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Ease and Wizz
Version: 2.0.1 Sign up to be notified by email when a new version of this script is posted
Announcing Ease and Wizz 2.0 – now with Curvaceous!
This new version lets you apply the expressions to curved motion paths and mask shapes.
Introduction
Ease and Wizz is a set of expressions for After Effects that give you more ways to interpolate between values. The obvious use is in motion, but they can be used on animated properties of any kind. They’re applied with an After Effects-ish palette that can be docked, so it’s very easy to use.
A while back, Flash guru Robert Penner created a suite of extremely useful easing equations that have been used to build thousands of websites worldwide. I’ve adapted these equations to work as expressions in After Effects (for an introduction to After Effects expressions, check out Dan Ebberts’ excellent site).
One advantage of using an expression for easing is that the keyframes are editable. You can drag objects in the comp viewer, or move keyframes in the timeline, and the easing will be updated immediately.
Ease and Wizz has been reviewed by these good folk:
- Alan Shisko on Motion Graphics  ’n’ Such
- Chris Meyer on Provideo Coalition: Creating Motion Graphics
- John Dickinson on Motionworks
Usage
An Introduction to Ease and Wizz:
Simply select the properties that you wish to add expressions to, choose the type of easing from the popup menu, whether it should be “in”, “out”, or both and click Apply. As of version 1.1 it’s possible to apply the expression to all keyframes instead of just the first two.
You can choose any number of properties (including different kinds), on any number of layers, and the script will add expressions to everything that’s selected.
Note: If there are already expressions on the properties that are selected, they’ll be replaced when you click Apply.
Types of easing
Regular easing (from most to least dramatic)
- Expo, Circ, Quint, Quart, Quad, Sine
Special types
- Back, Bounce, Elastic
FAQ
How do I get more control over the bounce or elastic expressions?
- These expressions are pretty speedy to apply, but don’t offer too much in terms of customising. For that, I recommend checking out Dan Ebberts’ motionscript.com. The Physical Simulations is a great jumping off point.
After Effects CS4 crashes every time I quit. Coincidence?
- It’s an After Effects bug that’s been acknowledged by Adobe. But don’t fret, it’s been fixed, all you need to do is upgrade to version 9.0.2 (Mac | Windows)
Can I use this with After Effects 7?
- I never had any joy getting the palette to work in AE7. However, you can always just copy and paste the expressions directly into the property you’re animating – Â if, for example you wanted an expo in-out tween on a position property, keyframe it as usual then open the file “inOutExpo-easeandwizz-all.js”. Copy the contents, add an expression to the position property, then paste it in.
Why do I need to enable “Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network”?
- The expressions themselves are separate files in the “easingExpressions” folder. The main script figures out which one you intend to use, opens the relevant file, and the applies the expression to all the properties you’ve got selected. In a pinch, you could also do this manually (but it’s pretty laborious).
What’s with the name?
- It’s a pun on a song title by UK band Pulp: Â ”Sorted for E’s & Wizz“.
Are these questions really “Frequently Asked”?
- OK, you got me. They have, literally, never been asked.
Version history
2010.10.21 – Version 2.0.1
- [CHANGED] A minor tweak to add compatibility with Expression Toolbox.
- [FIXED] Added a more graceful catch if you try to add an expression to a mask path without the “Curvaceous” checkbox enabled.
2009.02.11 – Version 2.0
- [NEW] Curvaceous. Allows you to apply easing expressions to curved motion paths, and to mask or shape layer paths.
2008.12.01 – Version 1.12
- [FIXED] After Effects CS4 compatability.
2008.03.24 – Version 1.1
- [NEW] Tooltips added to the palette
- [NEW] Popup menu added so you can select which keyframes to affect (all, first two and last two, or just the first two)
- [CHANGED] Replaced the “type” radio buttons with a popup menu
- [CHANGED] Eliminated need to choose easingExpressions folder path (thanks to Jeff Almasol)
- [FIXED] Fixed colour of text in popup menus – thanks to Jeff again
2008.03.21 – Version 1.0
- Initial release
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The one thing E&W is missing is AE’s normal exponential scaling. The closest is Exponential+EaseOut, but it’s not exact.
http://vimeo.com/4295286
Other than that, it’s just about perfect! I use it all the time!
