-
Align two layers across comp
Hello,
For the sake of this question, I’ve created a simple example.
Say I have two layers, text layers in this example, they are aligned horizontally. How do I center them within the comp while keeping their relative spacing to each other? They could be circles, squares, etc – I’m just using text to illustrate.
In Photoshop for instance, I’d create the two layers, group them and then align the group to a marquee selection (which would be equal to the entire canvas). Both layers would remain spaced the same relative to each other, but their parenting group would be centered and therefore center all of the text as well.
There’s got to be a simple way to do this without pre-comping them and centering the new comp that I’m overlooking…
-
8 Replies
-
You can center layers using the Align panel. Go to Window –> Align and then select the vertical and horizontal centering buttons. To keep the layers spaced relative to each other, simply parent one to the other. So if you parent “First” to “Second”, you can drag “Second” around and “First” will follow.
-
Hey Daniel,
The issue with that is that once it’s parented, if the align tools are used (Window > Align), the alignment is set to the parent only and not both words as a “group”. In other words “First” is centered, but “Second” is not. See what I mean?
Any other thoughts?
Thanks for the reply.
-
Ah, I see what you’re saying. You could parent both layers to a Null Object that is in between both layers, then use the align function on the Null Object, but then you are stuck trying to center the null object between the two layers.
I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think precomping is your best bet.
-
Copy that – if anything else comes to mind I’m all ears.
Cheers!
-
I used to do that more, but have gotten fast with proper alignment tools in other programs like Photoshop. Sometimes I eyeball it, and then use the tools to perfect and it doesn’t move and I think the tool malfunctioning haha 🙂
At any rate, thanks for chiming in.
PS – I posted a new topic in the AE forum about “FCP > After Effects Workflow/Files” just a bit ago. Why haven’t you replied yet!? It’s been at least a few minutes… It’s like you have a life outside of helping folks or something. Haha! 😉
-
This question pains me. I can never find a solution! I do a lot of lyric videos. And eyeballing it is not an option, especially as we enter 3D layering. How do you take layer one and layer two, and ultimately center them based on their proximity to one another. People always say precomp, but precomp doesn’t center them respectively, it just creates an additional composition to the issue I already have. Does ANYONE have any thoughts? I even converted the text to shapes and grouped the shapes and that didn’t even work. It’s a straight up nightmare. Thoughts? Le sigh…
-
I too, am still looking for a solution for this. Some text layers might eventually change over time (the text source) so I want them to automatically center two or three layers, even after I changed the text’s source, automatically.
-
Null layer works great for this – many thanks
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up