[Tom Gomez]

Right. 3D precomp layers. Most of my 3d layers are precomps, so my brain defaults that way. 🙂

Thanks again gents. It really helps to understand this stuff. I’ve been doing AE stuff for over 10 years now–in fact it’s the heart of sci-fi feature I’m finishing now–and it’s awesome. I just want it to get cooler and cooler…

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[Tom Gomez]

This thread has lots of great points on this topic:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/1014011

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[Tom Gomez]

I appreciate everyone’s input on this and I’m glad to understand AE’s “brain” better.

I’m sure it would be a big challenge to add this functionality… but I think it’s well WELL worth it. People are using AE so much now for 3d compositing, and 2.5d projects are not only “in style” but so wonderfully budget-friendly, that it’s a win-win for creative pros, industry, clients, and Adobe. The ability to put effects on 3d layers would be a huge addition and a massive time saver.

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[Tom Gomez]

Well, I’d say it needs to be re-engineered then by golly. I’ll definitely put in a feature request. I’m glad I learned this tidbit. There’s a ton of people out there who are driven crazy by this. It’s in the manual… but it’s just not intuitive that applying an effect could mess something up.

I’m a big fan of adobe… I’m sure they’ll do the right thing! 🙂

Thanks for your help Walter!

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[Tom Gomez]

Thanks Immanuel! Your expression is much fancier than mine! 🙂

(On the effects thing… something I link expressions to sliders to make things quick and easy. Only this time I can’t use sliders because the layers is a precomped 3d layer, and effects will force AE to mess up the stacking order.)

I was able to get it working with the expression below…

t=thisComp.layer("MASTER CONTROL").effect("wiggle T")("Slider");
m=thisComp.layer("MASTER CONTROL").effect("wiggle MASTER")("Slider"); w=wiggle(t,m);

point1=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").transform.position;
point2=transform.position;
d = length(thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").transform.position,transform.position);
p=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").effect("rippler POWER")("Slider");
r=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").effect("rippler RANGE")("Slider");
q=p-(p*(d/r));

if (q>0) { z=(w[2])-q }else{ z=(w[2]) }

[w[0], w[1], z]

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[Tom Gomez]

did you ever find this script? I need it too! 🙂

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[Tom Gomez]

Hey Todd,

I’m rebuilding all these expressions in order to nest them… BECAUSE if you put effects on precomped 3d layers, the layer stacking order doesn’t function in AE…

I LOVE AE and have been using it for many years. But I just discovered this little pitfall.

When will this be addressed?

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[Tom Gomez]

Thanks to one of Dan’s earlier posts I found the answer. THANKS DAN!

n1 = thisComp.name.split(" ")[0];
n2 = thisComp.name.split(" ")[1];

comp("MASTER PERIODIC TABLE").layer("MASTER CONTROL").effect(n1 + " " + n2 + " ind COLOR")("Color")

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[Tom Gomez]

This is what I came up with… it seems to be working. (The RIPPLER is a null whose movement affects the z of my target layer, regardless of the wiggling going on.)

t=thisComp.layer("MASTER CONTROL").effect("wiggle T")("Slider");
m=thisComp.layer("MASTER CONTROL").effect("wiggle MASTER")("Slider");
w=wiggle(t,m);

point1=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").transform.position;
point2=transform.position;
d = length(thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").transform.position,transform.position);
p=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").effect("rippler POWER")("Slider");
r=thisComp.layer("RIPPLER").effect("rippler RANGE")("Slider");
q=p-(p*(d/r));

if (q>0) {
z=(w[2])-q
}else{
z=(w[2])
}

[w[0], w[1], z]

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[Tom Gomez]

And as a micro follow-up, is there a way to wiggle just one dimension, without separating dimensions?

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