Smart Volume Meter

Posted on 12. Mar, 2007 by Jerzy Drozda Jr in After Effects

Learn a smart way of creating dynamic and sound reactive Volume Meter. This tutorial takes this subject further than any other tutorial on the net.

Expressions are the most powerful feature of After Effects in my opinion. After watching this tutorial you will learn how to make your Volume Meter more dynamic by reacting to sound playing in the background while keeping total control over its sensitivity. You might have seen similar tutorials on the net, but I assure you that this one takes this subject a step further and that it’s worth watching.

Download: Tutorial project file (After Effects CS2)

Original tutorial by Talid Al Khatib from CreativeCow.net

Tags: animation, audio, expressions, Tutorials

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14 Responses to “Smart Volume Meter”

Wiktor

06. Nov, 2007

Chyba moge napisac po polsku, co??:)
Tutorial swietny. dzieki niemu poznalem moc jaka daje uzycie expression. Mam tylko takie pytanie do Autora: zalozmy ze chcialbym zrobic tak: vumetr ma pewna swoja wysokosc (max wartosc) i ma jednolity kolor (wszystkie paski sa np. zielone). Wartosc amplitudy reprezentowana jest tradycyjnie, czyli pojawiajace sie i znikajace paski, jednakze pojawiaja sie one przez kolor czarny (lub kolor tla) do zielonego. Tzn ze np jak sygnal ma amplitude 80 (max wartosc jest 100) to na zielono pojawiaja sie wieksza czesc vumetru, a wartosci od 81 do 100 gradientowo przechodza od zielonego do czarnego. jak wartosc amplitudy jest np 30, to na zielono pala sie tylko te niskie paski, a np od 31-60 gradientowo przechodzi zielen w czern. Rezzta paskow vumetra jest nie wyswietlana, albo maskowana przez kolor (w tym przypadku czarny).
pzdr i dziekuje za ten VuMetr Tut.

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Stefan

13. Nov, 2007

Hi I want to download this tutorial but there is an error 404 not found please fix this error or reupload the tutorial. Thanks in advance :)
P.S. Great work awesome tutorials keep it up with the good work!

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Maltaannon

14. Nov, 2007

Sorry for the trouble. Already fixed. Cheers!

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Jordan

16. Dec, 2007

Hi Maltaannon, love your tutorials but for some reason this one seems to end abruptly. I tried viewing it online and downloading it and both stop working around 25 minutes in (right when you go to add the controller adjustment layer to the VolumeMeter precomp) :/ any way to fix it so I can finish watching?

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Maltaannon

16. Dec, 2007

It should be working now.

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DrS

11. Feb, 2008

Hi! Very nice tutorial. I have a quick question for you. Is it possible to modify the expression on the mask to move in steps (increments of bar size), thus making each bar step either on/off like a real meter? My math skills are not up to the task ;)
Great work.

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Maltaannon

12. Feb, 2008

Yes you can. I can’t give you an expression from on top of my head right now, but I think you could try to use % (modulo operator).

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iori

17. Apr, 2008

hi Stefan!
you can always download online tutorials as long as you get the right tool which is awaiting you to discover.
for this one, the download link is
http://maltaannon.com/wp-content/tutorials/AfterEffects/SmartVolumeMeter/video.flv

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Maltaannon

17. Apr, 2008

Also… the download link is at the bottom of the video player and in the video player itself – indicated by an arrow pointing down.

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Chris Pendy

21. May, 2008

When I convert my audio to keyframes, I don’t get a x,y value rather a x.y value. How to I correct this?

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Slickluv

17. Aug, 2008

Hmmm impressive…………most impressive.

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notelodigo

01. Oct, 2008

From Argentina, the land of 5 president in a week. Tank you very much.

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silvio

21. Oct, 2008

Hi, I downloaded the file and when I preview the Comp manually srewing it by hand it works, but when I try to render it eather with Ram preview or make movie it doesnt´t pump? Would anyone help me?
silvio

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Volume Meter Controlled by Audio Levels « motiongraphicstutorials.com

14. Apr, 2010

[...] Tutorial Link [...]

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