Random placement at frame markers

[Mike Clasby]

For random Text, every 10 sec, with the text tool make a character (any character), then this expression on Source Text:

holdTime = 10; //time to hold each character (seconds)

seed = Math.floor(time/holdTime);
seedRandom(seed,true);

s = “”;
c = Math.floor(random(65,91));
s += String.fromCharCode(c);
s

The 65 to 91 covers the letters in the alphabet, lower numbers brings in the numbers and other symbols.

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For random position, every 10 sec, limited to comp width and height:

holdTime = 10; //time to hold each position (seconds)

seed = Math.floor(time/holdTime);
seedRandom(seed,true);
random([thisComp.width, thisComp.height])

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For random rotation, every 10 sec:

holdTime = 10; //time to hold each rotation (seconds)

seed = Math.floor(time/holdTime);
seedRandom(seed,true);
random(0,360)

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For Scale, set an initial keyframe at “0”, then add this expression:

holdTime = 10; //time to hold each scale (seconds)

seed = Math.floor(time/holdTime);
seedRandom(seed,true);
s = random(30,100)
value +[ s,s]

This is set to have scale from 30 to 100% (change the (30,100) in the random line)Hey, I know this is a hacked deal, there is an expression without the “value +” and hence no initial keyframe at 0, but I couldn’t noodle it out.
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For opacity, (another hack, hold your nose, please), set keyframes for opacity, like 0% at 0 sec, then 100% at 8 sec then 0 % at 10 sec, then add this loop expression:

loopOut(“cycle”, 0)

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Note: all the hold times need to be the same, you might want to tie them to a Slider to make change easy. If you change the holdTime, then slide the opacity keyframes to match the hold time.

These were hacked from Dan Ebberts. Also, like I said, scale and Opacity are not the cleanest expressions, I’m sure there are better ones out there, maybe someone will supply better ones, I hope. But this works, set up one letter, then just dup the layer as many times as you want letters to be on the screen.

[Stu Pond]

That’s superb. I’ll implement the scripts in the comp and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help with this – I used to programme Director at a intermediate level years and years ago so will have a look at these scripts to see if I can work out how they work.

Cheers,

stigWeard