Eran Stern has a new tutorial, Alternative Parenting:
Recently while playing with after effects I found a cool usage for the pick whip parenting tool. This little trick will allow you to create (something similar to) power duplication inside After Effects. You may know this by its official name “Jump Parent”. … To get you started I’ve also included a free AE project which take advantage of this alternative parenting system.
And just a little further back, Chris and Trish Meyer posted CMG Hidden Gems: Chapter 17 – Parenting Skills, on parenting basics, Non-Uniform Transformations, Parenting to Solve Messy Math, and Jump Parenting too. You might want to skim that section and the AE Help link below before you get into Eran’s tutorial.
Parenting is everywhere but here’s few resources with a focus on the subject:
- Mathew Fuller has a good overview movie in Parenting Possibilities in AE
- Chris and Trish also have more at the Focal Press After Effects Microsite and in Parenting and Nesting, an excerpt from After Effects Apprentice.
- Rotate AE camera around point of interest and Drifting Title Sequence tutorial, from Harry Frank, and others in Camera difficulties and rigs in After Effects
- Todd Kopriva has references to parenting resources in his blog posts that outline substantial AE tutorials
- AE Help has the basics and notes on online resources in Parent and child layers