Make DNA strand from shape layers - Adobe After Effects tutorial

[@hartyom]

I really love your fake 3D stuff.

[@discoghost6168]

I don't know what I loved more: the clarity of the tutorial or the wheeeee! SFX 😝

[@GunxblastFr]

The reverse thing at 9:24 made my jaw dropped. That is so clever. Thanks to that kind of tutorial I find myself solving problems I could not figure how to solve in other projects. You are an idea's factory. Thanks a lot for your work.

[@JohnBlunda]

At 15:36, I got lost when you moved that element up so far when only hitting the Arrow Up key. Doing just that only moves it 10 pixels. After trial and error, I found holding down the Shift button while using the Arrow Up key seems to match what you're doing. And...a HUGE thank you for making this video. You're at the top of your game, sir!

[@donross7820]

You are a wizard! I learned a ton from your amazingly clever tutorial. Thank you SO much.

[@DanDJish]

dude. ur so good. instead of going to parties and reciting Wikipedia facts, I'm just going to force people to watch your KZbin videos on their TVs. keep up the good work sir

[@ECAbrams]

That could be a fun party :)

[@PrettyAmazingJ]

The sound FX help thanks!! Love your work

[@vandelayindustries2971]

This looks freaking awesome! You are so talented and I learn so much from you every video. Thank you!

[@ECAbrams]

I'm happy to hear that. Stay subscribed for more real soon!

[@vandelayindustries2971]

ECAbrams I can't wait!

[@spejampar]

I'm sure many people have told you this but you sound a LOT like Seth Rogen. Sounds like you're Canadian, too, just like him. Nice tutorials and the humor doesn't hurt!

[@jennyw7546]

So many things I never knew could be accomplished with AE.. Thank you!

[@chrisatronx]

This is just what I was looking for! thank you!

[@katarzynadrozd3473]

This tutorial is a masterpiece.

[@robbieiansonprice1073]

This is amazing and your voice makes this even better! Thank you!

[@AtaurRaziq]

Amazing. I've been using AE for like over 7 years and I've just learnt a bunch from this video.

[@genomproject3080]

14:11 Thank you for the Tutorial, Only 1 thing I am curious is at @14:11, that what makes it to 'cycle only last keyframe and second last' by adding '1' next to cycle on the loopOut script ( LoopOut "Cycle,1")? I need more brief about it... why not 2 , 3 nor 0 but adding '1' makes it only count the last and 2nd last keyframes?

[@ECAbrams]

Sure. Let's get in deeper with what loopOut() is asking for in the arguments. Between the parentheses it expects to get some more information. By default, while it's not written, it assumes the whole thing looks like this: loopOut(type="cycle", numKeyframes=0) Now, we simplify often to just write loopOut("cycle") but the whole thing is assumed as default. So imagine that there is actually a zero in there too. The numKeyframes is telling After Effects how many keyframes you would like to loop. A value of zero will loop every keyframe you've placed on the property. A value greater than zero is going to loop only some of the keyframes. For more details check out this page: ae-expressions.docsforadobe.dev/property.html?highlight=loopout#loopout-type-cycle-numkeyframes-0

[@genomproject3080]

@@ECAbrams Thank you so much ECAbrams! you are the best !!!

[@genomproject3080]

@@ECAbrams Now I will go into every video of yours and press likes

[@julialincoln-stefan1066]

Awesome. This is EXACTLY what I was just looking for.

[@zafirrashid2875]

its 2021 but this video is still relevant - u just got yourself a sub buddy greatjob :)

[@DamonBowe]

I've needed this so many times in my science life, thanks!

[@kagi95]

Dude, this looks so fucking amazing. You're really great at explaining it and too humble as well!

[@HighOnDots]

Evan, you are an incredible teacher. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@ECAbrams]

I'm glad you think so. Stay tuned for more coming soon!

