Is this for an expression selector? If so, try this:

p = text.sourceText;
t = 0;
if (p.numKeys > 0){
	n = p.nearestKey(time).index;
	if (time < p.nearestKey(time).time && (n > 1)) n--;
	t = p.key(n).time;
}
wiggle(effect("wiggles / sec")("Slider"),effect("wiggle amount")("Slider"),1.0,0.5,t)

Try replacing your posterizeTime() statement with this:

seed = 1;
if (numKeys > 0){
	seed = nearestKey(time).index;
	if (time < nearestKey(time).time) seed--;
}
seedRandom(seed,true);

and if you’re using the Expression Selector expression, try replacing the seedRandom() statement with this:

seed = 1;
p = text.sourceText;
if (p.numKeys > 0){
	seed =…

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You may have figured it out already, but to make the expression selectors sync up to the randomization of your posterizeTime(), you could replace the seedRandom() statement with something like this:

seedRandom(textIndex*1000 + Math.floor(time/2),true);

Just add this to the end of the style .set commands:

.setAllCaps(Math.round(random()), i, 1)

For random upper/lower case, you could use a Source Text expression like this:

txt = "";
seedRandom(index,true);
for (i = 0; i < value.length; i++){
  txt += random(1) < .5 ? value[i].toUpperCase() : value[i].toLowerCase();
}
txt

For other properties, like rotation, you can add a Rotation Animator (and set the Rotation value to say 25 degrees), add an…

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My guess, based on the error message, is that you have the expression engine set to Legacy Extendscript. Try:

File > Project Settings > Expressions > JavaScript

Can you post the whole expression (or a link to where you got it)?

Yeah, I sniffed around for a while using propterGroup() but I didn’t get anywhere. I don’t think it’s there, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

I don’t know of a way to access the mask mode from an expression. If you find out that there is a way, please come back and post it!

This example will ramp from the number in layer “Text 1” to the number in layer “Text 2” (both formatted with commas) over the period defined by variable dur, starting at the time defined by variable tStart and format the result with commas:

dur = 5;
txt1 = thisComp.layer("Text 1").text.sourceText;
n1 = parseFloat(txt1.replace(/,/g, ''));
txt2 =…

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2D? If so, try this:

p = position;
n = p.numKeys;
if (n > 0){
  if (time < p.key(1).time){
    v = p.velocityAtTime(p.key(1).time);
  }else if (time > p.key(n).time){
    v = p.velocityAtTime(p.key(n).time);
  }else{
    v = p.velocity;
  }
}else{
  v = p.velocity;
}
radiansToDegrees(Math.atan2(v[1],v[0]))

I don’t remember where I got that formula (I don’t think I derived it), but this might help with the math:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1734745/how-to-create-circle-with-b%C3%A9zier-curves

I think the actual formula for the “magic number” is:

(4/3)*(Math.SQRT2 - 1)

which comes out to about .5523. You were pretty close!

In most cases, the result of the expression replaces the static/keyframed value of the property, but wiggle() is a special case. The pre-expression value is included in the result, with the wiggle amount (+ or -) being added to it. So if you’re just interested in the wiggle part, you need to subtract value to isolate the wiggle.

I haven’t tested this, but you might just need to separate the wiggle from the original value by changing this:

w= wiggle(f,a);

to this:

w= wiggle(f,a) - value;

Does it make any difference if instead of this:

myFrame=time/thisComp.frameDuration+1;

you use this:

myFrame=timeToFrames(time)+1;

That's exactly what it is. It's the JavaScript ternary (or conditional) operator. So if cb is true (1 in this case) the result is 90, otherwise it's 77.7.

What is it that you’re trying to do?

