[Kevin Camp]

Wiggle() has parameters, the first two are frequency and amplitude.

So you could have wiggle(10, 100), where it will randomly create new values between -100 and 100, 10 times per second.

My guess is they used an expression that tied the beat amplitude to the frequency property, so it would wiggle more/faster with every beat.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

particular allows you to use a layer as an emitter. it determines where the particles will emit from based on the alpha of the layer (opaque areas emit particles, transparent areas don’t).

so for your example, you could use couch shaped layer to emit a custom particle that is the word ‘bla’, and it might get you close.

having 2 (or more) particle systems with different layer emitters would allow you to have different particle behaviors… so if you were to use simple choker on one of the layer emitters to change alpha area, you could change the birthrate (or speed, size, etc) of those particles and layer that with the other particle system(s) to get the look you are after….

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

there’s not an easy way….

you can use sourceRectAtTime() but you have to separate each word on a separate layer… which wouldn’t be too bad if the text was on a single line. you’d also need to determine the max number of words, since you’d need that many text layers pre-made.

if you need the text to wrap to new lines, it will get more complicated.

you can easy change the color of an individual word in a text layer with AE’s text animators, if that would work…

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

try sindots2 (free):
https://www.philipp-spoeth.de/aftereffects/sinedots2.php

it’s an old (really old) plugin, but it was updated several years ago to be 64-bit and still works… it create forms very similar the ‘vue’ logo texture. with a couple of them moving and blended together and then colonized it think it would be pretty close.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

[Chad Ridgeway] “that does move the entire group of layers one frame at a time”

yes, all select layers will move. also, holding shift will move them 10 frames at a time.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

i don’t now of a keyboard short cut for that, but if you start to drag the selected layers with the mouse, then hold the shift key, the layers should snap to the CTI

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

here’s what i do…

make a rectangle or rounded rectangle shape layer (they are actually the same, the rectangle shape layer has an option for rounding, so i’m not sure why there are two).

parent the shape layer to the text that you want it to fit around

then add this expression to the rectangle path>size property:
pad = 10 ; // set pad value
if ( hasParent == true ) {
rect = parent.sourceRectAtTime() ;
w = rect.width + pad * 2 ;
h = rect.height + pad * 2 ;
[ w, h ] ;
} else
value ;
and this expression for rectangle path>position property (not the layer>transform>position property):
if ( hasParent == true ) {
rect = parent.sourceRectAtTime() ;
x = rect.width / 2 + rect.left ;
y = rect.height / 2 + rect.top ;
[ x, y ] ;
} else
value ;
then set the rectangle>transform group>position to 0, 0 (again this is different than the layer>transform>position property)

and you should be good to go, just adjust the pad value in the first expression as needed.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

if the levels go bellow 1 (which is likely), you’ll want to make sure that value won’t go bellow 1….

you could simply add 1 to the soundKeys value, so the las line could look like this:
value * ( soundKeys + 1 )

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

try this:

trim your comp to the last keyframe, then drop that comp into a new, longer comp. Enable time remapping for the nested comp (with the animated flare), go one frame before the last time-remap keyframe and add a keyframe, then delete the last keyframe. then add a loopOut() expresion to the time-remap property and extend the layer duration to fill the comp.

you should have your looping animation again.

now add timewarp and add an expression for the speed property to link it to the soundkeys output… something like this:
soundKeys = thisComp.layer('soundkeys') ; // point this to your soundkeys layer/property
value * soundKeys

see if that get’s you close.

as most have pointe out, this is tough to do with expressions, but i think timewarp may be able to work.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

as long as the first line has a semicolon at the end (just one), it should be fine…

i went ahead and made this as a preset:
12268_dollarsyear.ffx.zip

download and install that in your after effects/presets folder, then in after effects go to the effects & presets palette, click on the hamburger menu and choose “refresh list” and you should be able to find it in the preset folder.

with a text layer selected in the comp, double-click the preset. it should add two sliders and the expression.

I also set the expression to round the values, so you don’t get decimal values.

If you are still having issues, try a restart….

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW