attaching an object to an updatable string of text

[Dan Ebberts]

Here’s a hack that should keep your layer lined up with the left edge of the text layer:

L = thisComp.layer(“Your Text Layer”);
for (i = 0; i <= thisComp.width; i++){ temp = L.sampleImage([i,thisComp.height/2],[0.5,thisComp.height/2],true,time); if (temp[3] > 0) break;
}
[i,value[1]]

Dan

[Ted Gore]

thanks Dan,

My expression knowledge is limited. Would this go into the position expression field for my object?

[Ted Gore]

thanks dan!

Sorry, my expression knowledge is limited, but am I putting this into the position expression field for the object?

thanks

[Dan Ebberts]

Yes. The object will keep its own y position but the x should track the left edge of the text.

Dan

[Andre Isaac]

Hi Dan-
I love this expression… it’s almost exactly what I need.
Please excuse my ignorance; how could I tweak this to attach a layer to the RIGHT side of a LEFT justified text string? I’ve tried changing some the code elements but I can’t get the result I’m looking for.
Thanks!
-Andre

[Dan Ebberts]

I think this is the change you need to make:

L = thisComp.layer(“Your Text Layer”);
for (i = thisComp.width; i >= 0; i–){
temp = L.sampleImage([i,thisComp.height/2],[0.5,thisComp.height/2],true,time);
if (temp[3] > 0) break;
}
[i,value[1]]

Dan

[Andre Isaac]

Perfect. Thanks so much Dan!

[Andre Isaac]

Another question about this script: I’ve noticed that the position of an object (the one linked to the end of a text-string) changes in sync with the position of said text-string. Is there a way to link this object to a specific position (or anchor) keyframe, so that it retains its position before/after the text-string’s position value changes?

Thanks!

left side
L = thisComp.layer("");
for (i = thisComp.width; i >= 0; i--){
temp = L.sampleImage([i,thisComp.height/2],[0.5,thisComp.height/2],true,time);
if (temp[3] > 0) break;
}
[i,value[1]]

[Dan Ebberts]

One way is to just change the last parameter for sampleImage() from “time” to the specific time you want to do the sampling (0, for example).

Dan

[Andre Isaac]

That’s great! So simple… Thank you so much!