• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  mimicking AppleDock with expressions

  Posted by Jetcityj on February 27, 2007 at 7:55 pm

  Couldn’t find any posts related to this problem, so hopefully I am not repeating…

  So the problem at hand is that I have a row of icons that are scaling up based on their position to a Null but the images scaling is covering up the icons to the left and right of it. What I would like to have is the icons to the left and right of the scaled icon(s) to move from under it and the subsequent icons down the line to adjust their position in smaller and smaller amounts.

  Thanks,
  JetcityJ

  Mylenium replied 19 years, 2 months ago 3 Members · 7 Replies
• 7 Replies

• 

  Mylenium

  February 28, 2007 at 6:19 am

  Well, multiply the X position by the scale factor. Dunno your specific setup, but if you already are using a Null and one of the keyframe methods like ease(), it could be something as simple as this:

  pos_offset=100; //maximum maximum offset
  pos_factor=thisLayer.scale[0]/100; //X scale of same layer

  //decide whether the current icon is before or after the largest icon and move in the right direction

  if (scale[0] < thisComp.layer(index+1).scale[0] {pos_direction = -1} else {pos_directrion = 1}; pos_new=position[0]+pos_factor*pos_offset*pos_direction; [pos_new,position[1]]

  The only condition for the code to work is that your layers are stacked neatly in the right order because it uses the index to determine the direction in which to move.

  Mylenium

  [Pour Myl
• 

  Mylenium

  February 28, 2007 at 6:20 am

  Well, multiply the X position by the scale factor. Dunno your specific setup, but if you already are using a Null and one of the keyframe methods like ease(), it could be something as simple as this:

  pos_offset=100; //maximum maximum offset
  pos_factor=thisLayer.scale[0]/100; //X scale of same layer

  //decide whether the current icon is before or after the largest icon and move in the right direction

  if (scale[0] < thisComp.layer(index+1).scale[0]) {pos_direction = -1} else {pos_direction = 1}; pos_new=position[0]+pos_factor*pos_offset*pos_direction; [pos_new,position[1]]

  The only condition for the code to work is that your layers are stacked neatly in the right order because it uses the index to determine the direction in which to move.

  Mylenium

  [Pour Myl
• 

  Jetcityj

  February 28, 2007 at 4:05 pm

  Thanks Mylenium,

  That is definitely on the right track but the icons seem to jump to their new positions instead of “sliding”. Any ideas on how to get the sliding factor?
  I am still very new to the expression coding so I will see if I can build off yours to get what I need. Off to Motionscript to start the learning process…

  Thanks again,
  JetcityJ
• 

  Mylenium

  February 28, 2007 at 5:45 pm

  May be due to the way the scale is calculated in the first place. The range that triggers the icon to scale may be to small. In that case you’d simply have re-use the code you are using there and modify the trigger distance. You might even have to use a second Null object.

  Mylenium

  [Pour Myl
• 

  Colin Braley

  February 28, 2007 at 8:05 pm

  If you post the expression you are using for scale people will probably be able to help you out more.
  ~Colin
• 

  Jetcityj

  March 1, 2007 at 2:19 am

  this is a Frankenstein version of another expression I found on this forum.

  BaseSize = thisComp.layer(“Scale #s”).effect(“Base size”)(“Slider”)
  maxScale = thisComp.layer(“Scale #s”).effect(“Enlarge size”)(“Slider”)
  MaxDist = thisComp.layer(“Scale #s”).effect(“MaxDist”)(“Slider”)
  d = toWorld(anchorPoint) – thisComp.layer(“scaling Null”).toWorld([0,0]);
  distance=length(d);
  linear(distance, 0, MaxDist, [maxScale, maxScale], [BaseSize, BaseSize]);

  so the top 3 lines are just Expression Sliders so I quickly fine-tune certain variable amounts

  MaxDist=distance in pixels to begin scaling
  maxScale=largest percentage to scale item
  BaseSize=starting out size

  https://headsquared.com/temp/AppleDock_v01.mov

  I was working on a hi-bred of this expression and the one Mylenium offered up but nothing concrete yet…

  Thanks,
  JCJ
• 

  Mylenium

  March 1, 2007 at 10:15 am

  Just use the

  d = toWorld(anchorPoint) – thisComp.layer(“scaling Null”).toWorld([0,0]);
  distance=length(d);
  linear(distance, 0, MaxDist, [maxScale, maxScale], [BaseSize, BaseSize]);

  to determine a offset factor. modify it to fit in the other stuff and you’re good to go:

  
  MaxDist=200;

  d = toWorld(anchorPoint) – thisComp.layer(“scaling Null”).toWorld([0,0]);
  distance=length(d);
  pos_offset=linear(distance, 0, MaxDist, 0, 100]);

  //decide whether the current icon is before or after the largest icon and move in the right direction

  if (scale[0] < thisComp.layer(index+1).scale[0]) {pos_direction = -1} else {pos_direction = 1}; pos_new=position[0]+pos_offset*pos_direction; [pos_new,position[1]]

  Mylenium

  [Pour Myl

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