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how to affect x and y position co-orinates seperately
I am so new to expressions and AE in general I’m not sure even how to put this…please help if possible…
I have two text layers, one is the ‘main’ text and one is a faked reflection layer – pretty much exactly as seen in the Create 3D Reflections AE tutorial here
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/kramer_andrew/reflections.php
The way the tutorial is set up, the position of the main text is just above the 3D floor layer…fine….but…what if I want to move the text higher off the floor and have the corresponding reflection text move down, as well as all the freedom to move the text left or right. In essence allowing me to use different sized font and placement in space above the floor layer.
I want to link the main and reflected text to a point controller (I think) or two slider controls, to allow for controlling both texts x or y position at the same time but always in opposite y directions to give the correct reflection perspective.
I just started trying to create expressions and need a kickstart.
something with a pickwhip, null layers and probably some expression ending in *-1;
?
please helpJames Hooey
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3 Replies
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Well, I’ve sort of got this figured out, but it’s not as elegant as it probably could and should be….
After discovering that I can seperate the timeline properties for x and y coordinates rather than having then in one property it was somewhat simple to pickwhip the x and then the y properties for each text layer and assign it to a point controller. The problems and confusion I still have is that the point controller has a combined x/y controller field and I could not seperate them so I am using two point controllers with only half of the each controller affecting either x or y positions of the text layers.
The other niggle is that to get my reflection layer to move opposite in the y axis to the main text my expression after pickwhiping I added…
*-1+840
I understand the *-1 would create opposite values of whatever it is linked to but I had to fiddle around with the +840 number and don’t understand why I would need it….without a + something in there the reflection test does still move opposite to the main text but it’s placement is always well away from where it should be….
If any of this makes sense….please forgive my ignorance as I am brand new to all this…are there any explanations, better methods that could be suggested?
James Hooey
If I’m not learning something….I’m bored.
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Without the offset (840 in your case) you would just be flipping the other layer’s y position, which would probably put you above the visible comp window. What your expression is saying is to make this reflection layer’s y position the opposite of the other layer, relative to 840. Another way to write would be:
840 – [pickwhipped reference to other layer]
Dan
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Thanks for the reply Dan,
You are absolutely right in that without the +840 added the reflection text ends up above the main text….this confuses me as I thought the opposite of a layers position should put it in the perfect spot below the main text.
Would looking at the info panel while hovering over text edges/areas give me a better understanding of the x/y coordinate system and how the math would be applied I wonder?
Honestly I am horrible at math concepts. I am very logical though….go figure that one out?
James
If I’m not learning something….I’m bored.
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