Reactive Layers - After Effects tutorial
Using some expressions, we can animate layers and modify their look, based on the transparency and colors of another layer.
Hope you find this useful. Any comments and feedback are appreciated.
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STUFF I USED IN THIS TUTORIAL:
Dan Ebberts site (Sample image expression):
https://www.motionscript.com/design-g...
Inertial bounce expression:
https://www.graymachine.com/top-5-eff...
FREE "knoll unmult" plugin (To remove black color):
https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/ar...
EXPRESSIONS:
Here we are creating a variable "layer" that refers to the layer "TEXT_Ori".
"sample" is another variable defining a 2 dimensional area, so 5x5 pixels.
"coord" is taking this layer's position and adding the position of the layer "MOVER".
And then we are using the expression "sampleImage()" to see what the main color value is at the "coord" coordinates, and making sure its sampling at the current time ("time") and that it is sampling after effects are applied ("true"). This should be applied to a property with a color E.g. Tint, Color control, CC toner, etc.
layer = thisComp.layer("TEXT_Ori");
sample = [5,5];
coord = transform.position + thisComp.layer("MOVER").transform.position;
layer.sampleImage(coord, sample, true, time)
This one is similar to the previous one, but here we are saving the information returned by the "sampleImage()" expression. Then we are creating a static random seed, based on the index of this layer, and right after, the "r" variable that is giving us a random value between 0 and the value we specify in the Slider effect, on the "CTRL" layer.
We then use the value from the "A" variable in a "linear()" expression, so that we can have the scale of this layer dynamically change, based on the alpha of the pixels bellow it. We are looking at "A[3]", which is the alpha channel value in a RGBA array, and saying: if the alpha here is zero, then be zero scale, but if alpha is 1, then be scale 42. And since we are using the "linear()" expression, its interpolating from 0 to 42 dynamically. Eg. if alpha is 0.5, then scale is 21.
At the end we are adding some randomness to the scale, by adding "r" in both X and Y values, so that each layer has slightly different scale:
layer = thisComp.layer("TEXT_Ori");
sample = [4,4];
coord = transform.position + thisComp.layer("MOVER").transform.position;
A = layer.sampleImage(coord, sample, true, time);
seedRandom(index, true)
r = random(0,thisComp.layer("CTRL").effect("Scale Random")("Slider"));
linear(A[3], 0, [42,42]) + [r,r]
This is a simple expression that looks at the scale of this layer, and uses an if/else statement to change the value.
So if scale X ("A[0]" ) or ("||") scale Y ("A[1]" ) is less ("＜") than zero, than be zero, otherwise ("else") be 100. This expression was applied to opacity:
A = transform.scale;
if(A[0] ＜ 0 || A[1] ＜ 0){0}else{100}
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:14 Creating the text
04:59 Creating the grass
10:46 Grass color expression
15:26 Grass scale expression
21:15 Grass rotation expression
22:52 Grass opacity expression
25:11 Creating the drop
30:10 Animating the drop
33:24 Animating rest of scene
35:07 Text details
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Tags:
#tutorial #aftereffects #animation #expressions #procedural #text #effect #rig #setup #plant #grow