Man, I’m loving this script. I used Penner’s methods all the time; I love having them in AE. Nicely done, man!
I made a video demonstration on how to install the script on Windows,it might be useful:
http://www.bluefx.net/blog/127/
its ousum
its ow sum
Pretty usefull tool, especially when you are in a hurry or are just lazy. Perfect for me! Thanks!
how do i download and save the script
@james – To download scripts you need to add the to them cart first (Add to Cart), once you’ve added all the scripts you want you can checkout (View Cart) and the script will be immediately available for download
i downloaded the script and installed it correctly, but i can’t find it under the Windows panel in AE CS3 for mac. help!
@michael
thanks @ian, i had the folder reading ‘ScriptsUI Panels’.
Hi there,
I didn’t really understand what the Curvaceous is about, how does it affect motion paths?
Any tips..??
Joe
Hi Joe, I’ve made a screencast that should help to explain what Curvaceous is all about:
http://blip.tv/file/2794220
There used to be a screencast for Curvaceous on my site, but it fell off at some point
Is there a way to have the camera moving very slowly on an easy easy keyframe, instead of stopping completely?
Joe
I find that by parenting the camera to a null, and having *that* move very slowly, you can achieve some subtle effects that would perhaps be difficult otherwise. Let me know if a screencast would be useful
Hi Ian,
Thanks a lot man.
Jeah is preatty obvious now what the Curvacenous does.
Is very sUPERcOOL !!!
About the second question, I thought as well about a null, but it was just to have everything on 1 layer, it not really easy when you are doing a long camera sequence with lots of rotation movements in 3d.
.. …You think we gonna see this feature in a future version?
Joe.
Hey, glad the screencast was useful!
The second question is trickier. When you need several kinds of movement on one layer, I find it helps to do away with expressions and drop into the graph editor
Hi Ian, maybe I am blind, but I don’t see download button, where is it?
Hi John
Ian Thank you so much!
hey guys! i’m an after effects rookie yet, but i’m really into it and i want to know all about it. i just started visual communication at university.
can someone explain me in a easy way for what this scrip is usefull? for creating motion without any stocking?
also i would love to get some good tutorial pages, message boards where i can connect with other AE people! i left my email here, so you’re welcome to write me if you have any inputs for me.
thank you so much, this page is great.
Love this, but I use AE7 and have to copy/paste the expressions in manually. Its a pain. Is there any other plugin that accomplishes the same thing? Thanks, Ian
Sorry but I’m not aware of another plugin that does the same thing. You could make the expressions into presets, that would make them a lot easier to apply.
Copy and paste the expression into a property *without keyframes*. Then choose “Animation > Save Animation Preset
@nico, sorry I tried replying earlier but my comment didn’t show up for some reason. I think the best way to get a feel for what the script does is to watch the tutorial screencast (under “usage”, above). There are a lot of AE resources online; check out http://ae.tutsplus.com/ and http://www.motionworks.com.au/ for tutorials, and try http://mograph.net/ for a great community of motion graphics professionals.
Ian
Hi there, everywhere I look it says it is free but I can’t download them unless I pay. Has anything change?
Thanks all,
A.
Hi Antonio, to download for free you just have to type in “0″ when you add it to the cart
Hey Ian!
How about adding a function that emulates AE’s Exponential animation assistant? I’d like the flexibility of using your script, but would like it to match the velocity of AE’s exp scale.
I posted a link to a video a while back. Here it is again: http://www.vimeo.com/4295286
Hey Navarro,
I’ve looked into it and think I have it figured out
Hey Ian!
just wanted to say thanks for this great script.
just bought it and it’s already all over the project i am working on.
from Miami
cheers! man
Thanks Juan! Glad to hear it’s useful
ian
Hi,
I am very much enjoying using your scripts and I use them all the time so thanks!
