Cloners + Effectors
  • Fantastic plugin. My question:

    Is there anyway to have two different cloner objects be affected by the same cloner? I need to move two different (actually three!) shape layer graphics from one position to another for a client (it has to be exact). I hate having to duplicate the effector each time I create a group with the exact same values except for position.

    If not in this version, maybe in the future? 

    Thanks!

  • Fantastic plugin. My question:

    Is there anyway to have two different cloner objects be affected by the same cloner? I need to move two different (actually three!) shape layer graphics from one position to another for a client (it has to be exact). I hate having to duplicate the effector each time I create a group with the exact same values except for position.

    If not in this version, maybe in the future? 

    Thanks!

    Hi Justin

    Happy you like it! Not sure I completely understand your question. Do you want to use an effector on three different cloners? If so, no unfortunately you can't do that.
    You can add all the layers you want to a cloner by selecting all the layers and clicking "Use selected layers".

    - Jakob Wagner
  • Hello there.
    nice plugin but I have a question, I need to animate a lot of precomps without to change the position is that possible?

    Thanks
    Dunja
  • Hello there.
    nice plugin but I have a question, I need to animate a lot of precomps without to change the position is that possible?

    Thanks
    Dunja

    Hi Dunja
    Yes that is possible. You need to select the cluster cloner as cloner type.
    Let me know if you need more help.
    Thanks
    Jakob Wagner
  • Crunchy said:
    Hello there.
    nice plugin but I have a question, I need to animate a lot of precomps without to change the position is that possible?

    Thanks
    Dunja
    Hi Dunja Yes that is possible. You need to select the cluster cloner as cloner type. Let me know if you need more help. Thanks Jakob Wagner
    thanks for the fast reply....I´ll try and let you know if I need more help :-)
  • Is it possible to keyframe the grid type and or number of the grid elements? I was hoping I could make a 10x10 grid, then compress it down to say 5x5 if needed.
  • Nick Guth said:
    Is it possible to keyframe the grid type and or number of the grid elements? I was hoping I could make a 10x10 grid, then compress it down to say 5x5 if needed.
    Hi Nick

    Unfortunately you can't animate those parameters. But you might get that animation to work with an effector with a circular falloff. Check this file out, hope it will take you in the right direction.

    Example

    Update: One other cheat I can think of, would be to create both a large and a small grid with the small on top and use a plain effector to make the large grid disappear. Leaving only the small grid visible. If you do that I would recommend making them in two different comps, as you would then be handeling more clones than is appropriate for this system.

    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Curious if this is possible:  Create a 100 x 100 grid, have a custom vector shape as a particle (e.g. twitter bird), use a photo to affect the scale and/or color/effect of each particle?  Basically turning the entire grid into pixels that somehow would represent a photo?
  • Curious if this is possible:  Create a 100 x 100 grid, have a custom vector shape as a particle (e.g. twitter bird), use a photo to affect the scale and/or color/effect of each particle?  Basically turning the entire grid into pixels that somehow would represent a photo?
    Hi Raymond

    That would be great, but you can't. You would have a 10.000 layers. That would be way more than AE can handle. This plugin utilizes the standard layers in AE, so each time you have a clone you also have an AE layer with expressions on it. This is great because it allow you to combine it with any filters or other properties on the layers. But the short comming of it is that it is really limited to somewhere between 50 and 100 clones.

    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner

  • Hey, I bought this script this week and have a semi urgent question that I can't figure out. In your example with the illustrator file, you have it bouncing very nicely. However, when I do it (plain effector, linear falloff, sine curve) it does not bounce at all. Is there some way to control the bounce strength? Or am I doing something wrong? Awesome script btw! Very useful.
  • Hey, I bought this script this week and have a semi urgent question that I can't figure out. In your example with the illustrator file, you have it bouncing very nicely. However, when I do it (plain effector, linear falloff, sine curve) it does not bounce at all. Is there some way to control the bounce strength? Or am I doing something wrong? Awesome script btw! Very useful.
    Hi Spencer

    I'm happy you like it. You need to set falloff curve to bounce or elastic. You should probably only check either inside or outside, depending on your animation setup. And when using bounce or elastic, it is good to have a very wide/large falloff.
    Let me know if you need more help.

