Another edit is in the can. In approximately 9 hours, I’m off to do a Z1 shoot and really wishing it could have been an EX1 job. Okay, so I could shoot HDV – but the shots would stand out like trout in a fishbowl.

Whatever. No. Tonight, whilst I compress FLVs and upload them, I’ve been going through Ripple Training’s Deep Dive course – all about Motion’s 3D. Lots of Alphabet street and ‘which way is up’ moments. Ages ago, I did a fair bit of early After Effects and even Specular’s Infini-D, but often got lost. I had to get some ‘Doe, a deer’ rules.

So I thought I’d share these silly mnemonics for those who only sporadically dip their toe into the 3D universe:

“X is a cross” (as in across, left and right, geddit?), so therefore Y is uppY downY. And “Z is like Zoom” in and out. Not strictly accurate, but when it’s late and you’re reaching for the right (wrong) slider…

And for Motion,

“Red-X” or “Red Cross”, “Green trees grow up”, “Blue oceans into distance”.

Of course this is all second nature to Motion Graphics designers, and sure – I can reel off pixel aspect ratios and Composite modes in a flash, but if you’re not doing it every day or even every month, we all have those ‘The Old Army Colonel And His Son On Holiday” moments.

If you still remember your Cosines from your Tangents, that is.