• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  sourceRectAtTime() Changing/Cropping the Bounds of a Text Layer?

  Posted by David Conklin on August 25, 2016 at 8:14 pm

  Hey everyone – got a weird one this time.

  I have a simple expression to centre the anchor point on a type layer. It’s applied to the anchor point and looks like this:
  var box = sourceRectAtTime(time,true);
[box.width * 0.5 , box.height * -0.5]

  However, it seems like this expression is masking the edges of capital ‘C’ or ‘S’ characters (any character that peaks above the Cap Height or below the base line, it seems). The font I am using is Gotham Narrow.

  This is what the top of the type looks like without the expression applied:
  

  And when you apply the expression, you get this (it’s super subtle. Check the top of the C and S):
  

  I know this is a weird one, but does anyone have any thoughts or potential work arounds? The temporary solution is to offset the anchor point centering slightly, changing the expression to the following:
  var box = sourceRectAtTime(time,true);
[(box.width+1) * 0.5 , (box.height+1) * -0.5]

  AE CC2015.3 (13.8.0.144) on Mac OS X 10.11.1

  Thanks in advance!

  David Conklin
  mographcode.tumblr.com

  David Conklin replied 9 years, 8 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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