[Peter Menich]

Hey Dan,

No dice I’m afraid; its that 3D globe names thing again.

The layer has 3D turned on and an expression applied to move its position into a sphere.

I need to be able to get the x and y of the layer before the expression was applied.

I’m basically setting up a template project so you just select the countries name and the globe will spin around to that country (for Ole’s site)

I wish there was a way of getting values out of expressions to other layers at particular points in the expression!

Say; ‘get value for x and y at line 1 of this expression on layer X’!

[Peter Menich]

Hey Dave,

I’ve just got a new machine and have exactly the same issues with the same setup.

Did you ever get a solution?

Its driving me nuts.

[Peter Menich]

Hey Dave,

I’ve just got a new machine and have exactly the same issues with the same setup.

Did you ever get a solution?

Its driving me nuts.

[Peter Menich]

Hey Dan,

After a bit of giggery pokery this works!

xRot = degreesToRadians(linear(value[0],0,thisComp.width, -90, 270));
zRot = degreesToRadians(linear(value[1],0,thisComp.height, -180, 0));

Thanks to you and Darby for all your help.

[Peter Menich]

Hey Darby and Dan, (is that a sitcom or what?)

Cheers for sticking with me on this. Unfortunately it’s still not working.

I think the trouble I’m having is the differences in syntax that I keep getting with the examples you’ve given me, and the axis in my comp is different from the one on Dans site (my y axis points up).

So I’ve tried multiple methods of +/- 90deg here and there and it never works out right – I feel like I’m chasing my tail a bit.

Here’s a link to my project where its at…

https://www.zedzero.co.uk/2DtoSphere_V3_Project_folder.zip

At the top you’ll see a blue solid which is my test object, once I have it working on this I’ll copy and paste the expression to all the country name layers below.

Its so nearly there I can taste it!

Here’s my code for the position parameter…

div = thisComp.width/360;//<---This variable divides my comp width by 360 to give me the value I need to divide my x and y values to get the angle, in the case 5400/360=15 (I've added this to make the code flexible for different comp sizes) r = thisComp.layer(“target”).effect(“radius”)(“Slider”);//<---This variable sets my radius, linked to a slider on a null, in this case 900 xRot = degreesToRadians(value[0]/div);//<---This is my x position divided by 'div' (15) to get my angle around the y axis, then converted to radians. zRot = degreesToRadians(value[1]/div);//<---This is my y position divided by 'div' (15) to get my angle around the x axis (or from the z axis), then converted to radians. theta = xRot;//<---This is your theta variable, which I'm essentially putting my xRot variable into, I've done this because I've been adding +/- 90deg or *-1 to try and get it working phi = zRot;//<---This is your phi variable, which I'm essentially putting my zRot variable into, I've done this because I've been adding +/- 90deg or *-1 to try and get it working sinPhi = Math.cos(phi);//<---This bit I don't understand! //This following bit I've tried to follow on the various examples, but have struggled because the syntax keeps changing. I've also swapped the y and z around because my axis differs from Dans illustration. x = r*Math.sin(phi)*Math.cos(theta)
y = r*Math.cos(phi)
z = r*Math.sin(phi)*Math.sin(theta)

//This bit I get – stick it in the centre!

center = thisComp.layer(“target”).position;

center + [x, y, z]

What I need is for the blue square to sit on the equator, dead centre on the camera side (over Africa) when the position is 2700, 1350, 0.
If you change the position to 1350, 1350, 0 it will swing round 90deg along the equator toward South America.
If you change the position to 2700, 675, 0 it will swing up toward Europe.
If you change the position to 2700, 2025, 0 it will swing down toward South Africa.
If you change the position to 5400, 1350, 0 it will go right around to the other side of the globe on the equator.
If you change the position to 4050, 675, 0 it will move around to somewhere around Mongolia!

All my country names have an x and y value, with 0 for z. The idea is when this expression is pasted into them all they’ll wrap around the globe in the correct positions.

I do have a budget to pay for someone to solve this for me, as I’m clearly having a mental block.

[Peter Menich]

Hey Dan,

Thanks for replying.

I’ve been kinda clutching at straws with which variables I’m using.

I think what I’m not getting is how to get the 2 angles from my x,y coordinates.

I bet its one of those real DOH! moments when it finally clicks (or someone puts me out of my misery).

I just seem to be going around in circles trying different things and getting more and more confused.

[Peter Menich]

Cheers Darby,

I’m very familiar with Dans site and have plundered it often! But I totally missed this one.

I’ve had a look at it, and it does what I want to do in terms of placement on a sphere (without the random motion)…but I gotta be honest…I don’t get it :O(

I fear I may have reached the limit of my intelligence.

If anyone (Dan) is out there and can explain this to me is simple terms I promise to share the project with everyone when its done. (creep, creep, grovel, grovel)

[Peter Menich]

OK, so no ones biting. I’ll share where I’m up to to see if anyone gets turned on…

https://www.zedzero.co.uk/2DtoSphere_Project.aep.zip

Basically at the moment I have 2DtoCylinder rather than 2DtoSphere!

I need to get my noggin around somehow adding the transformations so when the object moves away from the ‘equator’ it moves inwards.

Any ideas anyone?!

[Peter Menich]

Hey

I’m late in coming in on this, but its just what I need and I can’t get it to work!

when I paste the values into position and scale it hangs for ages, then I get the following error message…

after effects warning; timeout while waiting for the engine.
expression disabled

error occurred at line 23
comp ‘sponge_test’
layer 11 (‘S’)
property: ‘position’

(on a side note: I wish they’d make these error messages editable so you can cut and paste!)

Any ideas why its not happening?

I’m on ae 7.0.1

Mac G5 PowerPC 2.5 dual

Peter Menich
Zedzero MGD
United Kingdom
https://www.zedzero.co.uk
44 (0)1992 584140
44 (0)7790 900372

[Peter Menich]

Sussed it!

I just change the orientation[0] of Null 1 to 270 and bingo! we’re in the tulips.

Cheers Dan – as always, you rock