[Christian Simpson]

Hey Dan I attempted to lay out in more detail how I have set everything up in this word doc. I appreciate any time you could devote to taking a peek at my setup. I suppose I could have written this all out in a forum post but that may have been too much. Thank you again for all your help.

11714_expressionbreakdown.docx.zip

[Christian Simpson]

If that’s the case do you recommend simply creating multiple control layers so that every parameter I have to change has its own control layer?

Thanks for all your help

[Christian Simpson]

Ok that’s good to know. However I suppose my situation is the inverse of that. I have one check box controller controlling multiple parameters across many different layers. I also wanted to mention that after I quit and restart after effects it always works perfectly. It’s only after I’ve exported and then I try and update it by checking a new checkbox that it begins to fall apart. With the solution being perfectly repeatable every single time that makes me think for some reason after effects isn’t updating correctly or there is a cache issue. I suppose the next thing I will try is to create a control layer for every different layer and parameter i want to manipulate. That’s getting almost as tedious as just changing it all manually however. Unless there was a way to have a master checkbox control layer that all the other checkbox control layers were linked to.

[Christian Simpson]

No they are not connected to each other in anyway and I only check one at a time so its really throwing me for a loop. It’s doubly odd that restarting After Effects clears up the problem but that’s not a very reasonable way to work. Maybe I should look into your alternative method.

Thanks for the help as always.

[Christian Simpson]

Forgive me but I am not familiar with what a radio button is unfortunately. To explain my situation a little better i have null object with 30 or so checkbox controllers. I have several parameters connected to each checkbox controller. I have several layers that have opacity at 100 or 0, and some text layers that have certain source text when checked. I only have one box checked at a time so as to not display multiple results. So if I understand correctly a checkbox controller is not the way to approach a situation like this? Is there any place you recommend that has information on radio buttons? I could not seem to find any info on it pertaining to After Effects.

Thanks

[Christian Simpson]

Thanks Dan, that works perfectly.

[Christian Simpson]

Good grief, you’re exactly right. Thanks Dan, you’re a lifesaver!

[Christian Simpson]

Hey Dan I thought I had this working but I guess I messed something up. I pasted my example below. The layer that has all my checkbox controls is in another comp. I’m wondering what I did wrong here?
The error message I’m getting is this:
Error at Line 1 in property ‘Color’ of layer 3 (‘Bottom Strip’) in comp ‘Home Team’. Unterminated string constant., an expression was disabled as a result of an error.
Bottom strip is the shape I’m trying to apply the custom colors to.

if(comp("!Team-Match-Up").layer("Home Team Control").effect("Alabama")("Checkbox”).value)
[255, 255, 255, 0]
else if (comp("!Team-Match-Up").layer("Home Team Control").effect("Arizona")("Checkbox”).value)
[68, 25, 212, 0]
else if (comp("!Team-Match-Up").layer("Home Team Control").effect("Arizona St")("Checkbox”).value)
[158, 124, 12, 0]
else
value;


[Christian Simpson]

For example if I had one text layer and also had 3 checkbox controllers named Alpha Beta and Charlie and depending on which checkbox I checked the text would change. Not sure if the question makes sense.

[Christian Simpson]

Thanks Kevin. I should have mentioned this earlier but what if you have several checkboxes? Would you just copy and paste the code or does something need to separate it?