Matrix for After effects

Matrix for After Effects

Chop your image into a grid of animateable pieces

Matrix

The Matrix script will take a layer in your comp and break it into pieces. You choose the size of the pieces, whether to animate in order or random, and how long you want the transition to take.

Getting Started

The script is designed to be used as a dockable panel, for a quick tutorial on installation watch this

You need to begin with a comp with a single layer. This will be the layer that will be chopped up. The options for the effect are as follows:

Transition Type

Animate in: the pieces of your image will start at a Z point in space that you choose and will end at 0.

Animate Out: the pieces will start at position Z 0 and will end at a Z point in space that you choose.

Order

Random: Pieces will animate in random order. When this option is chosen an additional field "Transition Min" appears in the interface; the script will make the transition lenght a random value between Transition Min and Transition Length

Directional:Pieces will animate in order. When this option is chosen two additional fields Delay Across and Delay Down appear

Fragment Size X and Y

The size of the pieces that the image will break into. If you choose very small pieces it can take a long time to build. Use caution

Gap

How many pixels of space between pieces. 0 leaves no gap, a higher number will cause space between the individual pieces

Target Z

Z position where the pieces will either start or finish (depending on whether you are animating out or animating in)

Rotation XYZ

Rotation XYZ where the pieces will either start or finish (depending on whether you are animating out or animating in)

Start Frame

Which frame in your comp to start the animation. If your order is Random, this is the earliest frame a piece will start animating.

Start Variation

Only visible if your order is Random. All pieces will start animating at a random frame between 'Start Frame' and 'Start Frame' + 'Start Variation'. For example, if 'Start Frame' is 10 and 'Start Variation' is 5, every piece in your matrix will begin animating at a random frame between 10 and 15

Transition Length

The amount of time it takes for an individual piece to go from 0 to target Z (or vice versa depending on whether you are animating out or in) . If your order is Random, this is longest possible time for an individual piece to animate, and Transition minimum is the shortest.

Transition Min

Only visible if your order is Random. this is the shortest possible time for an individual piece to animate, and Transition Length is the longest.

Delay Across

Only visible if your order is Directional. On each row, the pieces start their animation one after the other, this is how many frames before the next one in a row starts.

Delay Down

Only visible if your order is Directional. On each column, the pieces start their animation one after the other, this is how many frames before the next one in a column starts.

Fade

If checked, when a piece animates it will either fade out or fade in (Depending on animation type)

Ease Keyframe

Makes the transition smoother by easing the keyframes

Motion Blur

enables motion blur for all layers

When you have all parameter set, hit the "Build Matrix" button. The script will only run if you are in a composition with only 1 layer. (after you build it you may re-edit its parameters, but this is done through the edit button which will be discussed later).

What Happens When I Hit Build Matrix

The script precomposes your master layer (unless it already is a precomp). Then the script makes as many solids as it needs to cover your comp from top left to bottom right. It duplicates your master layer for each of these solids, parents and track mattes to the solid and animates the solid based on your settings. All the master layer duplicates are made shy. The master layer is duplicated one final time and placed at the top of the timeline with the eyeball turned off. This layer is not made shy and is there to make it easier to access the preconp that housed your original layer.

There are two layers at the very bottom of the comp that are shy and locked. These layers should not be touched, they are used by the script if you want to change any parameters.

Editing A Matrix

If you Have built a matrix and want to change any of the parameters, click the edit button while you are in that composition. A window will popup with all the parameters that were used in that matrix build. You will not be able to do anything else in After Effects until the popup window is closed. If you hit cancel, the popup will close and nothing will happen. If you hit Rebuild Matrix, the matrix will be rebuilt using the parameters set in the popup.