iExpressions
  • Mel MenianMel Menian
    Can we still not rename layers?:)
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Mel,
    yes, improving this renaming will be fixed in the next major version of iExpressions that is currently in development.

    Best,
    Mathias
  • Mel MenianMel Menian
    Ok lovely I'll purchase it then. I've tested it... it's powerfull my man.. really powerfull. Congrats on that one too ;)
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Nice to hear you like it, Mel :-)
  • Neal HallfordNeal Hallford
    Hi there. With the News Ticker expression, is there any way to smooth out how the text scrolls horizontally? It's very jerky right now and doesn't look like the news ticker from a television news broadcast, which is what I was hoping to create. 
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Neal,

    the News Ticker iExpression only moves letter by letter, to simulate the movement of displays like seven segment displays, that only scroll character-wise. This is because this kind of movement is otherwise rather tedious to achieve.

    For a smoothly scolling text, you don't need the iExpression and can simply animate the position of the layer (and add a matte layer to clip it at the left and right). If you like, you can still use the iExpression to insert the separator symbols in-between the news messages. And you might need to duplicate your messages to make the string as long as you want to scroll.

    Cheers,
    Mathias 
  • Neal HallfordNeal Hallford
    Thanks, Mathias.
  • Chad KaliChad Kali
    Hi,

    I just purchased iExpressions text bundle. Really like it, however the Random Text Mutating keeps crashing when I change the value on size and hit apply. Its happening over and over please help! I'm on a macbook pro, snow leopard, and CS5.

    Thanks!
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Chad,
    I just did a few tests and yes, there seems to be an issue with this expression on Mac CS5. Let's discuss the details in the support ticket.

    Cheers,
    Mathias
  • Frank HandFrank Hand
    Very nice additions for Christmas, Mathias. Thanks!
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    You are welcome, Frank! :-)
  • Phil BearmanPhil Bearman
    Hi Mathias,

    Is it possible to have a property value increase incrementally at each marker? (rather than returning to the previous value)?

    So doing exactly what the "Change On Beat 1D" expression does when it's set to "add to original value", but such that the value always increases and never decreases.

    I couldn't figure out a way to make this happen - if it's not currently possible to do this, it would be a very useful addition.

    Cheers,
    Phil
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Phil,

    without telling you too much: Its not possible today, but on Sunday there will be the fourth part of the iExpressions Christmas Special and you will like it...
  • Phil BearmanPhil Bearman
    Haha ok thanks Mathias, I'll look out for that :-)
  • Frank HandFrank Hand
    On your marks...get set...increment!

    Nice one, Mathias!
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Frank,
    good to hear you like it :-)

    Cheers,
    Mathias
  • Dan vainunskaDan vainunska
    I've noticed a weird behavior using the increment at marker iexpression but maybe it's just me doing something wrong.

    here's the deal: 

    I have a wheel that is a 3d layer, all i want is to spin it on z axis and let it slow down exponentially until complete stop.

    using the increment at marker I've set the increment to 360 and the fade in to 75 (3s) exp.
    when I preview I get the the wheel to slow down exponentially has expected but the last frame is rotating significantly faster then the previous frames, making it look like a clock rotation with a mechanical stop.

    In your tutorial for this expression I seem to notice the same behavior but I'm not sure. 
    is there a way to fix this?

  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Shmil,

    wow, this is interesting to hear that you actually notice this stop. Mathematically an exponential decay never ends. Its change comes closer and closer to 0 but it never reaches its goal to 100%. Therefore, theoretically, it also doesn't make sense to talk about an exponential decay with a duration of 3 seconds. Each exponential decay takes forever, but at a certain point in time, the changes are so minimal that you cannot see them anymore. Hence, to be intuitive and easy to use, we give the exponential decay a duration and say at this point in time the changes are barely noticable. The value has almost reached zero, so we clip it here and set it to 0 directly. This clip is what you observe.
    iExpressions stops his exponential decay as a factor of 0.003906 (0.5^8), so in your case at 0.003906*360 = 1.4 degree. So the only way to remove this clip at the moment is to add two keyframes to go from this 1.4 to 0 smoothly.

