Dynamically Resizing Line of Shapes - Adobe After Effects tutorial

[@Scott.Sandifer]

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. I love that with your tutorials I learn more than simply what you’re demonstrating. I’ve learned so many concepts from you! Thank you.

[@ECAbrams]

You're very welcome. I'm glad the videos are having the intended impact :)

[@Jeff_H_the_Guitarist]

"Things deserve to be EASED." (Love that)

[@dan-crum]

I have never shouted, "That's REALLY cool" at an after effects tutorial before. Thanks a lot man, this is great.

[@davidp158]

You have a beautiful mind when it comes to After Effects and expressions. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

[@SeyiOlusanya-p9r]

Amazing tutorial! Thanks EC Abrams!

[@OximeFx]

Thanks so much .....😅I was looking for this one

[@Workbenchtv]

Cool idea! It's interesting to see how others would build something like this.

[@MoneyMunday]

I wanted to do something like this with columns to create different video panels on one frame for an LED wall and this is going to make it so much easier! Thank you so much!!!

[@UmbipiccoloU3]

i struggle with that a lot did you manage to do it ? The tutorial helped me to get an idea but i still struggle to conver the technique to a grid

[@ab71195]

@@UmbipiccoloU3 Same here! Is it possible to make a tutorial about similar situation, but with a grid? @ECAbrams

[@slackdave]

Really making the complex simple! Beautiful!

[@tomtriffitt9329]

This really helped me code dynamic resizing mogrts!! Thank you :)

[@7MinuteAETutorials]

Super impressive, man. You never disappoint!

[@MrMuffinLord]

you are too good for this world

[@R1ngwraith]

Wow, you just saved me a lot of time, thanks, keep it up

[@ECAbrams]

Time is perhaps the most precious resource we have. Glad this stuff helps people save even a little.

[@skydmnq]

this reminds me of the Ae script "Flex" but even that was supposedly easier, it was harder. :( This video made more sense. Thank you!

[@ECAbrams]

Yeah, this tutorial predates Flex by a bit. I think Zach cracked the code pretty well myself. Responsive and dynamic compositions are hard in Ae because of the hierarchical nature of the software I think. I'm glad to hear this has helped though.

[@e11world]

​@@ECAbrams I tried using Flex for footage but it has too many issues to make it even useful. The x & y would be sweet if it used simple code / logic like this.

[@cheung1932]

Thank You So Much!! Want to see more video from you!

[@ECAbrams]

I'd like to see more video from me to ;)

[@g_niac]

this is awesome. incredibly versatile. wonder what this could look like with warping or deform layers over live action footage. sub’d and lik’d!

[@cessers]

Cool balls, bro!

[@fredluzet235]

Use it now, thanks Evan

[@FLOWTUTS]

thanks for sharing dude

[@thomasculton7633]

I love that the tutorial is finished but the reason he gives to end the video is that his mouth is getting dry!! Thanks for making these videos!

[@bokletbeaton3426]

Hey, Super nice tute, thanks! I have a question: Is there the possibility of adding into the expression a line to keep vertical scaling the same value, and the rest the same? So the shapes would scale in only one direction?

[@ECAbrams]

So you mean things squish instead of resize? Like the X will squish (horizontal) but the Y (vertical) should remain as it was at 100%? If that's the case you just need to change the output. When you see something like [thing,thing] with two parts of an array, those correspond to the two parts of the property. So in scale if you wanted just the horizontal to change, leave that part as it is here. And if you want the vertical to always be some other number, change the second part to be that number. Does that make sense?

[@OneCheapEric]

Evan you continue to be my hero. This video also applies to money. Doesn't matter how many honey pots you have. You still only have a finite amount of chedda cheese.

[@ECAbrams]

Honey and Cheddar Cheese? Is that some Chicago style popcorn flavour?

[@OneCheapEric]

ECAbrams those are damn good! And now I need to go to Costco (king sized bag). 😹😸😺

[@semillerimages]

So awesome! Thank you Evan!

[@TheKeyWii]

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial! Is there a way to change this expression so only the X-axis of the scale increases while the Y axis does not move?

[@philipames8583]

i did it with [s,100] instead of [s,s]. that way the scale of Y remains at 100%

[@paulknirsch186]

THIS WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. THANKS.... so much :) ! But what should i do if i want some extra space for text between each or just one ball? I could really use an answer for that one :).

