[Thomas Hannen]

Hi – I solved this using the built in Foam particle render – it does have basic collision avoidance. Don’t think Particular can do this.

[Thomas Hannen]

This looks to me like it was made in a 3D package like C4D or Blender, using Ambient Occlusion with the sample rate set very low to achieve the fuzzy effect.

[Thomas Hannen]

Just had the same problem – many thanks for the solution!

[Thomas Hannen]

Also see here: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/967614

[Thomas Hannen]

Hi Matthew,
Any keyframe data from AE can be copied and pasted as text into a text editor. Equally, if the text is formatted correctly, any text from the text editor can then be pasted back into the keyframe layer that it came from. So you could use this method to create some keyframes on a slider control, paste them into TextEdit, then continue the formatting of the text as shown in the text file using your own data. Bear in mind you may have to tweak your data to fit a range that makes sense on screen – either beforehand in another application, or after using Expressions. Hope this helps.

[Thomas Hannen]

Take a look at https://aescripts.com/templater/ – it’s great, and does exactly what you need. You need to provide the translations, but it will automate the process of replacing the text, and (to some extent) correcting the layout if you program it correctly.

[Thomas Hannen]

In After Effects, in the Cineware plugin effect settings, try setting the Render Settings to Standard (Final).

[Thomas Hannen]

Also, by adding a Layer Selector to the expression, I can choose which object the arrow starts and ends from:

Based on the excellent tutorial by Felt Tips here: https://vimeo.com/104381026

try {
L = effect("Arrow Base")("Layer");
} catch(e) { // catch an error in case layer is set to None. Stops expression crashing
L = false;
}
if(L)
fromWorld(L.position);
else value

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[Thomas Hannen]

I’ve just realised, if I re-write the expression on the puppet pin to point to the shape layer it solves my problem!

Many thanks-

I’m still stumped as to why I can’t parent a null to another null successfully though…

[Thomas Hannen]

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion… I thought about using puppet pins, but I really wanted to keep the geometry of the arrows just right – they seem to look fine though, unless they’re really short.

Having said that, I still can’t get the two nulls to parent to other objects without everything breaking.
I really need to be able to dynamically move some boxes attached to the arrows.

Here are my steps:

* Load your .aep project
* Make a shape – a rounded rect box
* Change it’s anchor point (using, but could just as easily be a manual adjustment)
* Duplicate the shape
* Change shape two’s anchor point
* Reposition the arrow nulls into the right places
* Parent Null 1 (the base of the arrow) to Shape 1

See video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bed23MzoUUU

Immediately the arrow shape jumps off to the side. Why?

Many thanks again for the suggestion.