However I am finding that if I, say, animate an image in 3D from far to
near using the Expo script, it animates towards the camera smoothly but the last frame of the animation seems to ‘snap’ forward to the last position, quite abruptly. i.e. it never slows down gracefully – always a little jump to the final position. Can you shed any light on this?
FYI the quality on all layers is best and I am working AT 1920 X 1080 (although it happens at all resolutions/sizes).
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Chris, I tried it out and get the behaviour you describe. I’ll have a look and see if I can figure out what’s causing this. Thanks, Ian
That’s great, Ian – thanks a million
It doesn’t seem to happen on the other algorithms as far as I can tell – just Expo.
Hi Ian,
Nice script !!!
Just a question
When i use elastic on a object scale i’ve some negative scale on some frame in the begining of the animation.
Don’t know why
Thanks
Yves
Hey Yves, thanks for your comment. Sometimes the scale will go negative in order to give it an elastic appearance. If it’s a problem perhaps you can post an example and give me some detail as to what’s happening.
Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian,
Thank you for your quick answer.
Please find here a little test.
http://www.vimeo.com/9373978
Just a basic scale from 0% to 100%. I clic on the “100%” keyframe. Add the elastic script.
Settings are in+out / all.
Got some strange negative scale on the first second.
Thanks
Yves
Hey Yves
I think it’s happening because the easing type is “in+out”, rather than just out. The “in” part of the equation means that it will look elasticky (if you’ll pardon the neologism
at the beginning, so the expression uses negative values to achieve this. Try it with just “out” easing and see if you get the effect you’re after.
Ian
Hi Ian,
Awesome AE tutorial and video. Will have to play with this one sometime.
What’s the music you used? I’d love to download it if I can. Thanks!
Hey Corinne, thanks for your kind comments! The soundtrack is actually just one of the default settings in the Garageband application (“Jazz”, under “Magic Garageband”). I’ll email you the MP3 directly.
Ian
Hey Ian,
I can’t seem to get this to work on mask points – is it supposed to?
Cheers and thanks for your help so far!
Chris
Hey Chris, have you tried turning on the Curvaceous checkbox? That’s a hack that should allow mask shape tweening to accept the expressions. Note that the special types elastic and back won’t work with Curvaceous, as they actually overshoot the destination value.
Here’s a screencast I made about this very topic: http://blip.tv/file/2794220 (a screencast that, inexplicably, doesn’t appear to be linked from anywhere
Great. thanks again Ian!
I actually think I was originally trying to use it with Elastic as i was trying to create a rubbery animtion using mask points. Given it will be work using ‘Curvaceous’ but Elastic and Bounce aren’t available with these algorithms I’m still a bit stuck I suppose. Hand animation here I come!
Cheers
Actually, \i think there are several ways around it using filters. The only there is that any filters that scale the image past 100% tend to lose quality – hence the need to animate the mask points.
Hello Ian,
Thanks for very useful script!
Is it possible to adjust bounce amount? I have found back and elastic parameters in expression but can’t find for bounce.
Best,
Alex
Hey Alex, sorry but bounce is one of those tricky-to-tweak ones. I’m working on a script that will provide more realistic bounce and elastic motion, but in the meantime I’m afraid I don’t have anything to offer.
Ian
Hey Ian, great script! One of the most useful ones I’ve ever encountered. Any chance you’ve come up with a way to adjust the amount of “bounce?” That would come in really handy. Thanks!
Hi Jeff, thanks
Just wondering if the script will work in the new AE CS5?
Hey Gyorfi,
Good question. I have no reason to think that it won’t, but I won’t know till I can test it. I’ll download a trial when it becomes available and give it a shot.
Ian
yes, it works on AE CS5! just tested it. everything is fine
Hey Florian, thanks! I’ll update the info page on my site.
Ian
Hai!
I’ve been using our script for some time now, and it’s so cool…
However, now I’ve ran into something strange. When I use elastic easeOut for rotation, at aporximately the 90% of the animation the target object gets rotated to some tatally off angle, but only for a single frame, and the it’s all back normal again.
Is there something i mess up?
Thanks!!
Oh hai Zoltan! Firstly, you have the coolest name I think I’ve ever heard. Secondly, thanks for your comment. I tried to replicate the problem but it works OK for me.
