Prolost Wiggle Position

One of the most useful and powerful expressions in After Effects is wiggle(). It randomizes values according to a smooth Perlin noise function.

Prolost Wiggle Position is a handy preset that applies wiggle() to the Position parameter of a layer, and gives you easy control over the expression.

Speed

Controls the speed of the random motion, also known as the frequency of the noise. You can think of this as "wiggles per second."

Amount

Controls the size of the motion, in pixels.

The Customize Group

Use Octaves to specify the complexity of the random motion. Higher values add more levels of smaller, detailed motion to the noise.

Seed controls the random seed used for the motion.

With Include Index in Seed off, the layer's random motion will be the same wherever you stack it. Turn it on and the wiggle will change when you re-sort the layer, which can be handy when applying the preset to multiple layers.

Prolost Spanner 2D

Apply this preset to a 2D layer. Choose a From Layer and a To Layer, and the layer will automatically be positioned, rotated, and optionally scaled to span between them.

From Layer

Choose any 2D layer in the composition other than the Spanner layer or the To Layer. It's OK if this layer is parented under others.

To Layer

Choose any 2D layer in the composition other than the Spanner layer or the From Layer. It's OK if this layer is parented under others.

Span

Sets the orientation of the aiming. Chose Left to Right and the layer's right edge will aim at the To Layer. Chose Top to Bottom and the layer's bottom edge will aim at the To Layer.

Scale to Fit

Toggle this on and the layer will scale automatically to fit between the To Layer and the From Layer. Works best if you also check Automatic Pivot Point.

Scale Both Axes

If Scale to Fit is on, this setting determines if both X and Y axis are scaled, or just the one that corersponds with the Span setting.

Placement

Set this to Pinned to From and the position of the layer will match the From Layer. Set it to Centered, and the layer will be positioned in between the To Layer and the From Layer.

Automatic Pivot Point

Turn this on and the Anchor Point of the layer will be adjusted automatically. Leave it off to use the layer's Anchor Point settings.

Transform

In this group, you have controls for adding a transform offset to the layer. You can adjust Position Offset (X and Y), Scale Offset, and Rotation Offset.

Why does the Prolost Store charge VAT?

The Prolost Store runs on an e-commerce platform called Gumroad. According to Gumroad's help article on the subject, VAT regulations require digital marketplaces such as theirs to collect VAT. Gumroad is the entity with which you are doing business, so they are responsible for collecting VAT, not Prolost.

If you do not have to pay VAT, Gumroad says you may request a VAT credit directly from them.

How can I re-download my purchase?

If you used or created a Gumroad account when you downloaded your item(s) from the Prolost Store after August 12, 2015, you can easily re-download the latest version of any item from your Gumroad Library.

I tried to pay with PayPal and it didn’t work.

This happens sometimes, but not often. I’m sorry it happened to you! You were always my favorite.

If your PayPal payment failed, here are some things to try:

• Reload the page and try again. Maybe wave a rubber chicken over the screen a few times.
• Turn off any ad blockers you might be running. They can interfere with the purchasing overlay. Don't worry, I'm not running any skeezy tracking crap on this site, but I do need to run one line of Javascript to make the buy buttons work. Here's my privacy policy.
• Try your purchase again in a different browser.
• Check with PayPal to make sure there's not a block on your account.
• Carrier pigeon.

If none of that works, visit the Prolost Gumroad page. There you can buy using PayPal without any of the overlay code I use here.

If that doesn't work, contact me directly.

Drawing Storyboards for Prolost Boardo on Your iPad Using Noteshelf

Prolost Boardo is a set of Adobe After Effects presets that streamline the process of creating an animated storyboard, or board-o-matic. They work well with storyboards drawn in the Noteshelf iPad app, using these Custom Paper templates.

To install the templates, first visit this page on your iPad. Go ahead, email yourself the link, like an animal.

• Tap a link below to open the template image, then tap and hold, and choose Save Image to save the file to your iPad Camera Roll.

Use Boardo-HD for standard 16:9 aspect ratio projects.

Use Boardo-Scope for cinematic 2.39:1 projects.

