Show or hide a layer in After Effects (Without using Opacity)

[Dan Ebberts]

You can’t do it it with expressions, but with scripting it would be like this:

myLayer.enabled = false;

Dan

[Geof Gagnon]

Hey Dan, I’m currently having a problem and I can’t get this expression to work. My syntax is:


var path = "~/Desktop/fireball.png";

var io = new ImportOptions(File(path));

if (io.canImportAs(ImportAsType.FOOTAGE)){
io.importAs = ImportAsType.FOOTAGE;
io.sequence = false;
io.forceAlphabetical = true;

var sequence = app.project.importFile(io);
sequence.name = "importA";
}

var myComp = null; // assume the worst
for (var i = 1; i <= app.project.numItems; i++){
if ((app.project.item(i).name == "importA")){
myComp = app.project.item(i);
break;
}
}
if (myComp != null){
app.project.activeItem.layers.add(myComp);

}


no matter where I put the expression to disable the layer, it doesn’t seem to do it’s job. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Dan Ebberts]

Sorry–I’m confused. You mention an expression, but you posted a script. What is that you’re trying to do exactly?

Dan

[Geof Gagnon]

Sorry, it’s actually a script. On button click I create a solid, add particle world to it, then import a png file, add it to the composition, and then I’d like to hide it. I believe the reference to the .png by the time it reaches the composition is myComp. But I’m unable to disable it.

[Dan Ebberts]

Ah, OK–try this:

var myLayer = app.project.activeItem.layers.add(myComp);
myLayer.enabled = false;

Dan

[Geof Gagnon]

Worked like a charm, you’re a king among men Dan.
If you don’t mind me asking, what was the problem? It just needed to be assigned to a variable?

[Dan Ebberts]

Actually, you could have done it in one step like this:

app.project.activeItem.layers.add(myComp).enabled = false;

which would create the layer and disabled it. The key is that you have to apply the .enabled = false to a layer object. I’d probably first put the layer object into a variable (like my example) and then disable it, just for clarity.

Dan