numbers interpolation

[Filip Vandueren]

check this thread:

“Numbers or text expression with a ,”
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/880169?univpostid=880128&pview=t

[Troy Benesch]

Thanks for the link and response. I did try to find some archival information on this topic as I’m sure someone else needed to achieve this result. I’m really amazed that a formula that does something like “over x seconds, start at value y and end at vale z” I could comp in some commas if that is an added issue. I looked at the expression you wrote and am hoping that it will do the trick. However, I’m not sure what parameter do I add the expression to? Do I create a blank text layer and then add an expression to the ‘source text’ parameter (probably not since I tried this and it doesn’t work)? Do I need to create more than one text layer?

Thanks,

Troy

[Filip Vandueren]

The recipe for this would be:

– create a text-layer,
– add an effects->Expression Controls->point-control to it.
– add the expression to the SourceText parameter
– now animate the value of the point control, it’s X coordinate controls the number. The reason for this is that you can achieve much larger numbers than with a Slider control.

This script adds the commas and limits the decimals to 2.
If you don’t want decimals, change the line:
formattedText = numAsText.substring(dotIndex-3,dotIndex+3); // +4 for 3 decimals etc.

to this:

formattedText = numAsText.substring(dotIndex-3,dotIndex);

[Sam Moulton]

sliders go to a million 1,000,000
point controls go to 32,000

just go to edit value to put in the max value of a million for a slider.

[Sam Moulton]

just found out that you can type really big numbers in the point control but you can only go up to 32000 if you use edit value….
good tip…

[Sam Moulton]

just found out that you can type really big numbers in the point control but you can only go up to 32000 if you use edit value….
good tip…

[Filip Vandueren]

I just ‘Scrub’ the values in the timeline or the effects-controls, or double click on the number to type it in directly.
I hadn’t noticed the Set Value Dialog indeed limits your value.

Another weird thing I noticed:

Angle Controls go up to

2147483647x + 360

[Sam Moulton]

I noticed that if you use a slider instead of a point control in your expression you get an index error. What’s that about?

the error says FunctionnumAsTest.indexOf is undefined.

It’s in line 3

[Filip Vandueren]

That error would imply that the variable numAsText is not containing a String.

indexOf() is a method of Strings, it searches for occurences of a character, in our case we want to check for the possible location of a decimal point within the number: numAsText.indexOf(“.”);

If the first lines would read this:

num=effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”);
numAsText= “”+num;

You should have no error, the second lines adds the value to an empty string “”, ensuring that the number is converted to a String.
Pickwhip the num= to your slider.

[Sam Moulton]

That’s exactly what I’ve got… But there’s still the error.

original point control expreession:
num = effect(“Point Control”)(“Point”)[0];
numAsText= “”+num;
dotIndex = numAsText.indexOf(“.”); // check for decimals
if (dotIndex==-1) { dotIndex=numAsText.length; }

formattedText = numAsText.substring(dotIndex-3,dotIndex+3); // +4 for 3 decimals etc.

if (dotIndex>3) {
for (i=dotIndex-3 ; i>0 ; i=i-3) {
extractedText = numAsText.substring(i-3,i);
if (extractedText==”-“) {
formattedText = extractedText + formattedText
} else {
formattedText = extractedText + “,” + formattedText
}
}
}

The slider control expression that gives the errors.

num = effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”);
numAsText= “”+num;
dotIndex = numAsText.indexOf(“.”); // check for decimals
if (dotIndex==-1) { dotIndex=numAsText.length; }

formattedText = numAsText.substring(dotIndex-3,dotIndex+3); // +4 for 3 decimals etc.

if (dotIndex>3) {
for (i=dotIndex-3 ; i>0 ; i=i-3) {
extractedText = numAsText.substring(i-3,i);
if (extractedText==”-“) {
formattedText = extractedText + formattedText
} else {
formattedText = extractedText + “,” + formattedText
}
}
}

AE7 on a mac