To understand “Stringy” it is important to know 2 things :
– “Stringy” is a script which will create 3 layers in your composition : 2 Null objects A and B (“Stringy – A”, “Stringy – B”) and a Solid layer “Stringy”. Every strings will be attached between the 2 Null objects A and B. The settings are in the “Stringy” layer.
– A String represents a connection between the layer A and B. A Sub-string represents a connection between Strings.

SCRIPT INTERFACE

This interface let you choose between different “Stringy” presets.

Choose a preset : Browse among Presets.

CREATE : Create strings with the selected preset.

HELP : Well… you know what this button does right?

TUTORIALS : Open a webpage with Tutorials (you can find them below).

PRODUCTS : Check out my other products!

MAIN SETTINGS

These settings control the number of Strings and Sub-strings, their seed and their smoothness. You can change the position and the Rotation of the Strings attachment points by changing these values directly in your layer A and B.

NUMBER OF STRINGS / SUB-STRINGS : Change the number of Strings or Sub-strings. The maximum number depends on the preset you choose in the Script interface.

STRING A / B / SUB-STRINGS SEED : If you have multiple strings or sub-strings, the position of their attachment points is set randomly. You can change it by changing these properties.

SMOOTHNESS : Increase the “gooeiness” between your strings. If you have very thin strings, a high amount of Smoothness can make them disappear.

A. / B. RANGE : Increase the range of distribution of the Strings attachment points of A and B vertically. If you want to rotate them, simply rotate the layers A and B. To see this range, tick the checkbox “Show ranges”.

WIDTH

Change the width of your Strings or Sub-strings. 

STRING WIDTH : You can choose between different width modes for the strings.
A : the width of the strings is define by only one value, “A. Width”
A > B – Linear : the width of the strings will be a linear transition between “A. Width” and “B. Width”
A > B – Expo : Same as Linear but with an exponentiel transition
A > B > A – Expo : Same as “A > B – Expo” but with A. Width will set the width on both ends of the strings and “B. Width”, the width of the midpoint.

SUB-STRING WIDTH : You can choose between different width modes for the strings. The modes are identical with the ones above except Sub-strings width depends on “1. Width” and “2. Width” and there is a new mode :
Same as String : the width mode is the same as set in “STRING WIDTH”, and the width values depend on “A. Width” and “B.Width”.

WIDTH IS DECREASED BY LENGTH : If you increase this value, the longer the length between the layers A and B gets, the thinner the widths of strings and sub-strings will get. Good to simulate substance which loses density with stretching (like melting cheese).

COLOR

Color strings and sub-strings with different modes.

TYPE : Different coloring mode :
“FILL – Color 1” : Fill the strings and sub-strings with color 1
“GRADIENT A > B – Color 1,2” : Set a gradient starting from layer A position with color 1 to layer B position with color 2.
“GRADIENT B > A – Color 1,2” : Set a gradient starting from layer B position with color 1 to layer A position with color 2.
“MIX – Randomly 1,2,3,4” : Each string and substring will get its color randomly from Colors 1,2,3,4.

MIX SEED : If you selected the Type “MIX – Randomly 1,2,3,4”, you can change this random distribution by changing this value.

PHYSICS

Let’s add some physics! IMPORTANT : depending on your computer specs, ELASTICITY and DELAY could slow your After Effects workflow. They use a lot of calculations. To speed things up, check out the “TIP” section at the end of this one!

GRAVITY : Add Gravity to your strings. Set a positive value for regular gravity. Negative value for inversed gravity.
SUB-STRINGS GRAVITY : You can change how Gravity affects Sub-strings (if you have some). You can divide (/2, /4) or multiply (*2, *4) the GRAVITY influence, set the same gravity (Same as GRAVITY) or disable it (None).
GRAVITY IS INCREASED BY LENGTH :If you increase this value, the longer the length between the layers A and B gets, the stronger the gravity gets. Good to simulate melting substance (like melting cheese).

ELASTICITY : Add Elasticity to your strings! To work properly, Elasticity needs fast and slightly eased animations.
Frequency  : Set the frequency of the elastic rebounds.
Amplitude : Set the amplitude of the elastic rebounds.
Decay : Set the decay of the elastic rebounds.
Strum : What if you want to simulate the strum of a string without moving A and B? Use Strum! Simply animate it with 2 keyframes, the first one doesn’t mind, the second one in the direction of the force you want to add. Keep in mind strong movements and uneased animations are better for elastic reactions.

DELAY (ms) : Add a delay in milliseconds. A good start is 30. But be careful, DELAY can conflict with ELASTICITY, resulting in weird string movements. To avoid that, lower the DELAY value (to 20 or less).

WIND : Add an horizontal wind force. You can add turbulences with the settings below.
Frequency  : Set the frequency of the Wind turbulences.
Amplitude : Set the amplitude of the Wind turbulences.

RANDOMNESS

Add randomness on different properties to get a more “organic”, “realistic” look. The “Random” percentage values will change the intensity of the randomness. The “Random Seed” values defines a unique randomness configuration.

RANDOM POSITION A / B : Randomize the X and Y position of the Strings attachment points

RANDOM WIDTH : Randomize the width of the Strings and Sub-strings.

RANDOM GRAVITY : Randomize the gravity of the Strings and Sub-strings.

RANDOM ELASTICITY : Randomize the elasticity of the Strings and Sub-strings.

RANDOM DELAY : Randomize the delay of the Strings and Sub-strings.

RANDOM WIND : Randomize the wind of the Strings and Sub-strings.

MOTION BLUR

A simple checkbox to activate the Motion Blur (Note that Motion Blur takes time to calculate).