Expression Showcase

If you’ve never heard of expressions before, you are in for a wild ride. Behind the keyframes and layers, After Effects has the ability to create automated, complex and math based motion that would take ages to manually animate.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to the channels that create the most useful, concise, and easy to follow tutorials when it comes to understanding and creating expressions. Be sure to check out the source links for a treasure trove of videos and information.

Still not convinced? Let’s have a peek at this showcase video to really see what you can achieve with expressions.

Intro to After Effects Expression

School of Motion provides a great quick start into the basics of expression based animation. Follow along to understand the workflow of scripting out commands and parenting within individual transform attributes.

wiggle(); and random(); After Effects Expressions

Let’s have a peek at some fun and useful expressions: wiggle and random. The better you understand them, the more uses you’ll be able to dream up!

If Else Conditional Expression

An important concept to know is the if/else conditional expression. It allows you to further define how you want an expression to act. Settle in with ECAbrams and learn all about it!

Math and Numbers

Another aspect of scripting language that will help a ton is Math. That’s right, what you thought you wouldn’t need after high school. It may sound intimidating, but Animoplex breaks down the complex in an easy to understand way so that you can master (or at least proficiently handle) any numbers that come your way.

5 Amazing Expressions in After Effects

Now that we have some basics covered, here are 5 to really wet your whistle.

Offset (0:47)
Index (3:45)
Linear (6:57)
Clamp (11:55)
Value At Time (15:07)