    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Just a quick note... some of the drop down menu's on my PC Win 10 system (Version 10.0.14393 Build 14393) don't display all the options. I have to use the arrow keys to find the last missing ones. 
    image
    image
  • Just a quick note... some of the drop down menu's on my PC Win 10 system (Version 10.0.14393 Build 14393) don't display all the options. I have to use the arrow keys to find the last missing ones. 
    image
    image
    Hi Daniel

    There is a known bug with win10 and Hi PPI monitors such as 4k/5k, which will lead to that  result. This is an AE bug, but I'm looking into the possibilities of creating a work around hack.

    Thanks for reporting. :)
    Jakob Wagner

  • Hello it´s me again....
    What am I not getting? I need a radial scale animation from the middle to the outside, with a lot of precomps.the endresult has to be my start settings means same position same scale.I just want them to fade in and to scale up radial.without changing the position or the scale. But iam getting always a wrong result....not 0% in scale and not 0 % in tarenspancy. and not 100 % in scale.
    this are my settings cluster Cloner/ radial step effector with outside checked// scale animated

    thank you for your help. Regards Dunja
  • Hello it´s me again....
    What am I not getting? I need a radial scale animation from the middle to the outside, with a lot of precomps.the endresult has to be my start settings means same position same scale.I just want them to fade in and to scale up radial.without changing the position or the scale. But iam getting always a wrong result....not 0% in scale and not 0 % in tarenspancy. and not 100 % in scale.
    this are my settings cluster Cloner/ radial step effector with outside checked// scale animated

    thank you for your help. Regards Dunja
    Hi Dunja

    From what you say I think that the step effector might be the problem. As it doesn't effect all clones the same. Is there a reason why you use that and not the plain effector? If not try switching it to plain effector.
    You can see this video to get a better understanding of how the step effector works.


    If it still doesn't make sense, I'll probably need some more info and preferable the source file. You can open a support ticket if you don't want to share the source file in public.
    https://aescripts.com/contact/

    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • On the effector's curve, is there anyway to manually adjust, or make a custom curve? Namely, I'd like to make make my own elastic curve. Also, is there a way to apply different curves to individual properties?
  • On the effector's curve, is there anyway to manually adjust, or make a custom curve? Namely, I'd like to make make my own elastic curve. Also, is there a way to apply different curves to individual properties?
    Hi Brien
    No you can only use the ones in the dropdown. Depending on what you are doing, it might be possible for you to use the step effector instead and set the custom curve on that.
    Also no to the second question, you will have to create two effectors if you want two different falloff curves.
    - Jakob Wagner
  • Hi, newbie question.. I'm trying to do a radial type setup. Pop the pieces of a pie chart by scaling from the center. The plain effector seems like its using the anchor point (as the hit area) of each pie piece to create the effect. I need all the anchors points in one position so the scale appears to be out from the center. Is there a way to move the "hit detection area" so that its separate from the anchor point?
  • Hi, newbie question.. I'm trying to do a radial type setup. Pop the pieces of a pie chart by scaling from the center. The plain effector seems like its using the anchor point (as the hit area) of each pie piece to create the effect. I need all the anchors points in one position so the scale appears to be out from the center. Is there a way to move the "hit detection area" so that its separate from the anchor point?
    Hi Ken.
    No it will always scale around the anchor point. What you could do is:
    Set the anchor point the same place (center corner) for all the layers you are cloning. Then mark them and hit "use selected layers". The ClonersShapeSplit might be able to help do that quickly, using the set anchor button.
    Set the radial cloners size to zero. Then you'll need to use a step effector instead, since the anchor point (hit point) are in the same world position for all clones.
    Let me know if it's still not working for you and I'll put together a small example in the morning.

