Randomize Layer Order

[Caleb Armstrong]

This is what I have:

{
var myComp = app.project.activeItem;
var n = myComp.numLayers;
var myLayers = [];
var myIdx = [];
for (var i = 1; i
myIdx[i-1] = i;
myLayers[i-1] = myComp.layer(i);
}

var idx;
var temp;
for (var i = 0; i
idx = i + Math.floor(Math.random()*(myIdx.length – i));
temp = myIdx[i];
myIdx[i] = myIdx[idx];
myIdx[idx] = temp;
}
for (var i = 0; i
myLayers[myIdx[i]-1].moveToBeginning();
}
}

As I mentioned, this is my first experiment in trying to use a script, so I’m sure that I’m not implementing it correctly but I figured I’d ask about the script first.

Thanks again.

point9@gmail.com

[Dan Ebberts]

You didn’t pick up the full text of the for loop statememts (lines 6, 13 and 19). That sometimes happens because the less-than character ( < ) gets interpreted as html. Let's try it again: { var myComp = app.project.activeItem; var n = myComp.numLayers; var myLayers = []; var myIdx = []; for (var i = 1; i <= n; i++){ myIdx[i-1] = i; myLayers[i-1] = myComp.layer(i); } var idx; var temp; for (var i = 0; i < myIdx.length; i++){ idx = i + Math.floor(Math.random()*(myIdx.length - i)); temp = myIdx[i]; myIdx[i] = myIdx[idx]; myIdx[idx] = temp; } for (var i = 0; i < myIdx.length; i++){ myLayers[myIdx[i]-1].moveToBeginning(); } } Dan

[Caleb Armstrong]

Odd. I’m using Firefox and those characters aren’t getting picked up. I fired up Safari and was able to see the full code.

Now it works great. Awesome. Thank you so much!

point9@gmail.com

[Jim Branstetter]

hi Dan,

Found this thread but I think I missed something, where do you put this script.

In other words I’m kind of dense, Could you start at the beginning (the most basic as I’m not that great with expressions, getting better though) for me.

Thanks in advance, Jim

Jim Branstetter
RubberBulletStudio.com

[Jim Branstetter]

hi Dan,

Found this thread but I think I missed something, where do you put this script.

In other words I’m kind of dense, Could you start at the beginning (the most basic as I’m not that great with expressions, getting better though) for me.

Thanks in advance, Jim

Jim Branstetter
RubberBulletStudio.com

[Dan Ebberts]

Jim,

This is a script, not an expression. So you save it somewhere as a .jsx file and then execute it in After Effects by File > Scripts > Run Script File.. (and then navigate to the script).

Dan

[Jim Branstetter]

Thanks Dan

Jim Branstetter
RubberBulletStudio.com

[Sam Gregory]

Hi Dan,

I’ve used this script in CS5 an I’m getting this error;

Unable to execute script at line 7.
Expected: ;

any Ideas?

Many thanks

[Dan Ebberts]

Are you talking about the first script in this thread? I just tried it in CS5 and it works fine for me. Try just copying it from my post and pasting it directly into the script editor, then run it and see what happens.

Dan

[Sam Gregory]

Yes the first one you posted. Thanks the reply, Dan. I have copied directly into the script editor and ran it, typed it in text editor and saved it’s as a .jsx nothing is working. I think, maybe it’s because I’m running over a server, adobe products never work great over server.

Any ideas would be great. It would be great to not have to do it the long way round.