Grab average color of layer to determine the color for another effect?

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

The sampleImage Expression method should do the trick for you. More info here in the doc here->
https://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7a00a.html.

There are links to examples which will guide you further.

Instead of using Fill or Tint, see if Tritone will get you a more believable look. Let us know if you have specific Qs.

Good Luck
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[Kevin Camp]

a really easy way is to just use the mosaic effect with the blocks set to 1. that should give you a pretty good ‘average’ color for a frame.

then you could try using that layer with blending modes to blend it with the layers below.

but a fairly simple sampleImage() expression to drive any color chip setting in an effect would be something like this:

target = thisComp.layer("MyLayer"); // this would be the layer that you want to sample the color from
h = target.height / 2;
w = target.width / 2;
target.sampleImage(anchorPoint, radius = [w, h], postEffect = true, t = time);

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

actually, i’ll make one slight change to the expression.

target = thisComp.layer("Royal Blue Solid 2"); // this would be the layer that you want to sample the color from
h = target.height / 2;
w = target.width / 2;
target.sampleImage(target.anchorPoint, radius = [w, h], postEffect = true, t = time);

the change was to the last line, rather than using the anchorPoint of the layer with the effect for the ‘sample point’, it’s probably better to use the target layer’s anchor point.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Nils Hoover]

Thank you! that has really gotten me on the right track, and does exactly what I needed.

[Nils Hoover]

Thank you, tricolor definitely is a better option, and works quite nicely with out any hassle.