    Here's a video showing how to use the step effector:


    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Crunchy said:
    Hi, newbie question.. I'm trying to do a radial type setup. Pop the pieces of a pie chart by scaling from the center. The plain effector seems like its using the anchor point (as the hit area) of each pie piece to create the effect. I need all the anchors points in one position so the scale appears to be out from the center. Is there a way to move the "hit detection area" so that its separate from the anchor point?
    Hi Ken.
    No it will always scale around the anchor point. What you could do is:
    Set the anchor point the same place (center corner) for all the layers you are cloning. Then mark them and hit "use selected layers". The ClonersShapeSplit might be able to help do that quickly, using the set anchor button.
    Set the radial cloners size to zero. Then you'll need to use a step effector instead, since the anchor point (hit point) are in the same world position for all clones.
    Let me know if it's still not working for you and I'll put together a small example in the morning.

    Here's a video showing how to use the step effector:


    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
    Thanks Jakob, actually I solved it a bit different than your suggestion. How I ended up creating it people may find interesting. I used a radial clone of a shape with the same number of "pie pieces" as my pie chart (or could of used cluster cloner if they were different sized) and then I positioned the effector the same distance away as the radial clone shapes and parented the effector to a null that was placed at the center, then I was able to keyframe the rotation with the null. Then I pickwhipped the scale of each pie piece to each closest clone and hid each clone. So when rotated into position over each clone the pie pieces scale... I'm really liking your tool! 
  • Crunchy said:
    Hi, newbie question.. I'm trying to do a radial type setup. Pop the pieces of a pie chart by scaling from the center. The plain effector seems like its using the anchor point (as the hit area) of each pie piece to create the effect. I need all the anchors points in one position so the scale appears to be out from the center. Is there a way to move the "hit detection area" so that its separate from the anchor point?
    Hi Ken.
    No it will always scale around the anchor point. What you could do is:
    Set the anchor point the same place (center corner) for all the layers you are cloning. Then mark them and hit "use selected layers". The ClonersShapeSplit might be able to help do that quickly, using the set anchor button.
    Set the radial cloners size to zero. Then you'll need to use a step effector instead, since the anchor point (hit point) are in the same world position for all clones.
    Let me know if it's still not working for you and I'll put together a small example in the morning.

    Here's a video showing how to use the step effector:


    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
    Thanks Jakob, actually I solved it a bit different than your suggestion. How I ended up creating it people may find interesting. I used a radial clone of a shape with the same number of "pie pieces" as my pie chart (or could of used cluster cloner if they were different sized) and then I positioned the effector the same distance away as the radial clone shapes and parented the effector to a null that was placed at the center, then I was able to keyframe the rotation with the null. Then I pickwhipped the scale of each pie piece to each closest clone and hid each clone. So when rotated into position over each clone the pie pieces scale... I'm really liking your tool! 
    Cool Idea Ken. Happy you're getting creative with it. I would love to see what you end up with. If you want to share, you can send it to [email protected].
  • Joe Carty said:
    Hi 

    Just purchased and installed the newest version of your product (v1.03) and successfully entered activation code but the interface is only giving me limited options. 2 cloner type options (linear and radial) and 3 effector choices (plain, step and random). These are the same options I had when using your demo download from last week.

    Please help.

    Thanks

    Joe carty
    Hi again Joe
    You want to check out v1.1. I'm pretty sure it's going to work for you. Just click the new settings button at the very bottom and check the win10 + HiDPI option on.
    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Hi there, thanks for this great script, have been wanting something like this for AE, being a big user of MoGraph in C4D. One question - is there a simple way to duplicate a cloner system? I have unshied all the properties and duplicated everything but the properties still link to the previous cloner, is there a way around this? Thanks.
    Check out the new version 1.1 :D
  • Hi, is there any way to loop the noise or wiggle effectors? For example, in C4D you can make it so that the noise cycles after 1 second, and if you make your animation 1 second, it will loop exactly the same.
  • Hi, is there any way to loop the noise or wiggle effectors? For example, in C4D you can make it so that the noise cycles after 1 second, and if you make your animation 1 second, it will loop exactly the same.

    Hi Adriel
    I'm afraid not.
    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Hi, I installed 1.1 and am working through your sound effector tutorial but my setup doesn't show the gear icon below the "Add Effector" button like in your tutorial.  I dragged all the contents of the download into the the script UI panels folder... does this have to do with my AE CC 2017.0?
    Thanks,
    Nick

  • Hi, I installed 1.1 and am working through your sound effector tutorial but my setup doesn't show the gear icon below the "Add Effector" button like in your tutorial.  I dragged all the contents of the download into the the script UI panels folder... does this have to do with my AE CC 2017.0?

