[Mike Clasby]

This expression on the Cloud layer’s opacity, does what you ask:

startFade = 200;
endFade = 10;
L = thisComp.layer(“Camera 1”);
d = length(L.position,position);
linear(d,startFade,endFade,100,0)

It is a combo/hack of two Dan expressions, from here:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/888147

Change startFade and endFade to taste.

I’m glad you asked the question as I’ve never made clouds before, but a quick Fractal Noise on a 3D Solid chased by Unmult and this expression on Transparency works nifty. Thanks.

[Mike Clasby]

You should be able to make the top-half of a glass globe with CC Sphere. Just mask off the bottom half of the layer that you apply sphere too. For a test I put Effect>Render>Grid on a Solid, precomposed that (move all attributes), then masked off the top of the grid. When you apply CC Sphere to that you get the top half of a Sphere with grid lines.

For Glass textures I’d look at this tut:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/murphy_kurt/glass_globe.php
Is that what you want?

[Mike Clasby]

If by paths you mean masks, yes. Methinks paths are masks pasted into Position stopwatches, but if you want masks, yes.

Double click the text layer to select all the text (or select the individual letters), then…

Layer>Create Outline and you’ll get a new layer above named My Text Outlines, with masks that match the text.

OR…

For anything with alpha you can always Layer>Auto Trace and set the Tolerance and Threshold as small as possible and you’ll get a new layer named “Auto-traced My Text” with masks.

[Mike Clasby]

Congratulations.

Kids are great, girls are the best.

[Mike Clasby]

Serge has a gem, here:

https://www.nyc-visual.com/movies_2.html

Project gives you the .aep

[Mike Clasby]

So you have the new sign, your Solid moving with the footage correctly, because you tracked the original sign in the footage, then applied that tracking to the new solid? If so, at the first frame you see the sign, you should be able to position your letters on top of the solid (new sign), then select all the letters and Parent them to the Solid (pickwhip any one of the selected to the Solid). Now the letters will stay attached to the sign.

When the wiggle goes from zero to a positive number, the letters will start to float, but they will float relative to the sign, so if you want them to follow something else at that point, I would select that letter (layer), and “Edit>Split Layer” (Ctrl Shift D). Now select the upper one that continues on and set the parenting to None or parent it to what you want it to follow (or even a Null tracked to a person or whatever in the original footage you want it to follow). If this doesn’t make any sense (Usted no entiende) or I’m way off track (Soy aturdido) from the way you’re doing it, try to post your project file (aep) and footage somewhere so I can look at it.

[Mike Clasby]

“I don

[Mike Clasby]

Cool.

I just remebered this in case you ever want to wiggle the whole screen, more like an earthquke effect:

Quaker, an Animation Preset free from Scott Frizzle. It’s a gem.

https://scottfrizzle.com/free.html

Applying Preset the first time:

Select the layer you wish to affect, and go to Animation > Apply Aniamtion Preset.
Find Quaker on your harddrive and select it (quaker.ffx).
(If you put it in your Abode After Effects>Support Files > Presets folder,
that way it will always appear in your Preset menu.)

Quaker incorporates motion tile to fill in the edges of the shaking layer.
It is also very adjustable, sliders to control Quake Magnitude and Quake Frequency.

A pdf comes with the zip that explains all.

[Mike Clasby]

I don’t know what to say. A 19 point mask didn’t gag my system over a 10 sec test, and I only have 1 Gig of RAM and my machine is 1 1/2 years old (just an HP $800 wonder).

In my Edit>Preferrences>Memory & Cache, I have these settings:
Maximum Memory Usage: 120% = 1150 MB
Image Cache
Maximn Ram Cache: 60 % (default I believe, Adobe says don’t go over 90%) 575 M
Enable Disk Cache (Checked)
Maximum Disk Cache Size: 2000 MB
Chhose Folder: I made a folder named AE disk cache

I’m assuming your on XP, if so maybe a tweak of your “virtual memory paging file” would help. Here’s a paragraph from Adobe Support, the setup I followed:

1. Change the size of the virtual memory paging file. (Windowsonly)

To improve performance in After Effects for Windows, create a paging file with a maximum size of twice the amount of installed RAM. Virtual memory allows the system to use hard disk space to store information normally stored in memory (RAM). Windows manages virtual memory using a paging file; you define the minimum and maximum size of this file.

In the Initial Size text box, enter a value equal to the amount of the computer’s installed RAM plus 12 MB.

In the Maximum Size text field, enter a value equal to twice the amount of the computer’s installed RAM.

Complete instructions on changing the settings are here:

https://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=330390&sliceId=1

Troubleshoot system errors or freezes in After Effects (7.0 on Windows XP)

https://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=332589&sliceId=2

Also, this for Windows Vista:

https://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402249&sliceId=1

Especially see these items:
15. Optimize the memory preferences.
16. Optimize the disk cache.

19. Set the virtual memory paging file to the default size.

If your on a Mac for CS3, see this:

https://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402245&sliceId=1

[Mike Clasby]

This to setup a slider to control either the Frequency or Amplitude of the wiggle, when either is 0 the wiggle stops. This is nice because you can make the wiggle ease in and/or out and you can turn the wigle on/off as many tu=imes as you want.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/880578

Here’s a Dan post for a checkbox controlling a wiggle:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/880587

And here’s a nifty Dan expression for starting and stopping an expression at a given frame:

startFrame = 145;
stopFrame = 241;

if (time >= framesToTime(startFrame) && time < framesToTime(stopFrame)){ wiggle (5,20) }else{ value } And if you only wantedto wiggle the Army guy's Y, see this: https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/wiggle-1-dimension.html