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About Physics Now!

Physics Now! Is a 2D physics simulation plugin for After Effects.

It works by setting a layer to be either static or dynamic. Where dynamic layers are layers which are affected by physics such as gravity or collisions with other layers. Static layers are layers that are not affected by physics themselves but can affect other dynamic layers.

Once the layers dynamic types are set, their physics properties can be adjusted in the Effects Controls Panel.

When everything is setup you can click on simulate and the simulation will be added to your timeline.

Get started

To get a flying start, watch these two videos:

Interface

Main section:

1. Set Dynamic. Sets the selected layers to dynamic. If no layers are selected all layers in the composition will be set to dynamic. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
2. Set Static. Sets the selected layers to static. If no layers are selected all layers in the composition will be set to static. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
3. Set None. Removes dynamic properties from the selected layers. If no layers are selected all layers in the composition will have removed their dynamic properties.
4. Simulate. Simulates and adds the simulation to the timeline.
5. Clear Simulation. Will clear the simulation and return the layers to their original positions. Hold SHIFT while clicking will remove the simulation but keep the current position of the layers.
6. Joints. Opens the Joints section.
7. Debug. Adds a debug layer overlay which shows all collision cages and joints.

Joints section:

1. Back. Returns to the Main section.
2. Add Distance joint. If multiple layers are selected, they will be chained together. If nothing is selected it will chain all physics layers together. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
3. Add Revolve joint. If multiple layers are selected, they will be chained together. If nothing is selected it will chain all physics layers together. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
4. Add Slide joint. If multiple layers are selected, they will be chained together. If nothing is selected it will chain all physics layers together. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
5. Add Friction joint. If multiple layers are selected, they will be chained together. If nothing is selected it will chain all physics layers together. Hold SHIFT while clicking will bring up the settings box.
6. Clear joints. It will clear the joints from the selected layer. If nothing is selected it will remove all joints from all layers.

Dynamic Layers

Dynamic layers are affected by physics such as gravity or collisions with other layers.

Dynamic layers have the following settings:

Geometry

• Collision shape. The shape of the collision cage to either Auto or Bounding Box. For more info see Collision Cages.
• Resolution. This sets the resolution of the collision Cage. For more info see Collision Cages.
• Break Text. If layer is a text layer and this is enabled, it will break the text layer into separate parts. More settings for the text break can be found in the Text section.
• Anchor is Center. If enabled, the anchor of the layer will be used to control the center of mass of the layer. If unchecked center of mass will be the center of the graphics on the layer.

Dynamics

• Bounce. Sets the amount of bounce a layer has. Natural value is 0 – 1.
• Friction. Sets the amount of friction a layer has. Natural value is 0 – 1.
• Density. Sets the amount of density a layer has.
• Sleep. If enabled, the layer will not be affected by gravity before something collides with it and wakes it up.
• Linear Damping. Adds damping to the velocity in the position property. Think air resistance.
• Angular Damping. Adds damping to the velocity in the rotation property.
• Lock Position. When enabled the layer will keep the original position.
• Lock Rotation. When enabled the layer will keep the original rotation.
• Bullet. When enabled the simulation will automatically prevent piercing of other layers. This should be disabled in most cases but may be switched on for small fast layers.

Initial Force

• Use Keyframes. This will use the layers position and rotation from keyframes or expressions. When the motion stops the simulation will take over and inherit the velocity from the last animated frame. If you wish to use the following settings, this should be disabled.
• Velocity. Sets the layers initial velocity.
• Direction. Sets the direction of the initial velocity.
• Angular Velocity. Sets the initial rotation velocity.

Randomize

• Random Seed. Different seeds will give different random results.
• Use Layer Index. Uses the layer index in combination with the random seed to give each layer a different random seed even if Random Seed is set to the same value.
• Bounce Random. Randomize Dynamics > Bounce.
• Friction Random. Randomize Dynamics > Friction.
• Density Random. Randomize Dynamics > Density.
• Linear Damping Random. Randomize Dynamics > Linear Damping.
• Angular Damping Random. Randomize Dynamics > Angular Damping.
• Velocity Random. Randomize Initial Force > Velocity.
• Velocity Direction Random. Randomize Initial Force > Direction.
• Angular Velocity Random. Randomize Initial Force > Angular Velocity.

