Using "loopOut" With A Delay (and An External Variable)

[RamsesThePigeon]

Hi there, folks!

I'm fairly inept with expressions, so I may be banging my head against a very thin wall here... but basically, I'd like to delay a looped animation (which currently uses "loopOut") by X number of frames, with X being defined by another layer.

At the moment, I have three layers:

- A precomposed animation of a typewriter arm striking a page

- A text layer

- A background

That second layer includes an expression which reveals characters at a random rate, resulting in an organic typewriter effect:

minRate = 3;
maxRate = 6;
charCount = 0;
t = 0;
seedRandom(index,true);
while (t < time){
   var RandomRate = random(minRate,maxRate)
   charCount++;
   t += framesToTime(RandomRate);
   }
value.substr(0,charCount)

What I'd really like to do is have "RandomRate" influence when the animation in the top layer plays, either by delaying each loop or adjusting its duration.

The ideal result would see each appearance of a "typed" character being accompanied by a matched instance of the aforementioned animation, such that said animation appears to be typing the letters onto the background.

Put simply, is there a way to have my "RandomRate" variable influence when or how the looped animation in my top layer players?

[Mylenium]

No. You would need to completely change your approach and have to use valueAtTime() to create your own controllable looping and it all would need to run in a continuous loop because of this old stinker (see the section about the wiggle() function):

https://www.motionscript.com/articles/speed-control.html

It's all doable, but not the way you currently have set it up and of course it will require different and more complex code.

Mylenium

[RamsesThePigeon]

That's a shame, but not at all unexpected. As mentioned, I'm pretty inept at this sort of thing.

What would be the best way to achieve what I want? I'm happy to start again from scratch; I'd just like the result to be something that's easy to reuse (ideally as a MoGrT).

Here are my only real requirements:

1. Dynamic characters are revealed at a varying, randomized rate

2. A synchronized animation (and its associated audio) plays with each such revelation

3. Said animation does not play when the "typed" character is a space (although having an empty animation with an associated audio file would be great)