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“Floating” Object
I am looking for help an expression that simulates an object (a grid of photos in this case) floating in space (weightlessness).
I did a search and found this thread:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/227/7356#7364
Dan mentions:
I’d start with something like:
wiggle(.05,200)He then mentions:
You might also want to add something similar to the orientation property:
wiggle(.05,10)I will admit right up front, until now, I’ve never messed with expressions, so this is new to me.
I have created a sample of what I’m talking about here:
https://bluegrassphotography.net/FloatyThings.movI used the following expression on the orientation property:
wiggle(5,5,5)I think I’m close, but I’m not sure which property to apply the the first expression on, that Dan suggested using first: wiggle(.05,200).
Basically I want more of a “slowly floating” look. I have messed with the numbers but I just can’t seem to get a more mellow “weightlessness” look. I’d also like to add the look of the images floating to and away from the camera a little.
I apologize if this is the wrong place for this question.
Thanks in advance for any help!
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2 Replies
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I think to get that floating feeling for layers in a grid (didn’t hear you say that, but the mov look like a grid) check out Dan tut on Noise(), here:
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ebberts_dan/noise.php
There’s no project file but you just need to add the expression to the layers Position.
Dan expression freezes the grids x and y to the grid, with the wave, noise(), added to the z. So I changed the last line of the expression to this for a z flow to and from the camera:
To get that “mellow “weightlessness” look… of the images floating to and away from the camera a little”.
[x,y,z] + [xOffset + z, yOffset + z,0]
For complete control, add three sliders to a New Null layer. Name the sliders “xyCompress”,”speed” and “amplitude”. Then the expression becomes:
numRows = 10;
numCols = 10;
xyCompress = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”).effect(“xyCompress”)(“Slider”);
speedCompress = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”).effect(“speed”)(“Slider”);
amplitude = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”).effect(“amplitude”)(“Slider”);row = Math.floor((index – 1)/numCols);
col = (index – 1)%numCols;
x = col*width + width/2;
y = row*height + height/2;
xOffset = (this_comp.width – numCols*width)/2;
yOffset = (this_comp.height – numRows*height)/2;z = amplitude*noise([x/xyCompress,y/xyCompress,time/speedCompress]);
[x,y,z] + [xOffset+z,yOffset+z,0]
You can get almost any flow /wave action you want by tweaking the sliders. Change the value limits of the sliders by Right-clicking on the sliders numbers then Edit Value, and set “xyCompress” to 1 and 500, “speed” to 1 to 10, and “amplitude” to 1 to 100.
When you add a Camera you need to hit the C key until you get the Orbit Camera Tool, then pulling down until you get the angle you want.
The Null and Camera should go at the bottom of the stack to keep the grid square, as that goes off layer order from the top down, but then that might not matter.
This is the kind of stuff that makes Dan a legend… a least to me.
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why when I use the expression from Dan and you, the object getting outside from the frame like this picture?:
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