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Rameez_Khan
Rameez_Khan
Braniac
November 4, 2019
Question

Dropdown Menu Control effect - After Effects 17.0

  • November 4, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 9399 views

Earlier versions of After Effects allowed you to create sliders and checkboxes for Motion Graphics Templates. This allowed Premiere Pro editors to use Motion Graphics Templates and change the properties of the MoGRTs with sliders and checkboxes. With After Effects (17.0), you can create drop-down menus in addition to sliders and checkboxes. For example, you can hook up seven days of the week to different colors. You can create a dropdown menu with the list of the days, and another menu with the list of colors to make it easier to adjust multiple settings at once and design templates that are easier for editors in Premiere Pro.

 

Check out the feature in more detail here. 

 

UPDATE: 

Check out this tutorial to see how to use the Drop-Down Menu effect:

 

How can a Premiere Pro editor benefit from Motion Graphics Templates created with drop-down menus?

Sergei from Ukramedia shows how easy it is to use MOGRTs created with drop-down menus.

 

Check out this detailed video by Ukramedia to see how you can use the new feature to create a weekly weather forecast animation.

 

Feel free to comment with any questions!

Back to After Effects 17.0 New Features post.

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

I
Ivan_Shv
New Participant
August 31, 2023

Are there any ways to retrieve dropdown menu options? For example, as a default,  AE adds ["Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3"] as default options for the dropdown. How could they be retrieved? 

O
oliverS
Participating Frequently
March 3, 2021

Hello Sergei and Vladimir,

 

great tips from your videos. I preciate that.

I love to work with Dropdown-Menues and everey project

is a new experience.

I wonder if there is a way to use the same Dropdown-Menu

(wich is allreada setuped) in different compositions.

I preciate any answer.

 

THX in advance

Oliver from germany

Roland Kahlenberg
Roland Kahlenberg
Braniac
March 3, 2021

You should be able to copy a Dropdown Menu to another composition - just ensure that all selections via the menu is relevant.

Very Advanced After Effects Training | Adaptive & Responsive Toolkits | Intelligent Design Assets (IDAs) | MoGraph Design System DEV
O
oliverS
Participating Frequently
March 3, 2021

Hello Roland,

I just tryed that, but if I copy the layer to another subcomp the dropdown 

does not execute the comand. 

If I use de DDM in the first-Main-comp to trigger specific subcomp layer it works fine.

If I copy the layer (only for DDM) to another comp, which also includes the 

subcomb from the first Main-Comp, the DDM triggers nothing. 

If I go back to the first Main-comp and use the DDM the subcombs in the 

second Main-comps react as well. 

It seems that if you copy a DDM_Layer the original Layer exclude the 

comands from the copyed one?!

I just want to have the DDM in place and dont have to go to the other Main-comp.

 

Hope it makes sense.

Any idea 

 

 

R
rudelr85642176
New Participant
January 16, 2020

Hi Rameez!

I am trying to universalize an expression that include a Dropdown Menu. 

x = comp("Main_2").layer(1).effect("Dropdown Menu Control")("Menu");

I can't find any info about what "ADBE Control-0001" should be.

Thanks in advance

Rudel

 

 

A
Aaron Cobb
Inspiring
November 5, 2019

Is there a way to access the labels for the menu items in expressions, or are we limited to getting the index?

    Rameez_Khan
    Rameez_KhanAuthor
    Braniac
    November 11, 2019

    Hi A__Cobb, 

     

    As of right now, this is limited to getting the index but it would be nice to access the labels for the menu items in expressions 🙂 

    I'd recommend that you create a feature request on UserVoice so that others can vote on it. That way, it will get the After Effects team's attention. 

     

    Thanks,

    Rameez

    A
    Aaron Cobb
    Inspiring
    November 13, 2019

    Thanks for the confirmation. Someone has posted this feature suggestion already, and anyone who would like this capability should please upvote it:

     

    https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/36916207-ability-to-read-text-values-of-dropdowns-in-expres

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