Box shape defined by 2 corner points?

[Dan Ebberts]

Play around with this.

1. Create a rectangular shape layer.
2. Add Null 1 where you want the upper left corner.
3. Add Null 2 where you want the lower right corner.

4. Add this to the Rectangle Path’s Size parameter:

n1 = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”);
n2 = thisComp.layer(“Null 2”);
ul = n1.toComp(n1.anchorPoint);
lr = n2.toComp(n2.anchorPoint);
d = lr -ul;
[Math.abs(d[0]),Math.abs(d[1])]

5. Add this to the Rectangle Path’s Position parameter:

n1 = thisComp.layer(“Null 1”);
ul = n1.toComp(n1.anchorPoint);
r = sourceRectAtTime(time,false);
myUL = toComp([r.left,r.top]);
ul – myUL

You’ll need additional code if it’s possible that Null 1 can become something other than the upper left corner relative to Null 2.

Dan

[Phil Aupperle]

Awesome! Thank you. Works perfectly.

I could get the size correct in my attempts, but the position was making me insane. I’ll admit I don’t understand the implementation of shape and path sizes/positions/anchor points in shape layers relative to normal layer parameters and comp coordinates at all, apparently, and I get totally lost in the vectors. Is the position of a path the center of it’s bounds, or does it have some default anchor point? Are a path’s coordinates based on the shape layer anchor point and position? If you happen to know where in the Adobe documentation this is, I’d love to get up to speed on it.

Thanks again for the help–this is something I can think of a million uses for. You are the man.

[Dan Ebberts]

I wish I could say I had it all figured out. It seems to be a affected by position, anchor point and scale and I usually just work it out based on the current requirements. I don’t know of any definitive documentation on the subject, but I would welcome it.

Dan

[Phil Aupperle]

Oh man! Well, that makes me feel a little better anyway. Hopefully someone from the Adobe team is reading this. 😉