Other playlist rigs simply had to be able to populate a long 3D tunnel space and cycle artwork easily. Since this was essentially a cloner operation occurring inside AE, multifunctionality was not a requisite for each rig. However, it was necessary to be able to swap artwork easily. For this I created a master artwork selector composition, and controlled the selection via time remap and essential properties. Instead of having to swap out individual artwork for each playlist, I was able to place dozens of instances and use a simple property selector.

The first item I was tasked with was creating a flexible rig that could be used to represent playlists throughout the piece. I ended up creating two or three rigs that could be utilized depending on the complexity of the shot. For instance, the first rig (to the left) had to be able to show song dots on the front, open up to reveal the songs in a row, and be able to shuffle song order.

Using a combination of expressions and essential properties (3 or 4 comps deep) I was able to control the entire rigs properties from a master composition with a few simple parameters. Individual song movements had to be keyframed in the inner line of course.