[Dan Ebberts]

I’m not sure what you’re asking exactly, but maybe like this:

txt = "";
if (marker.numKeys > 0){
  for (i = 1; i <= marker.numKeys; i++){
    txt += marker.key(i).comment;
  }
}
txt

[Dan Ebberts]

That one wasn’t quite right. This is better:

numLayers = 20;
startLayer = 1;
buzz_words = "";
for (var i = 0; i < numLayers; i++){
  buzz_words += thisComp.layer(startLayer + i).text.sourceText + (i < numLayers-1 ? "|" : "");
}
buzz_words

[Dan Ebberts]

As an example, if the first 20 layers of your comp were the buzz words input layers, something like this should work:

startLayer = 1;
numLayers = 20;
buzz_words = "";
for (var i = startLayer; i <= numLayers; i++){
  buzz_words += thisComp.layer(i).text.sourceText + (i < numLayers ? "|" : "");
}

[Dan Ebberts]

What are the names of the 20 layers?

[Dan Ebberts]

I haven’t tested this, but it seems like you’d want to do it this way:

myLayers[i].effect("APC Colorama").property(12).value
   ? myLayers[i].effect("APC Colorama").property(12).setValue(false)
   : myLayers[i].effect("APC Colorama").property(12).setValue(true);

[Dan Ebberts]

It’s a little tricky, but I think this will work in most situations:

newV1 = [100,200];
newV2 = [200,300];
if (numKeys > 1){
  v1 = key(1).value;
  v2 = key(numKeys).value;
  t1 = key(1).time;
  t2 = key(numKeys).time;
  if (time < t1){
    newV1;
  }else if (time > t2){
    newV2;
  }else{
    delta = v2 - v1;
    newDelta = newV2 - newV1;
    if (Math.abs(delta[0]) < .001){
      x = v1[0];
    }else{
      x = newV1[0] + ((value[0] - v1[0])/delta[0])*(newDelta[0]);
    }
    if (Math.abs(delta[1]) < .001){
      y = v1[1];
    }else{
      y = newV1[1] + ((value[1] - v1[1])/delta[1])*(newDelta[1]);
    }
    [x,y];
  }
}else
  value

[Dan Ebberts]

Like this, I think:

(function () {
	if(app.project.activeItem == null || !(app.project.activeItem instanceof CompItem)) {
		alert("please select a valid item");
		return false;
	}
	var myComposition = app.project.activeItem;
	var myLayers = myComposition.selectedLayers;
	for (var i = 0; i < myLayers.length; i++){	
		myLayers[i].property("ADBE Transform Group").property("ADBE Rotate Z").expression = 'value - parent.transform.rotation';
	}
})();

[Dan Ebberts]

This is a little test script that will apply my controls preset 3 times to layer 1 of my comp:

function test(){
	function deselectAll(theComp){
		var mySelected = theComp.selectedLayers;
		for (var i = 0; i < mySelected.length; i++){
			mySelected[i].selected = false;
		}
	}
	var myPresetPath = "/c/test/Test_Controls.ffx";
	var numControls = 3;
	var myComp = app.project.activeItem;
	var myLayer = myComp.layer(1);
	for (var i = 1; i <= numControls; i++){
		deselectAll(myComp);
		myLayer.selected = true;
		myLayer.applyPreset(File(myPresetPath));
	}
}
test();

[Dan Ebberts]

You can create a pseudo effect by editing AE’s PresetEffects.xml file to define your effect panel. Then you can apply that effect by script, using the effect’s match name. The problem is, doing it that way, the system where you run your script has to have your modifications to the xml file, so that’s not a vary viable method if anyone else needs to run your script. You can get around that issue by including “Pseudo/” at the beginning of your match name, but then you have to apply it as a .ffx file, with the constraints you mentioned.

The other alternative is to create your control panel as a actual effect, using the AE SDK, but that has its own steep learning curve and installation issues.

Having done many of these for various scripts, I’d recommend the .ffx route as being the most manageable.

[Dan Ebberts]

I forgot to mention, as-is, you could use this to drive a time-remapped animation. If you wanted to use it to drive some other animated property, you’d probably want to change the last line to:

valueAtTime(tMin == null ? 0 : tMin)