after effects randomise timing with expressions

Question

hi, I am pretty new to using after effects expressions and I am not quite sure how to solve my problem and i also found no working solution on the internet.

so I want to animate objects with always one in the background and one in the foreground and want to alternate them - this i figured out works with giving one layer:

rate = 1/1;

posterizeTime(rate);

seedRandom(index, false);

random(0,100) < 50 ? 0 : 100;

and the other one:

if(thisComp.layer(index+1).transform.opacity==0)100;

else 0;

now comes my breaking point: I have a lot of these alterning pairs and I dont want them to all switc at the same time but rather randomized. I´ve tried several options working with offset, startTime/endTime or durations and either I did it wrong or it was the absolute wrong approach to my problem.
(e.g. pair 1 always switches on frames with :10 and pair 2 on frames with :15)

I am also working on a file with around 400 layers which also moves me to find a simple solution to my problem.

(I also wanted it to only randomize between second 1 and 6 but I am more frustrated about finding a solution to the timing problem)

thank you soo so much in advance!

emma_7029 · Accepted Answer

Hi @Hani ElTiby ,thank you very much for your help and quick response! Unfortunatly I think I didn't quite understand your code so I wasn't able to make it work.But I found another solution that seems to work with:seedRandom(index, true); minFrames = 100; maxFrames = 200; frameHold = Math.round(random(minFrames, maxFrames));currentFrame = timeToFrames(time); // Aktuelles Frame der Komposition switchTime = Math.floor(currentFrame / frameHold); (switchTime % 2 == 0) ? 100 : 0;and:if (thisComp.layer(index+1).transform.opacity == 0) 100;else 0; Thank you all very much for your help!

Hani ElTiby · Answer

Hi Emma, Try thisNotice that the controller comes right after the randomized layers so it dynamicly count the layers above, by using it's own index in the random() function.If you have layers above the randomized layers you may set the first random parameter manually or by pickwipping the first layer and get it's indexfor example : rand = random(thisComp.layer("Medium Royal Blue Solid 2").index, index);here are both expressionsthe Controller layer firstposterizeTime(effect("Posterize")("Slider"));rand = random(thisComp.layer("Medium Royal Blue Solid 2").index,index);hide = Math.floor(rand);then the opacityhide = thisComp.layer("Controller").effect("Hide")("Slider");if (hide == index) {value} else {0}

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