[@SkyScar7]

This gimme an idea to use Que Es Span Null from redefinery to achieve something like this. Thanks Evan!

[@ECAbrams]

You're welcome. If the tutorials are giving people ideas then it's working as intended :)

[@Lagranjadigital]

Wow! Thx! really good tuto!

[@norbertadamko1212]

super useful video! 😊 thanks!

[@ZsoltHatszegi]

Holy megabyte! This trick is fantastic!

[@ECAbrams]

Megabyte you say? Is that a Reboot reference?

[@ZsoltHatszegi]

I have no idea. I just heard it from frined when unknown forces started to mess up my project file.

[@sachapegado]

Golden stuff here \o/ cheers

[@wadjannah]

great tutorial ... thanks @ECAbrams

[@keifferbuckles8976]

great tut bruh

[@alovicentini]

Thanks so much!

[@newartz3945]

Can I do this with a Rectangle and Multiple Rectangles but so that I can Resize x and y seperately ? and rectangles on both sides are changed ?

[@edwinghudson1223]

amazing!! how do you make the textures(image)? Not the effect of motion tile

[@SyeTen]

5:12 I love all of your eawtput :)

[@Killeuzee]

How can I apply this concept to a grid of squares where both the X and Y properties are affected by eachother?

[@larryzochowski8364]

Was wondering if you ever found out? Trying to do this now and cant get my head around it.

[@kabarrochi]

i need this too!

[@atropper]

thanks for sharing this method I find it super useful. I was able to get what I wanted with square following the tutorial, But what can I do if I want some square to be above or under the original line of squares? and make them all react in the size? The first thing comes to mind is to add more nulls at the bottom and top of the squares/circles but don't know how to modify the expression? Any help would be great

[@ECAbrams]

Basically you're looking for a kind of responsive design right? Like a grid where everything reacts to everything else? Is that about the size of it?

[@atropper]

ECAbrams yes exactly

[@DubbelG_Studios]

Did you ever get an answer to this? I'm also busy with a grid of blocks that need to resize responsively to each other

[@atropper]

@@DubbelG_Studios unfortunately i didn't

[@newartz3945]

@@atropper Did You find it out how to do it now ? lmao

[@griff_again]

As always, you're a legend! Just a quick bit of curiosity, is there any advantage to using the "delta" method as opposed to length(p1-p2)? keep doing good things.

[@ECAbrams]

Since we later lock down the controllers, there isn't really a difference. But if we left the nulls free to wander around vertically, length() would return us the actual distance between the nulls rather than just their horizontal difference, which could potentially be a larger number than we would like to maintain the illusion of the line. Other than that, length() is a fine alternative.

[@griff_again]

ECAbrams makes sense! Thanks dude

[@yikoli8817]

Really thanks ! but i want to know if I want to make not just in line form,i want the circle go around the circle, so what should i do ?

[@ECAbrams]

So you would like to array these circles around another circle? Is that the idea? I think you would need a lot more math to make that play.

[@tomandtomi164]

Great content,I have a question,please help,I am installed after effects in recent days,I wonder how on object becomes smaller when another one appears,like we see in size comparison videos,like of planets etc,can we use the same concept in that vids too?

[@ECAbrams]

I hope people can extrapolate the use of this technique to all kinds of things. Usually if you're trying to show the relative size of things though you don't want to then resize them right? So you might want to consider just zooming out of a comp with a 3d camera and 3d layers. Or maybe scaling a null for the whole scene.

[@tomandtomi164]

@@ECAbrams thanks alot for quick response😇

[@sommertime2436]

Thank you for a great ida and tutorial. :D Can you please tell where you got the sound from and what it is called ;)

[@ECAbrams]

All the sound FX come from the Motion Sounds pack available at motionsound.io it's a nice archive of versitile sounds.

[@maxmarksroyaltyfreemusic9892]

Thanx!

[@沈梨花]

pretty cool!thxbro1

[@daviderotatori2207]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial. I've got just one question: if i want to do this vertically, what can i write in the expression, instead of Delta=p1[0]-p2[0], to referring to the Y-axis?

[@ECAbrams]

the [0] part of the variable is how we select the first part of the property or in this case the x-axis. just change the [0] to [1].

