[Kevin Camp]

you could also do this with a few expressions… the set up would be easy, but with 20,000 layers with 3 expressions each performance may be a little slow.

but here’s how it could be set up.

assuming you have a file with a list of 20,000 names with each name on a new line, you could simply copy/paste that list into a text layer and then use an expression like this on the source text property to pull individual names from the list:
names = text.sourceText.split('\r');
names[index-1]
the expression will use the layer’s index to determine which name to display… layer 1 would be the first name; layer 2, the second, etc… and you would just duplicate that layer 19,999 times to get all the names, but don’t do that yet.

to place them randomly on the screen, you could use an expression like this on the position property:
top = 100;
bottom = 700;
left = 200;
right = 1000;
seedRandom(true, index)
value+random([left,top],[right,bottom])
you just need to set the original position to 0,0, and set the top, bottom, left and right values to determine the area to randomly place the layer. note that if you want to keep the names within the screen, look at the longest name and use the size of that name to help determine a buffer from the screen edges. say the longest name is 200 pixels, you want to the area to be at least 100 pixels from the left and right edges of the screen.

for the fade in/out, you could use an expression like this on the opacity property:
fadeTime = 1;
if (time >= inPoint && time < inPoint+fadeTime)
linear(time-inPoint,0,fadeTime,0,value);
else if (time > outPoint-fadeTime && time <= outPoint)
linear(outPoint-time,0,fadeTime,0,value);
else
value;

just set the fade time (in seconds) as needed.

after that is set up, you can duplicate you text layer 19,999 times and each name should randomly disperse on the screen.

then you’d need to use the key frame assistant to sequence the layers (they will sequence in the order you select them, so you’d want to select from top to bottom to keep the first name in the list as the first name to appear). choose to overlap the layers, enter the overlap duration and set the ‘effect’ to none (since the fade is set on the opacity property).

and that should get you most of the way there. you’ll undoubtedly have layers taht overlap each other. you’ll need to scrub through to find them and the just move them as needed to not overlap.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

it looks like you have the draft 3d button enabled… it’s the little icon at the top of the timeline that looks like a little asterisk next to a 3d cube.

toggle that off by clicking it and see if the light shows up in the viewer.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

it seems like a bug…

i can’t reproduce the problem in cs5, but adobe has obviously changed the way force motion blur works in later version, since in cs5 you still need to apply it on an adjustment layer to get it to work at all regardless of bit-depth.

the only workaround i can think of is to pre-render it at 8-bit.

you could try adding hdr compander before and after the 8-bit effects, but i doubt that will have any effect.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

have you tried putting force motion blur on an adjustment layer above the shatter layer?

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

now i see what you’re after.

unfortunately that’s not possible with the shatter effect, though that would be really cool if it could

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you can also save it as an animation preset…

twirl down the text properties to get to text>source text and select the source text property.

then choose animation>save animation preset, give it a name and then the next time you need that font set up, you can recall it from the effects & presets panel (animation presets>user presets, or start typing the name that you saved it as in the search field).

it should remember everything that is set in the character and paragraph settings, alonf with the text that was typed in the source text property.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

in the shape properties, try setting pattern to ‘custom’ and the custom shatter map to the text layer.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

short answer, go into the textures properties and try setting the side mode to ‘color’. you can also choose another layer to use, just make sure the layer doesn’t have transparency or you’ll get a similar problem.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

nope.

but you can do one layer, then select that property and choose edit>copy expression only, then select all the layers that you want to have the same expression and paste. then they’ll all be linked to the same control.

also,i think i’d link the color to a color control, then keyframe the color changes for the color control/color property, but i may not know exactly what you are trying to do….

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

if you ‘re asking how to round the corners of the path, create a shape with the polygon shape tool (it should create a path called polystar1) and set the points to 3 in the path options.

then, from the ‘add’ menu to the right of the layer’s ‘contents’ property, choose ’round corners’ to round the path corners and set the roundness as needed.

if for some reason that doesn’t work, make sure the ’round corners’ property is bellow the ‘polystar’ property on the shape layer.

also make sure you are creating a shape layer and not adding a mask to a layer (same tool, but you’ll make a mask on a layer if you have a layer selected and start using the mask/shape layer tool).

if you just wanted to round the corners of the stroke, then that is in the contents>polystar>stroke properties for line join (choose round)

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW