[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Michael,

to make sure – by saying ‘Transform plugin’ you mean ‘Transform’ effect which is accessible through Effect > Distort > Transform?

If yes, you will find all the answers here.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Vinnie,

could you clarify what is the reason why after selecting all, you decide to do shift+click then? What is the purpose to do this?

One different workaround could be – labelling the layers if you plan to make the same selection over and over again.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Davide,

apply expression below to anchor point. This will attach anchor point to the right, but adjust the array value at the end of expression to ‘pin’ it at the side you want.

On the other hand, if you want the stroke to scale down, just add expression to stroke width, which would reduce by the size change.

sourceSize = thisLayer.sourceRectAtTime(time, false);
T = sourceSize.top;
L = sourceSize.left;
W = sourceSize.width;
H = sourceSize.height;
([L+ W,T+H/2])

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

You are welcome, Joe! In order to get a grasp of expressions, firstly I would recommend to check these . You will get a general sense of scope possible with expressions and then it is just a matter of implementing solutions (not to forget a tiny bit of programming knowledge essential needs)

Cheers!

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Joe,

try applying this below to Size expression.

Few notes:
1. This is assuming your ‘Montana Arrow’ has two keyframes for position. If not – change key index accordingly.
2. Animation is based on X position change.
3. Change ‘startSize’, ‘middleSize’ and ‘endSize’ to affect the size. Ideally, link them to sliders for global control over things.
4. Animation half point is in the middle of position transformation.

animRef = thisComp.layer("Montana Arrow").transform.position;
startKeyIndex = 1;
endKeyIndex = 2;
animStartTime = animRef.key(startKeyIndex).time;
animEndTime = animRef.key(endKeyIndex).time;
animMiddleTime = animStartTime + (animEndTime - animStartTime)/2;

animStart = animRef.key(startKeyIndex).value[0];
animEnd = animRef.key(endKeyIndex).value[0];
animMiddle = animRef.valueAtTime(animMiddleTime)[0];

startSize = 2;
middleSize = 6;
endSize = 10;

if (time <= animMiddleTime){
ease(animRef[0], animStart, animMiddle, startSize, middleSize)
}else{
ease(animRef[0], animMiddle, animEnd, middleSize, endSize)
}


Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Antoine,

but technically/by logic – it can’t be in front of other rails, when going deeper down into Z space? ☺

Anyways, if you really need to put it down only in the last part of rail – ctrl+shift+D (WIN) or cmd+shift+D (MAC) splits the layer. Do this split at the time when marble reaches side of the last rail’s circle. Move marble layer to the bottom of the layers stack.

In addition, duplicate the rail and mask out everything except the last rail line. That way, place it under the marble and you will be good to go.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Sander,

if all images matches size of compositions, you can comment out scaling lines of the script.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Alright Matt, here is how I envision this. Assuming that scale is applied, based on the image sample, I guess anchor point is set to the top of the layer. Anyways, if not, here is the whole idea breakdown:

1. In the comp, create null layer, name it ‘control’ .
2. Apply Slider effect and name it ‘y-offset’. This will control the gap distance.
3. Assuming all text layers in the project panel are placed on after another:
ONE
TWO
THREE

Apply this expression to the anchor point for all layers:

sourceSize = thisLayer.sourceRectAtTime(time, false);
T = sourceSize.top;
L = sourceSize.left;
W = sourceSize.width;
H = sourceSize.height;
([L+ W/2,T+0])

That way, we will get full layer height value in position expressions.

4. For second and third layer’s positions, apply this expression:

yDiff = thisComp.layer("control").effect("y-offset")(1); //Gap distance between the lines
y = thisComp.layer(index-1).transform.position[1]; //Previous layer Y position
s = thisComp.layer(index-1).transform.scale[0] / 100; //Scale ratio
h = thisComp.layer(index-1).sourceRectAtTime(time, false).height; //Previous layer height

[value[0], y + s*h + yDiff]


First layer’s Y position will stay constant, others will accommodate. Change control layer’s ‘y-offset’ to set desired gap.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Anton,

it is known whether execution is really made in AE or not necessarily? I have no clear solution how it could be achieved, yet the only ‘theoretical’ option I can think of is with Text Animation engine and expression range controls. Only Dan could shine a light on this! (:

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Matt,

it’s not that hard, and definitely – a lot more reasonable than doing it manually EVERY TIME. Manual work always leaves an area for error, and who are the ones to blame – designers, who developed solution not thoughtful enough (:

There are few things for you to consider:
1.Text will always remain 3 in lines as in example?
2. How size will be changed – by scale or by font size in characters panel?
3. What else is done with these text layers apart from the change of their text values? Are there any other transformations applied, position/anchor point/rotation?
4. Once new values are added – is it possible that it might require to change texts positions?

If answered, I could help you out. Cheers.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.