[Mike Clasby]

Rendering is better than exporting. Ctrl M brings up the Render Que, stick with the default Lossless or click Custom and go to the Output Module and select Quicktime Movie, then Format Options and select Animation for a lossless format used by many.

[Mike Clasby]

You can use Layer>Auto Trace (tolerance and threshold at 1) to create a mask that you can expand/contract and soften as you would any other AE mask. Would that do it?

[Mike Clasby]

It depends on the kind of layers they are. Most layers, solids, pics, etc. can be extended with Alt ].

So “End” get the time Indicator to the end of the comp, Ctrl A, selects all layers (deselect any of the ones you don’t want lengthened), then hit Alt ].

So layers like video, that have a run time less than the extension you want won’t lengthen past their run time, but most other layers will work with Alt ].

If you’re on a Mac it Option ].

[Mike Clasby]

What is the final destination for your animation? the web? Maybe you need to try to export (render is better) and flv, if flash is your final destination).

For swf to be small they need to be from Vector layers and raster effects like stroke are killers for file size, as are the jpegs.

Audio Waveform is a nice vector substitute for Stroke (just don’t reference any audio in the plugin and it looks like Stroke). But the jpeg layers will always be raster and therefore big. The only options are AE solid layers or Illustrator (vector) layers in AE.

Here is the place to see which layer will keep a swf small:

https://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a4f2dff7-79ca.html

See “Supported Features for SWF Export” at bottom.

[Mike Clasby]

Parent the sides of the box to a Null (at the center of the box) and rotate the Null.

There are a few scripts to make this easier, ask if you want to go that route.

[Mike Clasby]

You can move the anchor point of your 2D layer with the Pan Behind Tool (Ctrl 1 brings up the Tool Palette, or just hit “Y” and the pointer changes to the Pan Behind, then “V” gives you back the pointer when you’re done).

There is another Dan expression that’s a little easier, and no Nulls needed. It uses the beam effect or the Audio Waveform Effect (like Stroke if no audio used, but will wiggle with the beat if audio referenced), anyway any effect with in and out points. This method connects the in and out points to the anchor points of other layers, like your Pylons. Move the Anchor Point of each Pylon to where you want the wire to connect (Pan Behind Tool if you need to move it).

So to a new Black Solid Layer that’s between the two pylon layers in the layer stack, (make it Comp size or big enough to stretch between the pylons) add the effect Audio Waveform. Add this expression to the Audio Waveform Start Point (Copy the expression (Ctrl C), Alt Click the Start Point Stopwatch, then Paste (Ctrl V)):

target = thisComp.layer(“pylon 1”);
fromComp(target.toComp(target.anchorPoint));

And this expression to the End Point:

target = thisComp.layer(“pylon 2”);
fromComp(target.toComp(target.anchorPoint));

This assumes your pylon layers were named pylon 1 and pylon 2. So now the Audiowave form will look like a stroke from pylon 1 to pylon 2.

Note this layer is still 2D, so don’t make it 3D. This is from Dan page for make 2D Corene Pin to 3D, it’s an illusion, Dan says, but it fools the camera, page here:

https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/threeD-corner-pin.html

The bonus of using audio waveform is that if you reference the audio within the plug in you could have the wires react to the audio, if you wanted.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds, but maybe just using a 2D layer, moving the anchor point and rotating into place is easier.

[Mike Clasby]

While all after post production tweaks are problematical, I’d look at the effects, Shadow/Highlights (lots of tuts online for the PhotoShop filter with the same controls)and Remove Grain. You can make a lot of changes with these two but it takes time to get a feel for what the filters can and can’t do with your footage.

[Mike Clasby]

The mask tool, of course. My bad. I think I assumed you would need to control the size of the crop to specified numbers, but I must have read that in on my own.

[Mike Clasby]

OK, after re-reading your question I see you asked for min and max values for input into your expression, so this is probably a better way to write it so you can see what min and max are for the various things you could change.

minZ = 2500;
maxZ = 3500;

minOp = 0;
maxOp = 100;

x = position[0];
y = position[1];
z = linear(opacity, minOp, maxOp, minZ, maxZ);
[x, y, z]

[Mike Clasby]

Interpolation. Click that little triangle next to the pickwhip, then select Interpolation, and you’ll see the forms (or see Help Files).

Anyway, if you trying to have the Z position (depth) to range from 2500 to 3500 as the opacity varies from 0 to 100 (I’m guessing that’s what you want) then this would be an expression that works (on position):

x = position[0];
y = position[1];
z = linear(opacity, 0, 100, 2500, 3500);
[x, y, z]

So that third line is saying as the opacity varies from 0 to 100, then interpolate the z to be from 2500 to 3500. Linear is straigh proportional, and there are Ease form if that’s what you want.

Is that what you want?