Script to add an effect to selected layers

[Dan Ebberts]

One problem I see is that selectedLayers is an array. If you only have one layer selected, you would access it this way:

selectedLayers[0]

Dan

[Stuart Elith]

Ahh thanks for that Dan, i probably wouldn’t have picked it up!

Well I’ve got it working after more trial and error… i’m not sure exactly why this particular code works but it does, which is good enough for me!
It can only apply to one layer at a time but that’s not a big bother for me either… I thought i worked out how to do it for more but it’s not working and I don’t care enough to spend a few hours getting annoyed while I work it out!

So for anyone else who’s interested :

{
// create an undo group
app.beginUndoGroup(“AddEffect”);

var curItem = app.project.activeItem;
var selectedLayers = curItem.selectedLayers;

// check if comp is selected
if (curItem == null || !(curItem instanceof CompItem)){

// if no comp selected, display an alert
alert(“Please establish a comp as the active item and run the script again”);

} else {

// define the layer in the loop we’re currently looking at
var curLayer = curItem.selectedLayers[0];

// check if that layer is a footage layer
if (curLayer.matchName == “ADBE AV Layer”){

// add a slider and three keyframes
var slider = curLayer.Effects.addProperty(“ADBE Fast Blur”);

}
}

// close the undo group
app.endUndoGroup();
}

Most of this code is based upon someone else’s from something, I’m sorry to say I don’t remember where it was from, so i can’t credit the person.

[Hamid Rohi-bilverdy]

Hi

Sorry for jumping in here so late.
But curItem.selectedLayers[0]; is selected from array, what if you wanted the actual selected layers??

So if I wanted to apply an effect on several layers??

[David Wigforss]

Since no one answered you….

You need to run thru a loop.


// define the layer in the loop we're currently looking at
for (i=0; i<selectedLayers.length; i++){
var curLayer = curItem.selectedLayers[i];

// add effect
var slider = curLayer.Effects.addProperty("ADBE Fast Blur");
}

[Emre Mutlu]

When i use this method in a variable i can’t use that var later. For example when i select a comp from timeline and run this script it says “undefined”. What is the proper way of doing this? What causes this problem?

Like :

var mainComp = app.project.item(1);
var selection = mainComp.selectedLayers[0];
alert(selection.numLayers);

alert says “undefined”.

[Emre Mutlu]

So i found what the problem is. Afx thinks it’s an AVLayer instead of CompItem when i use this line :

var selection = mainComp.selectedLayers[0];

I edited the script like this and it works :

var mainComp = app.project.item(1);
var selection = mainComp.selectedLayers[0].source;

alert(selectedComp.numLayers);

The result is exact number with this way. I’m not sure if it’s the correct way to do this but it works. If there’s an alternative way to do this, i would like to know. I hope it helps 🙂