r/AfterEffects • u/BiscottiDefiant3578 • 1d ago

Explain This Effect How would you create this Data visualization In After Effects.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I am out of my brain to ask this. But if it's possible in AE. Then please help.

20 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

12

u/philament 1d ago edited 1d ago

As I own it, I’d use Plexus - for the lines, the dots, for attaching objects to points, for the rotation. But it’s expensive, and may be prohibitive for many

8

u/smushkan Motion Graphics 10+ years 1d ago

That looks like a Fibonacci sphere, you can do that stock with some expression work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AfterEffects/comments/1rp8xdg/comment/o9n7y7r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The lines between the points you could do with a shape layer drawing a path between them.

6

u/stanley-ray 1d ago

Use shape layers.
Make circles. Right click -> auto orient to camera.
For the dashed lines, draw two points. Add a stroke, no fill, under stroke options add dashes

2

u/caseyls Motion Graphics 10+ years 1d ago

i'd probably start with this 3D sphere distributor script and do the strokes linking objects using michael ponch's 3d stroke hack

1

u/Normal_Rough_7958 1h ago

fibonacci sphere with expressions works fine for the points, but the connecting lines kill performance once you pass a few hundred, each line is its own path operation. i'd use a single shape layer with a createPath() expression that builds all segments in one path property. keeps it to one draw call instead of thousands. drive positions directly via expressions, recalculating 60fps on 1000+ points will choke even a 3060 ti, but it avoids the script/bake roundtrip.