Cookbook
Biggest culprit: You are using ExtendScript for the Expression Engine, when it is supposed to be Javascript. Fix: Go to File> Project Settings > Expressions > change to Javascript. (This option is available on AE 2019 and later.)
You made a typo or used the wrong case when writing the variable or function names
You listed a single value into a parameters that takes an array
eg. myScale =5 will yield an error because the scale property is an array that takes 2 values.
The fix is
myScale = [5,5];
or myScale = 5; s = [myScale, myScale]
You forgot to put semicolons at the end of each line
You listed a variable as a string value
This is a string: "mytext"
This is a variable: var str = "mytext";
eg. in Apeel & Vucko tutorial, people alway list the variable as a string ('myVariable') when it should be just myVariable;
When to ask for help?
If you tried everything above, and nothing still works. There are two things you can do:
You can download the project files that I usually provide for free, and use my code I have there. As I am just a student, and do this on my own freewill. I do not have a lot of time and bandwidth to help people troubleshoot expressions. Hence, it's up to you to figure it on your own as much as possible.
If you have to ask me for help, what I appreciate is having more context and description of your problem. For example:
Which lines does the error occurred?
What does the error(s) say?
What have you tried?
Have you consulted this guide and tried the solutions I mentioned?
What AE version are you running, and what OS.
Sample format for requesting troubleshooting
Hello, I having problem with line number. The error says errorMessage . I have tried solution but I still cannot fix the issue.
What does not help me
Saying that "I wrote the code exactly" or I followed your tutorial. If you did, it would have worked. Clearly, the issue is something else and usually it's simply just a typo mistake.Hence, please give me more information about what the problem is so I can help you as quickly as possible.
How to troubleshoot expressions errors, Intro to Expression Rigs in After Effects, Zack Lovatt
// apply to X position after separating dimensionsvar vel = effect("waveSpeed")("Slider")*Math.PI*2;var amp = effect("waveHeight")("Slider");var offset =Math.PI*2*degreesToRadians(effect("phase")("Angle"));// mainvar v = amp* Math.sin(time*vel+offset);v + value;
//setupvar l = effect("Layer Control")("Layer");var dur = effect("trailLength")("Slider");var pts = [];// calculate the trail length in frame numbersvar currentFrame = timeToFrames(time);var trailLength = currentFrame - dur;// main: generate the points from the current timefor (i = currentFrame; i > trailLength; i--) {t = framesToTime(i)ap = l.toWorld(l.transform.anchorPoint, t);ap -= [thisComp.width, thisComp.height] / 2;pts.push(ap);}// create the path using the pointscreatePath(pts, [], [], 0)
ps = parent.transform.scale.value;s = value[0]*100/ps[0];[s,s]
target = thisComp.layer("controls"); // set this to the layer to aim atp = thisLayer.toWorld(anchorPoint) - target.position;radiansToDegrees(Math.atan2(p[1], p[0])) - 90
// user variablesvar pts = 50;var pos = [0, 100];var seed = 50;// declarationvar x, y; // coordinatesvar c, mul; // direction changervar vertices = [[0, 0]]; // create first point// vertices arrayfor (i = 1; i <= pts; i++) {seedRandom(i + seed, true);c = random(); // create random num between 0 to 1c > 0.5 ? mul = 1 : mul = -1; // change directionoldEle = vertices[i - 1]; // get previous verticey = random(pos[0], pos[1]);x = y * mul;// conditional: if even, go diagonal. If odd, go straightif (i % 2 == 0) {vertices[i] = oldEle + [x, y];} else {vertices[i] = oldEle + [0, y];}}createPath(vertices, [], [], 0);
