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Random tile grid – can I do this in a better way?
Hi all,
I’ve just had to create an animation where different coloured squares scale up from zero size at random positions until they form a full grid of squares. No squares can appear on top of others.
My method was to create the zero to 100% square animation as a composition, add that as a layer in a new composition (with an expression to randomise the colour), then duplicate lots of those layers (around 240!) all over my grid. Lastly, I dragged each layer’s timeline so they appeared at apparently random times.
I’m sure there’s at least a way to randomise the start times for each layer, but I had trouble understanding all the time-based tutorials I looked at…
Any suggestions? I’ve had to recreate the project (and all those layers!) several times to fit in with change requests…
I wonder if there’s some kind of mosaic generator… but my squares all appear on top of another image, so it’s got to be transparent.
Thanks
– Paddy
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2 Replies
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Paddy, I’d use the Fractal Noise, Mosaic, and Colorama effects to build the colored squares layer procedurally, and I’d use the Card Dance effect (in conjunction with another animated noise layer) to animate its scale on.
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Thanks – I ended up getting something close by using Particle World with quad polygons with rotation turned off and a long duration (random placement rather than a grid layout), though they’re a bit flickery (it looks like the squares are jumping in front and behind of each other.). I think I set the Z dimensions all to 0 so it shouldn’t be happening. It was quicker than the 240 layer one; I’ll see which they prefer…
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