Question

Slider controlled time remapping issue

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
December 8, 2025
3 replies
666 views

Dear experts, please help me...

I’m working on a 25fps project. There’s a main comp (~1 min) and a shorter comp (10 frames). The shorter comp is exactly 10 frames long. Each frame shows a different vector graphic number: frame 0 → number 0 … frame 9 → number 9.

This comp with the numbers is duplicated 3 times in the main comp: num_01, num_02, and num_03. I would like to control the numbers inside these comps using 3 sliders on the control_01 layer: sl_01, sl_02, and sl_03. For this, I enabled time remapping on the num comps.

I’m not an expert in scripting, but this is the simplest expression I found:

f = thisComp.layer("control_01").effect("sl_01")("Slider")
t = f * thisComp.frameDuration;
valueAtTime(t);

It works…

until I try to set the slider to 6 or above. From 0–5 it shows the correct number, but 6 shows 5, 7 → 6, 8 → 7, 9 → 8, 10 → 9.
after 25 seconds, num_01 and num_02 change 1 frame earlier than the slider’s keyframes (while num_03 changes at the correct time).

I’m really trying to understand what’s happening. On top of that, I get different numbers after each render. I’m a noob, so it doesn’t make sense to me yet. Could you kindly explain what I’m missing?
(*The image is not mine, but similar to my project)

D

ds90Author

This is not a solution to the problem, so I’m still waiting for ideas…
I had to work around it, because the only accurate version is when I exclude time remap from the expression and simply display the variable’s value on a text layer.
Therefore, I was forced to create a custom font from my 10 vector layers, since the shapes are not too complicated.
BUT… if the task happened to involve more complex, image‑like shapes, this workaround would not work.

A

AidanEdits

Inspiring

Try removing valueAtTime and just output the f value as a frame# converted to time.

f=thisComp.layer("control_01").effect("sl_01")("Slider");
framesToTime(f);

D

ds90Author

Certain values still change too early, and it continues to produce random results.

A

AidanEdits

Inspiring

okay so I have no idea why this worked or if it'll work for you, but I opened your project and after a bunch of troubleshooting I was able to get all the numbers working correctly by going into the Composition Settings for "numbers_10f" , and in the Advanced tab I enabled "Preserve frame rate when nested or in render queue" then purged all memory & cache. For some reason this fixed it on my end.

Dan Ebberts

Community Expert

There may be some roundoff error creeping into the calculation. See if this works any better:

f = Math.round(thisComp.layer("control_01").effect("sl_01")("Slider"));
t = framesToTime(f);
valueAtTime(t);

D

ds90Author

Thank you for your time, dear Dan, unfortunately it doesn't make a difference.
In the meantime, I tried checking the values in the script. The f values seem correct (I’m not sure about the t values), but the main numbers still show differences at certain points in time.

Dan Ebberts

Community Expert

Would it be possible for you to post a project file that demonstrates the issue?

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