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a little help understanding my first expressions
hi i recently got a tutorial on using a particular expression that allows simpler animation in creating a fan like effect.i have managed to get over to basics and got everything working but i would like to maybe push experimenting a bit more and i’d really appreciate any help
1) Would someone be able to give me a broken down explanation of what this code is doing “thisComp.layer(“Tail feather 4”).transform.zRotation.valueAtTime(time-thisComp.layer(“Expression Control”).effect(“Offset”)(“Slider”));” im a complete beginner at expression you see..
2) In order for this to work i have to parent each layer to the one above. But this means that all my layers are on the same Zposition and i would really love to be able to maybe incorporate an orbiting 3d camera for some nice effects. would any1 know of an expression i could add that could allow me to do this?
3) is there a simpler alternative way of doing this animation?
link to pdf tutorial
https://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/computerarts/ART168_tut_ae.pdfpage which includes link to support files (mov, aep + psd)
https://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/swift_and_simple_animationthanks for any help you can give
thisComp.layer("Tail feather 4").transform.zRotation.valueAtTime(time-thisComp.layer("Expression Control").effect("Offset")("Slider")); -
2 Replies
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You can move your layers around in Z space if you want. Sure, move the top one back in Z-space and all the little children will follow it, but then move the next on and the next one until you have them all where you want them. As long as you start with the topmost parent, you’ll be fine.
Basically that expression is telling AE to make that layer’s rotation do what the other layer’s rotation does, but to wait a bit before it does it. The slider tells it how long to wait before it starts doing what the other layer did.
The first part of the expression tells the rotation value to be the rotation of a certain layer (in this case, you’re specifying it’s parented layer).
valueAtTimetells it to pull the value from a certain time
time-thisComp.layer("Expression Control").effect("Offset")("Slider")tells it that the certain time is the current time minus whatever number the slider is sitting at.Does that make sense?
You might want to check out the expressions section of MotionScript.com. It’s a site full of amazing stuff written by the genius known as Dan Ebberts.
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thank you thats a great explanation. this should be great fun now to play with. thank you for the link, ill make sure to check it all out.
cheers my humble amigo
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