Copy Shape Path to Position Property via Scripting

[Andrei Popa]

Hi Tomas. Make sure you have nothing selected before running this function.

function copyPathToPosition(pathLayer, positionLayer){

var myPosition = positionLayer("Transform")("Position");
var myPath = pathLayer("Contents")(1)("Contents")(1)("Path");

pathLayer.selected = true;
myPath.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(19); //Copy
pathLayer.selected = false;

positionLayer.selected = true;
myPosition.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(20); //Paste
positionLayer.selected = false;
}

I use a function like this one to make sure nothing is selected:

function deselectEverything(myActiveComp) {
mySelectedItems = myActiveComp.selectedLayers;
for (i = 0; i < mySelectedItems.length; i++){
mySelectedItems[i].selected = false;
}
}


Andrei
My Envato portfolio.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Andrei, thanks a lot for your insights!

I was doing almost the same thing, except instead of selecting ‘layer of position’, been directly making selection of position within that layer. While it was the only difference and I was going to celebrate, a bit too early, unfortunately !

The ‘shape path’ in my setup is under this structure:
var curShape = shapeLayer.property(“ADBE Root Vectors Group”).property(“ADBE Vector Group”).property(“ADBE Vectors Group”).property(“ADBE Vector Shape – Group”).property(“ADBE Vector Shape”);

Could this be a case?I tried your direct access without matchnames, and both ways retrieve the same shape object, so I guess it shouldn’t be a problem for shape is built and declared. However, nothing happens.

My assumption is that copying doesn’t occur, because if I debug after copying is made, there are no actionable ‘paste data’. Any ideas why? All layers are deselected, and I am selecting the path as :

shapeLayer.selected = true;
curShape.selected = true;


While debugging, I can see that proper items are selected (the path with stopwatch). But the copying of its data seems to be failing.

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
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[Andrei Popa]

I don’t know where your error comes from. I used it like this in a fresh project with 2 layers. I even used the same layer(I copied the Path data to the Position of the same layer) and it worked.


function copyPathToPosition(pathLayer, positionLayer){

var myPosition = positionLayer.property("ADBE Transform Group").property("ADBE Position");
var myPath = pathLayer.property("ADBE Root Vectors Group").property("ADBE Vector Group").property("ADBE Vectors Group").property("ADBE Vector Shape - Group").property("ADBE Vector Shape");

pathLayer.selected = true;
myPath.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(19); //Copy
pathLayer.selected = false;

positionLayer.selected = true;
myPosition.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(20); //Paste
positionLayer.selected = false;
}

L1 = app.project.item(1).layer(1);
L2 = app.project.item(1).layer(2);
copyPathToPosition(L1,L2);


I assume it may be something other that you use in your script that does not allow the things to happen. Maybe if you give some more details, i can try to figure out why it’s not working.

I have tested it in AE 2017 and AE 2020

Andrei
My Envato portfolio.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Thanks a lot for your help Andrei! I just narrowed down this up to the point, that it definitely works in a blank project, but it doesn’t in my ‘shape case’.

If I trigger this script in a dummy project and stop after ‘copy’ step, data is copied.
If I do the same in my script – it doesn’t.

This leads to the point, where copying does not execute, just passes that step without any thrown error either. I can see the only reason myself:
*Not properly built shape path?* I have a shape layer in the comp, which contains plain ‘Contents’ such as stoke and fill.

var shapeLayer = comp.layer(1);
var pathShape = new Shape();
var pathGroup = shapeLayer.property("Contents").addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
pathGroup.name = "path";
var myPath = pathGroup.property("Contents").addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");


Then just applying vertices array built in other step:

pathShape.vertices = verticesArray;
myPath.property("Path").setValue(pathShape)
pathGroup.moveTo(1);

Path builds without any problems, with proper vertices.

If you see a way where to look further, it would be amazing to receive some guideline, as I am hitting head into a wall for a while already!

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview

[Andrei Popa]

There is some black magic going here, I’m telling you. It seems to work on my side. Here are details.

So what i did:
Blank project.
I draw a layer as source for the script created path. I name this layer “Source Path”. This will be layer 3.
I create a dummy layer that i use for pasting to position property. This will be layer 2.
I run this first to create a new Shape and paste the vertices from the other “Source Path” layer. This is the code you provided except the first line where i create the layer.


var shapeLayer = app.project.activeItem.layers.addShape();
var pathShape = new Shape();
var pathGroup = shapeLayer.property("Contents").addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
pathGroup.name = "path";
var myPath = pathGroup.property("Contents").addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");

verticesArray = app.project.item(1).layer("Source Path")("ADBE Root Vectors Group")(1)("ADBE Vectors Group")(1)("ADBE Vector Shape").value.vertices;
pathShape.vertices = verticesArray;
myPath.property("Path").setValue(pathShape)
pathGroup.moveTo(1);


Now we have layer one which is a shape layer created by the script and layer 2 which is the dummy to test the position.

I run this and it works. Turns out you did not need to select the layer before the property. I had this in a larger function and i think i used it for something else.

function copyPathToPosition(pathLayer, positionLayer){

var myPosition = positionLayer.property("ADBE Transform Group").property("ADBE Position");
var myPath = pathLayer.property("ADBE Root Vectors Group").property("ADBE Vector Group").property("ADBE Vectors Group").property("ADBE Vector Shape - Group").property("ADBE Vector Shape");

myPath.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(19); //Copy
pathLayer.selected = false;

myPosition.selected = true;
app.executeCommand(20); //Paste
positionLayer.selected = false;
}

L1 = app.project.item(1).layer(1);
L2 = app.project.item(1).layer(2);
copyPathToPosition(L1,L2);


Now you need to figure out what in your project is not like in this project.

Some things that complicated my stuff in the past:

Having layers with the same name
Having properties in the same group with the same name
Getting the property variable using matchName without index. I had a problem like this where it got only the first shape in a group with multiple shapes.
A variable of the wrong type. Sometimes I used setValue or the = operator or some sort of methods on 2 variables that were not compatible. Script broke sometimes with no errors shown.

This is pretty much everything i can get with the information you provided.
Good luck on your which hunt 😀

Andrei
My Envato portfolio.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Andrei, thanks a lot for your insights!

Yesterday I tried all possible scenarios without any luck. Yet today, first thing in the morning solution literally popped into my hear… The comp is not active in my script !

With that said, not sure how this slipped through, but yourLayersComp.openInViewer() solves this in ease ☺

Thanks for participating, Andrei, there was a bunch of useful pin points to check.

On the other hand, is there a way to control ‘time duration’ of pasted roving end keyframe, without deleting and creating a new keyframe?

Find out more:
After Effects Tutorials: motion design, expressions, scripting.
Boxer – Dynamic Text Boxes Template with a Live Preview