[@zimmmerit6308]

ty buddy ! nice tut + nice voice and nice video

[@ECAbrams]

Glad it helped

[@Shaun_X]

Your tutorials are freaking AMAZING! Thanks man

[@didaczamora1746]

Great stuff Evan, thank you. I did it a bit differently though, I used sequence layers for the time offset and this expression for the position offset x = 100*(index); [960,x]

[@ECAbrams]

That's a good way to automate some of the process for sure

[@koltast]

Great idea, thanks! I’ve made a nice addition, too. Now I can control (and animate) how twisted the helix is: Create an Expression-Slider on an extra layer. Then, on the first copy of the Smallest Unit, put this expression in the time remap: offset = thisComp.layer("Offset-Controller").effect("Offset")("Slider"); //pickwhip your slider… thisComp.layer("DNA_einzel _breit MAIN").timeRemap.valueAtTime(time-(index/offset));

[@graceshippen8388]

At 15:30 what is the alt and page down supposed to be doing? Mine does nothing:( I know I can change my key commands, but I don't know what to make this key command do.

[@gevelegian]

Very well explained and the sound effects are just the icing on the cake! Subscribed, wish I found you earlier.

[@Madosheet]

Amazing. I can't wrap my head around making the 2D shapes look 3D. Making the stick first almost seems like working backwards which my brain can't comprehend! Would love to see more stuff that gives the illusion of depth! Keep up the awesome work!.

[@ECAbrams]

I'm sure we'll tackle more things like this in the future. People seem to be into it. I am curious, what would be working forwards in this case?

[@Madosheet]

I think just more examples like this DNA one would be great. There was a peice in your Adobe Live show that I really wanted to see; if memory serves correct, I think it was a 'circle' that turned into a '3D' tin can? What I'm interested in is the thought process behind it all - is it just a case of practice and logical thinking? Or is there a good way to break it down? Thanks!

[@dinapuspasari3162]

so helpful ilove the way you explain it,

[@mrgoesta]

Amazingly cool and informative video. Design wise your stuff looks great on top of that! Thanks for putting it up here.

[@Arnold_X3]

you are a Master Instructor.

[@ECAbrams]

well thanks for saying so :)

[@hardcorefinesse5613]

Fantastic work. Love all of these!

[@alexrobertson8048]

Fantastic tutorial 🤘🏻

[@ARPr0duct10ns]

At 8:40 I said, 'This guy's a genius'

[@mexrelax]

I had the exact same thing xD 3 years later

[@artem._corp6678]

thank you so much! very useful tutor

[@samsonality]

Thanks so much for this. So simple yet brilliant!

[@nby578]

One, that's not DNA. It's a single helix, DNA is a double. I didn't see anyone mention it below, so it was my moral duty to do so. Two, more importantly, another amazing video. I've learned a lot through these since summer, when I was hired to do a mini-doc / promo video. When I took it on I knew I needed to know much more AE real quick before they found out I didn't really know what I was doing. And hey! You really helped bring it all together. Thanks, brotha, stay warm up north.

[@marylatocha74]

Yes that is double helix, there are two spirals...the red strand and the blue....connected with the yellow bar. Helix meaning spiral. Double meaning two....

[@henrifung766]

Your videos are awesome, I really do learn a lot after it. I just hope that you post more frequently😅😅

[@ECAbrams]

I hope so too.

[@gabrielortega7650]

Hello ECAbrams! many thanks for this, I didn't have any problem and the result is great! My only question is at 6:13 aprox. In the expression for the "circle" follow the rectangle, you do the "temp /2, 0" thing. I don't understand how that math makes the cylinder follow exactly the end of the rectangle. Could you explain that with more detail so maybe I could use it in other situations? In any case, many many thanks. I learn a lot with your tutorials!

[@BraulioPallares]

Great to see you again Evan!!, love each and everyone of your projects. This one is particularly interesting for tackling small details that come again and again in many other projects (like the loopOut script). Cheers!!

[@ECAbrams]

It's a quality expression, I talk about it in more detail on another (much older) tutorial as well.

[@knottt]

Thank you so much for your tutorial，it's really useful for getting Started!

[@olmytofficial6855]

So cool, dude. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!

[@nathanbgerman]

At 15:30, what is the alt-page down doing? I don't have the page down button on my keyboard.

