To get the swipe effect to work at any angle, I simply ticked the “Auto Orient to Path” effect on the layer. (Previously, I was doing this by manually toggling a checkbox on and off with keyframes. Otherwise, we use the position.speed/20 formula to give it some stretch.
If the current time is before SwipeStart or after SwipeEnd (in other words, outside the duration of the split marker), the cursor size is set to a fixed based on the slider control. The split cursor has a duration property, which I tapped into with the SwipeEnd variable. 1 startVal = maxVal = rampMid = rampStart + (rampEnd - rampStart)/2 if (time rampEnd) First, tap: theMarker = marker.key("Tap") n = marker.nearestKey(time).index if (marker.key(n).time > time) n- if (n!= 0 & marker.key(n).comment = "Tap") theMarker=marker.key(n) rampStart = theMarker.time rampEnd = theMarker.time + theMarker.duration +. The tap and swipe effects took forever to figure out, but I Frankenstein’d a Dan Ebbert script to create these. (It’s a rectangle because the circle needs to elongate into a rounded rectangle when swiping, rather than an oval.) Size is set using a simple slider control, but because the shape is actually a rectangle, I calculate the correct amount of roundness with a simple equation: effect("Cursor Size")("Slider")/2 So I set out to make as much about the cursor as I could parametric with markers, expressions, and effect controls. When I first started using AE to build cursor effects, I did everything with keyframes-fine for me, but not ideal for a public release like this. I recommend a semi-transparent fill, simple stroke, and drop shadow.Īnd that’s it! Leave any questions in the comments below. You’ll want to add layer styles the cursor so it’s visible depending on the nature of your design. No expressions or markers required-but be sure to add easing to get a smooth animation. Since the position of the cursor is so specific to the thing you’re animating, I left this to be controlled by old-fashioned keyframes. (Don’t try to resize the cursor using the scale property you’ll muck up the tap effect, and the layer styles, like stroke, will be scaled along with it.) Position The cursor size is controlled by a Slider effect on the cursor layer.
Pro tip: You can overlay split markers to create a long-tap-and-drag effect. Match it up with the duration of the position change to achieve the swipe effect. The length of the marker determines the duration of the swipe effect. To create a swipe, make a marker and split it by holding alt/option and clicking and dragging. Then double click the marker icon to bring up the Comment field where you can name it appropriately. These are created with markers anywhere on the layer-all you have to do is name them “Swipe” and “Tap.” To create a marker, right click on the layer in your timeline and go to Markers > Add Marker. The cursor has two preset effects: swipe and tap. You can put this layer at the top of any composition you want and adjust it on a per-comp basis. The project contains a single composition with just one layer: the cursor itself. This tutorial assumes a basic understanding of keyframes and easing, but that’s about it.įirst, import the Mobile Cursor AEP file into your current project.
Having built the cursor effect for myself a few times now, I’m ready to package it up and give it away to any other IxD nerds out there who may find it useful! How To Use It
Why i s this better than just recording your cursor interacting directly with the prototype? Well, the final result is just a little bit more polished and professional looking. To create videos like I did for HLPR and the Meal Planner concept, I used InVision Studio’s keyboard triggers to create animated prototypes, recorded the screen while running through the prototypes, and then imported that video into After Effects to add cursor effects (along with pan/zoom effects and device chrome, if necessary). If you’ve used one of the many many tools currently out there to create an animated prototype recently, you may find that superimposing a “cursor” on top of the animation helps demonstrate the interactions in a way that is immensely helpful-and visually slick.