Expression Selectors and blend modes

[Jakob Wagner 2048]

Hi

The Range selectors have an Amount and a Mode (blend Mode) property. The Expression Selector does not.
I have an expression that is already working, but I want to add blend modes to it, so it can blend with previous selectors, just like two range selectors can. I have made a very to the bone example, so I can focus on the blend mode funtionality only. I have this expression:

var thisSelectorValue = 100; // (-100..100)
var amount = 50; // (0..100), like Range Selector's Amount

var thisMultiplier = amount/100*thisSelectorValue/100;
selectorValue*thisMultiplier;

The above makes sense. It multiplies the previous selection value for every character with .5. So if they where 100 % selected from the previous selector, they are now 50 % selected. This behavior will be the same as the "Intersect" blend mode.
I'm struggling making an "Add" blend mode. If I multiply the selectorValue with something it works, but if I use addition or subtraction it doesn't. This will do nothing:

var thisSelectorValue = 100; // (-100..100)
var amount = 50; // (0..100), like Range Selector's Amount

var thisMultiplier = amount/100*thisSelectorValue/100;
selectorValue+thisMultiplier;

All I did was to change the * with a +. I would expect characters that where 0 % selected to now be 50 % selected. But that doesn't happen. I also tried adding 50 instead of .5, but that didn't work either.

Does anybody have the clarity to shine some light on this for me?

Thanks,

Jakob

[Roland Kahlenberg]

My brain's a bit fried - can't visualize what you want and the Shape parameter plays a part too ... what I do for intricate set ups involving the Expression Selector is to combine it with one or more Range Selectors and then adjust its Range Parameters, Shape and Mode options and Ease High/Low too can have an effect.

 

[Jakob Wagner 2048]

Thank you for answering. I don't want any range selectors. I want two different expression selectors and then the ability to blend them together, just like you can with a range selector.
I actually found the solution last night. The selectorValue is an array [x, y, z] which is why multiplication works and not addition. This will work: selectorValue + [50, 50, 50];

// Jakob

[Jakob Wagner 2048 · Accepted solution]

The selectorValue is an array [x, y, z] which is why multiplication works and not addition. This will work:

var thisSelectorValue = 100; // (-100..100)
var amount = 50; // (0..100), like Range Selector's Amount

var thisMultiplier = amount/100*thisSelectorValue;
selectorValue+[thisMultiplier, thisMultiplier, thisMultiplier];

// Jakob

[Roland Kahlenberg]

Hi Jakob, thanks for sharing the solution. Unforutunately, there are only a few Expression Selector tutorials to refer to but this one from Luis Martinez is quite interesting - 
https://youtu.be/wgiaNEQit3g


BTW

[Jakob Wagner 2048]

Yeah, not a whole lot of documentation either but I'm starting to understand how it works.
The video: What!? I had no idea you could do that. Thanks!

[Roland Kahlenberg]

I wrote a Blog thingy a while back on Text Expression Selectors - it's got links to a few other tutorials and samples - 

https://www.broadcastgems.com/post/the-text-selector-expression-is-arguably-the-most-elusive-adobe-a... 

I released quite a few samples as part of an Expressions Package earlier this year. Here are a few samples - 

[Jakob Wagner 2048]

Thanks! 🙂