[@EnriqShockwave]

Evan this tutorial is great, thank you! Im wondering if you could offer some advice as to the best way to start learning expressions?

[@ECAbrams]

like any language I suggest starting with small and useful phrases. For learning most languages that's "where is the bathroom" and "2 beers please" not necessarily in that order. For after effects, you might try starting off with simple maths and the relationships between properties until that's very comfortable.

[@EnriqShockwave]

Thanks for the advice, you're the man. Keep up the awesome work

[@felistigris3227]

love it, can I use it for a commercial project?

[@ECAbrams]

The project file is intended for educational purposes. I hope people go on to use the knowledge they get here to make works of commercial and artistic worth though.

[@shahinfarhady401]

Hey man I need your help, I tried to do as what you did and it was not so bad, but in 15:28, that shortcuts are not working on my keyboard, I don't know what to do!🙏🏻

[@ECAbrams]

Your shortcuts may be different. You can see your keyboard's layout at edit > keyboard shortcuts. That will give you a map of what you're keyboard is like, and you can change them around if you need in there too!

[@shahinfarhady401]

@@ECAbrams Thanks🙏🏻

[@shahinfarhady401]

@@ECAbrams is there any other way to do that instead of using keyboard shortcuts?

[@swhitt4367]

Hope to see more stuff like this!

[@ECAbrams]

And I hope to put out more stuff like this :)

[@饶国安老中医]

hi friends ,thanks for tutorial, it really handly

[@nimrodgeyra3429]

cool man i love your stuff keep on the good work

[@0grdt]

i made the whole tutorial with same steps as you and it really worked. love that shit

[@chaturvedikunal]

What did you do when you set that expression for making that cylinder ? Please explain what that expression is doing. It starts at 5:45

[@hobit7585]

he is linking the position of the circle to the size of the rectangle, in more details he is linking the position of the circle to the position of the vertical sides of the rectangle.Because the size aka the lenght of the rectangle dectates the position of its sides.Does this make sense to you ?

[@ECAbrams]

In the most general sense that expression is describing a relationship and changing a property to follow a set of rules. In this case, the rule changes the position of the circle to always be at one-half the length of the rectangle's horizontal size on the horizontal axis, and zero on the vertical axis. That means it offsets from the origin by the exact amount that the rectangle's side is from the middle. Actually, I think Hob iT has a more succinct explanation. But expressions can be confusing. It's literally learning another language.

[@wshesmoh]

amazing work thank you

[@lightning4201]

Great Tut!!

[@indiemakerpodcast]

nice work man!

[@sharpywilliam4513]

After a few vids this one just won you a new Subscriber, I love it, no pluggins, straight up After effects at its prime! You either learn or learn with you, I like that! Keep it up.

[@NandoTinez]

Thanks nice tutorial so usefull

[@yaronpur]

Mind blowing! Thanks!

[@zabotheother423]

Could you explain what's going on at 14:15 with that loop script and the 1? Thanks mang!

[@MJake]

Love your tutorials! Keep amazing work coming ;)

[@ECAbrams]

Thanks. I'll try my best.

[@KABOBkabob]

you're an absolute madman

[@carolaquebaila]

Many thanks for your tutorial genius!!!

[@wkhooo463]

its awesome! thank you so much bro!

[@niektenhagen560]

so inspirational, love it!

[@bishalscreation9793]

looks cool i wish icud do this

[@ECAbrams]

I'm sure with enough practice anything is possible.

[@bishalscreation9793]

thats right sir! thanks for sharing 😊😊

[@CASPER101]

So good👌🏼 Thanks!!!

[@pmcpartlan]

This was a lovely tutorial and idea - thanks. Also, did you realise you could use the keyframe assist-> sequence layers to stagger all those bits. Just split it a few frames in, sequence then drag them out. I do this so often and it makes life so much easier. Apologies if you were already aware...!

[@ECAbrams]

I am aware, yes. We don't talk about it in here because there is a whole other tutorial on the channel about exactly that feature. It was not an essential step to explain this project.

