Animate a Block Quote Template - Adobe After Effects tutorial

[@ECAbrams]

sorry, everyone, I made an oopsie on that anchor point wrangling expression. Don't use t twice. Instead use something like "when": var when = 3; var l = sourceRectAtTime(when).left; var t = sourceRectAtTime(when).top; var h = sourceRectAtTime(when).height; var w = sourceRectAtTime(when).width; var x = l+w/2; var y = t+h/2; [x,y]

[@CsabiKremser]

thanks.

[@chensabo6643]

I find myself binge watching your tutorials instead of Netflix. Thanks you!

[@elikint]

EC I've watched a lot of AE tutorials, and taken a few paid classes, and hands down you're the best explainer/instructor I've had (ok maybe tied with Nol at SoMotion). You could do training/classes for a living no question! Thanks for sharing all this knowledge.

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks so much for your kind words. Maybe I should pivot to only teaching. I really enjoy client work though. But who knows how my career may continue to pivot this year.

[@TheNewDawnLeadership]

Thank you for explaining they "why".

[@LetTheWritersWrite]

Just a tip for those confused. Just keep writing the expressions along with the tutorial. After like the second or third time you start understanding what he's doing and you can apply it how you want.

[@W6QLE]

I always learn something new from your tutorials, thanks! I especially like how quickly you cram in all the stuff we need to see...pause is our friend.

[@pmrarun]

Last month I worked on a freelance gig, client required auto-adjusting lower third. Used the same math logic. Expression feature makes the after effects even more versatile.

[@VicedRhino]

For those of you encountering errors with the Slider Control aspects of the scripts: He didn't show it in the video, but there is an effect in AE that is just called "Slider Control" that you need to add to the null object in order for those parts of the script to work. Adjusting this slider will then change how close to or far away from the quote the author's name is.

[@EelcoBruinsma]

So ingenious, so smooth, so embellished, so quotable! Thanks again for a great tutorial.

[@pxlpizza]

EC making content using McEelroy quotes is a week maker

[@ECAbrams]

Those podcasts really sustain me through the rough projects around here. They are the best.

[@pxlpizza]

​@@ECAbrams "Rule of thumb: if you can throw something at a wall and it sticks there, that's not [salad] dressing"

[@ShafHussain]

Liked before watching

[@ECAbrams]

Now, can I put that quote on the channel?

[@ShafHussain]

ECAbrams of course you can

[@pranjalbhowmik8656]

Mind blown 🤯

[@Ammir_koudia]

FIRST ONE ...THANK YOU FOR THIS TUTRIAL

[@agnekovalkova8492]

found an error in the first expression at 6:38: t is defined as time, then also defined as top, this can be fixed by changing the variable name to top = sourceRectAtTime(t).top; or changing the first time variable to time = 3; then using that throughout the rest of the expression. t = 3; l = sourceRectAtTime(t).left; t = sourceRectAtTime(t).top; w = sourceRectAtTime(t).width; h = sourceRectAtTime(t).height; x = l+w/2; y = t+h/2; [x,y]

[@ElMountaserBAbbas]

Evan my man #I_Love_Your_Work

[@KINGNEF]

thanks for skillshare, got it :)

[@RodrigoMirra]

Amazing tutorial

[@christiancanizal]

I finally get this video kekw

[@bintangpermata]

thanks! very usefull for my video essay

[@ECAbrams]

That's awesome! Glad to hear it!

[@suddenslipinterspersed-the7847]

Thank you! 😊

[@ECAbrams]

You're welcome 😊

[@sanuratennakoon7979]

Thanks a lot.

[@dianaparitskaia4750]

hey, great video! Noticed a minor thing though. You have t variable re-usage in the expression. It is initially meant for timestamp and is assigned to top after that while being used as time on next lines

[@ECAbrams]

Good catch! What's very curious is that the method still works as expected even with that double usage of a variable. It's definitely sloppy code on my part.

[@ECAbrams]

Now I'm wondering how that's been possible. Strange stuff.

[@hakimgraphiks5903]

Thanks for sharing 🙂🤗

[@LearnHowToEditStuff]

Hey dude! Been loving your channel for a while, would love to work on something / collab with you sometime!

[@Muzly]

Was this the comment that kicked off fundamentals?

[@ArturoSld]

i thought i wasn't going to learn anything because it's a very simple task, i was gladly mistaken! thank you!

[@ECAbrams]

It's a crafty channel like that ;)

[@FantasticSpam]

I'm so here for the McElroy quotes

[@alializadeh8195]

thanx

[@doruvali3480]

Nice.. Thx

[@dyssethworks4789]

thnx boss

[@AndrewMarston]

Maths! Very clever as always. You learn this on Skill Share? Btw, did I happen to mention this comment is sponsored by Skill Share? Give it a thumbs up and even love it or pin it now to get 2 months of premium learning for free. XD Nice to see some of the YT sponsor dollars have made it your way.