    Thanks,
    Nick

    Hi Nick
    Can't test it out right now. But it should work. Did you restart AE After The install?
    If you Can not get it to work, please open a support ticket and I'll try to guide you through.
    - Jakob Wagner
  • Does this work with Newton2 in AfterEffects?
  • Does this work with Newton2 in AfterEffects?
    Hi Simon
    You could use it to set up clones in a pattern before sending it to newton, but it wont work with all the effectors. So general answer would be no. Would be cool though. :)
    However, there is a free trial. So feel free to take it for a spin.
    - Jakob
  • hi, really impressed by your plugin. trying it out for the first time. i've got two questions:
    1: made a grid out of a shape and added some effects. nice. but then i wanted to change the basic color of the shape. but couldn't find a good way to do it. found the hidden clones and everything, but couldn't copy/paste the new color values. anyway, is there a way to do that and/or to easily replace the shape with another one?
    2: is there a way to make a sort of magnetic effect. for eample a grid of elements turning towards a object (that might be moving around)?
  • hi, really impressed by your plugin. trying it out for the first time. i've got two questions:
    1: made a grid out of a shape and added some effects. nice. but then i wanted to change the basic color of the shape. but couldn't find a good way to do it. found the hidden clones and everything, but couldn't copy/paste the new color values. anyway, is there a way to do that and/or to easily replace the shape with another one?
    2: is there a way to make a sort of magnetic effect. for eample a grid of elements turning towards a object (that might be moving around)?
    Hi Rikard

    I'm happy you like it.
    1. If you need to change all the clones, you should change your original layer (the one you cloned) and then while it is selected click "Use selected layers".
    2. I'm afraid not. You would have to do some manual coding on every clone to make that work. But the feature is already on the list of things that might come in the future.
    Maybe this link can help you out. http://blob.pureandapplied.com.au/lookat-me/

    Thanks,
    Jakob
  • Do you have any plans to allow for an effector to be duplicated?
  • Do you have any plans to allow for an effector to be duplicated?
    I ended up not doing it, but maybe I should. I'll put it in a future update, can't promise when.
    Thanks for input. :)
    Jakob Wagner
  • Crunchy said:
    Do you have any plans to allow for an effector to be duplicated?
    I ended up not doing it, but maybe I should. I'll put it in a future update, can't promise when.
    Thanks for input. :)
    Jakob Wagner

    That would be a very helpful feature, thanks!
  • Do you have any plans to allow for an effector to be duplicated?
    I put it in the newest update, ready for download now! Don't tell me I don't listen to my users. :)
  • how can I add additional object to the previous set cloner ?
  • how can I add additional object to the previous set cloner ?
    If I understand your question correct. You can do that by selecting all the layers you want to use, and click the "Use selected layers" button.
  • how can I add additional object to the previous set cloner ?
    If I understand your question correct. You can do that by selecting all the layers you want to use, and click the "Use selected layers" button.
    Suppose I have three balls that already linked to the cloner , and I want to add a circle shape to them in order to have the same effect with the effector, how can I add the circle shape to the same cloner ?
  • how can I add additional object to the previous set cloner ?
    If I understand your question correct. You can do that by selecting all the layers you want to use, and click the "Use selected layers" button.
    Suppose I have three balls that already linked to the cloner , and I want to add a circle shape to them in order to have the same effect with the effector, how can I add the circle shape to the same cloner ?
    You would need to select your three original ball layers + the new circle layer. Then click the "Use selected layers" button.
  • how can I add additional object to the previous set cloner ?
    If I understand your question correct. You can do that by selecting all the layers you want to use, and click the "Use selected layers" button.
    Suppose I have three balls that already linked to the cloner , and I want to add a circle shape to them in order to have the same effect with the effector, how can I add the circle shape to the same cloner ?
    You would need to select your three original ball layers + the new circle layer. Then click the "Use selected layers" button.
    Thank you so much , That's work with me . 
  • The Idea for the Script is awesome, but unfortunately it's unbearably slow. Whenever i change the tiniest parameter it has to update everything. Given, that Cloners&Effectors is ment to work with large Numbers of Objects (otherwise i could animate it by hand) this is really a dealbreaker.
    My idea to improve this would be:
    - When i first set up the Cloner/Effector, let me FIRST set all my parameters (What type of cloner, what effector, what parameters does the effector affect, what falloff-settings to use) then hit "Apply" ONCE, and then let the scrip run for the time it needs (once!). If i want to come back later and change things its ok to wait, but right now it is like "Create Cloner - Wait 5 minutes - Set cloner to Type xy - wait 5 minutes - create Effector - wait 5 minutes - set Effector to type xy - wait 5 minutes - ... " this isn't worth 90 Bucks, sorry :(