[@pmcpartlan]

Aha, seemed like it would be a bit of an oversight what with all your skills. Chances are I picked it up from your tutorial.

[@fredoviola]

Maestro Abrams, thanks for another excellent tutorial. Is there a comprehensive tutorial or book to learn about expressions?

[@ECAbrams]

The most comprehensive resource I actually use is the adobe reference dictionary, available at adobe.com where we can learn what each expression does in fairly decent detail. As a reference document, it's great, but it doesn't really help people learn unless you already know what you're looking for. I've struggled with how to structure a tutorial or series of tutorials to adequately teach a foundation for expressions for a long time. It's something that I think is lacking out there. That might be coming in 2017 from me.

[@fredoviola]

Great! I really look forward to that! Thanks for the reference link as well.

[@benjaminhurtigkarldegel265]

I dont know why, but i only manage to make this loop if i had 8 ball layers in total. Really nice video i learned alot how to fake the 3D

[@ECAbrams]

Could be a matter of the timing rather than the number of layers right?

[@benjaminhurtigkarldegel265]

​@@ECAbrams Hmmm might be, but when i look a your keyframes and mine they look identical.

[@Rokinso]

Thank you for this awesome tutorial! : D

[@ECAbrams]

You are very welcome. :)

[@MrJfergs]

anyone have an issue with the ellipse not sharing the color of the cylinder in after effects it says the fill is the same color but on the monitor they are transparent? I do the same thing that you do at 4:44 but the ellipse shows up without any fill?

[@skylermarshall3858]

I have the same issue here. I'm a little confused as to why it does that.

[@Liz_Luke]

SWEET! How would you go about making a looping GIF in which the DNA animates on, spins spins spins, and then animates off? Is there a way of using the infinite loop out expression like you do in this project, but still tacking an "animate out" on the end so that the ending matches the beginning? THANKS!

[@samuelchung2426]

好正,very good, I love your work, AE達人

[@pttrro]

this is awesome, my respects

[@Wedgebl84]

Looks Great! Have you considered making the "stallest unit"-animation all in one Shape layer so you could use the "Reapter" function instead of duplicating the Comps so many times? Or would have there been a Problem at one current Point in the making?

[@ECAbrams]

It's certainly an option but for this example, it might not have been the best route. The repeater can offset things in space, but not in time. So, I would have had to use some other method to make the parts turn at offset times from each other. So one method might be to use the repeater to get the spatial change but then use something like a time displace effect to do the time change. BUT that can get strange when you collapse transformations.

[@Wedgebl84]

Your right, it is not possible to Offset in time, that's what I didnt think of correctly. But hey, this should become an option for the shape repeater in future. It would also be a lot more efficent in terms of render power usage as well.

[@ECAbrams]

That would be an interesting addition. Something to email to the adobe dev team I think :) If they hear that enough people want a thing, they make it into a thing.

[@Qwertworks]

ECAbrams yes! that would be awesome. there are so many times Ive already been in need for this

[@hopewall8871]

The expression at 14:13 is not working, it just loops it back to the beginning.

[@crismorales4390]

Amazing tutorial! There's one thing I don't get. Why is that setting the continuous rasterize makes the shapes outside the boundaries of the composition to show up?

[@ECAbrams]

That switch actually has two functions. One is continuous rasterization. The other is collapse transformations.

[@Bespeakmel]

And say you want to put something like this (the final comp) into another comp and use a camera on it. How do you get the shapes not to pixelate as you zoom? the switch is then collapsing transforms, which makes the camera not function on it. :-\

[@ECAbrams]

collapse transformations is indeed the button you want, but you have to do another step. Which is making all the layers inside that comp 3d.

[@gin1211]

thank you for sharing

[@cesarcalzada6060]

amazing thanks to share

[@mynameisshivaprasad]

Can you please make a playlist in a order that helps us in learning AE step by step, I think by learning in a step by step model we can think as you think about the motion graphics even better, Thank you in advance. And it's a cool tutorial.

[@ECAbrams]

A beginners guide is in the works for sure. I'm not totally sure what format it will take at this time though.

