[Trent Armstrong]

Kim,

I have an example of the second situation in our Meeting 002 project found at the following link: https://web.mac.com/pxlguy/iWeb/DallasAEUG/Meeting%20Project%20Files.html

Look under the expressions folder for the Dynamic comp.

Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

I updated the tutorial and now there is a very crucial final step with an expression to control the swinging.

This will clear up everything except why I left out that final step.

Many Apologies!
Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

It’s possible to turn on the Time-Remapping of a layer and then apply a “time” expression that maybe increments based on the Index of the layer. And it’s not necessary to offset the position of the layer in the timeline.

Apply an Expression Slider to you Null 1 and rename the slider effect to “Timer”. Then apply the following expression to the layer you want to offset in time. You can then use the slider on Null 1 to control all layers with the same offset. And when you duplicate the layer, the new one offsets itself the appropriate time.

EXPRESSION:
i = index – 1;
timer = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”).effect(“Timer”)(“Slider”);

offset = i * timer;

time – offset

[Trent Armstrong]

Check the effect about 4 seconds into this movie and let me know if that is what you are talking about.

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/ib/singles/649/IB03-Origami-Countdown

Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

Shroomly,

You might need to precomp the tree. The effect works best when all of the layers used with the expressions are the size of the composition. Just put your tree in a new comp the size of your working comp and bring that new tree comp back in adjusting the expression accordingly. You might get an error when you bring the precomp in, but that is fixable by changing the name of the target comp in the expression.

Thanks,
Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

Justin,

I noticed when I opened your project that it said it had to be up-converted from 6.5. I hate to tell you this, but the sampleImage() (and therefore the whole effect) is only available in AE 8 (CS3).

If I am incorrect in thinking that your project is not AE 8, please let me know.

Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

YOUR ORIGINAL COMMENT WAS:
I have a quick question about this tutorial. When I set the code in on the flare brightness it says an error occurs on line 2. The error reads class ‘ layer’ has no property or method named ‘sky’.
Error occurred at line 2.
Expression disabled.
If you could help me out I would appreciate it.
———————————————–

Justin,
I copied your expression into my project and except for adjusting the name of the layer “Clouds with Alpha”, it worked fine. The expression is case sensitive with names. So that is important. But I’m not sure if that is going to solve your issue.

I’m not sure why it was trying to reference “sky”. Would you send over your project so I can take a look? I’ll post all the information I get from it to this thread.

Thanks,
Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

It sounds like all you need to do is parent the picture layer to shape layer. Then the picture will grow in size along with the shape layer.

Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

https://www.motionscript.com/mastering-expressions/simulation-basics-4.html

Make sure you check out the rest of the site! There is a lot more awesome information.

Trent

[Trent Armstrong]

https://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/auto-orient-y-only.html

Sorry you haven’t gotten your answer yet! Here is a great link for a great page on a great site with even more information than you were asking for.

Good Luck!
Trent