Trying this out now, the only thing it is missing is Cycle Noise, like in fractal noise effect, which allows for loopable animations. In my opinion, it completely cripples the noise effector's usefulness by not having the ability to cycle, as everyone needs to make seamless animations these days.
Hi John.
Thank you for the request.
Currently it works by utilizing the noise expression build into AE, which doesn't support looping. No excuses, but if I want to make it loop I need to add a second noise and fade between them. This will be more processor heavy, so I have left it out. But I hear you and it's on the list for v2, where I am looking into custom random functions to fix a number of issues with the build in ones. (v2 is not right around the corner )
Until then, a workaround is to use a layer with a fractal noise as you describe and a layer effector.
So I know with the path cloner I have to select not only the path, but the path property below it. Works like a charm.
What do I select, though, if I have a shape path like a rounded rectangle? There's no property to pick and C&E says for me to select a path. Is there a workaround in the meantime?
So I know with the path cloner I have to select not only the path, but the path property below it. Works like a charm.
What do I select, though, if I have a shape path like a rounded rectangle? There's no property to pick and C&E says for me to select a path. Is there a workaround in the meantime?
Hi Nick
It will only work with a path. But you can right click you rectangle to convert it to a bezier path.
So I know with the path cloner I have to select not only the path, but the path property below it. Works like a charm.
What do I select, though, if I have a shape path like a rounded rectangle? There's no property to pick and C&E says for me to select a path. Is there a workaround in the meantime?
Hi Nick
It will only work with a path. But you can right click you rectangle to convert it to a bezier path.
So I was trying to mess around with the pulse effector. While the position effector works like a charm, what I was trying to work with is the opacity effector.
So I was trying to mess around with the pulse effector. While the position effector works like a charm, what I was trying to work with is the opacity effector.
Will pulse work with opacity?
Hi Nick
It should be working. But the value is relative to the original opacity of the cloned layer. So you probably need to set it to a negative value.
What are plans to make it work for Beta and multi-core? Should make this plugin much more useful, speed is the main bottle neck.
Hi Mattias
You're right. Performance is the bottleneck and my biggest priority going forward. The plugin utilizes AE's scripting and expressions and will be multicore as soon as adobe makes that multicore. There is nothing I can do but sending requests to Adobe. There are other changes to expressions which could optimize the performance of expressions and I have submitted those to Adobe. Not sure if they will listen to those suggestions though.
I am working on the next version which will be completely restructured, and hope to make it more useable for projects with many layers, but don't expect miracles.
What are plans to make it work for Beta and multi-core? Should make this plugin much more useful, speed is the main bottle neck.
Meanwhile. One thing you and others can do is to help up vote these requests. Master expressions have been suggested by many developers and could, if done right, really change the game.
I'm trying to add more than one cloner and effector in a single coposition but it doesn't seem to work. I have a bunch of illustrator layers and I'm using the "cluster" type. when I do it in the first group of layers it works well, but when I want to add a new cloner with a new effector for the second group pf layers the effector doesn't affect the objects.... what am I doing wrong?
I'm trying to add more than one cloner and effector in a single coposition but it doesn't seem to work. I have a bunch of illustrator layers and I'm using the "cluster" type. when I do it in the first group of layers it works well, but when I want to add a new cloner with a new effector for the second group pf layers the effector doesn't affect the objects.... what am I doing wrong?
Hi Sofia
I'm not sure what could be causing the problem. Would it be possible for you to open a support ticket and attach an aep with the problem? https://aescripts.com/contact/
I ve just started using the script. Is there a way to add effects such as drop shadow to the clones? If we can, can the clones rotate without the shadow directions changing?
I ve just started using the script. Is there a way to add effects such as drop shadow to the clones? If we can, can the clones rotate without the shadow directions changing?
Hi Umer
You can clone a layer which have either the drop shadow effect or layer style, and that will work perfectly. The angle of the shadow will remain the same even if the clones are rotated.
Does that answer your question? Let me know if it doesn't.
Hi, how exactly work with 3d objects from C4d lite? I don't find any tutorial about this. Works effectors only, or cloners too? Thanks.
Hi.
