[Filip Vandueren]

Hi Jamel,

The value is correct: it is the height of the sourceText. But you need to multiply a layer’s sourceRect height by scale[1]/100 to get the actual pixel-size of the layer.

And if the layer is parented, you also need to take into account the scale of parents etc.

[Filip Vandueren]

value*strength*d;

And tweak strength.

Or, if you want to fine tune and limit it, use a linear() function something like:

linear(d, 0,960, 10,100);

[Filip Vandueren]

Hi jamel, “style” is the current layer’s style, in your case it needs to be the other layer’s style.

so the final line should be:

txt.style.setFontSize(fs).setAutoLeading(false).setLeading(ld).setText(txt);

[Filip Vandueren]

So again to clarify: it doesn’t let another expression see inside the expression code of another property, but it’s a way to format the resulting string-value of a sourceText expression into something another expression can easily interpret.

[Filip Vandueren]

Hi Yoan,

I use it to precompute some values in a text-layer, and then use the output of that textlayer as data in another expression.

If the result of a textlayer is just string we need to use, or a number, then you can simply get the value or value.parseFloat() of the textlayer, but in some cases you want to precompute a list of values or a list of key/value pairs.

a JSON type object is ideal for this.

So the expression on my precompute text layer ends with JSON.stringify(myStuff);

-> this turns the object or list of data I have into “readable/parseable” sourcecode including brackets, quotes,…

And where I want to use that information, I do JSON.parse(textlayer.text.sourceText.value) to “read” the generated sourcecode of the data object, and so the data becomes part of the expression.

Before the new Javascript engine, the alternative was to use eval(), which can do even more (it can actually execute functions and statements, not just import a data object)

[Filip Vandueren]

doesn’t toWorld() and fromWorld() work for this ?

[Filip Vandueren]

Definitely take a look at Pastiche, it’s a very handy plugin to automatically place hundreds of layers within a shape.

[Filip Vandueren]

Here’s a small adjustment that will support auto leading:

txt=text.sourceText;
fs= txt.style.fontSize * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider");
ld = (txt.style.autoLeading ? fs*1.2 : txt.style.leading * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider"));
style.setFontSize(fs).setAutoLeading(false).setLeading(ld);

[Filip Vandueren]

Hi Jamel, try this:

txt=text.sourceText;
fs= txt.style.fontSize * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider");
ld = txt.style.leading * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider");
style.setFontSize(fs).setAutoLeading(false).setLeading(ld);

Important: if you want to change leading or fontsize in the character palette, also first disable the sourceText expression!

you can do it all in code too like this for 60/90 size/leading:

txt=text.sourceText;
fs= 60 * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider");
ld = 90 * 1000/effect("boxWidth")("Slider");
style.setFontSize(fs).setAutoLeading(false).setLeading(ld);

[Filip Vandueren]

Hi Andrei, it appears to be a bug or at least an oversight in the text animators.

Let me think about a clever solution…