• Then open Noteshelf.
• Tap ⊕ to create a new Notebook.
• Tap Customize Notebook.
• Select Custom from the Paper Categories tabs (you may need to scroll the list horizontally).
• Tap the empty paper field. The photo browser will appear. Choose one of the template images from your Camera Roll.
• Name the 16:9 template Boardo HD, and the other one Boardo Scope.
• Now you can create a Notebook using your new Custom Paper.
• In the Notebook, tap the settings gear. Under Orientation Settings, choose Lock in Landscape Spine Up. Now you're ready to start drawing.

To learn how to export and animate storyboards created using these templates, consult the readme, or watch the video.

View fullsize

Saving the Custom Papers in Noteshelf.

When I remove an After Effects preset from my layer, I get expression errors.

Yeah, this is a bummer.

When you delete the preset from a layer, you're actually only deleting the "pseudo-effect" containing the sliders and other controls. Often, there are expressions on the layer that are linked to these controls. You delete the effect, the expression can't find the controls, so they throw errors.

Here are two ways to completely remove a preset from a layer in After Effects:

Undo

If you apply a preset and then undo it, you'll be right back where you started, with no expressions.

Disable the Expressions Manually

After deleting the preset effect, select the layer and press EE (press E twice in rapid succession) to reveal all properties with expressions.

On each one, click the = equals sign button to turn the expression off: ≠

Can I use the Prolost Bespoke Vintage Presets on video?

Kinda. Here's one awesome example of how to do it.

When I apply an After Effects preset, I get an error message about a missing effect.

If you’re using an older version of After Effects, such as CS6, you may see an error message when you apply the Prolost After Effects presets. This “missing effect” error does not harm your ability to use the presets. Just press OK to bypass the message, and use the presets normally. They’ll display in the Effects Control Pane as “Missing,” but there’s nothing wrong, and the presets will work perfectly.

You’ll also see the missing effect error when you re-open a project that uses the presets. The error is annoying, but harmless. Adobe has fixed this issue in recent versions of After Effects CC.

How do I install After Effects presets?

The Prolost After Effects presets should be copied to your User Presets folder. The location of this folder varies with your operating system and your After Effects version.

Mac

~/Documents/Adobe/After Effects <year>/User Presets/

Replace <year> with the CC version you have installed, e.g. After Effects 2025.

Windows

My Documents\Adobe\After Effects <year>\User Presets\

Replace <year> with the CC version you have installed, e.g. After Effects 2025.

How do I install the Prolost Dehaze presets for Lightroom 6.14?

1. Make sure to update your version of Lightroom 6 to the latest version, which is Lightroom 6.14.
2. Double-click Prolost Dehaze v1.2.zip to expand it, and open the Prolost Dehaze v1.2 folder.
3. Launch Lightroom.
4. Open Preferences (on Mac that's Lightroom → Preferences, on Windows it's Edit → Preferences).
5. Click on the Presets tab.
6. Click Show Lightroom Presets Folder...
7. This will locate a folder called Lightroom. Open that to reveal the Develop Presets folder. This is the folder that you'll copy the preset folders into.
   • If you have Store presets with this catalog checked, the Develop Presets folder will be in the Lightroom Settings folder that appears when you chose Show Lightroom Presets Folder....
8. In the folder you unzipped, open the Presets folder. There, select the three +L 30 Dehaze folders and drag them into the Develop Presets folder.
   • If you have Prolost Dehaze 1.0 intstalled, you should remove the +L 30 Dehaze folder from User Presets so that the new +L 30 Dehaze folder can take its place.
   • On Windows, you may see an error message about "a problem preventing this folder from being encrypted." It is safe to ignore this error.
9. Return to Lightroom and quit the app.
10. Now launch Lightroom and go to the Develop module. You should see the +L 30 Dehaze, +L 30 Gradient Dehaze, and +L 30 Radial Dehaze preset folders in your Presets panel.

Why don’t the Prolost Dehaze presets work for me?

If you install the Dehaze presets and they appear in Lightroom, but don’t have any effect on your photos, here’s what to do:

1. In Lightroom, go to Help → System Info, and make sure that you’re using Lightroom 2015.2 or 6.2, or later. If you have Lightroom 6.0 or 6.1, choose Help → Updates... to update to the latest version.

2. Make sure the photos you’re trying to use the presets on are using the latest Process Version. To update the Process Version of a photo, go to the Develop module and choose Settings → Update to Current Process (2012).