[Kevin Camp]

try this:
linear( scale[0], 81, 100, 0, 400 )

[edit]
I see dan had responded to your second post… doh!

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

Here’s a good tutorial to set up something very similar to what you are looking for:

https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/marker-sync.html

Rather than a slider, it controls the animation sequences with layer markers. If you look at the example, he has a brow animation that goes from normal to raised or frown, i think that the mouth animation could be set up very similarly, going from normal to smile to sad, etc..

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

an ik rig might work for what you are asking. dan ebberts’s has a good tutorial/writeup about how to set that up using expressions in after effects:

https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/ik.html

if you are using creative cloud 2014, you can use the new sourceRectAtTime() function with shape layers to create something similar, but you would need to control it with the rotation property of one of the shape layers, rather than the position of an end point. setting that up is pretty straight forward…

select the shape tool and set it to rectangular and create the first hinge panel by drawing a skinny vertical rectangle. to make things a little more simple, twirl down the layer properties to contents>rectangle 1>transform:rectangle 1>position and set it to 0,0 to center it on the screen (**important, you want to use the contents>rectangle>transform position not the layer>transform properties).

now duplicate the shape layer and move the duplicate bellow the first shape layer and add the following expressions to that she layer:

expression for layer>contents>rectangle 1>transform:rectangle 1>position:
target = thisComp.layer(index-1);
rTarget = target.sourceRectAtTime(t = time, includeExtents = false);
r = sourceRectAtTime(t = time, includeExtents = false);
value + [r.width/2 + rTarget.width/2 + target.content("Rectangle 1").transform.position[0], 0]

expression for layer>contents>rectangle 1>transform:rectangle 1>rotation
target = thisComp.layer(index-1);
-target.content("Rectangle 1").transform.rotation

if you adjust the first shape layer’s contents>rectangle 1>transform:rectangle 1>rotation property (**again not the layer>transform>rotation property), the second layer should hinge outward like it is connected to the first.

at this point i’d parent the second shape layer to the first (it will make it easier to move them around). and then you can simply duplicate the second shape layer for as many hinged panels as you need and they should expand and contract like an accordion as you change that tranform:rectangle 1>rotation property of the first layer.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you could also look for tutorials that cover day-to-night conversions.. the idea being you could take a day shot, then use some color correcting effects to make that shot look like night (or darker), then you could use a wipe to make it look like a shadow is sweeping across the shot.

here’s one tutorial to get you started:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/kramer_andrew/Day_to_Night.php

videocopilot.net has several others that deal with color adjustment to change the look of the original shot, and you should be able to find many others out there.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

there is a function called sampleImage() that can take the pixel values from another layer and use them in an expression… so you could use that to effect scale.

try something like this as an expression for the scale property:

gradient = thisComp.layer("My Gradient");
lightness = rgbToHsl(gradient.sampleImage(position, radius = [.5, .5], postEffect = true, t = time))[2];
value * (1 - lightness)

you’ll just need to change “My Gradient” in the first line to the name of your gradient layer.

also, the expression could get thrown off if the layer is parented to another layer, or either are 3d layers.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

i’ve had some success by adding an addition slider control and using that to hold a value that would be used to help control the checkboxes…

try adding a slider to the same layer as your checkboxes, and manually set the value to 4 (or a value higher than the number of checkbox controls — for some reason this seems to make it work). then add an expression like this to the slider value (set checkbox names as needed for your setup):

if ( effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox") == true ) 0;
else if ( effect("Checkbox Control 2")("Checkbox") == true ) 1;
else if ( effect("Checkbox Control 3")("Checkbox") == true ) 2;
else 0;

then use an expression like this on the first checkbox:

if ( effect("Slider Control")("Slider") == 0 ) true else false;

and the second:

if ( effect("Slider Control")("Slider") == 1 ) true else false;

and the third:

if ( effect("Slider Control")("Slider") == 3 ) true else false;

i put the slider at the bottom of the effects stack, but i’m not sure that matters.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

it looks like i also reversed the slider-to-circle relationship too… slider 1 should control circle 2 and slider 2 should control circle 1:

circle 1 radius:
pct2 = effect(“Slider Control 2”)(“Slider”);
width * pct2 / 100

circle 2 radius:
pct1 = effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”);
width * pct1 / 100

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

in my haste to post that before i got off work, there was a mistake on the last expression where it was looking at the same slider as the first radius expression. it should look like this:

circle 2 radius:
pct2 = effect(“Slider Control 2”)(“Slider”);
width * pct2 / 100

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

if you want to get creative, you could do each bar graph on one layer…

first create a layer the is the width of the bar that you need, but only 1 pixel high (like 800×1) and make it the light gray color.

add 2 slider controls (these will be where you will enter your percentage values).

then add a circle effect, set the blending mode to normal, the center to 0,0.5 and the color to medium gray,

duplicate that cirlcle effect and set the color to dark gray.

then add the reptile effect and increase the expand down and up value to 50 or so to get the bar height/thickness as needed.

now, add this expression to the center property of the first circle effect to link it to the radius of the second circle effect:

x = effect(“Circle 2”)(“Radius”);
[x,0.5]

then use these expressions on circle 1 and circle 2’s radius properties to link them to slider 1 and slider 2 respectively.

circle 1 radius:
pct1 = effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”);
width * pct1 / 100

circle 2 radius:
pct2 = effect(“Slider Control”)(“Slider”);
width * pct2 / 100

now you should be able to set the percentages for the dark gray and medium gray bars with the slider, and the light gray portion will be what’s left over.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

i think i’d do each graph with 3 solids that are identical except for color (by your example: dark gray, medium gray, light gray), and set the x value of the anchor points of each to 0. then make sure they are layered in the order dark, medium, light in the timeline.

then i’d link the position of the medium gray bar to the position + the width * the scale of the dark bar with an expression like this:

target = thisComp.layer(“Dark Gray Solid”);
target.position + (target.width * target.scale[0] / 100)

now all you should need to do is unlink the scale properties for both the dark and medium gray bars and set the x-scale value to the appropriate value…say dark gray 25%, medium gray 35% and the light gray solid will simply reveal the remaining percent.

you could link the x-scale values to sliders on a null to easily enter values in a single location if needed.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW