Tutorial 175: Looping Noise()

Joe Clay | May 10, 2019

In this week's After Effects tutorial, we take a look at looping elements. This was inspired by Daniel Shiffman's Coding Challenge #136.1 on his excellent YouTube channel Coding Train. Coding Train is an excellent resource for coding visual art. A lot of the topics he covers can be repurposed in After Effects. Since he tackles algorithms frequently, it's also a good way to learn more deeply about the tools we use every day. For example, he has a few videos on Perlin noise, which underpins a lot of the plugins you probably use every day, like Fractal Noise.

For more information on sorting, check out JavaScript Array sort() Method.

Expression Code

Note that all of these require slider controls. You can see which ones you need to make assigned to variables in the following expressions.

This goes in a path property so you can draw a polygon.

seed = effect("Seed")("Slider");
s = effect("Noise Scale")("Slider");
v = effect("Variance")("Slider")/100;
a = degreesToRadians(effect("Evolution")("Angle"));
x = Math.cos(a) * s + seed;
y = Math.sin(a) * s + seed;
angles = new Array();
pts = new Array();
for(i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
    n = noise([x + (i*v),y + (i*v)]);
    a = linear(n, -1.25,1.25,-1,1) * 360;
    if (a < 0) {
        a = 360 + a;
    }
    angles.push(a);
}

angles.sort(function(a, b){ return a - b });

for(i = 0; i < angles.length; i++)
{
    a = degreesToRadians(angles[i]);
    ptX = Math.cos(a) * 300;
    ptY = Math.sin(a) * 300;
    pts.push([ptX, ptY]);
}
createPath(pts);

All of the text layers have something like this to repeat characters. If you put a few characters in and add a carriage return, it'll duplicate lines and the carriage returns.

text.sourceText.repeat(23);

This is the expression used on text where we don't care if the first and last characters loop together. Apply this to an expression selector in a text animator.

v = effect("Variance")("Slider")/100;
a = degreesToRadians(effect("Evolution")("Angle") + (textIndex * v));
s = effect("Noise Scale")("Slider");
x = Math.cos(a) * s;
y = Math.sin(a) * s;
noise([x, y]) * 100;

This is the expression used on characters that need to loop first and last characters—around a circular path for example. Apply this to an expression selector in a text animator.

seed = effect("Seed")("Slider");
a = degreesToRadians(textIndex/textTotal * 360 + effect("Evolution")("Angle"));
s = effect("Noise Scale")("Slider");
x = Math.cos(a) * s + seed;
y = Math.sin(a) * s + seed;
noise([x, y]) * 100;