• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  Set an expression value to a layers name.

  Posted by Lucas Malaquias on March 17, 2020 at 7:47 pm

  Hi, friends!

  I am looking a solution for a relatively simple problem, but I’m not sure if there is a solution.

  I am using a plugin called Templater. Using that plugin, I can change a layers name using a Google Sheet, for example.

  Because of that wanted to be able to change this expression by linking the “veloc” to another layers name.

  This is the expression

  veloc = 140;
  x = position[0] + (time – inPoint) *veloc;
  y = position[1];
  [x,y]

  Instead of “140” I wanted this value to be another layer’s name. That way, I can use the Templater plugin to change the name of the layer, and this will change the velocity that the text changes.

  

  That’s basically what I’m trying to achieve, if I change the layer name to 20, I want the expression to set its velocity to 20.

  Hope this is clear enough, thank you!

  veloc = 140;
x = position[0] + (time - inPoint) *veloc;
y = position[1];
[x,y]

  Lucas Malaquias replied 6 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Dan Ebberts

  March 17, 2020 at 11:05 pm

  Like this maybe:

  veloc = parseInt(thisComp.layer(1).name,10);
  x = position[0] + (time – inPoint) *veloc;
  y = position[1];
  [x,y]

  Dan
• 

  Lucas Malaquias

  March 17, 2020 at 11:44 pm

  Thank you, Dan! Worked like a charm.

  For other people that may end up with the same problem, I’ve also found that using the source text as a value works really well. Using this:

  veloc = parseInt(thisComp.layer(“layerName”).text.sourceText)
  x = position[0] + (time – inPoint) *veloc -300;
  y = position[1];
  [x,y]

  Thanks again, Dan! You’re the best.

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up