Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
A guide to automating your animations.
This tutorial is a little different, instead of Solvin' a problem, I show you what Expressions are, how to use them and where to get help when you get stuck.
There's two types of programming language in After Effects: Legacy ExtendScript and Javscript. You can set the language by going to File... Project Settings. Javscript is a more recent addition and should solve most of your requirements, but a lot of the expressions are also available in ExtendScript too.
In this video, I cover activating an expression, how to use time to control properties, what the Wiggle code does and where to find expressions inside After Effects. To demonstrate the last one I use the LookAt expression (spoilers: it goes on orientation). And to make it easy to follow along, there's also a project you can download with all the examples I show.
#aftereffects #expressions #programming
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project download: dropbox.com/s/7mhnlwe93a1ufnp/Expressions.zip?dl=1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:35 A really simple example
2:02 Clock control
4:23 Wiggle it
6:16 Wiggle in one dimension
7:43 Fire, Flames & Fractal Noise
8:35 LookAt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twitter: twitter.com/ShiveringC
I'm an Adobe Community Expert - which means you can find me on the Adobe forums if you need any help. community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all
#AdobeCommunityExperts
A guide to automating your animations.
This tutorial is a little different, instead of Solvin' a problem, I show you what Expressions are, how to use them and where to get help when you get stuck.
There's two types of programming language in After Effects: Legacy ExtendScript and Javscript. You can set the language by going to File... Project Settings. Javscript is a more recent addition and should solve most of your requirements, but a lot of the expressions are also available in ExtendScript too.
In this video, I cover activating an expression, how to use time to control properties, what the Wiggle code does and where to find expressions inside After Effects. To demonstrate the last one I use the LookAt expression (spoilers: it goes on orientation). And to make it easy to follow along, there's also a project you can download with all the examples I show.
#aftereffects #expressions #programming
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project download: dropbox.com/s/7mhnlwe93a1ufnp/Expressions.zip?dl=1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:35 A really simple example
2:02 Clock control
4:23 Wiggle it
6:16 Wiggle in one dimension
7:43 Fire, Flames & Fractal Noise
8:35 LookAt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twitter: twitter.com/ShiveringC
I'm an Adobe Community Expert - which means you can find me on the Adobe forums if you need any help. community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all
#AdobeCommunityExperts
