After Effects: Move shapes forwards & backwards asynchronously at a slow/moderate speed

Question

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

Answer 1

You can us the slider control effect under Effects>Expression Controls.

• Apply the effect to the layer then select one of your wiggle values with your cursor.
• You can then use the Expression Pick Whip to point to the slider control effect in your Effect Controls.

You will now be able to animate the slider value which will control how much wiggle is applied to the layer.