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Auto Center 2 Text layers that change lengths depending on language
I have a CSV file linked to text layers that change language based on a slider controller.
Depending on the language, certain words may be longer or shorter. After switching between languages, I’d love an expression to find the center of 2 different text layers, center them in the comp (on the X axis)…all while keeping their same distance from each other.
For Example:
231x More Sales is changed to 231x mehr Verkäufe. Now that the German translation is longer, the two separate text layers (231x & mehr Verkäufe) are longer in length and no longer centered on the X axis in the comp.
I’m not quite sure how to approach this. Do I tell a null’s anchor point to find the center of those two text layers and then move to the center point of the comp on the x axis?
> a = thisComp.layer(“My Layer 1”).position;
b = thisComp.layer(“My Layer 2”).position;(a + b) / 2
I know that gets me the center between two objects but does that also work for text layers? And how could I then snap that value to the center of the comp?
My thought process:
I have: Text Layer 1, Text Layer 2, Null 1 and Null 2.
1) Link Text Layer 1 and Text Layer 2 to Null 1.
2) Null 2 sits in comp center on x axis.
3) Null 1 calculates the center point between Text Layer 1 and Text Layer 2 and automatically snaps to position of Null 2.
Does that even make sense? 🤣
Thanks in advance for any help.
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5 Replies
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Assuming that your text layers (renamed to “Text 1” and “Text 2” in this example) are not parented to anything and have not been scaled, you should be use position expressions like these to center the combined length (plus a gap between them).
Expression for Text 1:
gap = 20;
w1 = thisComp.layer("Text 1").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).width;
w2 = thisComp.layer("Text 2").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).width;
centerX = thisComp.width/2;
targetX = centerX - (w1 + gap + w2)/2;
curX = value[0] + sourceRectAtTime(time,false).left;
offsetX = curX - targetX;
value - [offsetX,0]Expression for Text 2:
gap = 20;
w1 = thisComp.layer("Text 1").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).width;
w2 = thisComp.layer("Text 2").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).width;
centerX = thisComp.width/2;
targetX = centerX + (w1 + gap + w2)/2 - w2;
curX = value[0] + sourceRectAtTime(time,false).left;
offsetX = curX - targetX;
value - [offsetX,0] -
Hey Dan! Thanks so much for the reply!
I’ve plugged in the expression but seem to be getting an error for the last line.
Thinking (Offset x) needed to be a value, I added a numerical character there but still got the error.
I do have another expression before that one so I thought that may be causing the error but even in a new comp with only two text layers (Text 1 & Text 2), the error persists.
I’ve broken down the expressions that will precede the auto centering expression. Would these interfere at all?
Text 1 is a counter followed by x (for example: 231x)
Text 2 is the layer that is being translated between different languages. These translations are in a spreadsheet and I can cycle through them with the slider control.
Text 1:
Math.floor(effect("Slider Control")("Slider")) + "x"Text 2:
const slider = effect("Slider Control")("Slider")
footage("Untitled spreadsheet - Sheet1.csv").dataValue([2, Math.round(slider)]);
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The expressions I posted are for the Position property. It looks like your existing expressions are for Source Text, is that correct?
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🤣
You are correct. No wonder it wasn’t working. Working perfectly now!
Cheers to the LEGEND, DAN EBBERTS!!!!!🙌
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Thanks for solving this, Dan!
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