to set a keyframe for when the lens flare starts, when it ends, if it ramps up from a single light spot to full intensity, etc...

in Vegas, for something like that, I'd set a keyframe in the effect at the time that I want the first spot to show up. I'd set another at the frame where I want the flare to be full-on. Vegas takes care of turning up the effect gradually in between the key frames.

then I'd set one where I wanted it to start fading, and another where I want it to be gone. I change the settings approptiately, and Vegas fades it out.