Cloners+Effectors is an After Effects plugin. It works by duplicating layers in AE and then adding Effectors to animate them. It is not made to work with C4D light. If you need cloners and effectors in C4D (mograph) you need the full version. (I think)
So far I absolutely love the product. Was first trying it out but am definitely buying it after seeing its incredible power. It really is an intuitive way to animated multiple layers. The only issue I was having was animating layers that share the same center / anchor point. The effector would treat the object as one singular object and not animate each layer with the effector. Technically that totally makes sense why it would do this. I found a workaround by change the anchor point on each of the layers however that would effect rotation causing an off center rotation (luckily I don't need rotation for this project).
I was running it thought my head how the effector could be made to recognized stacked layers with the same anchor point: I think it would be amazing to add a recognized by z-index feature where when checked, it will stagger the position of the layers based on their layer order (z-index). This would allow them to share an anchor point and same position but would still recognize them so as to animate them individually with the effector.
And perhaps there is another way to do exactly this that I am not aware of...
Hi Jakob, this is a fantastic plugin and achieves so many things I love about C4D within AE. It has completely changed my workflow for the better!
One question: If I have a grid of clones and want them all to be a random rotation between 0 and 360 degrees, is it possible to clamp them to only be in increments of 90 degrees (so, 0, 90, 180 and 270º only)?
Hi Jakob, this is a fantastic plugin and achieves so many things I love about C4D within AE. It has completely changed my workflow for the better!
One question: If I have a grid of clones and want them all to be a random rotation between 0 and 360 degrees, is it possible to clamp them to only be in increments of 90 degrees (so, 0, 90, 180 and 270º only)?
Hi Casimir
I'm happy you like it and find it useful. Currently no, that is not possible.
But, there's always a hack. Isn't there? This one is a bit complicated though. I have attached an example. But it requires a transform effect and a few expressions.
Layer Rotation slider: Controls the rotation on the layer
Expressions on Transform FX Anchor and position: Makes sure the transform effect follows the layer
Expression on Transform FX rotation: Creates 90 degree increments
Note: I have used the "Add Property" button in the Cloners+Effectors panel to create a custom property.
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for reading and responding to people's comments. I wish more plugin creators would do the same.
Second, I can't tell you how grateful I am for the existence of such a great plugin. It feels so intuitive and feature-rich. Truly an amazing tool for motion graphics.
To get to my point, I've been reading every comment here and I was surprised that no one seemingly brought up an issue I've been having.
Context:
I have a Shape layer containing 161 shapes. Each of these shapes has had their Position property painstakingly animated by myself over the last 4 days. As soon as I got done with the animation, I finally executed "Split it!" on the Shape layer (took quite some time, but that's perfectly fine) and created a Cloner with the Cluster type, as well as a Plain effector with a Radial falloff.
Issue
It was only then that I realized that this plugin (to my knowledge) does not appear to take into account each shape's animation properties (Position in this case). As I'm scrubbing through the timeline, it appears that the Cloner only remembers where the shapes were located on frame 0 of my timeline and nothing else. I've tried many ways of getting around this issue, but unfortunately nothing worked.
Question
So I guess I'm left wondering... am I missing something or is this simply not possible for the Cloner to keep track of the clones' updated position?
That is all. Thank you so much once again for everything! I very much appreciate it.
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for reading and responding to people's comments. I wish more plugin creators would do the same.
Second, I can't tell you how grateful I am for the existence of such a great plugin. It feels so intuitive and feature-rich. Truly an amazing tool for motion graphics.
To get to my point, I've been reading every comment here and I was surprised that no one seemingly brought up an issue I've been having.
Context:
I have a Shape layer containing 161 shapes. Each of these shapes has had their Position property painstakingly animated by myself over the last 4 days. As soon as I got done with the animation, I finally executed "Split it!" on the Shape layer (took quite some time, but that's perfectly fine) and created a Cloner with the Cluster type, as well as a Plain effector with a Radial falloff.
Issue
It was only then that I realized that this plugin (to my knowledge) does not appear to take into account each shape's animation properties (Position in this case). As I'm scrubbing through the timeline, it appears that the Cloner only remembers where the shapes were located on frame 0 of my timeline and nothing else. I've tried many ways of getting around this issue, but unfortunately nothing worked.
