How to make coins fall?

[barzcode]

First time poster here, I usually can find a youtube video explaining how to do most things in after effects, but i'm stuck on this one.

I have a map of the U.S. made out of coins. I would like to make them pop out and then fall to the ground. Almost like you'd see if you hit a jackpot on a video slot machine.

Here's a picture of my coin map -

each coin is a separate layer in the composition.

Here's a link to what i'm envisioning,​ possibly with a little bounce. I have trapcode particular but playing around with it, I'm not sure it's going to work for what I want to do.

Thanks for your help!

[Kyle Hamrick · Accepted solution]

Particular might be able to get you there.
Newton is pricey, but allows some really cool physics simulations in AE.

Also, Character Animator has a physics engine in it now. You might be able to run this comp through there to get what you're after.

[barzcode]

I just downloaded Newton's trial version, but it crashes everytime I try to use it.

Rift and Sortie look like they'd be good for applying the motion across all coins, but will i still have to generate a realistic motion path for the drop?

[Kyle Hamrick]

Correct. You'd have to do the hard work up front, but they'd make it easier to implement that across the whole map.

Seriously, check out Ch Ani. The physics sim isn't too different from Newton's, and you have to "bake" the animation either way. You could have the coins falling, they could recognize collisions with each other + the floor (if you have one).

[P.M.B]

AH...you want them to hit the ground and bounce?   You're not going to get a realistic look easily.  Coins flip when they bounce so you're never going to get a realistic look in 2D & simply converting the layers to 3D and adding spin will be tedious and difficult to create the illusion of contact & weight.

C4dLite unfortunately does not include dynamics modules so that's not an option.

You said you tried Newton but it crashes.  Well Newton is a 2D simulator anyway so your coins will look like bouncing balls rather than falling coins.

But if you are willing to drop the $250 then there's Stardust - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com​

Stardust is an incredibly robust particle simulator that recently introduced full 3D physical simulation.

It even provides it's own primitive models...all you would have to do is apply the texture.

If you have the money to spend Stardust is a great buy...It's cheaper than Particular and has far more functionality.

[P.M.B]

If you do go with Newton I suggest paying the extra $40 for the Motion Boutique Bundle. It's worth it.  3 plugins that all work really well together one of which is Pastiche which can be incredibly useful on it's own & sells for $90 if you buy it individually.  Mobo Motion Bundle - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

As a cheaper alternative there is Rift - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com https://aescripts.com/rift/

What I would try is to animate one (or three) of the coins then past the animations to the other coins then use Rift to offset & randomize all the keyframes.

[foughtthelaw]

I'll add to Gutterfish​'s suggestion and say get a copy of Sortie which will let you sort your layers based off of their position in the composition. You could then use rift to sequence out which coins fall when. That's only if you want a more controlled falloff to your animation. otherwise, random will get you there.

[P.M.B]

Yes.  Rift & Sortie work great together, like Peas & Carrots