I’m not sure what you want to do with the result, but this expression will fill the frames array with all the frames where a close encounter first occurs. However, on each frame, this expression has to examine the entire comp, so you might want to consider converting the expression to keyframes at some point if processing time becomes an issue:

var…

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I think that will look something like this:

cb = thisComp.layer("Expression_Ctrls").effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox").value;
leading = cb ? 90 :…

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Probably. It depends on how you have things set up. Say you have all your underlying elements in a precomp. In an outer comp, you apply the Lens Flare effect to the precomp layer. You could then have an expression like this on the Flare Brightness property:

p = effect("Lens Flare")("Flare Center");
s =…

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toFixed() converts your numeric result to a string. Then your next operation has to convert it back to a number. You’d have a more predictable result if you only use toFixed() on the final step, like this maybe:

posterizeTime(5);
x = random()+2;
y = x;
z = (24+y*8).toFixed(4);

You could do something like that with a time-remapped precomp that has all your sound effects arranged at different times and a time remapping expression that plays the sounds in response to typing “events”. The implementation would depend on how you have your type animation set up and what info the expression has available to trigger the…

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That would be a tricky algorithm because the position and scale of each word is dependent on all the other words. Offhand, I can’t think of a reasonable expressions-based solution for something like that.

Is it possible that there is more than one comp with that name?

I don’t think an expression on a subsequent animator is going to be able to see the text created by the offset animator. I think it will get the original text. That’s why I was wondering about creating the offset text within the source text expression.

Yes, but a Fill Color animator only gives you access to one additional color. I suppose you could have multiple animators.

textIndex can only be used in an expression for the Amount property of an Expression Selector. What are you doing with character offset exactly? You might be able to incorporate it into the Source Text expression.

Try this Source Text expression:

letterColor = [1,0,0,1]; // Red
numberColor = [0,1,0,1]; // Green
symbolColor = [0,0,1,1]; // Blue
myExpr = "style";
for (i = 0; i < value.length; i++){
  c = value[i];
  if (c.match(/[A-Za-z]/)) {
    myExpr += ".setFillColor(letterColor," + i + ",1)";
  } else if (c.match(/[0-9]/)) {
    myExpr +=…

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Try changing the second line to this:

d = length(toComp(anchorPoint), target.position );

I’m confused by your mention of the values of keyframes 2 and 3, but this example might be helpful. It will interpolate directly between the path values at keyfames 1 and 4 over the time defined by tStart and tEnd. It assumes that the path has the same number of points at keyframes 1 and 4:

function interp(a1,a2,pct){
  a = [];
  for (var i = 0; i <…

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That one is difficult to run backwards (if that’s what you meant) because there’s no definite end point, but maybe something like this would be useful:

val = value;
if (numKeys > 1){
  n = nearestKey(time).index;
  if (key(n).time > time) n--;
  if ((n > 0) && (n < numKeys)){
    d = key(n+1).time-key(n).time;
    dv = key(n+1).value-key(n).value;
    t =…

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Sorry, I didn’t test it before. This seems to work:

font01 = "ProximaNova-Black";
font02 = "ProximaNovaCond-Black";
font03 = "ProximaNovaExCn-Black";
font04 = "ProximaNovaExWd-Black";
font05 = "ProximaNovaWide-Black";
font06 = "ProximaSera-Black";
font07 = "ProximaSoft-Black";
font08 = "ProximaSoftCond-Black";
font09 = "ProximaSoftExCn-Black";
dropMenu =…

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Try changing the last line to:

.setText(txtp())

Assuming your text layers (“Text 1” and “Text 2”) have checkboxes to indicate their inclusion in the shape calculation, something like this should work:

m = 15; // margin
L1 = thisComp.layer("Text 1");
L2 = thisComp.layer("Text 2");
cb1 = L1.effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox").value;
cb2 = L2.effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox").value;
r1 =…

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Try it this way:

var yRot = thisComp.layer("MASTER").transform.yRotation;
if (yRot< -63 || yRot > 63)
  0
else if (yRot >= 50 && yRot <= 63)
  linear(yRot,50,63,100,0)
else if (yRot <= -50 && yRot >= -63)
  linear(yRot,-63,-50,0,100)
else
  100

Ah, yes. I didn’t consider that. I’d try it like this:

L = thisComp.layer("Shape Layer 1");
ellipse = L.content("Ellipse 1");
p = ellipse.content("Path 1").path;
start1 = ellipse.content("Trim Paths 1").start;
end1 = ellipse.content("Trim Paths 1").end;
end2 = ellipse.content("Trim Paths 2").end;
offset1 = L.transform.anchorPoint;
offset2 =…

