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Expression – VO Markers Control Stroke Generation Effect
Hi, Creatives
I’m slowly learning to use expressions to quicken and measure my work though while manually developing a motion graphics mind-map project, I discovered I had mistakenly shifted all the keyframes within the ‘Generate Stroke’ effect a few frames backwards. Not knowing how long ago this had happened, difficulty in telling by how many fractions of a frame the project had been corrupted and with little time to restore all, an expression would be the smartest way to do so.
Preparing my project for an expression, I have made sure that each generated move is made of one path and that the voiceover layer has handle markers for every move the strokes would need to make. The same has been done with the titles that fade in with opacity, yet this I would do once I could automate all of the branches of the mind map.
Please ask if there are other details you want to know.
Kind regards
Andy Diesel
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10 Replies
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Expressions can’t physically move Markers nor Keyframes – you’ll need a script to do such physical adjustments in AE. Expressions can however, offset Keyframed Values in time or when Markers are processed by an Expression. However, the visual indicators of the Markers and Keyframes will be misleading.
So, a script will be the best option. ScreenGrabs of your Timeline that shows the Markers/Keyframes that you want to offset will be good. And, just to be clear, do you want to adjust ALL Markers or just a set of Markers within the Work Area and work this way as you progress down the Timeline? How do you envision the solution should work for you, based on your best understanding of the issue.
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And you can select all KFs and nudge them or if you select ONE KF, you can right-click and choose one of Select Previous KFs or Select Following KFs.
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Thank you very much, Roland
Your response is very insightful and gives practical insight.
I have attached below screengrabs of my project with the Timeline, Branch Precomp, and Title Precomp; I will refer to these.
I’m learning to crawl before I can walk, so I’ve structured the composition/project so that expressions can manipulate it.
The branches and titles for the mindmap animation/motion graphic have been precomped separately to keep order and simplify control. In the Branch Precomp, the layer has been duplicated and narrowed down to a single path in the previous order so that it can be implemented simply by sliding 0 to 100. The Title Precomp has every title and icon masked out and separated so that the Branch Precomp layers can trigger each layer.
Before, I would copy and paste keyframes within the branch and title layers to maintain consistency, yet this manual process proved time-consuming and high-risk.
Now that manual and automation are merging, I have added markers to the VO layer in Audition so that its paced KFs will trigger each of the branch layers’ stroke generation effect within the branch pre-comp.
Is this updated procedure in line with what you advised and possible within the limited knowledge of AE coding?
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This looks really haphazard. I suggest you do this manually cos there doesn’t seem to be a quick fix. I would also look at the possibility of bringing the layers in the nested comp into the render comp. Another option is to drop specific audio parts into their respective comps. Then, use Markers to demarcate Start/End and other important parts.
I don’t see how or why you think Expressions will work with this in an efficient manner. My thoughts are there will be different time adjustments for different parts of the timeline. So, just go heads down this time around and for future work on similar projects, look at a more efficient comp hierarchy because it sounds like the cause for your issue is with mistimed nested comps/layers and their audio.
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Thanks a lot, Roland
I greatly appreciate your experienced opinion, even as it leads back to the drawing board.
I need to complete a few dozen more of this same sort of project. Please point me towards books or links that are good references for efficient hierarchy in an After Effects workflow.
Kind regards
Andy Diesel
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Hi Andy, see if this helps – https://aescripts.com/universal-audio/
As I mentioned earlier, it’s best to solve the issue at its cause and this may help you keep audio the Render and preComps in sync. There’s a Trial Version. HTH
aescripts.com
Now with KBar support and over 10 new features! Timing animations to VO or music? Make audio flow through all your comps with one button, always giving you audio reference along with markers to animate to, no matter where you … Continue reading
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Fantastic, let me try it out!
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Good morning, Roland
I hope you are well and don’t mind my following up after implementing the Universal Audio advice you kindly shared with me.
Returning to the manual process, I’ve added markers in a formatted and spaced manner to map out the video’s skeleton. This took time, but aligning it with the audio made ‘universal’ has been a smooth “colour by number” process.
I have added a marker as a handle at the end of every generated ‘Branch’. Using these markers will be my next step towards linking it with the Titles ‘pre-comp’ and triggering its dissolve reveals after every generation.
These steps are to create a repeatable and minimized workflow. Of course, an Ae scripted template is the first prize, but would you agree that I am heading towards a tested process?
Kind regards
Andy Diesel
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Hi Andy, thanks for sharing your progress. It looks like you’ve reaching your goals. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help you automate the process. I suggest you complete the task and then sit back and take a huge sigh of relief. Then, look at the process and where you can proceed either more quickly or in an automated manner.
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Thanks, Roland
All for the sake of progress, I appreciate your clarity.
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