[@daviderotatori2207]

ECAbrams that’s right, I’ve already figured out trying. Your Tutorials are incredibly useful, thanks for sharing your competence with us!

[@clairerennard7538]

What if you don't want all the circles/shapes to be 360x360 size? How would the expression codes and null object anchor point numbers need to be adjusted?

[@slackdave]

the null objects have to be on the outer edges of the objects delta = p1[0] - p2[0]; s = (delta/360)*-100; the 360 would have to be replaced with whatever the distance is between the nulls.. I sometimes put these expressions into a text object just to check the outputs.. then you can see what result delta gives you and understand the math better

[@J_Pisciotta]

Hey Evan! I noticed at the 11-second mark the circle on the right sliding horizontally (without scaling) and the middle circle is staying in place. How did you achieve this? Duplicate comps with layers turned off and position keyframes on the pre comp?

[@ECAbrams]

because everything is parented and controlled by nulls, I think it's just keyframed on the shape layer itself. If i'm remembering right.

[@bush9686]

perfect one)

[@chaosandcreativity3193]

This is really cool! Well, in the video. I keep getting a syntax error on my project. Does this still work on AE 2020?

[@ECAbrams]

Should work the same in 2020. What error do you get specifically? And what do you have written in the expression exactly?

[@chaosandcreativity3193]

@@ECAbrams Error: Type Error: Cannot read property '0' of undefined I typed: s1=thisComp.layer("Null 1").transform.position; s2=thisComp.layer("Null 2").transform.position; Delta=p1[0]-p2[0]; s=(Delta/360)*-100; [s,s];

[@booboobooboo4577]

@@chaosandcreativity3193 in your case you do not have variables called p1 and p2; you should write: Delta= s1[0]-s2[0];

[@elissitdesign]

I did not catch why you have *-100 in your expression. Thanks and loving this tut.

[@ECAbrams]

Bingo!

[@MrRobberHood]

Any tips on making the shadows? Can't quite seem to figure out how to do shadows with expressions.

[@ECAbrams]

In this case no expressions were used in the creation of the shadows. I just pre-comp the elements, duplicate that precomp, move it, scale it, and hit it with a fill effect.

[@MrRobberHood]

Awesome, thanks!

[@katiaboarino6868]

If I wanted to do that on a vertical line of cirles what should I change about the expression? cause it doesn't work

[@ECAbrams]

You would need to change everything to work off the other axis.

[@colinmakesvideos]

Hey! Did you use ray dynamic texture for the circles? Where did you find the cool black background? Thanks!

[@ECAbrams]

I did not. But I used a similar process to what RDT does. That background is a ramp and noise nothing to it. The textures are from the Peter Quinn texture pack.

[@AzhaguVel]

Who are all surprised at 8:12 😃

[@Autotelos]

Thanks for the tutorial! I have a question though, how do you make it vertical?

[@SlimeyNoCommentary]

Nice

[@rosssweetmore2210]

Does this work on the y-axis as well as the x-axis? So if I had a grid of shapes, not just a line?

[@ECAbrams]

At a very base methodology level... maybe. But you would need to drastically change what is controlling what. How exactly do you want the grid to operate?

[@EnricoGennariVideo]

hawesome tutorial! only a question: how can i change the solid fill in to a jpeg mage? thank you, i'm not an after expert....

[@ECAbrams]

You will want to use the jpeg as its own layer, parented to the existing solid, and using that solid to define its visible area using track mattes, or the set matte effect or another similar method. So you might duplicate the solid, placing it above the jpeg and setting the jpeg to use that new solid as the track matte for the jpeg. Does that make sense?

[@tebrazepam]

Can you limit the scale of the objects only to x, horizontal? So that their height stays the same.

[@ECAbrams]

Absolutely. In any expression on scale, the output is [x,y] so you would need to set x to either a static number or the value of the original property value[0]. Does that make sense?

[@tebrazepam]

@@ECAbrams That did it :) Thanks! All the best!

[@dobrinstefanov4873]

​@@tebrazepam how did you set a static value to "x" only

[@austinpinilla7409]

can you do this, but instead of resizing the color changed?

