[Rutger]

Thanks for the suggestion, but that is not what I meant. I want to use scripts to set this up automatically. In other words: I select a layer, run the script and After Effects generates the slider controls and ‘pick wips’ them automatically and enters the proper expressions. This way, I can use this effect over and over again, and set this up in seconds in any project regardsless of what I am working on.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Rutger

[Rutger]

Thanks for the suggestion, but that is not what I meant. I want to use scripts to set this up automatically. In other words: I select a layer, run the script and After Effects generates the slider controls and ‘pick wips’ them automatically and enters the proper expressions. This way, I can use this effect over and over again, and set this up in seconds in any project regardsless of what I am working on.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Rutger

[Rutger]

I recently wanted a similar animation, I just wanted to have images rotating in a circle around the camera and I approached it using expressions. Instead of having the images move in a circle, I have the camera move instead, so this may not help you. But maybe you can give the following a shot and see if it works and maybe you can adapt it. I also set up expression sliders so that the expressions should work for almost any number of images or videos, but I will explain it using real numbers for now.

Create a comp and create a null (3d) and a camera. Parent the camera to the null.
Now set the position of both camera and null to [0,0,0]

Now load all your image or video files, making sure that they are 3d layers and that they are layers 1 to 8. Then enter the following expression into the position property of your images:

yAmp = 500;
Radius =1000;
x = Radius*Math.sin(Math.PI*2*(index)/8)
y = yAmp*Math.sin(time-index);
z = Radius*Math.cos(Math.PI*2*(index)/8);
[x,y,z]

Then in the Yrotation property enter the following
(index)*360/8

Copy the position and rotation expression to all 8 image layers.

Now, for the expression of your null enter the following in its Yrotation property:

rotationspeedpersecond = 0.1;
360*rotationspeedpersecond*time

Obviously by playing with these numbers you can create different effects, just having to change and copy and paste them gets pretty tedious though.
So, in my project I have set up sliders (Effect>Expression Controls> Slider Controls) and this way I have control over the number of images (the number 8 in all expressions), the radius of the circle (Radius in expressions) and the amplitude by which the images move (yAmp), and you can go on and on…

I hope this works for you.

Rutger

[Rutger]

I recently wanted a similar animation, I just wanted to have images rotating in a circle around the camera and I approached it using expressions. Instead of having the images move in a circle, I have the camera move instead, so this may not help you. But maybe you can give the following a shot and see if it works and maybe you can adapt it. I also set up expression sliders so that the expressions should work for almost any number of images or videos, but I will explain it using real numbers for now.

Create a comp and create a null (3d) and a camera. Parent the camera to the null.
Now set the position of both camera and null to [0,0,0]

Now load all your image or video files, making sure that they are 3d layers and that they are layers 1 to 8. Then enter the following expression into the position property of your images:

yAmp = 500;
Radius =1000;
x = Radius*Math.sin(Math.PI*2*(index)/8)
y = yAmp*Math.sin(time-index);
z = Radius*Math.cos(Math.PI*2*(index)/8);
[x,y,z]

Then in the Yrotation property enter the following
(index)*360/8

Copy the position and rotation expression to all 8 image layers.

Now, for the expression of your null enter the following in its Yrotation property:

rotationspeedpersecond = 0.1;
360*rotationspeedpersecond*time

Obviously by playing with these numbers you can create different effects, just having to change and copy and paste them gets pretty tedious though.
So, in my project I have set up sliders (Effect>Expression Controls> Slider Controls) and this way I have control over the number of images (the number 8 in all expressions), the radius of the circle (Radius in expressions) and the amplitude by which the images move (yAmp), and you can go on and on…

I hope this works for you.

Rutger

[Rutger]

I had the same problem before, and found that the following solution worked for me.

Just add your composition to the Render Queue (Ctrl+Shift+/).
In the render queue you see “Output Module”.
Click on the yellow template name (e.g. “losless”) just right of the Output Module. This will open up your video output formatting. Your current output maybe set to “RGB”. Change that to “RGB + Alpha”. This will render out an alpha channel with your footage.

Hope that helps,

Rutger