Question
So I guess I'm left wondering... am I missing something or is this simply not possible for the Cloner to keep track of the clones' updated position?
That is all. Thank you so much once again for everything! I very much appreciate it.
((I'm answering this from a phone, which deletes all the white space. So sorry for the block of text)).
Hi Justin
Thank you for the kind words. And sorry for the hazzle. Unfortunately, Cloners+Effectors works by taking over the transform properties. As for this version that is not something that will change.
There are a few things you can do, but all of them may be a bit cumbersome now where you have already animated the layers.
I'm not on a computer right now, so I can't test. But I think this is your options:
1. What ever is on your shape layer, put it in a new group and animate the transform on that group. You may even be able to copy/paste the key frames from your normal transform. If this works, it would probably be your best option.
2. Precomp your layers separately with the animation inside. Depending on what you are working on, this may not be a good solution.
3. Add a transform effect to each layer and animate the layer using that. Beware that you need som expression on the anchor and position channel on the transform effect. You can probably get some good pointers for the expressions in the example in the post above. Otherwise I'll be happy to help you, once I'm at a computer again.
No Mather the solution you try, test it with a few layers first. .
To help me improve CPE for later versions, I would love to see your aep file. If you are willing to share. If you don't want it available publicly, you can send it to [email protected].
All the best
Jakob Wagner
I can't thank you enough for not only replying so promptly, but also proposing different solutions that might help solve my issue.
Unfortunately, after testing out all 3 solutions (although I'm not sure if I did #3 correctly, even if I used the other project file as a reference), I was unsuccessful in having the Plain Radial effector take into account the keyframed positions of the clones.
Below you will find the AE project file from which I have stripped everything except for the single Shape layer containing the 161 animated shapes.
I would be immensely grateful if you could just have a look and see if there's any way we could find a way to make this work.
Thank you so very much once again! I appreciate your support!
I can't thank you enough for not only replying so promptly, but also proposing different solutions that might help solve my issue.
Unfortunately, after testing out all 3 solutions (although I'm not sure if I did #3 correctly, even if I used the other project file as a reference), I was unsuccessful in having the Plain Radial effector take into account the keyframed positions of the clones.
Below you will find the AE project file from which I have stripped everything except for the single Shape layer containing the 161 animated shapes.
I would be immensely grateful if you could just have a look and see if there's any way we could find a way to make this work.
Thank you so very much once again! I appreciate your support!
Hi Justin
I may have read your question wrong the first time. I just checked your AEP. The splitter and the cloner does include the animation. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is.
Is it because you want the layers registration point of the layer to follow the shape? I'm guessing you might want to use scale or rotation with the effector and the layers are scaling or rotating around the wrong anchor point?
If that is the case, then no. The animation is on the shape group and CPE is using the layers anchor point as center for scaling and rotating like a layer normally would.
Let me know if I understood the problem right, and I'll try to think of a solution.
Please see the attached GIF for a visual representation my issue.
Similarly to the AEP I sent you above, in this GIF, I have a Cluster-type Cloner as well as a Plain Radial effector, which only affects the color property of my clones (orange squares).Said clones are a series of square shapes who have had their Position value individually animated on the X axis.
On frame 0, the clones within the Radial effector successfully get their Color property changed (to the blue color) based on the position of the Effector.
Issue: If I press play or scrub through the timeline, the clones that find themselves within the Radial effector no longer get their Color property changed.
I have attached this new AEP to this message as well.
I hope this removes any confusion.
Thank you so very much once again. As always, I very much appreciate it!
Please see the attached GIF for a visual representation my issue.
Similarly to the AEP I sent you above, in this GIF, I have a Cluster-type Cloner as well as a Plain Radial effector, which only affects the color property of my clones (orange squares).Said clones are a series of square shapes who have had their Position value individually animated on the X axis.
On frame 0, the clones within the Radial effector successfully get their Color property changed (to the blue color) based on the position of the Effector.
Issue: If I press play or scrub through the timeline, the clones that find themselves within the Radial effector no longer get their Color property changed.
I have attached this new AEP to this message as well.
I hope this removes any confusion.