[@AiByZahra]

When it was exactly what I wanted🤌🏻😍

[@dobrinstefanov4873]

I was trying to use that method in my project but with the difference that the objects are 3d. can anyone help me with expression? Thanx in advance

[@ECAbrams]

you'll just need to account for everything now having a 3rd component. So instead of the position being [x,y] you will have to account for it being [x,y,z]. The same goes for scale and anchor point. Have you been getting errors when you make the attempt?

[@dobrinstefanov4873]

@@ECAbrams Thanks! Great tutorial. 5y ago and still usefull.

[@YitzharVered]

I know i'm dumb, but for me the objects do not "snap" together. I have to realign them one by one, and for you it just does it, showing things exactly. How do i fix this?

[@ECAbrams]

It'll depend on your keyboard configuration and which version of Ae you're using, but for me, I'm holding command as I move layers to activate the snap to feature function.

[@my_name_is_ram]

Hey Evan, thanks for the great lesson again. Love learning about expressions. Makes sense when you think about it, too However, I have a thingy. care to help? I have a vertical composition that keeps sliding down per 2 keyframes. Like a phone conversation i guess. Using your method shown at 12:12, I tried to lock my X axis using [value[540],0] But it doesn't want to work. The expression you wrote where the numbers are reversed do seem to work though. Is it a different expression to lock a different axis? Thanks for the help in advance, you rock! edit: here's a screenshot to clear things up. imgur.com/zWIDSfv I'm absolutely sure i'm missing something very obvious. I feel like a baby when it comes to these things even though i've worked with AE for so long. Thanks again!

[@ECAbrams]

well, that you've written as the expression would make the second "y" coordinate always 0. And the "x" component will be the value of the 540th part of an array. I think you meant to say [0, value[1]] right? So the horizontal is locked at 0 and the vertical can be the current value of the second part of the property right? It can be helpful to put these things on different lines so it's clearer what is happening. x=0; y=value[1]; [x,y]

[@motiondude]

Why you didn't used a fx called "Circle"? It's much faster than shape layer

[@ECAbrams]

Faster in what way?

[@motiondude]

performance, after making more shape layers ur project will be laggy, but it won't happen that fast with the circle fx. It applies to bigger projects, but showing right working manners is important, right?

[@andrewcooper9816]

I'm getting "couldn't retun result to a numeric value"

[@ECAbrams]

Interesting. What have you written in?

[@RollinLeonard]

I just did this effect for a big art project that took me forever. I did it the hard way of course. What I also need to do is pin the volume of each clip that resizes to it's size. As it gets bigger it gets louder. Is this possible too? To see the source material "blob opera" see @rollinleonard on instagram.

[@paulvansommeren]

If the audio is the driver, check out "Convert audio to keyframes" in the keyframe assistant. If the size is the driver, you can link directly to the Audio Levels property on the audio layer (hit 'L' on the keyboard). In both cases a remapping through linear() is probably necessary.

[@ECAbrams]

Paul has it right suggesting you link Audio Levels to the scale. That would use the scale as an input and output a change to the db of an audio layer. I couldn't locate the piece called Blob Opera though. Can you direct link that at me in some way?

[@RollinLeonard]

So in my case the driver is scale so Paul's second suggestion is it. I suppose the source material isn't super important but it's funny at least. A bunch of heads in water drops singing. Link: instagram.com/p/Bf3IAsNH-Xm/?taken-by=rollinleonard

[@RollinLeonard]

@ecbrams also! Thanks for posting these tutorials. It's really cool how you make these concepts so easy to understand. I use your Splitting Liquid Shapes idea all the time in different ways. I first used it for this eyeball thing: instagram.com/p/BU8xXb8g9wJ/?taken-by=rollinleonard

[@RollinLeonard]

Hi Paul! I've got the whole project setup just like EC's. I've got my clips' scale and position linked to the shape layers. I just cannot for the life of me figure out how to link the audio level to the scale of the shape. I read about linear() and that seems perfect. 32db to 0db linked to 100% scale to 1000% scale. That makes sense but I just can't figure it out. I did convert audio to keyframes as well.

[@SlimeyNoCommentary]

Is this action script

[@somilsingh7198]

JUST MAKE A TUTORIAL ABOUT THAT GRAINY BACKGROUND FOR GOD SAKE\.

[@ECAbrams]

It would be a pretty short tutorial. It's literally just the ramp effect.

[@somilsingh7198]

Thanks for the word ramp. Now i know to start my search from. Thanks