Text

• Break Type. Break text into either Characters, Words or Lines.
• Joint Type. Chain together all broken text with the selected type of joints.
• Collide Connected. If joint type is set, this sets Collide Connected for these joints.
• Special Selection. Sets which elements to get a special behavior.
• Special Behavior. The behavior of the special selection.

Static Layers

Static layers are not affected by gravity or collisions, but dynamic layers can bounce into them.

Static layers have the following settings:

Geometry

• Collison shape. The shape of the collision cage to either Auto or Bounding Box. For more info see Collision Cages.
• Resolution. This sets the resolution of the collision Cage. For more info see Collision Cages.

Dynamics

• Bounce. Sets the amount of bounce a layer has. Natural value is 0 – 1.
• Friction. Sets the amount of friction a layer has. Natural value is 0 – 1.

Physics World Control

The Physics World Control layer contains all the settings for the physics world. This layer must not be renamed.

The Physics World Control layer have the following settings:

Dynamics

• Gravity. Sets how strong the worlds gravity is. Default 9.8 is similar to the gravity acceleration of Earth.
• Gravity Direction. Sets the direction of gravity.
• Time Scale. This property can be used to control the speed of the simulation.
• Accuracy. This controls how many sub steps per frame the simulation will add. More sub steps will lead to more accurate results but also take longer to simulate.
• World Scale. The physical world works with meters. This sets how many pixels is considered one meter.

World Bounds

• Top, Bottom, Left, Right. Enables physical bounds to the composition.
• Margins. Sets a margin to these bounds.

Joints

Joints can be used to join two layers together. You add them by selecting one or more physical layers and click the desired joints button.

There are four different types of joints:

• Distance Joints. This joint will keep the two layers at the same distance but with damping. You can use the Damping and Frequency to get a strict distance or a springy behavior.
• Revolve Joints. The two connected layers will share a common revolve point. This point will default to center between the two layers anchor points but can be moved.
• Slide Joint. The movement of the two connected layers will be fixed to a specific angle relative to each other. Also, their rotation will be fixed to relative to each other.
• Friction Joint. This joint will add friction or angular friction to the movement or rotation relative between the two layers.

Distance Joint settings:

• Connect To. The layer to connect with.
• This Anchor. The connection anchor of the layer with the joint.
• Connect Anchor. The connection anchor of the layer specified in Connect To.
• Damping. The amount of damping when the joint is adjusting the distance between the two layers. For more springy behavior set it to a low value.
• Frequency. The frequency of the springy behavior adjusted by Damping.
• Auto Distance. If checked, the distance will automatically be the original distance between the two layers.
• Distance. If Auto Distance is unchecked this will be the target distance between the two layers.
• Collide Connected. If checked the two connected layers can collide with each other. If unchecked their collisions will be ignored.
• Break At Force. If the force on the joint becomes as large as this value, the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.
• Break At Frame. At this frame the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.

Revolve Joint settings:

• Connect To. The layer to connect with.
• Revolve Point. The common revolve point shared by the two layers.
• Limit. If checked the revolve will be limited between Upper and Lower Limit.
• Upper Limit. The upper limit of the revolve.
• Lower Limit. The lower limit of the revolve.
• Motor. If checked, the motor will be enabled. The motor will add a continuous angular force on the joint.
• Motor Speed. The speed of the motor.
• Motor Torque. How powerful the motor is.
• Collide Connected. If checked the two connected layers can collide with each other. If unchecked their collisions will be ignored.
• Break At Force. If the force on the joint becomes as large as this value, the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.
• Break At Frame. At this frame the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.

Slide Joint settings:

• Connect To. The layer to connect with.
• Auto Angle. If checked the slide angle will automatically be the current angle between the two layers.
• Slide Angle. The angle of the slide movement.
• Limit. If checked the slide can be limited to only work within a certain range.
• Upper Limit. The distance in pixels the sliding layer can move in the positive direction relative between the two layers.
• Lower Limit. The distance in pixels the sliding layer can move in the negative direction relative between the two layers.
• Motor. If checked, the motor will be enabled. The motor will add a continuous linear force on the joint.
• Motor Speed. The speed of the motor.
• Motor Torque. How powerful the motor is.
• Collide Connected. If checked the two connected layers can collide with each other. If unchecked their collisions will be ignored.
• Break At Force. If the force on the joint becomes as large as this value, the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.
• Break At Frame. At this frame the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.