[@mynameisshivaprasad]

Okay, Thank you

[@adamtolley907]

once the first group was duplicated and you skipped forward, I got lost. Any help?

[@Creativedesigninn_CDIStudio]

Thank you so much!

[@ECAbrams]

You are very welcome.

[@martinavasileva8841]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but when you do the time remap, how do you write inside the parentesis? Which command should I use? :D

[@julianah2210]

Does editing the smallest unit after creating "group 1" also change the smallest unit(s) in "group 1"?

[@ECAbrams]

yes, yes it does. Rather, think of it as many instances of that unit. So logically changing that unit's original would propagate that change to all other instances.

[@julianah2210]

ECAbrams awesome, thanks!

[@thomsonkumar]

Doubt: Hi when i add ellipse shape inside the rectangle the ellipse shape automatically squeeze and expand as the rectangle change.. without applying any expression... any solution?

[@kerririvers2416]

hey! it took me so long to figure out using the elipse shapes to create a "rounded edge" then realised could have just used the "rouchded rectangle" shape instead of normal rectangle?????

[@panosliv1726]

Thank you very much!! :D

[@alirez_art]

well done

[@hvaranhvaran]

Great tutorial! Some fancy stuff in here! I was curious, why you not refreshing your "portfolio" section on the web-site? Too many NDA jobs? Procrastinating? Not finding that necessary?

[@ECAbrams]

All of the above really.

[@hvaranhvaran]

Yeah, I guess you already build up a solid name in industry to not worry about that = ) Just wanted to see more of full projects created by you that you enjoyed making!

[@ECAbrams]

Maybe so. I have fairly stable clients at this time who come around regularly so I haven't been actively looking for more work. Maybe times will change, and then I'll get around to more self-promotion :)

[@infinitesimotel]

One dislike... Would that be from the RNA not getting the spotlight? Great tutorial. Thanks.

[@ECAbrams]

It's likely from the woefully inaccurate model it presents. There aren't even different colours. How do we know which ones are the thymine?

[@michaelcolinglasner4687]

I want to make this and insert it into a live action video, is it possible?

[@ECAbrams]

+Michael Colin Glasner absolutely. You could render it with an alpha. You could just put a video layer under the animation. You might import the comp to premiere even. Many ways.

[@michaelcolinglasner4687]

Super, thank you so much. I am new to making effects and I appreciate your tutorials and your response :)

[@mediakarat]

Thanks. Evan

[@ECAbrams]

You are very welcome.

[@RR-jh3nh]

EC, what's that font you use at the end? I've seen it in many of your videos and I could swear you said which one it was at one point...

[@서울에서의위시리스트]

Brilliant...

[@gunkat]

how do you rename your layers with only a double click?

[@nseriously2704]

Hi, Evan! When I group "smallest unit" and open it in the new composition, the loop markers start directly from the beginning of the layer (not from the 2sec), there is no space before. As the result, there is a pause before starting the motion and when I add cycle expression, it still has that pause before motion. How can I fix it?

[@NERV0USMONKEYS]

What a genius!

[@gray.crawford]

I keep getting an error disabling the expression, it says that the method Cylinder doesn't exist :/

[@ECAbrams]

Which expression is this? I think we type a few in the whole tutorial.

[@gray.crawford]

The first one, for moving the ellipse half the distance from the edge of the rectangle

[@MartinSteyn-tw5cw]

YOUR THE MAN !

[@dmitriyvaleryevich1223]

Сool tutorial! It is best to create flen DNA what I saw!

[@Chrisdgallego]

Pfff even with this kind of project my computer (laptop) doesn't work fine. Could be more about RAM than cores? or maybe both? I have a macbook pro with 8gb Ram and 2,8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. (from 2009). By the way, nice tutorial.

[@ECAbrams]

It could be many things. You might have other processes taking up resources. I used a macpro from 2009 without issue up until a few months ago though. Perhaps your settings in Ae are being more resource intensive than you need.

[@maryams3627]

Hi.i have a question

[@ECAbrams]

get at me, what's the question?

[@amkamirin]

thank you my good sir