wiggle expression

Hello! I am currently using an expression to have letters wiggle. The letters are individual psd layers. The expression I am using is

position.wiggle(7, 30, 3)

It looks great, but I want them to stop wiggling at some point. I am not an expression writer, so I am not sure how to have them stop. Is it possible to add parameters to this expression to have them stop at a certain point on the timeline, for instance, if I need them to stop wiggling at 0:00:15:00?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers!


Cheers!

When we first learn about expressions, we use the pickwhip to connect one property with another and create an expression. (check the help) This pickwhip is useful in other situations -- this being one of them.

1) apply effect>expression controls>slider control to the layer. It can be applied to any layer, even a null, actually.
2) make this control visible in the timeline. Try selecting the layer then hitting the E key.
3) rename the effect "amp slider".
4) Make sure your wiggle expression is visible in the timeline. Try hitting EE. You may have to hit U or UU, depending on what appears and disappears.
5) highlight the word "amp" in the wiggle expression.
6) drag the pickwhip from that expression to the "amp slider" effect in the timeline.

Now the amplitude of the wiggle matches the value of the slider. Animate the value of the slider (using keyframes as usual) to change the amplitude (amount) of wiggle.

You can do the same with the wiggle's frequency and another slider named "freq slider", for example.

Hope that helps ...

One way is tying either Amplitude or Frequency of the wiggle to a slider, then keyframing the slider. setting the slider to a number (7) gives you that Amplitude, then 0 down the line kills the wiggle (gradually), if you want the wiggle to stop abruptly use hold keyframes.

In case you don't know how:

wiggle (7,30)

highlight (select) the 7, then pickwhip to a slider stopwatch(Effect>Expression Controls>Slider Control) and you have an expression like this:

wiggle (effect("Slider Control")("Slider"),30)

Setting keyframes with the slider now puts you in complete control.

If you want all layers to wiggle the same, in unison, Put the Slider on a Null (Master) and pickwhip to that.

Note: You don't have to do all the expression stuff manually for each letter layer, just set up one, Highlight the property with the expression and Edit>Copy Expression Only, then select the new layers you want the expression applied to and Paste. Pretty quick.

You could also do a slider for the Frequenct (30) but if you like the 30 I'd leave it.

If you think you'll use the setup again, Save it as an Animation Preset.

Thank you so much for all the help!!! It is greatly appreciated and surprisingly all makes sense to me, which is great... yea for me!

Thank you again for your time!!!


Cheers!