Kevin Camp
Forum Replies Created
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If you’re looking to learn more on expressions, there are several links to help you get started here: https://motionarray.com/learn/after-effects/getting-started-with-after-effects-expressions/
motionscript.com has been around for a while and is one that I used a lot when learning expressions.
Also, the second part of the first expression (the For loop) is really just javascript, so you can find a lot on the web for that. Here’s a link on w3schools that discusses For loops: https://www.w3schools.com/java/java_for_loop.asp
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To learn more about expressions you can find a lot on the web by searching “After Effects Expressions”.
I learned a lot in the After Effects Expressions forum here at the Cow. Dan Ebberts has a great site too: Motionscript.com.
This site lists several good resources for expressions: https://motionarray.com/learn/after-effects/getting-started-with-after-effects-expressions/
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Create an empty text layer, add a slider control and add this expression to the source text property:
n = effect("Slider Control")("Slider") ;
nums = '' ;
for ( i = 1; i <= n; i++ ) {
nums = nums + i + '\r';
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You can do this with a text animator and an expression. Try This:
Create your text and add a text animator for position (Animation > Text Animator > Position). Set the y position value to something other than 0 — like 100 (this will be the amount of vertical movement).
Then, for that animator, add an expression selector (Animation > Add Text Selector > Expression) and enter this expression in the expression selector’s ‘amount’ expression field:
f = .5 ; //frequency in cycles per seconds
selectorValue * Math.sin( time * Math.PI * f * 2 + textIndex ) / textTotalSet the frequency as needed.
The characters in your text should move up and down in a wavy motion. You can also try changing the ‘based on’ value in the Expression Selector to ‘Characters Excluding Spaces’
An easier way, though not quite what they have in your example, is to simply add the Wave Warp effect to the text and set the Wave Width to a large value, like 200. It will make a ripple-like wave, more like a flag wave… very easy and looks similar : )
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I think you could use a valueAtTime() expression here.
You’d animate the first layer, and then you’d use an expression on the other layers to use the first layer’s animation, but offset in time.
Try this:
On your second layer, add this expression to the opacity property:
target = thisComp.layer("MyFirstLayer") ; // change MyFirstLayer to your first layer's name
target.opacity.valueAtTime( time - inPoint )Then adjust the in-point of the second layer as needed for the timing that you need.
If that will work for you, you can apply that expression to all of the other layers by right-clicking the opacity of the second layer (that has the expression) and choose ‘copy expression only’.
Then select all of the other layers (except the first ‘target’ layer) and paste.
If needed, you can adjust the in-points of all the layers using the Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Sequence Layers menu option. Move the CTI to the in point of the first ‘target’ layer, select all of the layers and hit the left bracket key (‘[‘) to line them all up, then move the CTI to the last key frame of the animation and hit Option-] (right-bracket) or Alt-] (Windows) to trim all of the layers. Then choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Sequence Layers and choose ‘overlap’ and enter the amount of overlap. This would be the duration of the layers minus the amount of offset. EX: each layer is 3 seconds and you want an offset of .5 seconds, the overlap would be 3 – 0.5 = 2.5 seconds : )
That should sequence all 900 layers and each should fallow the first layer’s opacity animation. Now if you change the first layer’s animation curve, it will affect all 900 layers.
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Have you tried leaving the layer 3d but enabling auto-orient towards camera? I think it might accomplish what you are trying to do…
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Thanks for pointing out that Shutter Encoder does do WebM : )
My comment on H.264 wasn’t that you should use it for what you are doing, but just to compare the result of how an AE h.264 render looks vs that from a compression utility. With 2-pass capabilities, a compression utility will produce better results for codecs that use predictive or bi-predictive frame compression.
I’m not 100% that WebM uses bi-predictive, but most highly efficient codecs do.
Basically, I think your current workflow of rendering and then compressing will produce the best final product ; )
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I think you’ll want to keep rendering from AE in a high quality codec (Animation, ProRes, DNxHD/DNxHR, etc) and then compress to a codec like WebM… AE (particularly old versions) can’t do a good job of rendering to codecs like WebM and H.264…
You can render to H.264 in CS6 and then compare it to the two step approach using AE to render the same thing to ProRes and then encode that to H.264 in Shutter Encoder with the ‘2-pass’ option enabled.
You’ll probably see a big difference in final file size and quality.
I don’t think Shutter Encoder can do WebM, but you should be able to find a similar utility.
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You can get close if you connect the circles with a line and then use an adjustment layer with blur and threshold… I used the Beam effect to connect each circle and the result is close.
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I think it might be hard to achieve with CC Sphere. You can get close with Card Dance.
Try this:
Make a tall, thin solid to use as your ribbon.
Duplicate it and add the Ramp effect setting the black color of the ramp to 50% gray, then hide that layer.
Add Card Dance to the ribbon layer and set the rows to a high level (like a few hundred) and the columns to 1. Then set the Gradient Layer 1 to your ramp layer and set the ‘source’ to ‘effects & masks’. Now go to the Y Rotation setting and set the Source to ‘Intensity 1’.
Scrub the multiplier to see how it works.
There will be some separation as the ‘cards’ turn. You may be able to fix some of that in the Y Position settings, choosing the Intensity 1 again and decreasing the multiplier a bit.