Thank you so very much once again. As always, I very much appreciate it!
Hi Justin
Right, I understand your problem now. The effector works by checking if the anchor point of the layer is inside the radial area. It does not care if the content of the layer moves. It only looks at the anchor point. Since the layer doesn't move, there is no change that the effector can detect.
The solution could be to not use CPE. I made a small setup I think could work for you. The tricky part is that you will have to perfectly align the mosaic pattern with the square pattern you've made. You can do that with the mosaic and transform fx settings. I didn't nail it completely. It would be easier if your square pattern was more pixel perfect.
You can animate the radial by animating the Center of the circle fx.
I hope this helps.
Jakob
Edit: Possibly, you could have simply animated the figure using some regular vector shapes and then added a mosaic and contrast fx on it to make it pixelated. Sort of like I did with the circle.
Well, I simply can't thank you enough. Your approach is both remarkably clever, yet simple/efficient. It never occurred to me that the Contrast FX could be used this way, with the checked "Use Legacy" checkbox.
I will work on making my animated squares perfectly align with the Mosaic FX.
I am most likely not gonna be using CPE for this project, but I'm still glad I purchased it, as I'm sure one of my future projects will require it. This plugin is simply too good to ignore.
Thanks a million once again for your assistance. I very much appreciate your time and efforts.
I keep getting this error when trying to add cloner: "Error: After Effects error: Can not "set expression" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden."
I'm using AE 22.6.0. I have tried installing via the aescript manager as well as manually. Both come back with the same error when trying to apply a cloner. I tried switching from javascript and legacy extendscript in the Expressions engine but still get the same error.
I also tried the newest AE Beta but am getting a "Unable to execute script at line 3528. null is not an object"
Any ideas on how to get this to work on my machine?
I keep getting this error when trying to add cloner: "Error: After Effects error: Can not "set expression" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden."
I'm using AE 22.6.0. I have tried installing via the aescript manager as well as manually. Both come back with the same error when trying to apply a cloner. I tried switching from javascript and legacy extendscript in the Expressions engine but still get the same error.
I also tried the newest AE Beta but am getting a "Unable to execute script at line 3528. null is not an object"
Any ideas on how to get this to work on my machine?
Hi Justin
Sorry for the trouble. Cloners+Effectors does not
support separated dimensions. That’s probably what’s causing the error.
I keep getting this error when trying to add cloner: "Error: After Effects error: Can not "set expression" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden."
I'm using AE 22.6.0. I have tried installing via the aescript manager as well as manually. Both come back with the same error when trying to apply a cloner. I tried switching from javascript and legacy extendscript in the Expressions engine but still get the same error.
I also tried the newest AE Beta but am getting a "Unable to execute script at line 3528. null is not an object"
Any ideas on how to get this to work on my machine?
Hi Justin
Sorry for the trouble. Cloners+Effectors does not
support separated dimensions. That’s probably what’s causing the error.
I keep getting this error when trying to add cloner: "Error: After Effects error: Can not "set expression" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden."
I'm using AE 22.6.0. I have tried installing via the aescript manager as well as manually. Both come back with the same error when trying to apply a cloner. I tried switching from javascript and legacy extendscript in the Expressions engine but still get the same error.
I also tried the newest AE Beta but am getting a "Unable to execute script at line 3528. null is not an object"
Any ideas on how to get this to work on my machine?
Hi Justin
Sorry for the trouble. Cloners+Effectors does not
support separated dimensions. That’s probably what’s causing the error.
Let me know if that helps.
All the best
Jakob Wagner
That was it. Thanks Jakob.
Great. For you info. I have just uploaded v1.2.9. It automatically combines dimensions of the source layer if they are separated. This basically avoids the error.
Hi there, I purchased this during the recent BF sales. When will this be compatible with AE2023? I don't see it in any of the drop down menus ie Extensions, unless I missed something!
Hi there, I purchased this during the recent BF sales. When will this be compatible with AE2023? I don't see it in any of the drop down menus ie Extensions, unless I missed something!
Hi Shau
How did you install it. It should appear at the bottom of the Window menu.
