Guide Layer from project panel?

[Graham Quince]

Not that I’m aware of, but if you copy and paste your guide layer from one comp to another, it’ll stay as a guide layer.

Have you considered using the built-in text safe area and adjusting the margins in Preferences > Grid & Guides?

[Max Haller]

Thanks Graham, the copy and paste method is how i normally do it currently. I would use the built in guide except its a slightly different safe area for some of the networks. Some have a lot less space than others or big bug safe areas i have to avoid so that’s why i rely on their overlay. Appreciate your answer though!

[Walter Soyka]

I wrote a quick little script to set every layer instance of the selected project items as guide layers. Save this as a JSX file, install in your scripts folder, and off you go.

Please note, this will NOT work exactly as you want (although your idea would make a great feature request). It will only affect layers that already exist in the project; new layers made from the project item will NOT automatically be guide layers; you’ll have to run the script again. But at least you can rest assured that if you run this before you render, your guides will be set as such.

// keen-GuideItems.jsx
// this script takes the the project selection, searches each comp for layers sourced from those item(s), and sets them as guide layers (if needed).
var selectedItems = app.project.selection.length > 0 ? app.project.selection : null;
if (selectedItems != null) {
    // we always set an undo to be nice to our users
    app.beginUndoGroup("Guide item");
    // we'll want to track what we do so we can report back to our users
    var setGuideLayerCount = 0;
    var affectedCompList = [];
    // for each item selected in the project panel... 
    for (var selectedItemsIndex = 0; selectedItemsIndex < selectedItems.length; selectedItemsIndex++) {
        currentItem = selectedItems[selectedItemsIndex];
        // we'll step through every comp in the project... 
        for (var projectItemIndex = 1; projectItemIndex <= app.project.numItems; projectItemIndex++) {
            if (app.project.item(projectItemIndex) instanceof CompItem) {
                var currentComp = app.project.item(projectItemIndex);
                // and look at every layer to see if they match our selected source layer
                for (var compLayerIndex = 1; compLayerIndex <= currentComp.numLayers; compLayerIndex++) {
                    var currentLayer = currentComp.layer(compLayerIndex);
                    // and for any layers that do match and are not already guide layers, set them as guide layers
                    // increment the guide layer count, and push the comp onto the list of affected comps
                    if  ( (currentLayer.source == currentItem) && (currentLayer.guideLayer == false) ) {
                        currentComp.layer(compLayerIndex).guideLayer = true;
                        setGuideLayerCount++;
                        affectedCompList.push(currentComp);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    // remove duplicate comps from our list of affected comps
    for (var compListIndex = affectedCompList.length; compListIndex > 0; compListIndex--) {
        if (affectedCompList[compListIndex] == affectedCompList[compListIndex-1]) {
            affectedCompList.splice(compListIndex, 1);
        }
    }
    // summarize the changes in the Info panel
    writeLn("Set " + setGuideLayerCount + " guide layer" + (setGuideLayerCount == 1 ? "" : "s")  + " in " + affectedCompList.length + " comp" + (affectedCompList.length == 1 ? "" : "s") + ".");
    // that's all, folks. wrap up the undo
    app.endUndoGroup();
} else {
    alert("No items selected. This script search each comp in the project for layers from the first selected project item and set them as guide layers.");
}

[Max Haller]

Walter you never cease to amaze! Thank you very much ill try this script