[Jeff Hinkle]

In your Layers palette, click the Lock Transparency switch along the top (looks like a little square checkerboard), or hit your “/” key (next to Right Shift, same key as “?”). Either way, transparency will be protected and your strokes will only affect areas with opaque or semi-opaque pixels.

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It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Don’t think sourceRectAtTime() will work. We need to do things like 6P|5C with the “p”, “c”, and “|” needing to be different weights/sizes from the numbers and with flexible kerning. Short of five different text layers for every time, not sure how to make that work. That’s why I was so keen on the original post that mentioned targeting specific characters and keeping their formatting constant. I just couldn’t figure the character targeting. I need more JavaScript learnin’.

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It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

That’s quite the exodus. Never thought Ile would leave.

Yeah, right now we’re doing things with multiple text layers and trying to keep it all looking good. Seemed like it would work much better with a single multi-formatted text layer, which this process seemed like it would do if I could get it to work. Simplify setup on future projects as well. Hadn’t tried sourceRectAtTime to keep spacing; might give that a spin. Thanks for the idea!

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Hey, Kevin! Hope all is well back at The Q!

I tried merging something like that into the code I got from the original post (line 4) but it never seemed to work right. Adding a second Expression Selector targeting “#” just led to gibberish.

Overall view of what I’m trying to do: Have a slave text layer with text “$$$$####@@@” and multiple formatting (think $=day, #=time and @=time zone in different colors/sizes/weights), then pull its text from a master layer (or more if need be) that can be adjusted by a Premiere Live Text template. End result, editors can change show info in Premiere and the day/time formatting of the endpage will stay constant and kerning won’t vary wildly.

MT = thisComp.layer("master").text.sourceText;  
ST = text.sourceText;  
myChar="$";
if(textIndex <= ST.length && text.sourceText[textIndex-1] == myChar) STCode = ST.charCodeAt(textIndex-1) else STCode = 32;  
if(textIndex <= MT.length && text.sourceText[textIndex-1] == myChar) MTCode = MT.charCodeAt(textIndex-1) else MTCode = 32;  
CV = text.animator("days").property.characterValue;  
((MTCode - STCode)/(CV - STCode))*100  


—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Still not sure where the positioning problem is coming in. I made a marquee selection around your middle box (left image), clicked “make work path from selection” (middle image), and received a vector path the exact size and position as the selection (right image). Unless I misunderstood and that’s not what you’re after?

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It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

From the Adobe blog (https://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/after-effects-ready-for-mac-os-x-v10-11-el-capitan/):

Note that After Effects CS6 requires the 11.0.4 update to work on any version of Mac OS X from 10.9 forward because of an incompatibility between newer versions of Mac OS X and a GPU library used by After Effects.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I guess I’m not understanding what you want to do.

Any selection you make can be turned into a shape in the exact shape and position as the original selection by clicking the “make work path from selection” button.

If you want to select the entire canvas a’ la After Effects, it’s simply CMD/CTL-A. (Or Select>All)

If you want to create a rectangular shape from a non-rectangular selection, you can snap guides to the edges of your selection and then snap your rectangular path to the guides.

If you can provide a more specific example of what you want to accomplish, maybe I can better steer you down the right path.

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It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I’m with Dave and Richard. On the clips, between the lights and the short duration, I can’t make out anything. I can sort of make out the plate on the stills, but I have to really make an effort and even then I’m not 100% sure of any letters. But I can tell it’s a Mini Cooper, so that’s one mystery solved.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Absolutely. Just draw a selection, go to the Paths palette and click the Make Work Path from Selection button at the bottom (fourth from the left, looks like a circle with 4 small squares). That will create a new path the exact size and shape of your marquee selection.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Looks pretty okay to me.

Another possibility: It looks like this might be a video still (1280×720 image size). Is there a frame earlier in the shoot before the end cap is obstructed you could grab and use?

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.