Save 80% and get all your credits upfront with the new yearly subscription! See details

5 Shopping Cart
Your cart has been updated
checkout
Categories

Cover image via

After Effects 101: Wiggle Expression

Danny Greer
Published:

Get started with AE expressions! Wiggle is one of the fundamental AE expressions and can be used to quickly add random movement to your After Effects animations.

Adobe After Effects Expressions

After Effects expressions can be intimidating. After all, we’re video editors and motion designers – not coders. In reality though, many AE expressions can be broken down simply. Applying expressions in your AE project can add some really dynamic features (random motion, auto animating to sound, etc), so it’s worthwhile to give them a shot. You can also use expressions to speed up your workflow, sparing you from having to keyframe all the animation in your project. So where do you start? With wiggle.

Wiggle is one of the more versatile After Effects expressions. You can apply it to a layer in your AE project to add movement to position, rotation and scale. By modifying the parameters in the expression you can set limits on the magnitude and frequency of the animation.

The video tutorial below, by motion designer Jens Uttikal, provides a nice overall tutorial on the capabilities of Wiggle and how to integrate it into your After Effects project. It’s a worthwhile 6 minute viewing for all AE users.

If you’d rather read than watch, check out our previous articleUsing Wiggle to Create Random Movement in Adobe After Effects” or this post which several wiggle expressions written out (copy and paste them into your project).

Don’t be intimidated. Start with wiggle and give After Effects expressions a try. If have any questions or thoughts please leave them in the comments below!

A