<p>Here's what I did in the end (as an expression on the  text layer)</p>

<pre><code>countspeed = 144;
clockStart = thisComp.duration * countspeed * -1;

function times(n) {
    if (n &lt; 10)  return "0" + n else return "" + n
}

clockTime = clockStart + countspeed * (time - inPoint);

if (clockTime &lt; 0) {
    minus = "";  clockTime = -clockTime;
} else {
    minus = "";
}

t = Math.floor(clockTime);
h = Math.floor(t/3600);
min = Math.floor((t%3600)/60);
sec = Math.floor(t%60);
ms = clockTime.toFixed(3).substr(-3);
minus + times(h) + ":" + times(min) + ":" + times(sec) 
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-20T20:43:00.297Z
2012-11-20T20:43:00.297Z
Alfo
<p>You will have to do it with expressions, unfortunantly it is the only outside of possibly finding a 3rd Party plugin...</p>

<p>This is a good start, <a href="http://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/up-down-clock.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/up-down-clock.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-19T22:58:59.793Z
2012-11-19T22:58:59.793Z
Chris James Champeau
<p>I'm sure someone out there must have done this before, but how do I create a countdown timer with hours, minutes and seconds that starts from a specific time and counts down at 71.928x speed?</p>

<p>71.928x because I took one frame every 3 seconds and I'm playing it back at 23.976fps.</p>

<p>I've tried using text expressions but to no avail.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T14:13:35.203Z
Take a look at this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFiWQhnfGo
Saaru Lindestøkke
<after-effects>
Timelapse Countdown Timer in After Effects
Alfo
# Timelapse Countdown Timer in After Effects

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-11-18)

I'm sure someone out there must have done this before, but how do I create a countdown timer with hours, minutes and seconds that starts from a specific time and counts down at 71.928x speed?

71.928x because I took one frame every 3 seconds and I'm playing it back at 23.976fps.

I've tried using text expressions but to no avail.

**Tags:** after-effects

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Take a look at this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFiWQhnfGo  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2012-11-20. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

Here's what I did in the end (as an expression on the  text layer)
countspeed = 144;
clockStart = thisComp.duration * countspeed * -1;

function times(n) {
    if (n < 10)  return "0" + n else return "" + n
}

clockTime = clockStart + countspeed * (time - inPoint);

if (clockTime < 0) {
    minus = "";  clockTime = -clockTime;
} else {
    minus = "";
}

t = Math.floor(clockTime);
h = Math.floor(t/3600);
min = Math.floor((t%3600)/60);
sec = Math.floor(t%60);
ms = clockTime.toFixed(3).substr(-3);
minus + times(h) + ":" + times(min) + ":" + times(sec)


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### Answer by username_2 on 2012-11-19. Score: 1

You will have to do it with expressions, unfortunantly it is the only outside of possibly finding a 3rd Party plugin...

This is a good start, <http://www.motionscript.com/design-guide/up-down-clock.html>


---