[@ECAbrams]

I wish skillshare was around when I was learning this stuff. But Creative Cow forums were pretty good at the time.

[@SeasonsOfLifeMin]

Evan - AE was very particular about the order in which I did things, but I backed up a few times and eventually got it all sorted out. This is great stuff and I've saved a few variations in Essentials. THANKS! One question, though - these all slide in from the side, but in your intro sequence they slide in from the bottom. How do we do change the direction? (Slide from below, slide from top...)

[@ECAbrams]

That's all down to the positional change you animate through. So if you set a positional change to be positive on the vertical, negative on the horizontal, maybe a bit of both for a diagonal, that'll change where things "come from". Does that make sense?

[@SeasonsOfLifeMin]

​ @ECAbrams Got it. I adjusted the positional change on the animator to the type and the author and... HAPPYCAKES! In hindsight it should have been pretty obvious. But, with all the properties we were tweaking, I got a little lost as to what was controlling what. Appreciate the swift and accurate response!

[@SeasonsOfLifeMin]

​@@ECAbrams See my reply above and thanks, again. I was struggling with some "outside the boxedness" of the text on the bottom fly-in so I duplicated the rectangle, whited out the fill and alpha'd the quote and the author to it so it's masked regardless of speed and position as it flies in. Now, no text shows up before its time! More HAPPYCAKES! Another question... And, yes, I'm trying to work this into an immediate project, so "no pressure": What if we added another slider and wanted to allow the user to adjust the width of the rectangle and the height of the rectangle independently instead of adjusting the same padding all around? You're a lot faster on the math and syntax - how would that formula change if we added "Slider 2" to the scenario?

[@akashsomvanshi9681]

Why don't you attach source file because it goes over the head :(

[@shantirane9182]

what effect do put on the null object 'null 1'& 'origin' null object? I think it miss that part to explained in this tutorial.

[@akashsomvanshi9681]

all the scripts i've written to positon value of slider and author gives error please upload source file or mention all the scipts here please.

[@MilesSpearman]

my "sample text" does not show up . Do you know any other trouble shooting mechanisms to get through that?

[@MilesSpearman]

I see, you have to drag it to the box.

[@phillustrations]

Oh, Evan. Those apostrophes are NOT happy.

[@Ihopeyoureokay]

Where did you get those adobe pillows ?

[@ECAbrams]

The lovely people at the Behance team sent me some after some live streams at their SF office.

[@sundersquare]

Hey i'm trying to follow along and learna little. much appreciated video. I have an error when trying to add the null. i have an "error at line 133 (i have no line 133, only as far as eight!) it says "Error: Object of type Effect found where a Number, Array, or Property is needed. Any ideas?

[@ECAbrams]

What do you have written in there?

[@sundersquare]

@@ECAbrams var t = 3; var x = 0; var y = thisComp.layer("Author").sourceRectAtTime(t).height/-2; var p = effect("Slider Control")/2; [x,y-p] Where am i supposed to put the slider control also, maybe that's the problem

[@heliolozanocarreras4795]

Hello, Good tutorial! but i have a problem: in the script of the " T Quote - position (var p = thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");" I have the following message: " Error : Error : effect named `Slider Control` is missing or does not exist. It may have been renamed, deleted, or the name may have benn mistyped". Why is it happening? - Thanks!

[@AdobeCreativeCloud]

Is there an effect called Slider control for the expression to look at?

[@heliolozanocarreras4795]

@@AdobeCreativeCloud it a appears at minute 9.00: for the position variable, but I don´t know to whatt layer is that Slider control applyed (var p = thisComp.layer("Null 1").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");)

[@noh9studio]

I'm trying to create something similar. Text layer with background shape fill and padding. I see the slider control in the Null layer but don't know what the slider was linked to. Any help is appreciated. @7m:50s

[@ECAbrams]

In this case, I think the slider is just an input for variable p? I'm not sure about the 7:50 timecode, but the part you're looking for should be around 9:25

[@PontoZe]

i love your tutorials but i can never do the same. Something is always missing.

[@ECAbrams]

Where does it start to fall off the rails in this one?

[@SikanderBinZain]

Which camera are you using boss?

[@ECAbrams]

A lil Lumix G7 these days. One of the most affordable 4k options going.

[@nomiraclesgonnacomeurway]

a-e

[@MilesSpearman]

I keep getting the error "Thiscomp layer is not defined" do you know what I could do to fix that?

[@ECAbrams]

Generally when something is not defined, Ae is missing some instruction. What is the line of expression you've typed in exactly? It's hard to diagnose from just an error message.

[@joelllllllll]

Why not just create a straight froward tutorial instead of having to explain all the particulars? Maybe create a two-part series for interested technoids.