[Mike Clasby]

Random X Z but all same Y

Here’s a hack from a Colin expression, on the position of a 3D layer (Alt click the Position Stopwatch then Paste in the expression):

minX = -500;//Minimum x depth value
maxX = 1000;//Maximum x depth value
minZ = -500;//Minimum z depth value
maxZ = 2000;//Maximum z depth value
seedRandom(index, true);
x = random(minX,maxX);
z = random(minZ, maxZ);
[Math.round( x), position[1], Math.round( z )]

Change the numbers (pixels) to spread or narrow the field, you could set up a slider on a null and easily change the spread. The Z is -500 so it falls in front of the default camera.

Here’s Colin’s original post, it was for Random Z:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=2&postid=879394

—————–

And here’s one from Dan with a range for the Y axsis:

Dan Ebberts – 12:43pm Aug 3, 06 PST (#1 of 1)

Something like this should get you started:

minX = 0;
maxX = thisComp.width;
minY = 0;
maxY = thisComp.height;
minZ = 0;
maxZ = 1000;

seedRandom(index,true);
random([minX,minY,minZ],[maxX,maxY,maxZ])

Dan

NOTE: YOu just need to Apply the expression to one 3D layer, select that property (Position)then Edit>Copy Expression Only…
Then select all the other layers you want distributed, and Paste.

[Mike Clasby]

Not a project but here are two ways:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/908118?

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/908121?

Try searching the archives.

[Mike Clasby]

Echoing stev=o, Dan’s be the best, IMHO.

[Mike Clasby]

Particle Illusion is great for fireworks, lots of presets and a fully functional 30 day trial:

https://www.wondertouch.com/default.asp

And if you want to do it all in AE, Dan has a fantastic expression driven fireworks that is AE 3D so you can fly around the fireworks:

https://www.creativecow.net/show.php?page=/articles/ebberts_dan/particle_gen/index.html

You can even sub in your own layers for the particles. Da bomb.

[Mike Clasby]

If you want to create some of the splatters in AE for your Luma Mattes, click on Andrew’s head, main AE page, then scroll down to “Fun with Ink”.

[Mike Clasby]

The best AE Magazine is the Cow’s:

https://magazine.creativecow.net/

Click on “Adobe After Effects” on the main AE page, here:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_view_posts.cgi?forumid=2

and you’ll get all the Cow tutorials, many are video tuts. You can also click on the heads of the moderators on the main page and scroll their tuts, all of Aharon’s are video tuts (60 plus).

Also Andrew releases tuts on his own site a little faster than he does here, so his newest are here:

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html

Serge has some nice stuff here:

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

While no video tuts available, Dan’s AE Expression/Scripting site is da bomb:

https://www.motionscript.com/

Ayato has slick tuts that suffer from Translation:

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

There are 158 AE tuts here:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/designcenter/search.cfm?product=After+Effects&go=Go

that are a bit of a pain to find what you want, many are video tuts.

Steven Gotz had lots of links, here:

https://www.stevengotz.com/ae.htm

There are other scattered AE tuts, just Goggle “After Effects Tutorial”.

[Mike Clasby]

Filip has a nice karaoke setup here:

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/right_read_post_frame.cgi?forumid=2&postid=825305&univpostid=825305#p825305

It animated the next word wherever a marker is (an expression on Range-Selector-offset) so all you need to do is Ram Preview (zero on the numeric pad) the tap the * (numeric pad) to set markers at each word.

THe second solution is spiffier. It’s very nice.

[Mike Clasby]

There is a script for roto that controls mask shape, here:

https://del.icio.us/escruz/Rotoscope

It attaches mask vertices to trackers, but can use any keyframes really. Implementation could be a little tricky. You can use expressions to control the verticies if you Convert Expression To Keyframes. What do you want the eye to do, blink on the beat? There may be other ways, like this:

https://www.creativecow.net/show.php?page=/articles/ebberts_dan/audio_sync/index.html

You’d have to tap the * (numeric pad) key to get markers at the beat.

[Mike Clasby]

Cool.

[Mike Clasby]

Here’s an old Dan Expression for what you want:

https://www.aenhancers.com/viewtopic.php?t=8