It could be a rounding error. You could try the following:
- change the final rotation value by a very small amount (0.5° for example)
- try tweaking the default period and amplitude in the expression itself (type “ee” to reveal expressions for the selected layer). For example, change the line that says
var p = 0.9;
to read
var p = 0.95;
Either of these tweaks might help the problem to disappear. Failing that, if you send me an example of the problem I’m happy to have a look and try to figure it out.
Ian
I purchased yesterday your expression at AE scripts. Used it in some comps, worked like a charm.
Today I opened the same project. Tried to apply it in a new comp, to some scale and rotation keyframes. When I hit the “apply” button, nothing happens. Have you came across this problem before? even in the same composition I worked on yesterday, tried to apply it to some layers I hadn´t touched before, nothing happens :-S Created a new project, new comp. Created some scale and position keyframes. Hit apply. Nothing happens! It just “stopped working”!!! any ideas?
Hey Arturo, thanks for your comment, and thanks for the donation
BTW I am using CS4 on Snow Leopard. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback. I solved the issue by closing the script´s UI and opening it again. It´s working again. Weird bug or something, go figure. Anyway, it´s working again.
Have a nice weekend
–A
Huh, weird. Still, glad to hear it’s come right!
hey!
thanks for this great script.. i have few questions..
Isn’t it possible to use the script with mask animations?
- i have layer which is masked, and the mask moves from left to right with mask path keyframes..
when I apply the script to keyframe it gives error..
Is it possible to use this script with footages?
- if yes how could you please explain a bit..
thanks in advance, cheers
Mk.
Hey Mk
hey ian
thanks for reply, for the first question i was looking to curvaceous tut and i saw the answer there =)
for the second yes you understand right, aahh its nice to use this with time remapping, i totally understand.
thanks again have a nice day..
Thanks, you too
Looks like a great script. I’m having a probem though. The script is installed as described and appears in my UI, but applying the script to an object property (position for example) doesn’t apply the expresssion. Any idea what might be wrong?
I’m running in AE CS4 9.0.2.42
Hey Bartpop, thanks for the comment. For anyone reading this, Bart contacted me via email to explain that he’d discovered a conflict with Chris Roe’s excellent Expression Toolbox.
I’ve tracked down the conflict and will be posting an update soon. Bart
Hi Ian,
Thanks for nice script
Thank you so much…..
Hey shadowtail, thanks for your kind comment, glad you like it!
Hi,
I have buy this plugin, and i want download the update. How i must do to download the new version? I can just buy new version, but i have already buy the 2.0 version.
Thanks for your job.
Hey Fab,
You can download it without being charged. Add it to the cart and type “0″ under the amount, then click “Update Cart”. Hope this helps!
Ian
If I apply the script to a camera’s position it crashes AE CS5
Hi Rob. I just tried easing a camera’s position and everything is working OK for me. Can you elaborate on the set up? Perhaps try making a new comp with just a camera in it and see if it still happens. If you’re still experiencing crashing, feel free to send me a simple comp to look at.
Ian
Thanks so much, this is great! I really appreciate it.
Hi,
Great script just love it! But i do get an other question, (nothing related with the script, sorry), wich font did you use for the example? I like it but i don’t know the name of it.
Thx!
Hi Diewer,
The font is called Hannah, you can buy it here: http://www.youworkforthem.com/product.php?sku=T0235
It’s from the title sequence from the classic Kubrick film, Dr Strangelove:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpikKUy13UE
Glad you like the script!
Ian
Looooove this! only 2 issues for me:
- sometimes it doesn’t work! (need to save, or in the worst case, close and reopen the project)
-the chance to apply the script only in between two keyframes
by the way, it rocks!
yesterday i was getting mad ’cause there was no way to let him work! even closing the project, restarting,then i just closed and reopened the E&W window. -_-
best!
g
Hey Catastrophe
There was a conflict with Expression Toolbox
Hey Ian,
This rocks, but I’m having an issue with the elastic setting animating between keyframes that don’t change values. I’m using CS3, and this stops me from doing things like ‘elasticly’ scaling in one dimension, but leaving the other alone.
