[Mike Clasby]

I think I’d start with Dan’s Bounce expression on this page, just change the initial velocities and the elasticity:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/917108

Also, make it 3D, add a camera, and move the camera so the text comes from behind like you want. The Camera Orbit tool will move it like you want, also rotate the texts Y rotation so it faces the camera or turn on Auto Orient.

[Mike Clasby]

Cool.

[Mike Clasby]

I guess I don’t really understand what you’re trying to do. I don’t understand why the X Rotation is undesirable, I followed the Dan Directions for setting up the Ferris Wheel and added a camera, I had to rotate that camera with the Orbit Tool, as the original setup when adding a camera was more like a TOP view, so I reoriented the camera. Maybe that’s where our misunderstanding lies, anyway…

Do you want the wheel to stop, a dampened stop, and all the cars react to that? If that’s what you want, put a Marker on the Null layer where you keyframe a stop, and put this expression on the Nulls’ X Rotation, and the wheel, well all the cars that make up the wheel, will dampen to a stop when that marker (Null) is hit:

amp=70; //amplitude (pixels)
freq=1; //frequency (cycles per second)
decay=2.5; //decay time (seconds)

// find previous marker

n = 0; // assume haven’t reached a marker yet
if (marker.numKeys > 0){
n = marker.nearestKey(time).index;
if (marker.key(n).time > time){
n–;
}
}

if (n > 0) t = time – marker.key(n).time else t =0;
a = amp*Math.sin(freq*t*Math.PI*2)/Math.exp(decay*t);
value + a

They still wont rock, their X rotation in reaction to the wheel as a whole stopping, so put this rotation on the X Rotation of each Car on the wheel:

amp=70; //amplitude (pixels)
freq=2; //frequency (cycles per second)
decay=2.5; //decay time (seconds)

// find previous marker

q = this_comp.layer(“Null 1”);
n = 0; // assume haven’t reached a marker yet
if (q.marker.numKeys > 0){
n = q.marker.nearestKey(time).index;
if (q.marker.key(n).time > time){
n–;
}
}

if (n > 0) t = time – q.marker.key(n).time else t =0;
a = amp*Math.sin(freq*t*Math.PI*2)/Math.exp(decay*t);
-this_comp.layer(“Null 1”).rotationX + a

Now each car will see the marker on the Null and rock/dampen to that.

[Mike Clasby]

For a Sphere, use CC Sphere on a layer that’s twice as wide as it’s height. Size of comp and layer depends on how big your print will be and resolution, moreinfo below.

To Output to print, just do a little math to get the comp size. If the print is to be 11×14 inches at 180 dpi, then its 11 and 14 times 180, or a comp size of 1980×2520. Do the math for your print size and resolution (dpi). Use square pixels. You can render from AE as a psd or jpeg. To get a psd for Photoshop, in AE it’s Edit>Save Frame As>File, or just make th comp one frame and render as a jpeg.

I used AE to massage files that were printed to 12×18 inches at 165 dpi, only three dollars at Costco by the way and it was on Fuji Crystal Archive paper… off subject but I like to pass on savings tips.

[Mike Clasby]

Be brave, mess around.

[Mike Clasby]

Very nice!

Except you left DNA evidence on here lips… CSI Miami would nail you cold.

[Mike Clasby]

This page of the help files tells you what stays vector. Open the “Supported features for SWF export” link:

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

At first it looks extremely limited but you can create some nice stuff with what’s available.

1) Under Layers, it lists Text Layers. Search the Wing Dings for shapes/graphics you can use.

Here is a tut for bring AE Text to Flash, giving extremely small files, 5k after he took it back into flash. After Effects and Flash-Part 1:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/brimelow_lee/ae4flash1.php

Lee also walks you through exporting to SWF. Unfortunately for use Lee got grabbed up by a computer education company, I was looking forward to further tuts from him. I’ll stop whining now.