    - When i set any parameter in the Effectors settings to "0" (for example Falloff-Radius) it messes up the entire setup (division by 0, every expression gets disabled) and i have to start over...
  • The Idea for the Script is awesome, but unfortunately it's unbearably slow. Whenever i change the tiniest parameter it has to update everything. Given, that Cloners&Effectors is ment to work with large Numbers of Objects (otherwise i could animate it by hand) this is really a dealbreaker.
    My idea to improve this would be:
    - When i first set up the Cloner/Effector, let me FIRST set all my parameters (What type of cloner, what effector, what parameters does the effector affect, what falloff-settings to use) then hit "Apply" ONCE, and then let the scrip run for the time it needs (once!). If i want to come back later and change things its ok to wait, but right now it is like "Create Cloner - Wait 5 minutes - Set cloner to Type xy - wait 5 minutes - create Effector - wait 5 minutes - set Effector to type xy - wait 5 minutes - ... " this isn't worth 90 Bucks, sorry :(

    - When i set any parameter in the Effectors settings to "0" (for example Falloff-Radius) it messes up the entire setup (division by 0, every expression gets disabled) and i have to start over...
    Hi Thomas

    Thank you for your comments. I do not disagree much with your points. One of the biggest hurdles I had was performance. This is why I don't recommend it for animations where you need hundreds of clones. I think in the first video I point this out. This is also why the price is as low as $89. If the performance was much better I would charge more for it. I think the current price is fair for the features you get and for the amount of work that have been put into it.

    One trick to get around long waiting times for every parameter change is to set the number of clones to 1. Then after you set all your parameters set it back to your desired amount.

    I personally use this plugin in my own productions and though being heavy to work with it have saved me a lot of time already.

    I'll look into the zero problem. Thank you for letting me know. If you get the problem I think you can always undo instead of starting over.

    Thanks,
    Jakob Wagner
  • Hey Jakob, thanks for the quick response!

    One trick to get around long waiting times for every parameter change is to set the number of clones to 1. Then after you set all your parameters set it back to your desired amount.

    Thanks, that is a very helpful idea. Unfortunately there is no way to do so with Cluster-Cloner, wich i use a lot. Maybe you could a a Number-Property there as well, of how many elements of the Cluster should be used?



    I'll look into the zero problem. Thank you for letting me know. If you get the problem I think you can always undo instead of starting over.
    Thanks for looking into it! I tried to hit undo, but it seems like AE won't re-activate an expression, once it is disabled due to an error. It happened when i set the Fallof-Radius to zero.
  • THIS IS TOTALLY DOPE !!! THANK YOU
    Special thanks for the Time effector ;)
  • THIS IS TOTALLY DOPE !!! THANK YOU
    Special thanks for the Time effector ;)
    Thanks! Happy you like it. :)
  • Hi Jakob,

    I get the attached error message when run the script.

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks

    cloner_error.JPG
    333 x 123 - 14K
  • Hi Jakob,

    I get the attached error message when run the script.

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks

    Hi Mehmet

    This is an install issue. Please close AE and check that everything is installed correctly. You might need to do that manually, use the include "how to install.pdf".
    Let me know if it still doesn't work.

    - Jakob
  • It works. Thanks a lot!
  • I purchased the script and installed it but getting the same error message as another user (Unable to execute script at line 296) .
    Attached pic shows where I installed the scripts on my mac. Please let me know if that is incorrect. I also tried moving EVERY script file from "cloners_plus_effectors_v1.1.2" folder out but I still get the same error. Thanks
    image