Any workaround for this?
Thanks!
Ian
Hey Ian,
Thanks for your question. I think I know what you’re referring to; it looks a bit weird. You can do it by applying the easing expression to a slider control:
- Add a slider control to the layer (Effect > Expression Controls > Slider Control). This is what you’ll use to animate. Give it a meaningful name, such as “x scale”. Tween it, say from 0 to 100 over 2 seconds. Apply Ease and Wizz to THIS property.
- On the scale property, add an expression by option-clicking (alt-clicking on Windows) the stopwatch. Then add an expression like this:
[effect("x scale")("Slider"), value[1]]- This means “for the first dimension use the value from the Slider Control (called ‘x scale’), and for the second dimension use the original value (‘value[1]‘)”.
I put together a really, really rough screencast that shows how to do it (normally I’d just post a comp but I don’t have CS3).
http://vimeo.com/20578611 (best turn on HD)
I’ve just woken up and haven’t had a coffee
Thank you very much, and good morning! It’s almost the end of the work day here.
Hopefully this will help anyone else who is having this issue also.
Hi Im trying to bounce ease but Im always getting this error;
“After Effects warning: Class ‘global’ has no property or method named ‘thisProperty’ Expression disabled.”
Error occurred at line 1.
Comp: ‘ Comp 1′
Layer: 1 (‘HAPPY’)
Property: ‘Position’
Im just using this script for test how is work what can I do this. But every trying Im getting this error. I watched Mattias Mohl tutorlal and make a like his animation. My text Simply drop down to top and goes to right. I selecting all key frame and ease and wizz setup is bounce+ in+out+ keys all and click to apply. After that Im getting this error. What happening Im really dont understant. I newbies on expression Im dont understand what doesnt mean this error. Please someone help what is that!
Hi Murat,
That’s a weird one
Hi,
I also get the same error message.
I bought the plugin and it’s missing “back” and “elastic” Why is that? Can I get them or a partial refund?
Never mind. I’m an idiot.
Using ease and wizz “elastic” and it is starting to act erratic. Put anchor point at top of 3d text and have it rotating from X 90 to X 0 and it is doing a nice swinging motion but will tweek back to odd placements in the rotation…like a frame here and there at odd points in the swing. Any ideas way only elastic is acting up??? I like to call it Johny jumper frames.
Hey Brian, thanks for your comment. Johnny Jumper Frames! I like.
I’ve experienced that problem myself. I had a look and it looks like a rounding error
Ian, Thanks for the quick response. I think I speak for everyone when I say it is very much appreciated. Ease and Wizz is great by the way…I think I use it in just about every animation I do.
Your fix did work…thank you sir!
Dear Ian
Thank you a lot for this amazing script
Can you make a fix for the compatibility with Scripts Lunsher . The Scripts Lunsher has a problem with the ” easingExpression ” Folder. Can you make your Script see the folder in parentheses so that the Script Lunsher will skip the easingexpression Folder
thank you alot
Hi Sameer, thanks for your comment, glad you like Ease and Wizz! Do you mean the Script Launcher from Jeff Almasol? Let me have a look and come back to you.
Ian
PLEASE HELP!!!
Does anyone know how I can create the effect of objects starting out falling slow then fast? like this effect in this video demo. It’s at 0:29
http://youtu.be/VQ5S8Q4EIPc It makes it look like the objects are heavy or something.
Is there a script on here to do it? I hate the graph editor. A script or expression would be perfect. Thanks
~Lonric Demos =)
Hi Lonric. Try using Ease and Wizz
Hi Ian, Thanks so much. I will go try that now.=)
~Lonric Demos
OMG Ian, it worked. I have been trying to figure that out for about 4 months now, and thought it would be very hard to do. Thanks so much bro=)
~Lonric Demos
You should probably just confront the graph editor sooner or later…
- Spencer
Hi it is possible to add different preset to different camera movements on the same layer null? (parented to the camera) it seems that ease and wizz affect only the first two keyframes and stop to ease the others. I must do that splitting the null in different layers? This is the only way to achieve that?
thanks
Hey Skz,
In a nutshell
Hey Ian,
I’m having a little trouble with the script… I applied it to the orientation of a null, which in turn has a camera parented to it. The null goes nuts when animating, wildly swinging around! I read through a few of your posts and tried changing the amplitude and period values, but with no luck.
