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position a shape to the end of a text
Hi, maybe it’s not a real problem, I just want to ask you, maybe you have more experiences with this issue.
I’m working with text and shape layers, and don’t use anything, just script files. I want to position a shape to the end of a text, position the next text to the ‘end’ of the shape, etc
The text is changing, and I have to count the positions again and again.
I use the sourceRectAtTime function, to find the end of the text layer, and a constant, to position the shape to the right coordinate. It’s ok, but not perfect.
I realized, that the values from sourceRectAtTime are not the best for me. I made a little script (post it here, and of course, there are some exceptions 🙂 🙂 ) to look how it works, an I find, that last and first characters affect the width more than the others. MAGE.width != AMGE.width, but MAGE.width == MGAE.width
Did you have what can I do – a shorter/easier way – to find the right place for my shapes in the center between two text layers, what are changing? Thank you!
var myComp = app.project.activeItem;
var abc = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVZ';
var myText = myComp.layers.addText('');
var textSource = myText.property("Source Text");
var output3 = '';
var word, letter1, letter2, resultNUM;for(var i=0; i<3; i++){
letter1 = abc .substr(Math.floor(Math.random()*22),1);
letter2 = abc .substr(Math.floor(Math.random()*22),1);for (var j=0; j<7; j++){
word = '';
for (var k=0; k>>/*
P///29.9994142726064
T///25.8761719800532
!word - word : 4.12324229255319
-
P///29.9994142726064
T///25.8761719800532
!word - word : 4.12324229255319
-------PB///79.7273905519396
TB///76.933347530663
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
BP///80.8260233644396
BT///74.845945186913
!word - word : 5.98007817752659
-------PAR///122.69540578872
TAR///119.901362767443
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
ARP///127.52939016372
ART///120.414058079943
!word - word : 7.11533208377659
-------PACK///165.150729527697
TACK///162.35668650642
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
ACKP///171.387155361474
ACKT///165.407077183947
!word - word : 5.98007817752659
-------PCBJB///208.33436610736
TCBJB///205.540323086083
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
CBJBP///207.397158971056
CBJBT///201.41708079353
!word - word : 5.98007817752659
-------PVNIBQ///259.981576748192
TVNIBQ///257.187533726916
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
VNIBQP///261.838412633166
VNIBQT///255.858334455639
!word - word : 5.98007817752659
-------PKJJCLP///282.672342129052
TKJJCLP///279.878299107775
!word - word : 2.79404302127659
-
KJJCLPP///282.818826504052
KJJCLPT///276.838748326525
!word - word : 5.98007817752659
-------R///30.6585939601064
M///29.9777344800532
!word - word : 0.68085948005319
-
R///30.6585939601064
M///29.9777344800532
!word - word : 0.68085948005319
-------RJ///59.9303201343864
MJ///65.0830544568598
!word - word : -5.15273432247341
-
JR///70.8800271656364
JM///72.0044411756098
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------RNK///126.529780736193
MNK///131.682515058666
!word - word : -5.15273432247341
-
NKR///125.907222142443
NKM///127.031636152416
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------RTLI///144.679538121447
MTLI///150.96752635017
!word - word : -6.28798822872341
-
TLIR///153.285495152697
TLIM///154.40990916267
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------RJTLV///194.067080846056
MJTLV///199.21981516853
!word - word : -5.15273432247341
-
JTLVR///201.244815221056
JTLVM///202.36922923103
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------RISBJR///237.056772060692
MISBJR///242.209506383166
!word - word : -5.15273432247341
-
ISBJRR///235.251498570666
ISBJRM///236.375912580639
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------RQFGSPB///314.690002704039
MQFGSPB///319.842737026513
!word - word : -5.15273432247341
-
QFGSPBR///316.510217495263
QFGSPBM///317.634631505236
!word - word : -1.12441400997341
-------K///28.3406251575798
Q///36.0052736476064
!word - word : -7.66464849002659
-
K///28.3406251575798
Q///36.0052736476064
!word - word : -7.66464849002659
-------KI///58.5020974781364
QI///65.8263162281364
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
IK///61.2012185193598
IQ///66.9981912281364
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------KJV///106.754390111193
QJV///114.078608861193
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
JVK///112.602925214916
JVQ///118.399897923693
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------KIHM///163.576022496447
QIHM///170.900241246447
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
IHMK///166.27514353767
IHMQ///172.072116246447
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------KJLSC///190.697940221056
QJLSC///198.022158971056
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
JLSCK///197.31551829353
JLSCQ///203.112491002306
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------KUFPTU///259.567904820666
QUFPTU///266.892123570666
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
UFPTUK///262.230404768139
UFPTUQ///268.027377476916
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------KOASMTI///293.428088536486
QOASMTI///300.752307286486
!word - word : -7.32421875
-
OASMTIK///299.726916661486
OASMTIQ///305.523889370263
!word - word : -5.79697270877659
-------*/
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6 Replies
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“The text is changing” === Source Text is changing, not position, or anything else
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Sounds very complex. If you can upload a picture or two of what you are trying to achieve, perhaps there is a whole different approach someone can suggest for the problem.
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Maybe it will show my problem, thank you!
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It is not an After Effects solution, but I would make this into a font with those shapes as characters, then you could type it in as text and everything else would be pretty straightforward.
I use Fontlab’s FontoGrapher but there are some free font creation programs that should do it as well:
https://mashable.com/2011/11/17/free-font-creation-tools/#TAsnSvmcZGkP
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Great idea, but I’m afraid, It doesn’t work for me, It’s a lyric video, and all the 240 words contain these two characters. The Idea, that the shape chracters stays on the screen, and the other parts of the words appear and disappear, with animation, 3d position, opacity, etc, anything, I guess, impossible make it with one textlayer/word :/
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I see. So you need the two shapes to smoothly move from one position to the next while the words around them change.
How about creating the words with placehold characters with suitable spacing for the shapes such as bullet and asterisk with spaces on each side (” • ” and ” * “), then calculating the position of just those characters and animating the position of the shapes to match the positions of the bullet and the asterisk? You wouldn’t have to worry about spacing any of the characters in the words, just calculating those two locations in the consecutive words and animating the position of the shapes between them.
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