To Create An Expression With The Pick Whip - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

Expression options in the Timeline panel
A. On/Off switch B. Graph overlay icon C. Pick whip D. Expression Language menu E. Expression field
To temporarily turn an expression off or on, click the On/Off switch
the expression is written. When an expression is off, a slash appears through the switch.
After you add an expression to a property, you can continue to add or edit keyframes for the property. The value of
a keyframe at the time you create it or edit it is the value it would be without the expression applied.
Animation presets can include expressions, or even consist entirely of an expression.
When you are animating text, you can use the Expression selector to dynamically specify how much you want
characters to be affected by an animator property through the use of expressions. You can add one or more
Expression selectors to an animator group, and that animator group can contain one or more properties. (See "About
the Expression selector" on page 302.)
For additional information, go to Adobe Studio on the Adobe website.
Adobe periodically provides updates to software and Help. To check for updates, click the Preferences button
Adobe Help Center, and then click Check For Updates. Follow the on-screen instructions.
See also
"To save an animation preset" on page 203
"About animation and layer properties" on page 188

To create an expression with the pick whip

If you are not familiar with JavaScript or the After Effects expression language, you can still take advantage of the
power of expressions by using the pick whip. You simply drag the pick whip
property that you set or animated in the first layer is copied into the second layer.
Use the pick whip to create expressions that link the values of one property or effect to another. For example, link the
Rotation property of Layer A to the Rotation property of Layer B to make Layer A's rotation values the same as Layer
B's; or link a camera's Point of Interest property to the Position property of another 3D layer to make the camera
follow the layer as it moves through space.
1 Select a property in the Timeline panel and choose Animation > Add Expression.
Drag the pick whip to another property in the Timeline panel or Effect Controls.
2
Optionally, modify the default expression in the expression field.
3
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