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Activity › Forums › Adobe After Effects Expressions › How to make 338 bees buzz around randomly.

  • How to make 338 bees buzz around randomly.

    Posted by Susan Hunter on March 15, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    Hello there!

    I have a little question, I looked around on the internet but didn’t find an answer.

    Could you please help me?

    Right now I have an after effects project, with 338 bees, forming in a text. (‘Save the bees’)
    I would like to have them randomly buzzing around and then go into that text, gradually.
    The text is already keyframed, pushed the stopwatch button, it was meticulous work.
    I’m quite new to this software, and animating 338 bees seems like a lot of work.
    I looked around and saw that there exists something as ‘randomize’ with codes and so, but I really don’t know how to get started.

    Is there anyone who could help please?
    Thank you so much!!!

    xxx

    Susan.

    Susan Hunter replied 12 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Dan Ebberts

    March 15, 2014 at 9:25 pm

    Play around with this Position expression:

    wiggleDuration = 3;
    wiggleFade = 1;
    wiggleFreq = 4;
    wiggleAmplitude = 100;

    t1 = inPoint + wiggleDuration;
    t2 = t1 + wiggleFade;
    amp = linear(time,t1,t2,wiggleAmplitude,0);
    wiggle(wiggleFreq,amp)

    Dan

  • Susan Hunter

    March 16, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    Dear Dan,

    Thank you so much for you help, I didn’t know it was possible!
    Just one more question, it’s maybe stupid, but how can you apply the same expression to all the 338 bees?
    I’ve done it on the first five ones, and the effect is just what I was looking for. I’m just wondering if it is possible to apply the expression on all, instead of doing one by one.
    Now the bees are buzzing a little bit around which is already great, but how can I change the parameters to make them buzz around the entire screen?
    Thank you so much, you’ve been really helpful!
    Bless you!

    Greets,

    Susan

  • Dan Ebberts

    March 16, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    Change the wiggleAmplitude variable if you want them to fly farther.

    To do apply the expression quickly to all your layers, apply it to one layer, select the Position property of that layer, Edit > Copy Expression Only, select all the other layers, Edit >Paste.

    Dan

  • Susan Hunter

    March 17, 2014 at 11:35 am

    Dear Dan,

    Thank you so much for all your help.
    You solved my problem.
    You really cannot believe how grateful I am!
    Wish you all the best!
    xxx

    Susan

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