Generate Your Own Splendid Spirographical Designs
Tutorial Details
- Requirements: Trapcode Particular 2.0.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Download Source Files
Today, we’re going to resurrect a classic drawing toy in After Effects using an expression tied into a few custom sliders. I used Trapcode Particular 2.0 to display the resulting animated patterns but CC Particle World could be used almost as easily and the results can be used in a myriad of ways for your projects. Or you can just experiment and see what kind of unique shapes you can generate just by changing a few numbers.
Preview
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Tutorial
Download Tutorial .flv
File size 135MB
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By Christopher Kirkman
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hurrey i am the first
Do you have to do this for every tutorial?
at least spell “hurray” correctly if you are.
While expressions are great, you can do the same spirographing with three parented null objects (simulating physical spirograph) and a single toWorld function. I prefer this way because it provides better visual understanding.
hurrey i am the first to download the video
Ill be back for this tut
I understand that it’s good to help beginners, and yes, this is a good tutorial for ‘beginners’, but what i want to say is, it’s been a LONG TIME since we’ve seen an actual tutorial for non-beginners who actually not their way around After Effects.
I would die for an EPIC tutorial from someone again…Seriously…its been AGES!
I really like the effect, but the patterns after they’ve been drawn/generated look kinda static? But I’m not sure myself what would give it a bit more life?
Hey this not a bad idea i can see some use for this thanks men.
Just now have a client with a spiro shape in their logo. Good Timing! Thanks.
DIDNT WORK!!!!
what did I do wrong?
Fr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Fixed radius”)(“Slider”);
Mr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Moving radius”)(“Slider”);
O = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Point offset”)(“Slider”);
Sp = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“speed”)(“Slider”)*time;
Sc = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“scale”)(“Slider”);
if(Mr==0)Mr = 1;
if(Fr==0)Fr = 1;
x = (Fr+Mr)*math.cos(Sp) – ( Mr+O)*math.cos(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
y = (Fr+Mr)*math.sin(Sp) – ( Mr+O)*math.sin(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
[thisComp.width/2,thisComp.height/2] + [x,y]*Sc;
Hi jakz,
AE functions are case sensitive and when referencing a math function, the M has to be capitalized. Just caps-up those four instances in the last lines of the expression and you should be fine. Here’s the whole thing for anyone who wants to copy/paste (note, your layers and slider names might be different, so change as necessary):
Fr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Fixed Radius”)(“Slider”);
Mr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Moving Radius”)(“Slider”);
O = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Pen Offset”)(“Slider”);
Sp = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”)*time;
Sc = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Scale”)(“Slider”);
if(Fr==0) Fr=1;
if(Mr==0)Mr=1;
x=(Fr+Mr)*Math.cos(Sp) – (Mr+O)*Math.cos(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
y=(Fr+Mr)*Math.sin(Sp) – (Mr+O)*Math.sin(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
[thisComp.width/2,thisComp.height/2] + [x,y]*Sc;
uhm… I can’t dload source files but I’m logged in…
ideas?
The tutorial video says it’s having playback error – can someone please fix this?
Can someone explain the expression? Seems you just completely ran over that, even though it was the main part
Great tutorial – however I am getting an error in line 10 and not quite clear why. Says it is a syntax error, but I copied the expression from directly above. Anyone able to see the error?
Fr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Fixed Radius”)(“Slider”)
Mr = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Moving Radius”)(“Slider”)
O = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Point Offset”)(“Slider”);
Sp = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”)*time;
Sc = thisComp.layer(“control”).effect(“Scale”)(“Slider”)
if(Fr==0) Fr=1;
if(Mr==0)Mr=1;
x=(Fr+Mr)*Math.cos(Sp) – (Mr+O)*Math.cos(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
y=(Fr+Mr)*Math.sin(Sp) – (Mr+O)*Math.sin(((Fr+Mr)/Mr)*Sp);
[thisComp.width/2,thisComp.height/2] + [x,y]*Sc;
Thank you