Behaviours
Motion that runs on its own: spin, drift, pulse, wiggle, bounce, loops, wrap, clamp, link and audio, with or without keys.
A behaviour moves a property on its own. It needs no keys at all: a constant spin is one click. When the property has keys, the behaviour stacks on top of them. Behaviours are worked out from the timeline's time at every frame, so they play, scrub and export the same way every time, even the random ones.
Description
A shader title card in Animate with its episode tag selected. The tag’s rows are opened, Rotation is added from + Property, and from the wave button on that row the Wiggle behaviour is added. Its amount and frequency show in the list. Space plays the tag wobbling on its own, with no keys.
How to
Wiggle a layer without keys
- Select the layer and twirl its row open on the timeline.
- If the property you want isn't listed, click + Property and pick it (here, Rotation).
- Click the property row's Behaviours button (the waves), then + and Wiggle.
- Set its Amount and Frequency. Another wiggle picks a new seed: a different wander that is still the same on every play.
- Press Space.
Loop the keys you have
Add Loop: cycle to a keyed property and the keys repeat forever after the last one. Loop: ping-pong plays them forwards then backwards; Loop: offset repeats each time from where the last one ended (a walk cycle that travels); Loop: continue carries on at the speed the keys ended with. Change the mode later in the behaviour's card.
Make a wiggle die down
Every numeric parameter of a behaviour (except Start and Delay) has its own ◆. Key Amount from 20 at the start to 0 two seconds later: the wiggle settles. Key a spin's Rate up and it speeds up.
Reference
| Behaviour | What it does | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Spin | Constant change one way: spin, scroll, drift | Rate (per second) |
| Sine drift | Slow back and forth | Amount, Frequency (Hz), Phase |
| Sine pulse | A quick, small beat | Amount, Frequency, Phase |
| Wiggle | Smooth random wander, seeded: every play is the same | Amount, Frequency |
| Decaying bounce | Bounces from a start time and settles | Height, Bounces (per second), Decay, Start (ms) |
| Loop: cycle | Repeat the keys after the last one | Mode |
| Loop: ping-pong | Play the keys forwards, then backwards | Mode |
| Loop: offset | Repeat, each time starting where the last ended | Mode |
| Loop: continue | Carry on at the speed the keys ended with | Mode |
| Wrap | Wrap the value into a range: a scrolling pattern | Range, From |
| Clamp | Keep the value within limits | Min, Max |
| Link | Follow another layer's property: times Multiply, plus Add, Delay ms behind (a pick-whip) | Multiply, Add, Delay |
| Audio: bass kick | Pushes with the low end of the sound: kicks and bass | Follows, Applies, Gain, From, To, Threshold, Attack, Release, Delay |
| Audio: loudness | Follows how loud the sound is | Follows, Applies, Gain, From, To, Threshold, Attack, Release, Delay |
| Audio: beat flash | Jumps on every beat, then dies down over Release | Follows, Applies, Gain, From, To, Threshold, Release |
| Audio: frequency band | Follows one band of the spectrum, low to high | Follows, Band, Applies, Gain, From, To, Threshold, Attack, Release, Delay |
- Starting sizes suit the property: 20 px, 15° for angles, or a tenth for opacity-style values.
- Text and on/off properties offer only the loops. Colours offer the loops and the audio behaviours, which flash the colour toward Flash to as the sound rises.
- The audio behaviours follow whatever the timeline plays. How they listen, and every signal they can follow, is on Audio-reactive motion.
- Behaviours run in order, each adding to what came before. Reorder them with Earlier and Later. A loop always goes first, since it changes time for the others.
- Remove takes one off. A property row with behaviours shows a dashed lane on its track, describing them.
- Link is set up by the agent (
edit_behaviours) or in a file; once it's there, its card edits it like any other.