Mouth Animation Expression

[po45484801]

Hey,

Am having some trouble with the following expression and cannot fathom it.

I have been trying to animate the Terry Gilliam-esq mouth movement and have been using the below tutorial as a guide:

After Effects Tutorial: Kitschy Lo-Fi Mouth Animation - YouTube

In said tutorial the expression:

x = 0

l = thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Both Channels")(1);

y = linear(1,2,20,0,15);

value = [x,y]

Is  used to create the animation. Now, I have used this before several times and each time it has worked fine. However, after some computer issues I had to re-install After Effects (whether this is of any relevance I do not know) and since then the same expression has not worked.

When I add this to the comp. the mouth layer is moved right to the top left of the preview screen and doesn't link with the audio. I have tried to fiddle with the values of the expression i.e if I change the first 'x' value to it will move the mouth layer across the screen horizontally and if I change the '0' on the third line (beginning with y) that shifts the layer up and down the preview screen. Through trial and error I can have this moved back to the starting position (I have tried this on several images and each time the value is different depending on the image) and can get it to the ideal starting position though it still does not seem to sync with the audio and the mouth layer remains still.

I would assume that these other values control the actual animation though have tried a myriad of different values though each time it just does nothing. Have tried to export the project as in the past the RAM Preview has not actually shown the mouth as being animated though it does when exported but alas not this time.

Is there something glaring that I am missing,or some setting that needs to be adjusted to make this work. Never had to do so previously and each time I have used the expression in the past it has worked fine. If I'm not missing anything can anyone advise me as to what the values actually mean i.e. what each individual value controls, is there some formula for amending the values for example if x is changed from 0 - 500 (a number out the air) to move this to the correct position will the other values have to be increased by the same amount or percentage?

I am at a complete loss as to how to fix this as it has always worked previously and if it help[s it is CS6 I am using.

Cheers.

[Dan Ebberts]

It looks like in this line:

y = linear(1,2,20,0,15);

You used a 1 instead of an l (lower case L). Should be like this:

y = linear(l,2,20,0,15);

Dan

[po45484801]

You sir are a legend!

Thank you.

[Peter31461303w4is]

Hello, I have a question in general with using adobe after effects. I am currently working on using it for a project I am working on with animals and I would like to use a mouth filter expressison and understand that after effects can do it. This is my first time in using this software, so forgive me for being naive and out of touch. But my question is, can you use create mouth expression for videos with live action material or is it only meant to be used for animated characters?