[John Cuevas]

Try this script, Distribute Layers or this one Randomizer

If I had more time this morning, I’d work out an expression and some sliders to do what Distribute Layers does, but installing the script will probably be a lot faster for you.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

How do you want the path to import?

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Did you turn the background into a guide layer? You can check that, by right clicking the layer and if you see a check mark next to guide layer, click it again to remove the check.

Guide layers are layers you drop into a project just for reference, but they don’t render—-like a grid you create to line up items.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

First select your audio layer and press “LL”(tap quickly) to open the audio waveform and see if the audio is still there. If it’s not, open Window > Audio and make sure you haven’t inadvertently set the audio too low.

If that isn’t the issue, please upload a screen grab of your comp window for further diagnosis.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Here’s one way. Create your two text layers and add the “Scale Up” preset. Twirl open the text, and remove the “scale” keyframes, set the scale to 0%. Open the range selector > Advanced and change the Mode to Subtract. Change your “End” to 0%, count the number of characters in your text, multiply by 3, move that far down the timeline and set your end to 100%

Here’s an example project to check out: 7337_scaleup.aep.zip

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Add a Null to your comp, add a slider to it and add the expression(you said you knew this, but just posting for those that don’t): Math.floor(effect("Slider Control")("Slider"))

Open up one the opacity of one of your pictures and add this expression: mySlider = thisComp.layer("Control").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");

if (mySlider == thisLayer.index-1)(100) else (0)

Just using and If else statement that says, if the slider is Equal to and only equal to the index number of this layer(the -1 is because the layer 1 is the controller), make the opacity 100, else the it’s 0

Just in case I missed something, here’s an example project: 7336_pictureslider.aep.zip

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

It’s generally just another layer, scaled down, with a soft mask. You might add a white solid behind it, with the same mask shape, with a little bit of mask expansion, to give it more of that day dream effect.

Depending on how you shoot it and how you fade up the daydream, you may want to do some kind of motion tracking, so as the camera tilts up, the daydream is pinned in place.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Create a solid as your null, whatever size you want. You can turn off the opacity. Another option(and probably a good idea, regardless) would be to right click the layer and turn it into a guide layer–this will prevent it from rendering.

Solids were the null layers, before AE put nulls into the program.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

You can can apply this expression to your position:

moveDur = 2;

seedRandom(index,true);
startPos = random([thisComp.width,thisComp.height]);
ease(time,inPoint,inPoint+moveDur,startPos, value)

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Drop the combined layer into AE to create your new comp, this layer will be your bottom layer of the stack. Duplicate the layer, drag “layer” into comp above the duplicated layer. Change the duplicated layer’s track mode to “luma matte”. Do this for every layer you want to isolate.

I would suggest you get the Cinema4D import plugin for AE. In C4D Render Settings, Save Options, under the Composting Project File, you can save a .aec file that can import your cameras, lights, rendered layers into AE for post composting. NEW EXCHANGE PLUG-IN FOR CINEMA 4D AND ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS

Lynda.com has training on AE/C4D intergation using that plugin…here’s a link to a google search about using the two together: after effects cinema 4d tutorial .aec

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.