[Paul Roper]

You could un-parent the text box from the bar, but link its position to the scale of the bar like this (adjust the *3 to alter the distance the text box travels to match the bar’s scale). Paste this expression into the position of the text box:

amount=thisComp.layer("bar").transform.scale[0];
[value[0]+amount*3,value[1]]

[Paul Roper]

Not sure, but try removing the semicolons fro the end of the [x+xoffset,y+yoffset,z]; and [x,y,z]; lines. I might be wrong, but it’s worth a shot.

– Paul

[Paul Roper]

Maybe you’ve already checked all this, but…

Are your new layers a long way from the others in z-space? Orbit around your scene and you might find that they are not intersecting at all. Might your older layers be parented to a null or something else, so their x,y,z position might not represent their true position in space (I’ve had the situation where I have two layers with exactly the same position co-ordinates, but one is way off – it’s because one of the layers is parented to something else).

Unless by “not interacting” you’re talking about light and shadows – open each layer’s material properties (shortcut aa I think) and check they have “cast shadows”, “receive shadows” and “receive lights” ON.

[Paul Roper]

…If you want to use Dan’s expression to control a 2-dimensional array (eg. 2D position), just change the last line ( n ) to this, where the *20 is to amplify the amount of movement – change it to suit your needs.

[n*20,value[1]]

[Paul Roper]

Having variables accumulate over time in After Effects is a real pain, but Dan’s your man for this kinda thing; this will hopefully help you a lot:

https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/audio-count.html

– Paul

[Paul Roper]

The short answer (I’ve tried to do something very similar) is no. It’s a feature that many of us have requested…who knows if it will ever materialise.

Feel free to send a feature request to Adobe:
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

It IS, however, possible using some fairly complex scripting…but unless you’re going to be repeatedly using a similar animation many times over the coming months, you’d probably be better off just animating the shape manually.

[Paul Roper]

If you added the slider value to the value[0] of your null, you could position the null wherever you wanted, then keyframe your slider from 0 to, say 500, then your null would move from wherever you’ve manually put it, to wherever the slider tells it to go. If you get what I mean.

This expression takes the current position [value[0],value[1]] and adds to the x position – value[0] – whatever the slider is set to.

But going back to your original point, it sounds like parenting would be perfect for this – if you make Null B the child of Null A, you can place it wherever you like, and then it will also follow Null A. No expressions required.

offset=thisComp.layer("Null 2").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
[value[0]+offset,value[1]]

[Paul Roper]

Create a slider control on Null A; in this case I’ve called it “x_amount”. Create an expression for the position of Null B and paste the following expression into it:

[thisComp.layer("Null A").effect("x_amount")("Slider"),value[1],value[2]]

[Paul Roper]

It looks like a couple of 3D layers (one as a ground plane, one as a “wall” at the back) which are probably either just AE solids or maybe something made in Photoshop to get that dark shading without having to rely on lights too much.

There’s a lens flare over the top at the start, with keyframed brightness and position.

Then the “place your logo here” comes in with some translucent shape layer animation behind it.

Plus there’s a bit of particle animation going on to get those dots hovering around – probably using Trapcode Particular; but you can get the same results using the built-in particle plug-ins.

So no video footage required.

– Paul

[Paul Roper]

You could just fork out the $10 and buy it, then pick apart the project!