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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Expressions Fluid movements on random()

  • Fluid movements on random()

    Posted by Daniel Elder on October 23, 2006 at 6:56 pm

    I am using echospace on a aqua ball, and I want the numerous balls created to look like they are floating back and forth, and when I put in a random feature, it is very jarring, and jerky. How do I make the randomness more fluid like a feather floating or buubles in water???

    Thanks

    Dan

    Daniel Elder
    Associate Producer
    http://www.luminair.com

    Daniel Elder replied 19 years, 9 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Nicholas Toth

    October 23, 2006 at 8:21 pm

    write a wiggle function onto it before you echospace it?
    then the wiggle will be different on each instance —

    wiggle is a bit more fluid —

  • Daniel Elder

    October 23, 2006 at 8:37 pm

    Thank you, will give it a try.

    Daniel Elder
    Associate Producer
    http://www.luminair.com

  • Daniel Elder

    October 23, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    Still having a small issue of it not being completely smooth, the bubble movements are still a little harsh, and jagged. I thought of doing turn expression into keyframes, then the smoother. But I still feel there should be a more natural way of acheiving this smoothness.

    Dan

    Daniel Elder
    Associate Producer
    http://www.luminair.com

  • Mike Clasby

    October 24, 2006 at 12:45 am

    I had this post from Brian Moffit on how to smooth a wiggle:

    Name: Brian Maffitt
    Date: Jul 31, 2001 at 6:48:24 am
    Subject: Re: Easy Ease Expressions

    … Wiggling is another story. To smooth out a wiggle, you need to reduce the complexity of the perlin noise that creates the wiggle. In the expression:

    position.wiggle(3, 100, 3)

    …the three numbers in parentheses refer to the frequency (3 times per second), the amount (100 pixels), and the OCTAVES OF NOISE, which is a fancy way of saying the complexity of the wiggle. Reduce the third number to two, or even one, and your wiggle will get smoother. If you omit this number altogether, then I believe AE will automatically assume a value of 3, so forcing a smaller number by actually writing it out will give you smoother noise.

    OR (My attempt AT HELP)

    Like you said you could change the expression to keyframes, but then I’d use the smooth expression, it easier to change than the Smoother. Here’s the typical smooth expression (the flipside of wiggle, eh):

    smooth(2, 5)

    This from AE Help is all I know about the smooth expression, but I do know it’s not as intuitive as wiggle, raising the width smoothes more:

    Number or Array smooth(width=.2, samples=5, t=time) {width, samples, and t are numbers} Applies a box filter to the value of the property at the specified time, and smooths the result over time. Width (in seconds) is the range of time over which the filter is averaged. Samples equals the number of discrete samples evenly spaced over time. Generally, you’ll want samples to be an odd number so that the value at the current time is included in the average. For example, position.smooth(.1, 5).

  • Daniel Elder

    October 24, 2006 at 3:05 pm

    Thanks Yikes,

    I will try them both and see which I like more.

    Dan

    Daniel Elder
    Associate Producer
    http://www.luminair.com

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