Any ideas?
- Spencer
Hey Spencer, I had a look but I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen so it’s difficult to troubleshoot. In any case, the amplitude and period will only apply to elastic or back easing, but I see you’ve used quint.
You might get weird effects if the camera is offset in relation to the null
Hey Ian,
To see what’s supposed to happen turn the expression off of the null and watch it’s rotation. The erratic camera behavior is just a by-product of the null’s crazy rotation values, which are the real problem.
To most clearly see everything that is happening just delete the camera, all of the text, and all of the position keyframes on the null. Then turn the expression on and off and scrub through the timeline to see what is supposed to happen, and what is happening
Sorry that I’m being overly baby-simple, I just want to explain it as clearly as possible because it is sometimes hard to communicate these things over the internet!
- Spencer
Hey, I think I’ve got it now.
I suspect it’s because you’ve animated the orientation, rather than the rotation. Orientation won’t allow for negative values or values greater than 360°, it’ll just wrap around. This causes a sort of rounding error, which is where the flipping comes from. I’ve emailed you an updated project where I’ve created a new null and animated the rotation values rather than the orientation, and it looks OK to me. But let me know if I’ve missed the mark!
Ian
Hey Ian, Sorry for the late response – I was desperately trying to finish that video (which I did!).
Yes, I’m sure that is it. I looked at the project, and it is a bit hard to sort out. But your resulting camera move is definitely smoothed out, so I’m sure that’s the solution.
- Spencer
Hey Ian,
Thank you for these action scripts! They are awesome. I have a question though- I just downloaded and installed ease and wiz and started to use them and I realized that in in the the “Easing” drop down menu I am missing “Back” and “Elastic”. I followed the link provided on this page and downloaded as said. I don’t know if has to do with my version of AE (I have CS5.5).
Any help/advice would greatly be appreciated!
Jackie
Hey Jackie,
Glad you like the script! If you uncheck the button named “curvaceous” then those easing types should come back. Let me know if that doesn’t work. There is more info in the tutorial video. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian,
I purchased the script and installed it, but its not working for me. I keep getting the box that says: “I can’t find this file: ‘inExpo-easeandwizz-all.js’ “…and it says where it looked… I reinstalled it and no luck. It’s in the ScriptUI Panels folder (where I have other working scripts, like SwatchYouWant, etc,.. Please help.
Running AE CS4 9.0.0.346
Thanks!
K
Hey Kelly, thanks for downloading Ease and Wizz. Do you have the folder named “easingExpressions” in the ScriptUI Panels folder too? That is where the actual expressions are kept, and it sounds as though the main script can’t find that folder. See the screenshot here for reference. Let me know if this helps or not.
Thanks, Ian
That was it – Thanks.
I thought it might be, but wanted to check cos I’m an overly-caustious noob/dinosaur who generally thinks things are gonna explode in his face.
Ha, perfectly understandable
hi ian, where is the download button? this file is free or i have to pay?
thanks
Hey Pras, sorry for the late reply, been vacationing. It’s “Name Your Own Price”, so you use the Add To Cart button and you’ll have the opportunity to make a donation – but you don’t have to, just type in 0 if you like.
Ian
Hello Ian,
HUGE fan of this script. I’ve been spreading the word!
Question though… 3D layers seem to HATE this script… is there a solution or workaround to apply it to 3D layers?
Best,
Jordan
Hey Jordan, thanks for your comment – I’m really glad you like it.
Regarding 3D layers, the expressions should work with layers with 1, 2, or 3 dimensions. Select the property that you’d like to apply the script to, and click Apply in the Ease and Wizz palette. If it’s successful the property values should turn red, indicating that an expression has been applied. Try restarting After Effects and giving it another go, and if the problem persists let me know and I’ll try to help figure out a solution.
Ian