[Brendon Murphy]

Assuming you have already created a comp (or something else) within your project, the first item is index 0. The second item is index 1. Layer indices start at 1. So assuming that the comp also contains a layer, you can do this this to get the name of the first layer:

var myComp = app.project.item[0];
var firstLayer = activeComp.layer(1);
var firstLayerName = firstLayer.name;
alert(firstLayerName);

[Brendon Murphy]

Gotcha. I’m not sure if you can combine two separate text styles on one layer using expressions. Let’s see if anyone else has seen this.

[Brendon Murphy]

Since there’s no specific code question here, I can offer a few ideas. My biggest suggestion is to keep it simple… set up a few lines of code that can be repeated for each section of the presentation.

For instance:

Put all your presentation text in a document on your computer (something like a txt or csv). Headlines can be on one line, with bullet points on subsequent lines.

Write a script that reads this text into AE based on the index of the line. Script some basic formatting rules to make your headline bigger, bold, and a different color. Set the duration of your comp to something reasonable.

Have your script precompose the text elements for that section, and then repeat for all other sections of your presentation.

Finish by putting all precomps sequentially into a master comp. Keyframe opacity on the precomps to fade in and out.

[Brendon Murphy]

Sure – parent the separate layers to a null object. Your “in-sync” animation should be done on the null, affecting all letters together. Then use those wiggle expressions to do the chaos part.

[Brendon Murphy]

Have you looked at CC Pixel Polly? CC Grid Wipe and Card Dance are other effects that split a layer into squares.

[Brendon Murphy]

Try this in the resultheadline source text:

var a = thisComp.layer("Headline1").text.sourceText;
var b = thisComp.layer("Headline2").text.sourceText;
a+", "+b;

[Brendon Murphy]

You could split each letter out onto a separate text layer, and then add a wiggle expression to position or rotation. Use a slider control to animate the wiggle. Like this:

-Add a slider effect to each letter and name it “Speed”.

-Add a second slider named “Amount”

-alt-click the rotation property for each letter. Past in the following expression:

wiggle(effect("Speed")("Slider"),effect("Amount")("Slider"));

Now you can set the speed and amount of wiggle, and use the Amount slider to eventually animate it back to 0.

[Brendon Murphy]

Apart from using a 3D character or attempting to project your character onto 3D geometry, you could give the Lockdown plugin a shot. You would use Lockdown to stabilize the core body movement, add your triangle distortions, and then unstabilize to restore the original body movement. Check out the 40 sec mark here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auqr4rDLXtwYou

You can even use lockdown to map the body contour in 3D space and send it to a 3D app for distortion. That’s shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV6aqbEnt2g

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Brendon Murphy]

This is how you get the CURRENT name:

var activeComp = app.project.activeItem;
var myShapeLayer = activeComp.selectedLayers[0];
alert(myShapeLayer.property("Contents").property(1).name);

I’m not aware of a way to get the original name of the property besides seeing what kind of path it contains. In other words, since the path inside is named “Rectangle Path 1”, it must be a Rectangle group.

You can check the “matchName” for that property group, but that’s not very helpful since it’s always “ADBE Vector Group” for that property group, regardless of what it was named.

[Brendon Murphy]

Here’s one way using built in effects.

WARNING – FLASHING GRAPHICS BELOW

Create a black solid and add the “Lens Flare” effect. Move the Flare Center to the far left side of the screen.

Add a gaussian blur… let’s say 200 for the blurriness. Check “Repeat edge pixels”.

Add a glow. Let’s say 260 for radius.

Duplicate the layer. Move that flare to the right side. Set the blending mode of the top one to “Add”. Add a white solid to the top of the comp at 10% opacity for a general wash, set it to “add” as well.

Precompose those three layers.

Set the precomp blending mode to “Add”.

Add a tint effect to the precomp. Change the black color to a saturated blue.

Add a levels or curves effect, and animate the brightness along with the opacity of the layer.