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Random Layer distribution in 3D space
Hi
I’m new into this great forum and my first question is about expressions (sorry for my bad english but I’m from switzerland).
I have about 50 layers that i would randomly distribute in 3D space.
For that i have created a null object (called “Center”) and then added the following expression to the layers:xVal = thisComp.layer(“Center”).transform.position[0]+random(-10000, 10000);
yVal = thisComp.layer(“Center”).transform.position[1]+random(-10000, 10000);
zVal = thisComp.layer(“Center”).transform.position[2]+random(-10000, 10000);
[xVal,yVal,zVal]Basically, it does what I want but only for the first frame. Because of the random command, it calculates a new position at every frame and that’s not what i need. The main goal is, that I don’t need to position 50 layers manually. The layers won’t be animated, they sould only be distributed do a random position.
I hope anyone out there understands what I mean and can give me a hint. Thank you very much.
Regards,
Pascal -
9 Replies
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Just add this to the front of your expression:
seedRandom(index,true)
Dan
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Ooops, left off the semicolon:
seedRandom(index,true);
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Dan, many thanks! That helped. Absolutlely fantastic!!!
Regards, Pascal
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Hey Pascal,
Since expressions are calculated every frame for every layer, i found that doing a 3D layer distribution with expressions was fairly slow. So i wrote a script that does the same thing, but without the every frame overhead of expressions. Hope it’s useful to you.
-Lloyd
//
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//3D Layer Distributor by Lloyd Alvarez (July 2006)
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//Distributes layers in 3D space within set ranges..
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//
//
//clearOutput();
app.beginUndoGroup(“3D Layer Distributor”);// Set Range parameters here: [min,max]
var set_X = [0,2500];
var set_Y = [0,200];
var set_Z = [0,-2000];var myComp = app.project.activeItem;
var selectedLayers = myComp.selectedLayers;for (var i = 0; i < selectedLayers.length; i++) { var myLayer = selectedLayers[i]; var x = 0; var y = 0; var z = 0; x = Math.random() * (set_X[1]-set_X[0]); y = Math.random() * (set_Y[1]-set_Y[0]); z = Math.random() * (set_Z[1]-set_Z[0]); myLayer.property("Position").setValue([x,y,z]); } writeLn("Distributed " + selectedLayers.length + " Layers"); app.endUndoGroup();
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Fantastic script – really appreciate you posting this.
It worked perfectly for my needs, and for someone who has very little experience with scripts, it was nice to have it work properly out of the box.
I adjusted the script so that it randomized the “Anchor Point” – leaving the “postion” animations I had created intact.
Saved me lots of time! Thanks Again!
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I have used this script many times…well done Lloyd. I was hoping it could be modified to do the same thing for the layers 3d rotation by changing the words position to rotation but no good..any ideas?
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Try changing this:
myLayer.property(“Position”).setValue([x,y,z]);
to this:
myLayer.property(“X Rotation”).setValue(x);
myLayer.property(“Y Rotation”).setValue(y);
myLayer.property(“Z Rotation”).setValue(z);Dan
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Hi Lloyd,
I know this post was from a while ago and things have changed a lot since then but I was wondering how I could apply your above script into CS6 on a mac? Do I need to “install” into a scripts folder or copy and paste it somewhere into AE? Apologies, I’m daily new to scripts / expressions.
Kind Regards,
Matt -
What I did is Duplicated another script file (.jsx) from inside the script folder (Applications/After Effects/Scripts) in text edit. Replaced all of the text in that file with the script info above. Then saved it into the scripts folder. That did the trick.
Elias Huch
Motion Graphics Designer
Reelvizion Productions
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