Friction Joint settings:

• Connect To. The layer to connect with.
• Revolve Point. The common revolve point shared by the two layers.
• Friction. The friction relative between the two layers. With higher friction the two layers will need more force to move relative to each other.
• Angular friction. The angular friction relative between the two layers. With higher angular friction the two layers will need more force to rotate relative to each other.
• Collide Connected. If checked the two connected layers can collide with each other. If unchecked their collisions will be ignored.
• Break At Force. If the force on the joint becomes as large as this value, the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.
• Break At Frame. At this frame the joint will break. Once broken, the joint will remain broken for the rest of the simulation.

Hold SHIFT for settings

Common for the Set Dynamic, Set Static and the four Set Joints buttons is the “Hold SHIFT for settings” functionality. When you hold SHIFT and click these buttons you will get a settings box for that respective function. The properties in this box are the same as found in the Effects Controls panel.

This functionality is useful when you need to set settings on multiple layers.

At the top of settings box you have these three buttons:

• Last Used. Sets the settings to be the same as the last applied.
• Default. The default settings.
• Layer. Gets the settings from the currently selected layer or first selected layer if multiple layers are selected.

Left of all the properties you have a checkbox. When you click Apply Settings, only the checked properties will be applied.

Collision Cages

Collision Cages acts different depending on which type the layer is. They are the physical interpretation of the layer which is being used by the simulation. Collision Cages always consist of point polygons only, they can not have a rounding. Smooth rolling layers need a high resolution, while most other layers are fine with a resolution of the default 4. Turn on the Debug layer to check if you need to increase resolution.

Custom Collision Cages:

A custom collision cage can be created on a shape layer by adding any shape to that layer (Rectangle, Ellipse, Polystar or Path) and renaming that shape (not it’s group) either “collision cage” or shorthand “!!”.

A custom collision cage can be created on a text or AV layer by adding mask and renaming that either “collision cage” or shorthand “!!”.

If a layer has a custom collision cage, this collision cage will be used and all other on the layer will be ignored.

Shape layers:

When set to Auto. The cage will be automatically estimated from the shapes of the layers. Use Resolution to control how many points the polygon cage will have. If the layer has a custom collision cage, that and only that will be used.

When set to Bounding Box. The layers Bounding Box will be used.

Text Layers:

When set to Auto. The fonts actual outline will be used as a cage. Unless a custom collision cage exists, then that will be used.

When set to Bounding Box. The layers Bounding Box will be used. This will give better performance if the text is broken apart and is recommended unless else is needed.

AV Layers:

When set to Auto. It will check if a custom collision cage exists, if it does that will be used. If no custom collision cage exists, it will fall back to Bounding Box.

When set to Bounding Box. The layers Bounding Box will be used.

Debug Layer

When you click the Debug button a debug layer will be created at the top of you layer stack. The debug layer will show you your dynamic and static cages. It will also show all joints. This way you can get a better understanding of your physics scene.

The debug layer doesn’t always auto update when you make changes to your scene. To update it simply click the Debug button again.

To remove the debug layer hold SHIFT and click the Debug button.

You can also hide the debug layer to temporarily hide it but it is recommended to remove it since simulating with the debug layer active will slow down your simulation.

As default the debug layer doesn’t render. Should you want to render the debug layer you can do the following:

1. Unlock the debug layer.
2. Right click the debug layer and uncheck Guide Layer.

Animating Layers

Both static and dynamic layers can be animated with either keyframes or expressions. If the layers are dynamic and the motion stops, the simulation will take over and inherit the velocity from the last animated frame. Static layers will simply stop moving.

To see the effect of the animation you need to simulate again. To adjust your animation, you must first clear the simulation.

Animating Properties

Many different physics properties can be animated. This is done just like you animate anything else in After Effects. To see the effect of the animation you need to simulate again.

The Panel menu

Clicking the button on the panel will bring up the panel menu. In here are several different functions.

• Split Text Into … Will split the selected text layer into either characters, words or lines. This is helpful if you want to split the text before the simulation or permanently.
• Set Distance Joint Distance. Select the “Distance Joint Settings” effect before applying this function. It will set the Distance property of the joint to the current distance between the two layers.
• Center Joint Revolve Point. Select either “Revolve Joint Settings” or “Friction Joint Settings” effect before applying this function. It will set the Revolve Point property of the joint to the center between the two layers anchor points.
• Unlock License. If you are running in trial mode and have purchased a license you can unlock it here.
• Check for Updates. Select this to check if you are running the latest version.
• Physics Now! Help. Links to this help site.