I'm working on a video intro and am trying to figure out a solution for moving hundreds of shapes backwards and forwards on the z-axis. As most posts like this, I'm new to AE expressions.
The animation will begin with a swarm of icons zooming in and out of focus, wiggling around randomly while moving from point a to b, and will end with them clustering together to form the outline of a logo. I have wiggle expressions controlling the x & y axes, however am stuck on finding a way to accomplish my goal for the z-axis.
MAIN QUESTION: How can I have each object move forward and backward on the z-axis at a slow/moderate speed, not in unison, with a displacement of ~ 1000 units (and end with a value of 0)?
Here's a screenshot of a test comp with something I tried but doesn't work (movement was way too fast, and I need the last frame to end at a zero value)
Screenshot of the icons I'll be applying this to in the final comp: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kbq57xuwy55cye/StackExchange_AE_icons.png?dl=0