[Dan Ebberts]

This might get you close. It doesn’t matter what the value of the slider is, the expression just looks at the timing of the keyframes. At the 2nd keyframe, it will ease into the second value of your array, and so on.

easeTime = framesToTime(10); // ease for 10 frames
//Define position values
posOptions = [320, 360, 400, 440, 480];
//Slider to select position from array
rowSelect = thisLayer("Effects")("rowSelect")("Slider");
newY = posOptions[0];
if (rowSelect.numKeys > 0){
  n = rowSelect.nearestKey(time).index;
  if (time < rowSelect.key(n).time) n--;
  n = Math.min(n,posOptions.length);
  if (n == posOptions.length){
    newY = posOptions[n-1];
  }else if (n > 0){
    y1 = posOptions[n-1];
    y2 = posOptions[n];
    t2 = rowSelect.key(n+1).time;
    t1 = t2 - easeTime;
    newY = ease(time,t1,t2,y1,y2);
  }
}
//Final position
[960,newY];

[Dan Ebberts]

Most likely you have File > Project Settings > Expressions set to the Legacy ExtendScript engine. The other possibility is that you’re using an older version of AE.

[Dan Ebberts]

Try it this way:

var src = thisComp.layer("INPUT").text.sourceText;
var key1 = src.split(" ")[0];
var key2 = src.split(" ")[1]; // used in a different layer
var key3 = src.split(" ")[2]; // used in a different layer
var txt = key1
var fSize = thisComp.layer("Controllers").effect("Font Size")(1); // Slider
style.setText(txt).setFontSize(fSize)

[Dan Ebberts]

A general solution to this would be pretty complex. To start, I think you’d have to calculate the line that represents the intersection of the two planes, which involves some serious math. It might be simpler if there are some know constraints about how the planes can intersect, but you didn’t mention anything like that.

[Dan Ebberts]

Here’s another way to do it:

L = thisComp.layer("child");
v = L.toCompVec([1,0,0]);
radiansToDegrees(Math.atan2(v[1],v[0]));

[Dan Ebberts]

It will look something like this (although this may not be exactly right depending on what should happen if there are no markers, or other markers besides IN and OUT):

m = marker;
v1 = 2000;
v2 = 5000;
val = v1;
if (m.numKeys > 0){
  n = m.nearestKey(time).index;
  if (time < m.key(n).time) n--;
  if (n > 0){
    if (m.key(n).comment == "IN"){
      val = v1;
      if (n < m.numKeys && m.key(n+1).comment == "OUT"){
        val = ease(time,m.key(n).time,m.key(n+1).time,v1,v2);
      }
    }else if (m.key(n).comment == "OUT"){
      val = v2;
      if ( n < m.numKeys && m.key(n+1).comment == "IN"){
        val = ease(time,m.key(n).time,m.key(n+1).time,v2,v1);
      }
    }
  }
}
val

[Dan Ebberts]

I think I’d set it up with a slider for radius and angle controls for altitude and azimuth, like this:

r = effect("Radius")("Slider");
a = effect("Altitude")("Angle");
az = effect("Azimuth")("Angle");
center = [thisComp.width/2,thisComp.height/2,0];
aRad = degreesToRadians(a);
azRad = degreesToRadians(az);
y = r*Math.sin(aRad);
rXZ = r*Math.cos(aRad);
x = rXZ*Math.cos(azRad);
z = rXZ*Math.sin(azRad);
center + [x,y,z] 

[Dan Ebberts]

Try it this way:

m = thisComp.layer("MARKER").marker;
animation= thisComp.layer("LEAD ANIMATION").transform.opacity;
tag = thisLayer.name;
t = 0;
if (m.numKeys > 0){
  nk = m.nearestKey(time).index;
  if (time < m.key(nk).time) nk--;
  while (nk > 0){
    if (m.key(nk).comment == tag) break;
    nk--;
  }
  t = nk > 0 ? time - m.key(nk).time : 0;
}
animation.valueAtTime(t)

[Dan Ebberts]

It won’t work if you have multiple, per-character, styles defined in your master text layer (multiple fonts, for example). If not, something like this source text expression should work:

txt = comp("Main").layer("Master Text").text.sourceText;
txt.style.setText(txt)

[Dan Ebberts]

That does kind of make it look like I’m just talking to myself. Would it be possible to leave the questions (without the author’s name) to give some context to my answers?