    I will put this on my list of feature requests. Maybe I find a better solution that modifies the exponential curve to hide this 0.003906 clip by distributing it smoothly over the entire time.
    Cheers,
    Mathias

     

  • Dan vainunskaDan vainunska
    Hi Mathias 

    Thanks for your quick reply. 
    I've simplify the scenario to better illustrate the problem, in my animation this stop is a bit pronounce. 
    i'll try your suggestion but then again if I need to put additional key frames it doesn't make sense to use this expression since i will not be controlling the animation using the marker anymore.

    Otherwise i would like to tell you that i love this product, its becoming an essential part of my workflow and a great time saver.
    also i would like to suggest for your list of feature request an inertia bounce to the fade in\out fields. i like to use it in my expressions and would love to use it in conjunction with iexpressions (right now it can't be done since we cannot modify the expression generated )

    thanks and keep up the great work
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Shmil,
    ok, thanks a lot for the feedback. I've put  reminder in my calendar and after NAB I will take a look at the problem. When I improve the exponential fade, maybe it is a good point in time to also add an inertia bounce fade.
    Cheers,
    Mathias
  • shai russoshai russo
    Hi there,

    I am using the Vertical Align Text. also using the sourcetext="text text text"  
    my question is how i combine them both ?

    thanks 

    shai








  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Shai,
    I don't understand your question. If you text is "text text text" then it is only one line, so it doesn't make sense to vertical align it. Vertical alignment makes sense if you have more than one line and in particular it the text is keyframed and the number of lines changes over time.

    Cheers,
    Mathias
  • shai russoshai russo
    hi 
    the text text is just an example for long one
    my question  is when you are using the expression  sourcetext= " long text   "    and Additionally  you want to use the  Vertical Align Text 
    One deletes the other. I can't use them both
    shai 


  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    What you can do is the following:
    1) apply the iExpression to a duplicate of the text layer that you make invisible
    2) apply your custom expression to the original text layer and in this expression link to the source text of the other layer to get the result of the iExpression.
  • Cindy TowsleyCindy Towsley
    I was wondering if there was a character limit on Scroll Text Terminal Expression?

    I've been evaluating the demo version for a project where a client wants a lot of random stuff animating and since I'm limited to 20 frames, there's no way I can test using a large block of text.
    Cheers,
    Cindy
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Cindy,
    the Scroll Text Terminal has no build-in limit.
    I just did a quick test with a text with more than 6000 lines of code (more than 470.000 characters) and it worked fine. Of course, AE works a bit slow with such huge text layers, but the expression didn't seem to slow it down further.

    Cheers
    Mathias
  • Matthew PhelanMatthew Phelan
    Would have like to test the physics side with element 3d, but the 20 fame demo doesnt allow any chance. has anyone used it with this?
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Matthew,
    I personally don't work with Element 3D, but iExpressions should work with any property. Also, the Throw 3D expressions can of course move 3D null layers and Element 3D allows to create nulls to animate groups. So you should be able to animate these Element 3D nulls with iExpressions.

    Cheers,
    Mathias
  • Matthew PhelanMatthew Phelan
    Hi Matthew,
    I personally don't work with Element 3D, but iExpressions should work with any property. Also, the Throw 3D expressions can of course move 3D null layers and Element 3D allows to create nulls to animate groups. So you should be able to animate these Element 3D nulls with iExpressions.

    Cheers,
    Mathias
    Thanks for the reply. I am looking to pitch these at my manager, but will need more than 20frames for demonstration especially for things like physics and movement. I will have to wait for some kind of special as unfortunately its over my own budget to buy.
  • mamoworld Möhlmamoworld Möhl
    Hi Matthew,
    would it help if I send you a project with a null layer animated with the Throw 3D iExpression baked into keyframes? Then you can test how to attach Element 3D to such a motion path.
    Also note that if you are only interested in the physics part, it is sufficient to buy the Physics bundle for $44.99
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