[Kevin Camp]

I would do it with using sourceRectAtTime().

Parent the layer to the text layer and try this:

rect = parent.sourceRectAtTime() ;

y = rect.top + rect.height ;

value + [ 0, y ]

[Kevin Camp]

I found this on an Adobe forum, it mentions a checkbox in Bridge to retain the current filename in the metadata:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge/batch-rename-preserving-original-filename-and-modified-date/td-p/9985629?page=1

[Kevin Camp]

I don’t know of a way for photoshop to automatically include the original filename in the metadata. There probably is a tool or script out there that could do it… but but that’s then a whole other process.

Perhaps Adobe Bridge could do it… it can also batch rename files, but I haven’t used Bridge for quite a while.

[Kevin Camp]

I think you could do this without too much extra work…

First you’d want to get all the images into a single folder with names that will be easy to replicate. It’s easy to use a Photoshop batch operation to rename files. Just create a action that does nothing, choose File > Automate > Batch, select a folder that has all the images to be renamed, then select the destination folder (where the AE project is looking for the images) and set the file naming to 3 digit serial number (no document name) and run it.

It will then put all the images into that folder, each with just a number as a name (like 001.png, 002.png, etc).

Now in AE you can create a project with the number of comps needed for each image that needs to be animated (say 70). Each comp would just need a unique image from the folder you created earlier. I’d also add all the comps to the render queue and with the proper settings and output location, you don’t need to hit render.

Then save the project.

Now if you replaced the images using the batch operation in Photoshop then open the AE project, all the images in the comps should be updated and all you need to do is click Render and get some coffee and AE should finish everything on it’s own.

[Kevin Camp]

There’s also Layer Styles… right-click the text layer and choose Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay.

Twirl down the Gradient Overlay property and change settings as needed.

[Kevin Camp]

Actually there is also a falloff property in light objects now, so you could try adding a light, enabling falloff in the light options and fiddle with the radius and falloff distance properties to see if you can get the ind of fall off you need.

I’ve also used Dan’s falloff expression on opacity and used a 3D null rather than a light to achieve a similar effect.

[Kevin Camp]

Dan Ebberts has an expression to simulate light falloff, which I think is what you are looking for:

http://motionscript.com/design-guide/falloff.html

[Kevin Camp]

That is really cool Filip!

[Kevin Camp]

To go over 1 million you can also use an angle control rather than a slider control. It’s an odd work around but it works.

[Kevin Camp]

One way I might try to do this would be to use Time Remapping to change the timing of the lumberjack’s swing.

First I’d add layer markers for each beat on the layer that has the music track. To do that, move the CTI (current time indicator) to the beginning of the comp, then with that layer selected, hit zero on the numbers pad to preview just the audio, then hit the * key on the numbers pad to add a marker as you hear each beat. It won’t need to be perfect, you just need a visual to time things up in the next step.

On your lumberjack layer, enable Time Remapping (right-click layer and choose Time > Enable Time Remapping). This will add a new Time Remapping property to the layer with two keyframes, one at the beginning of the clip and one at the end. What you’ll need to do is scrub thru the footage and add a new keyframe at every swing.

Once you have the swing keyframed, you can adjust the timing of each keyframe to match a beat marker on the music layer. Preview it and make timing adjustments as needed.