[Mike Clasby]

Card Dance, Baby. Sorry ’bout that, Vegas and card dance bring it out in me.

Have you seen Ayato 49?

https://www.ayatoweb.com/ae_tips_e/ae49_e.html

His stuff can be very cryptic, so in the Green Left Column here at the Cow, Search Posts > Advanced Search with these settings:

Search Term: Ayato 49

How far back do you want to search?: All Active Posts

Search Archives?: yes

And you’ll get lots of help, many have struggled down the Ayato Trail.

You can also distribute layers in 3D space easier with this:

https://www.aenhancers.com/

Expressions Library > Distribute Layers in 3D Space

[Mike Clasby]

Opps, my test was on a red baloon, so sub in Blue Car for Red Car in the post above.

[Mike Clasby]

Maybe try a Black Solid (comp Size), move it in the direction of the reveal (position keyframes over time), place it on top of the Red Car Layer, then set the Red Car to
Alpha Matte, and add Effect > Stylize> Roughen Edges to the Black Matte.

For Roughen Edges, I’d crank the Border up to 100+ and Scale 20 or so, then set keyframes for Offset(Turbulence) to get the a changing leading edge.
So the layers are stacker:

Black Solid
Red Car
White Car

Maybe what your looking for.

[Mike Clasby]

Vegas, Baby.

Stroke: Mask/Path

Segments
Segments: 1
Length: .05
Rotation: Set at 0x-12 degrees, then down the timeline
-1×0, fool with these numbers to get the look you want.

You get a nice tapered comet trail.

[Mike Clasby]

I just think it’s nice to have choices, and on the page cited, Dan does a pretty nice job of, if not explaining his expression, at least shedding light on it. Anyway sometimes it’s fun to have your head spin, like getting dizzy from twirling around and around.

[Mike Clasby]

I just think it’s nice to have choices, and on the page cited, Dan does a pretty nice job of, if not explaining his expression, at least shedding light on it. Anyway sometimes it’s fun to have your head spin, like getting dizzy from twirling around and around.

[Mike Clasby]

Yep, I agree, blows me away like a feather.

[Mike Clasby]

Yep, I agree, blows me away like a feather.

[Mike Clasby]

Hey, since Ken’s head is spinning, why not throw this into the mix:

This is modified from Dan’s “Exploring Expressions in After Effects 6”, halfway down the page wth the grid of random numbers and text:

https://www.creativecow.net/articles/ebberts_dan/ae6_exp/index2.html

numRows = 1;
numChars = 5;
holdFrames = 5;

seed = Math.floor(time/(holdFrames*thisComp.frameDuration));
seedRandom(seed,true);

s = “”;
j = 0;
while(j < numRows){ k = 0; while (k < numChars){ c = Math.floor(random(65,91)); s += String.fromCharCode(c); k += 1; } s += "\r"; j += 1; } s ------------------- With the text tool, click to get that little flashing cursor thing, then twirl down the text to reveal "Source Text" and apply this expression to the source text. The way it's set up will give 1 row of 5 numbers that holds for 5 frames, change to suit yourself.

[Mike Clasby]

Hey, since Ken’s head is spinning, why not throw this into the mix:

This is modified from Dan’s “Exploring Expressions in After Effects 6”, halfway down the page wth the grid of random numbers and text:

https://www.creativecow.net/articles/ebberts_dan/ae6_exp/index2.html

numRows = 1;
numChars = 5;
holdFrames = 5;

seed = Math.floor(time/(holdFrames*thisComp.frameDuration));
seedRandom(seed,true);

s = “”;
j = 0;
while(j < numRows){ k = 0; while (k < numChars){ c = Math.floor(random(65,91)); s += String.fromCharCode(c); k += 1; } s += "\r"; j += 1; } s ------------------- With the text tool, click to get that little flashing cursor thing, then twirl down the text to reveal "Source Text" and apply this expression to the source text. The way it's set up will give 1 row of 5 numbers that holds for 5 frames, change to suit yourself.