scripting : creating comp

[Nicholas Joseph]

sweet!! that worked… and this also works:

var compFolder = app.project.items.addFolder(‘comp’);
compFolder.items.addFolder(‘comp2’);

thanks again

[Nicholas Joseph]

hey there again…ignor that last question…i was able to solve it.

Thanks for all your help Dan…Im sure I will have tons more questions 🙂 I am starting to understand a bit.

For all those who are in the same boat as me… Here are some notes that I took. Hopw it helps you get started aswell.

//Creates a new project
app.project.close(CloseOptions.DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES); //close without saving
app.newProject();
var proj = app.project;

//Create Folders
var compFolder = app.project.items.addFolder('comp'); //Folder called COMP on root DIR

//Sets Parent Folders
var compFolder = app.project.items.addFolder('comp'); //folder1
var compFolder2= app.project.items.addFolder('comp2');//folder2
compFolder2.parentFolder = compFolder;//makes folder 2 child of folder1
or
var compFolder = app.project.items.addFolder('comp'); //folder1
compFolder.items.addFolder('comp2');//creates folder2 inside of folder1

//Import a file
var myfile = app.project.importFileWithDialog(); //the file is stored in array index 1

//Makes child a partent of a folder
myfile[0].parentFolder = compFolder2;

//Get file Attributes and set them to variables
var myfileWidth = myfile[0].width;
var myfileHeight = myfile[0].height;
var myfileFrameRate = myfile[0].pixelAspect;
var myfileFrameRate = myfile[0].duration;
var myfileFrameRate = myfile[0].frameRate;

//Create comp with attributes of the file
var myComp = app.project.items.addComp( "Hello Comp1", myfile[0].width, myfile[0].height, myfile

[0].pixelAspect,myfile[0].duration,myfile[0].frameRate);

//Create a comp in a folder as a child
var myComp = compFolder.items.addComp(attributes); //creates comp inside compFolder(comp)
or
var myComp = app.project.items.addComp(attributes); //Creates new comp on root directory
myComp.parentFolder = compFolder; //moves from the root to compFolder

//Addin footage to comp
var newObj = myComp.layers.add(myfile[0]);//adds myfile to mycomp

https://www.mitchallen.com/aftereffects/2006/03/after-effects-scripting-101.html
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/227/17300
https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/pdfs/aftereffectscs3_scripting_guide.pdf

[Nicholas Joseph]

hi Dan…Im back 🙂

Can you help me with an issue I am having please…
I am having trouble accessing info/data from an imported file.

Check out the image

So I have these folders and they are all set in variables.
I then use:

function Roto()
{
rotoFiles = app.project.importFileWithDialog(); //the file is stored in array index 0
rotoFiles[0].parentFolder = _ROTOFolder;
}

to import another AE file with a directory and some comps. (ROTOTEST.AEP)

What I am trying to do to get the Comps from the rototest.aep folder and place them in the COMP>Precomp>_DM folder. Can you help me with that code please.

As always…Thank you very much for all your help. I owe you a pint.

Here is how I created the folders:

var compFolder;
var _DMFolder;
var PreCompFolder;
var _ELFolder;
var _MFolder;
var sourceFolder;
var _MMFolder;
var _ROTOFolder;

function FolderStructure()
{
compFolder = app.project.items.addFolder(‘COMP’);
sourceFolder = app.project.items.addFolder(‘SOURCE’);
PreCompFolder = compFolder.items.addFolder(‘PRECOMP’);
_DMFolder = PreCompFolder .items.addFolder(‘_DM’);
_ELFolder = PreCompFolder .items.addFolder(‘_EL’);
_MFolder = PreCompFolder .items.addFolder(‘_M’);
_MMFolder = sourceFolder.items.addFolder(‘_MM’);
_ROTOFolder = sourceFolder.items.addFolder(‘_ROTO’);
}

[Theo Van laar]

What is the best way to learn how to script in AE? I am a MAYA TD but it seems AE is 10 times harder than scripting in Maya. Do you have any resources that you recommend?

https://www.amazon.com/After-Effects-Expressions-Marcus-Geduld/dp/024080936X

Theo

[Dan Ebberts]

I haven’t tested any of this code, but I’d think you need a little routine that tests to see if a comp is in the folder structure that needs to be moved and a loop that checks every comp in the project. Something like this:


function compTest(theItem);
if (!(theItem instanceof CompItem)) return false;
var temp = theItem.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "M_") return false;
temp = temp.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "PreComp") return false;
temp = temp.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "COMP") return false;
temp = temp.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "ROTOTEST.aep") return false;
temp = temp.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "_ROTO") return false;
temp = temp.parentFolder;
if (temp == null || temp.name != "SOURCE") return false;
return true;
}

var myItem;
for (i = 1; i <= app.project.numItems; i++){ myItem = app.project.item(i); if (myItem instanceof CompItem){ if (compTest(myItem)) myItem.parentFolder = _DMFolder; }

Dan

[Nicholas Joseph]

yooo… thanks.. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on in your example but i was able to understand pieces of it. Because my folders are always the same(same index) i was able to write this and it worked great. 😉

var RotoMaskFolder = rotoFiles[0].item(1).item(1).item(1);
var numberItems = RotoMaskFolder.numItems;
for(var i = numberItems; i >=1; i– )
{
//alert(RotoMaskFolder.item(i).name);
var matte = RotoMaskFolder.item(i).duplicate();
matte.name = RotoMaskFolder.item(i).name;
matte.parentFolder = _MFolder;
}

Hey… are you the same Dan that owns the motionscript site??
i always use motionscript.com and nabscripts.com for reference.

thanks again

[Nicholas Joseph]

Hi there Dan…Its been a few days..and I’m back. 🙂

I’m having an issue with finding a length of a string.

so… here is what I have…

var mySelection = app.project.selection; (selection of a .mov file with the name “smf_zzh110_v10”) and what I get is a string array with “smf_zzh110_v10” stored in index 0.
but now…I want to get the lenght of the array of index[0].
when I use “alert(mySelection[0].length)” i get an error.

How would I go about removing “zzh110” from the string[0].

so pretty much how to get the length of an array inside of an array.

Hope you can help…

Thanks Again

Nik

[Dan Ebberts]

I think your problem is that the selection array is an array items, not strings. To get the name, you need to do something like this:

var mySelection = app.project.selection;
var myStr = mySelection[0].name;

Dan

[Nicholas Joseph]

yesss.. that worked beautifully.

Thanks Again for all your help.

[Nicholas Joseph]

Hi there Dan…Its been awhile 🙂

Can you please help me with another issue I am having…

I am trying to replace a footage with the same footage(updated) but in a different folder.
Here is my test::

var myFile = app.project.selection;
var myFileName = myFile[0].name;
var indexOfFile = myFileName.indexOf(“.”);
var myFileFolderName = myFileName.slice(0,indexOfFile);
var myFileLocation = myFile[0].mainSource.file;

var selectFolder = Folder.selectDialog(“Select ReTarget Root”);
var targetFolder = selectFolder.toString();

targetFolder = targetFolder + “/” + myFileFolderName + “/” + myFileName;

myFile[0].mainSource.file.missingFootagePath(targetFolder);

The last line always errors out. Can you please look over my code and tell me where I went wrong.

Thanks Again,

NIK

Thanks Theo…I shall look it up.