Distribute 3D Objects Randomly Inside Sphere or Ellipsoid

[Liran Tabib]

Hi Noel
I believe that a simple wiggle() expression could solve this, assuming the layers are 3D.
Since the Amplitude value you enter is relative to the original 3D position of the layers they will disperse in a sphere which the Amplitude value is actually the sphere’s radius.

spreadRadius = thisComp.layer("Control").effect("Spread Radius")("Slider");
wiggle(0,spreadRadius)

Liran Tabib
http://www.vdodna.com

[Noel Powell]

Brilliant – I expected a lot of math, and that is such a simple solution! And the results look really nice for what I’m doing. The objects are a little more dense in the core, and more sparse in the outer edges. Thanks so much, Liran!

Here’s the full expression that separates the x,y,z, if anyone’s interested:

xSpread = wiggle(0, thisComp.layer("CONTROL LAYER").effect("Spread Horizontal")("Slider"));
ySpread = wiggle(0, thisComp.layer("CONTROL LAYER").effect("Spread Vertical")("Slider"));
zSpread = wiggle(0, thisComp.layer("CONTROL LAYER").effect("Spread Depth")("Slider"));
[xSpread[0], ySpread[1], zSpread[2]]

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[Liran Tabib]

Glad I could Help!

Liran Tabib
http://www.vdodna.com

[Gerhard Human]

Hi, thanks for sharing that! It’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for as well ☺

Just something else… I want to achieve this same effect… but I want my layers to also wiggle a bit where they are in space (like they’re a bit unstable) but if I want to add another wiggle to the layer it will over-write the distribution ☹
I’m planning on duplicating this layer a lot (50+) so want to avoid adding nulls and stuff..

Is there a way I can “add” to the position by adding a secondary wiggle expression?

Thanks so much!

[Liran Tabib]

If I remember correctly adding wiggles on the same value create a mess.
but you have a few things you can do instead (without creating additional nulls):

1. Create three additional Slider Controls on the layer, wiggle them, and add the result to the existing expression instead of the last line of code:
[xSpread[0]+SliderX, ySpread[1]+SliderY, zSpread[2]+SliderZ]

2. If the wiggle can be 2D you can add a Transform effect to the layer and wiggle it’s Position value.

3. Wiggle the Anchor point of the layer (I recommend this one).

Best Regards

Liran Tabib
http://www.vdodna.com

[Gerhard Human]

Hey thanks Liran! Sorry the post took so long to clear on the forum that I actually figured it out myself ☺

I have a few sliders to animate the distance the elements travel out (Dist) and the amplitudes of all the wiggles (Amp)
I ended up just doing this:

Freq = random(2,8);
Tempamp = thisComp.layer("Dotts_wiggler_cntrls").effect("Amp")("Slider");
Amp = random(Tempamp/2, Tempamp*2);
W = wiggle(Freq, Amp)-value;

xSpread = wiggle(0, (thisComp.layer("Dotts_wiggler_cntrls").effect("Dist")("Slider"))*2);
ySpread = wiggle(0, thisComp.layer("Dotts_wiggler_cntrls").effect("Dist")("Slider"));
zSpread = wiggle(0, thisComp.layer("Dotts_wiggler_cntrls").effect("Dist")("Slider"));
[xSpread[0]+W[0], ySpread[1]+W[1], zSpread[2]+W[2]]