2) One of my fav but least used effects, Render>Waveform (and it’s related Audio Spectrum) export vectors (with small limitations). Create a new Black Solid (or other color). If you leave the default for Audio Layer, the layer itself, in this case the Black Solid, then Audio Waveform is the same as Stroke. It strokes a chosen path, with lots of variations. You can even do a stroked outline, the more complex the better, by animating the Displayed Samples from zero to a high number, that looks like a laser is drawing the shape, very cool and never used. Frequency Bands is the equivalent parameter for Audio Spectrum. Both offer dots under the Display options parameter.

3) Also, AE supports AI vector files, so lots of possibilities there.

4) Also, even with doing everything right, AE doesn’t optimized it’s Flash vector files as good as Flash does (I’m back on AE 6.5, so maybe that’s improved), so Import you completed SWF into Fly, then Publish that again and the resulting files will be considerably smaller, I’ve seen identical looking files shrink by as much as one tenth when republishing from Flash. Ask a Flash guy to do it, it’s easy. Actually, Lee walks you through it above.

5) As a quick Test Ion a 900×90 comp, I animated 12 windings (Wingdings2, 60 px) in with the text preset “Center Spiral” (so there is a lot of wasted motion offscreen here, you can do better) and did a Stoked rectangular box outline with that laser thing I mentioned (Audio Waveform on a mask), and for a 10 sec file the SWF AE produced was 83k, when brought into Flash and Published it was 8k.

I think you can do it!

[Mike Clasby]

I don’t use text animators much, but this seems to do what you want.

Twirl down the text (I’m assuming you used the Text Tool)..

Click the Animate triangle,choose Position.

Add this expression to the Position Stopwatch, under Animator 1>Range Selector 1, (Copy the expression, Alt-Click that Position Stopwatch, Paste, click outside the box):

wiggle(5,25)

Now the text as a unit has jiggle. change the 5, frequency, or the 25, magnitude, as needed.

To get each letter to jiggle separately, this is as close as I can get… change these settings:

Twirl down Range Selector>Advanced and change the Shape from Square to Triangle. Now up above a bit, change the Ease High to 50%.

I’m not an expert at getting the individual letters to react.

Or you could also put each letter as it’s own layer and give them a different wiggle, change the 5, 25, that would give you maximum individuality.

[Mike Clasby]

I don’t really understand why you’d need to unparent the “Off” leg. Dan uses parenting here to achieve one walk cycle, then loops that with an expression for a continuous walk in Animating a Walk-Cycle Using Loop Expressions :

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ebberts_dan/layer_looping.php

Here is his version of IK, I just go there as it makes the legs and arms respond to hand and foot movement, make one cycle, the loop:

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

I haven’t set that up in 3D, looks like it needs code for the z, but did do the first (above) in 3D and it worked fine.

To answer your questions, that’s the way parenting works in AE, the Child is really a Slave, for life… unless you select that leg layer when you don’t want it parented, and Edit>Split Layer, then unparent the newly created upper layer of the leg, you could then Split the layer again if you wanted to re-parent it to the trunk. Sounds like a hassle, but if you only need one cycle, then loop, it’s not that big a deal.

There are way to set up a check box and turn expression simulated parenting on/off, but it’s a bigger work around.

Note: You can still set keyframes for the children, position say, but that movement will be added to the parent movement.

[Mike Clasby]

Here is another Dan expression, hacked a bit to do what you want.

If you put a marker on the layer you want to rock, as if stopping I presume, the layer will rock with a dampening motion. This rock/dampening is added onto Dan’s original x Rotation Expression. This also goes on X Rotation of each car.

amp=70; //amplitude (pixels)
freq=2; //frequency (cycles per second)
decay=2.5; //decay time (seconds)

// find previous marker

n = 0; // assume haven’t reached a marker yet
if (marker.numKeys > 0){
n = marker.nearestKey(time).index;
if (marker.key(n).time > time){
n–;
}
}

if (n > 0) t = time – marker.key(n).time else t =0;
a = amp*Math.sin(freq*t*Math.PI*2)/Math.exp(decay*t);
-this_comp.layer(“Null 1”).rotationX + a

Change amp, freq, and decay as needed.

You can add markers on selected layers by hitting the * key on the numeric pad.