Creating an expression for set position of lower third.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Bret, whats essential here, is how your lower third looks like. Please showcase an example to get a sense of it.

The reason why it is important – if you have a need to align text based on the direction and if there are more elements in common, then this will be a different story. Alternatively, if it’s a single line, it will be easier approach to handle.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview

[Bret Kenworthy]

Hello Tomas,

Here is a Dropbox link to an example of the lower third.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlzasjzs1akkxzw/Stamps%20TV%20-%20Lower3rd%20Font.mp4?dl=0

Thanks,

BK

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Bret,

thanks for sharing this, clarifies the point. Few more questions:
1. Is the lower third elements are structured in the pre-comp, or all layers exist in a single composition?
2. is the width of lower 3rd box can vary or will remain constant?
3. By left/right aligning, design will remain the same? Meaning, horse won’t be moved in a different corner, etc?

Cheers!

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview

[Bret Kenworthy]

Tomas,

1 – All layers are in a single comp. No pre-comps
2 – It should remain constant.
3 – The Design will remain the same with each alignment.

Thank you in advance!

Bret

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Bret,

here is the easiest approach I can think of.

1. Center align your lower 3rd design in the composition.
2. Add null layer which will control xPosition.
3. Set anchor point of null to be in the center of it.
4. Add slider control where you see it applicable based on your design.
5. Apply expression to the slider:
Math.floor(clamp(value, min=1, max=3))
6. Link all layers in the comp, which are not parented by now, to the null.
7. Apply expression below to null’s position:
xPosValue = Math.round(effect("xPos-direction")(1));

switch(xPosValue) {
case 1:
xPos = thisComp.width/3; //Adapt this based on your design
break;
case 2:
xPos = thisComp.width/2;
break;
case 3:
xPos = thisComp.width/1.5 //Adapt this based on your design
break;
default:
xPos = thisComp.width/2; //Adapt this based on your design
}
[xPos, transform.position[1]]

This seems to do the trick – let us know whether it worked out. Cheers!

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview

[Bret Kenworthy]

This is amazing, thank you so much! I will give it a try today and get back to you.

[Bret Kenworthy]

Hi Tomas,

I’m getting an error;

effect named ‘xPos-direction’ is missing or does not exist. It may have been renamed, moved, deleted or the name may have been mistypeed.

Thanks for the help,

Bret

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Bret,

its just the name of the slider controller, which will have 1-2-3 values. Replace this with your controller name.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview

[Bret Kenworthy]

Hi Tomas,

I tired getting this to work but I’m still having some trouble. When you say the name of the slider do you mean as a variable?

I tired adding ” var xPos-direction = thisComp.layer(“Justification Controler”); ” but it is still not working. I’m getting an error that says “Expected: ;”

Once again, thanks for the help… expressions are not my forte!

Thanks,

BK

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Bret,

where you are going to apply this expression?
Math.floor(clamp(value, min=1, max=3))

Ideally it should be a slider on some of your control layers, and you need to take that slider’s name, and use instead of xPosValue = Math.round(A LINK TO YOUR SLIDER);

In my example, ‘xPos-direction’ title is the name of the slider on Null’s layer.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview