[Colin Braley]

Yes, and the standard version is no more, its now pro only.
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

If I was you I would design in pieces of the stage in photoshop in square pixels, then bring them into AE and arrange them into a stage shape as 3d layers. Key out the band members, and place them onstage as a 3d layer. You wont be able to place the camera at much of an angle to the band members or else people will realize that the band members are a flat plane in 3d space and the illusion will be ruined. You could try setting the later with the band members to “Auto-Orient to camera” to make them look at the camera always but you still wont be able to view them from an angle far from the side. Also, try adding in a crowd using this tutorial: <https://belief.com/stage/index.php?section=process&project=02.Zoom%20Network%20Launch&id=01.How%20To%20Make%20a%20Crowd.800×600.mov&width=800&height=600>
Good luck.
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

Something like this should do the trick, as long as none of your layers are parented to anythiing. Just create a null named “Controls” and add a slider called “layer index” Then keyframe “layer index” as the number of the layer you want to focus on. Then add the expression below to the focus distance property of your camera.

layerIndexSwitch =thisComp.layer(“Controls”).effect(“layer index”)(“Slider”);
nearestKey = layerIndexSwitch.nearestKey( time );
nextKey = layerIndexSwitch.key( nearestKey.index );
distanceOne = length( position – thisComp.layer( nearestKey.value ).position );
distanceTwo = length( position – thisComp.layer( nextKey.value ).position );
ease( time, nearestKey.time, nextKey.time, distanceOne, distanceTwo )

I wrote this one really quick and didnt test it much so let me know if you have any problems.
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

Theres a script by Jeff Amisol that wil do just this:
https://redefinery.com/ae/view.php?item=rd_Fumes
~Colin Braley

[Colin Braley]

I think Particular comes with a “Flies” preset, but I could be wrong.
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

You can just import the whole .aep. When you import an .aep, all the comps and footage from the project are brought into a new folder in the current project.
~Colin Braley

[Colin Braley]

Oh you mean that kind of trail..I assumed since this was posted on the expressions forum that you were looking for and expression…

[Colin Braley]

I havent seen Superman so I don’t know what you are referring to…heres Dan’s page from motionscript.com on trails.
https://www.motionscript.com/mastering-expressions/follow-the-leader.html
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

If you post the expression you are using for scale people will probably be able to help you out more.
~Colin

[Colin Braley]

E-mail me off list at cbraley AT vt.edu if you would like to hire someone to create this script for you.
~Colin