[Filip Vandueren]

[rodrigo] “and one more thing , the expression really will help me a lot in my works or is just a knowledge useful??
will really change my work for much better…
are them magic???”

I think it depends on how you think about designing.

I myself think pretty mechanical, and so for some effects I want to achieve, Expressions are real time savers, and in some cases the only way to achieve something.

For example:
I want 20 layers that animate the same way, but each next layer is 5% smaller, and does the exact same think as the prev. layer, only 2 frames later
-> Expression-heaven 😉 don’t do stuff like that by hand.

Or I want to achieve a very specific motion along a mathematical curve, like a sine-wave or a spiral.
Or I want to make 3D-layers more transparant as they get further away from the camera.

If you’re doing a lot of organic or character animation work, maybe you won’t need those kinds of (geeky) expressions so often.

But if you’re like me, even in those cases you might be wondering: “what would be the formula for that.” 😉

After all, many things in nature are fractal and formulaic.

But don’t forget: the ‘human’ factor can not be scripted.
Sometimes it’s better to just mess up your keyframes at random, instead of using a “wiggle”.

And more fun 😉

[Filip Vandueren]

[rodrigo] “and one more thing , the expression really will help me a lot in my works or is just a knowledge useful??
will really change my work for much better…
are them magic???”

I think it depends on how you think about designing.

I myself think pretty mechanical, and so for some effects I want to achieve, Expressions are real time savers, and in some cases the only way to achieve something.

For example:
I want 20 layers that animate the same way, but each next layer is 5% smaller, and does the exact same think as the prev. layer, only 2 frames later
-> Expression-heaven 😉 don’t do stuff like that by hand.

Or I want to achieve a very specific motion along a mathematical curve, like a sine-wave or a spiral.
Or I want to make 3D-layers more transparant as they get further away from the camera.

If you’re doing a lot of organic or character animation work, maybe you won’t need those kinds of (geeky) expressions so often.

But if you’re like me, even in those cases you might be wondering: “what would be the formula for that.” 😉

After all, many things in nature are fractal and formulaic.

But don’t forget: the ‘human’ factor can not be scripted.
Sometimes it’s better to just mess up your keyframes at random, instead of using a “wiggle”.

And more fun 😉

[Filip Vandueren]

Have you tried creating the light from scratch ?
I think Shadows are stored and cached in the lights.

[Filip Vandueren]

Or have some place you can copy-paste to and from that will loose the formatting.
Like a very simple texteditor (BBedit lite for Mac for example)

[Filip Vandueren]

Do a search on “surveillance monitor”
there’s been a thread a few weeks ago.

[Filip Vandueren]

Either you use the camera,

or

you create a 3d null, and parent everything to that, then rotate the null.
If the connecting lines you’re using are with the beam effect and the expression, then don’t parent those layers, only the 3d-ones.

The parenting way gives a more convincing spin with less keyframes.
Moving the camera is a bit more difficult, but of course, you have way more options.

[Filip Vandueren]

Either you use the camera,

or

you create a 3d null, and parent everything to that, then rotate the null.
If the connecting lines you’re using are with the beam effect and the expression, then don’t parent those layers, only the 3d-ones.

The parenting way gives a more convincing spin with less keyframes.
Moving the camera is a bit more difficult, but of course, you have way more options.

[Filip Vandueren]

do your calculation for example:

z=Math.cos(time);

then conclude your expression with this

[value[0],value[1],z]

this will take the x and y coordinates from value (=the properties value before expressions) and use the variable z as the third coordinate.

[Filip Vandueren]

do your calculation for example:

z=Math.cos(time);

then conclude your expression with this

[value[0],value[1],z]

this will take the x and y coordinates from value (=the properties value before expressions) and use the variable z as the third coordinate.

[Filip Vandueren]

Import the audio and “animation > Keyframe Assistant > Convert Audio to Keyframes”.

You get a new layer with sliders that hold values corresponding to the amplitude of the audio.

ou can use a simple pixkwhip expression to use this value in the scale of a layer or a bulge-effect etc.