// user variablesvar pts = effect("pts")("Slider");var pos = [effect("min_y")("Slider"), effect("max_y")("Slider")];var seed = effect("seed")("Slider");// get random point on first pathseedRandom(seed,true);var myPath = content("main").path;var myPathpts = myPath.points().length;var myRandPt = Math.floor(random(myPathpts));var mySelectedPt = myPath.points()[myRandPt];// declarationvar x, y // coordinatesvar c, mul // direction changervar vertices = [mySelectedPt] // create first point// vertices arrayfor (i = 1; i <= pts; i++) {seedRandom(i + seed, true);c = random(); // create random num between 0 to 1c > 0.5 ? mul = 1 : mul = -1; // change directionoldEle = vertices[i - 1] // get previous verticey = random(pos[0], pos[1]);x = y * mul;// conditional: if even, go diagonal. If odd, go straightif (i % 2 == 0) {vertices[i] = oldEle + [x, y];} else {vertices[i] = oldEle + [0, y];}}createPath(vertices, [], [], 0);
tgt = thisComp.layer("control");// d = length(L.transform.position, transform.position);d = length(thisLayer.toWorld(transform.anchorPoint), tgt.toWorld(tgt.transform.anchorPoint));delay = thisComp.layer("control").effect("maxDelay")("Slider");offset = linear(d,0,2000,0,delay);time-offset;
Ensure you have the following
ring shape layer
Slider Controls: size,copies, radius (anchorpoint-Y), myIndexnull layer named "controls" with
Slider Controls: circle_size, circle_spacing, ring_base_size, ring_spacing, durnull layer named "colors" with
Color Controlsx 3
cir = 2*Math.PI *effect("radius")("Slider"); // circumference of circlen = thisComp.layer("controls").effect("circle_spacing")("Slider"); // max size of a circleMath.floor(cir/n) // round down the results
myIndex = index-thisComp.layer("controls").index-1;
myIndex = effect("myIndex")("Slider");c = thisComp.layer("controls");int = c.effect("ring_spacing")("Slider");base = c.effect("ring_base_size")("Slider");s = myIndex*int;s+ base;
myIndex = effect("myIndex")("Slider");num = myIndex %3+1;thisComp.layer("color").effect(num)("Color")
myIndex = effect("myIndex")("Slider");s = thisComp.layer("controls").effect("circle_size")("Slider");dur = framesToTime(thisComp.layer("controls").effect("dur")("Slider"));offset = myIndex*dur;s.valueAtTime(time-offset)
seed = 10; // connect to slidern = 50; // connect to sliderm = b = ''for(i=0;i<n;i++){seedRandom(seed+i,true);b = Math.round(random());m += b;}
// apply this to your Time Remap property of your Sprite renderseed = 20; // option:connect to a slidersegMin = .5; //minimum segment durationsegMax = .8; //maximum segment durationflickerDurMin = 1;flickerDurMax = 5;end = 0;j = 0;while ( time >= end){j += 1;seedRandom(j,true);start = end;end += random(segMin,segMax);}flickerDur = random(flickerDurMin,flickerDurMax);if (time > end - flickerDur){seedRandom(j+69+seed,true);random(outPoint);}else{seedRandom(j+seed,true);random(outPoint);}// original expression from Dan Ebbert
//positionyVelocity = 200; //pixels per secondoscFreq = 1.5; //oscillations per secondoscDepth = 35; //oscillation depth (pixels)drift = 25; // drift (wind?) (pixels per second: - = left, + = right)value + [oscDepth*Math.sin(oscFreq*Math.PI*2*time) + drift *time, yVelocity*time,0]//Z ROTATION:seedRandom(index,true);random(360);//Y ROTATION:oscFreq = 1.5;maxTilt = 15; //degreesmaxTilt*Math.cos(oscFreq*Math.PI*2*time)
yVelocity = 200; //pixels per secondoscFreq = 1.5; //oscillations per secondoscDepth = 35; //oscillation depth (pixels)drift = 25; // drift (wind?) (pixels per second: - = left, + = right)floor=500; //position of floor from topX=value[0] + oscDepth*Math.sin(oscFreq*Math.PI*2*time) + drift *time;Y=easeIn(value[1]+yVelocity*time,value[1],floor)Z=0;[X,Y,Z]
Dot-Pixilation: CC Ball Actions
Square-Pixilation: Mosaic
Plugins: tv pixels,
// Create a marker and use that to control the length of the comp you want instanceseedRandom(0,true);m = thisComp.marker.nearestKey(time).timerandom(0, m)