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First you need to convert the ellipse to bezier (right click on Ellipse Path 1 > Convert to Bezier Path). Then this expression for the the text layer’s position should work:

L = thisComp.layer("Shape Layer 1");
ellipse = L.content("Ellipse 1");
p = ellipse.content("Path 1").path;
end1 = ellipse.content("Trim Paths 1").end;
end2 = ellipse.content("Trim…

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Not directly from the graph editor, but you can analyze whatever property is driving the graph, with something like this:

prop = thisComp.layer("White Solid 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
for (i = 0; i <= thisComp.duration; i += thisComp.frameDuration){
  max = (i == 0) ? prop.valueAtTime(i) : Math.max (max, prop.valueAtTime(i));
}
max

but…

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Ah, I missed the template literal. So once you change the curly quotes to straight quotes and get rid of the http:// stuff, this should work:

let layerNames = "";
for (let i = 1; i <= thisComp.numLayers; i++) {
  if (i === index) continue;
  let targetLayer = thisComp.layer(i);
  if (targetLayer.active) {
    layerNames += 'Layer…

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Roland,

I’m guessing that some unintentional reformatting occurred when you posted your code. I’m taking a shot at what I think you might have intended here:

let layerNames = "";
for (let i = 1; i <= thisComp.numLayers; i++) {
  if (i === index) continue;
  let targetLayer = thisComp.layer(i);
  if (targetLayer.active) {
    layerNames +=…

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My guess is that the “Adjust composition duration to the time span of the selected layers” switch in the pre-compose dialog is moving your resulting, shortened precomp off to the left on the time line so that it’s not visible.

This could get complicated, depending on what you’re after, but the simplest version would probably be something like this:

posterizeTime(0);
p1 = thisComp.layer("Shape Layer 1").content("Rectangle 1").transform.position;
p2 = thisComp.layer("Shape Layer 1").content("Rectangle 2").transform.position;
minD =…

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This would be one way:

checkboxOn=thisComp.layer("CHECKBOX-CTRL").effect("BLUR-ON_OFF")("Checkbox").value;
keyframeValue=15;
k1 = key(1).time;
k2 = key(2).time;
k3 = key(3).time;
k4 = key(4).time
if (checkboxOn){
  if (time < (k2 + k3)/2){
    ease(time,k1,k2,valueAtTime(k1),keyframeValue);
  }else{
    ease(time,k3,k4,keyframeValue,valueAtTime(k4));
  }
}else
…

Maybe start with something like this:

checkboxOn=thisComp.layer("CHECKBOX-CTRL").effect("BLUR-ON_OFF")("Checkbox").value;
keyframeValue=15;
k1 = key(1).time;
k2 = key(2).time;
if (checkboxOn){
  ease(time,k1,k2,valueAtTime(k1),keyframeValue);
}else
  value

So what is it that you want the checkbox to do, exactly?

To run it in reverse, you need to define an end point, so you could introduce a new variable, totalDur, for that purpose, and modify one line of the expression to reverse it, like this:

freq = 3;
decay = 5;
totalDur = 3;
t = (inPoint +totalDur) - time;
startVal = [0,0];
endVal = [200,200];
dur = 0.1;
if (t < dur){
  linear(t,0,dur,startVal,endVal);
}else{
…

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You were close. Try it this way:

var compLength = thisComp.duration / thisComp.frameDuration;
var posX = thisComp.layer("shape").transform.xPosition;
for (i = 0; i <= compLength; i++) {
 if (posX.valueAtTime(framesToTime(i)) >= 500) break;
}
i

You could try a scale expression like this, to counteract the scaling of the parent shape layer:

s = parent.scale;
[value[0]/s[0],value[1]/s[1]]*100

You might need to move the text layer’s anchor point to the bottom of the shape layer to keep gap from changing size as the shape scales.

I’m probably missing something, but I get fully saturated colors if I have the Color Balance (HLS)’s Lightness set to 0 and the Saturation set to 100. I only get white if I move Lightness to 100.