• Adobe After Effects

  [script] creates nulls as parents at the top, bottom, left, and right edges

  Posted by Shusaku Takagi on August 5, 2024 at 7:32 pm

  The following script creates nulls as parents at the top, bottom, left, and right edges of the selected multiple layers' rectangles.
  This script is effective for shape layers with anchor points at [0,0], but it does not work for layers with anchor points not at zero or for regular layers.
  Could someone resolve this issue? Thank you.
  
  
  
     var proj = app.project;
  
      // Ensure a composition is open
      var comp = proj.activeItem;
  
      // Ensure layers are selected
      var selectedLayers = comp.selectedLayers;
  
      // Prompt the user to select the position of the null object
      var positionOptions = ["center", "top", "bottom", "left", "right"];
      var position = prompt("select position (center, top, bottom, left, right):", "right");
  
  
      // Start undo group
      app.beginUndoGroup("Create Null at Selected Position");
  
      // Calculate the bounding box of the selected layers
      var minX = Infinity, maxX = -Infinity;
      var minY = Infinity, maxY = -Infinity;
  
      for (var i = 0; i < selectedLayers.length; i++) {
          var layer = selectedLayers[i];
          var layerBounds = layer.sourceRectAtTime(comp.time, false);
  
          var layerMinX = layer.position.value[0] + layerBounds.left;
          var layerMaxX = layerMinX + layerBounds.width;
          var layerMinY = layer.position.value[1] + layerBounds.top;
          var layerMaxY = layerMinY + layerBounds.height;
  
          minX = Math.min(minX, layerMinX);
          maxX = Math.max(maxX, layerMaxX);
          minY = Math.min(minY, layerMinY);
          maxY = Math.max(maxY, layerMaxY);
      }
  
      var centerX = (minX + maxX) / 2;
      var centerY = (minY + maxY) / 2;
      var centerZ = 0;
  
      var nullPosition = [centerX, centerY, centerZ];
  
      switch (position) {
          case "top":
              nullPosition = [centerX, minY, centerZ];
              break;
          case "bottom":
              nullPosition = [centerX, maxY, centerZ];
              break;
          case "left":
              nullPosition = [minX, centerY, centerZ];
              break;
          case "right":
              nullPosition = [maxX, centerY, centerZ];
              break;
      }
  
      // Create a null object at the calculated position
      var nullLayer = comp.layers.addNull();
      nullLayer.name = "Positioned Null (" + position + ")";
      nullLayer.position.setValue(nullPosition);
  
      // Parent the selected layers to the null object
      for (var i = 0; i < selectedLayers.length; i++) {
          var layer = selectedLayers[i];
          layer.parent = nullLayer;
      }
  
      // End undo group
      app.endUndoGroup();

  Shusaku Takagi replied 2 years ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
• 0 Replies

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