If installed correctly it should be in this path:
(Windows) Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects <version>\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\
(Mac OS) Applications/Adobe After Effects <version>/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels/
You can also manually copy these files ans folders there:
Cloners+Effectors.jsxbin
clonerspluseffectors (folder)
ClonersShapeSplit.jsxbin
ClonersTextSplit.jsxbin
Note that these files should be directly in the "ScriptUI Panels" folder. Not in a subfolder.
Man, the licensing alert is popping up everytime, only with this plugin, it is sooo annoying.
Hi Dani
That sounds pretty annoying. I don't get this error myself, but if you create a support ticket we might be able to figure out why this is happening. https://aescripts.com/contact/
Please let us know which OS and AE version you are using.
Have you given any thought to adding a target effector? It would be great to have a way to get clones to auto-orient toward the effector. This pairs well with attraction/deflection. I can't imagine I'm the first to ask, but I count myself as one of the most interested. Should be purchasing this week. Thanks!
Have you given any thought to adding a target effector? It would be great to have a way to get clones to auto-orient toward the effector. This pairs well with attraction/deflection. I can't imagine I'm the first to ask, but I count myself as one of the most interested. Should be purchasing this week. Thanks!
Thank you for the interest Jason. It's a good suggestion but it will not be added within this release.
It's super great script, I'm wondering if I can animate "count"? I didn't find anywhere I can keyframe. Thank you so much.
Hi Dandan
I'm happy you like it. But no, there is no way to animate count. You may be able to fake it using an effector. It depends on the case. Let me know if you need assistance with that.
Is there a way to have a single effector effect multiple cloners?
Hi Jeremy
No, I'm afraid that isn't possible. I'll recommend you to make an effector for each cloner, and then use the pick whip in AE to link their properties together.
Just dropping a note .. I purchased this plugin when it first came out a few years back now ... I've recently got back into Motion Design, and holy moly I forgot how awesome this unsung Plugin is // definitely in my top 5 .. Not sure if there are any future updates, or plans for a V2, but I definitely hope so .. !!!
Just dropping a note .. I purchased this plugin when it first came out a few years back now ... I've recently got back into Motion Design, and holy moly I forgot how awesome this unsung Plugin is // definitely in my top 5 .. Not sure if there are any future updates, or plans for a V2, but I definitely hope so .. !!!
Hi Arron.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm happy my plugin is helping you. Something else have been in the works for quite some time. But I can't give you much info at current time.
I have a bunch of illustrator layers and I'm using the "cluster" type.
when I do it in the first group of layers it works well, but when I want to add a new cloner with a new effector for the second group pf layers the effector doesn't affect the objects.... what am I doing wrong?
And perhaps there is another way to do exactly this that I am not aware of...
One question: If I have a grid of clones and want them all to be a random rotation between 0 and 360 degrees, is it possible to clamp them to only be in increments of 90 degrees (so, 0, 90, 180 and 270º only)?
Context:
Issue
Question
((I'm answering this from a phone, which deletes all the white space. So sorry for the block of text)). Hi Justin Thank you for the kind words. And sorry for the hazzle. Unfortunately, Cloners+Effectors works by taking over the transform properties. As for this version that is not something that will change. There are a few things you can do, but all of them may be a bit cumbersome now where you have already animated the layers. I'm not on a computer right now, so I can't test. But I think this is your options: 1. What ever is on your shape layer, put it in a new group and animate the transform on that group. You may even be able to copy/paste the key frames from your normal transform. If this works, it would probably be your best option. 2. Precomp your layers separately with the animation inside. Depending on what you are working on, this may not be a good solution. 3. Add a transform effect to each layer and animate the layer using that. Beware that you need som expression on the anchor and position channel on the transform effect. You can probably get some good pointers for the expressions in the example in the post above. Otherwise I'll be happy to help you, once I'm at a computer again. No Mather the solution you try, test it with a few layers first.
Hi Justin
Sorry for the trouble. Cloners+Effectors does not support separated dimensions. That’s probably what’s causing the error.
Let me know if that helps.
All the best
Jakob Wagner
I'm happy you like it. But no, there is no way to animate count. You may be able to fake it using an effector. It depends on the case. Let me know if you need assistance with that.
All the best
Jakob Wagner
Jakob Wagner