[Joe Richardson]

Oh, dang that’s really cool. I’ll try that!

[Joe Richardson]

I’m making 60 or so HUD elements, they’re gonna be reused like 20 times, and each time they will have new CSV data.

I was trying to figure out how to make a master-project where if I change it, the other projects will also be affected. At some point however, some of the iterations are going to require unique edits.

I guess I was wondering how to best go about it. Or if AE’s Essential Graphics and Template projects could allow me to make all my HUD elements, and then use them. However, I’d have to plug in the CSV path so that the HUD could be unique.

[Joe Richardson]

Thank you, but that would still leave me in the same spot I’m in where I’ll need a master-template project. It’s just like expressions where there’s a child & parent, I made a diagram to show what the setup is so far: https://i.imgur.com/i3ZXWbM.png

I’m using one “Master Project” and copying it 20 times with altered paths.

View post on imgur.com

[Joe Richardson]

Well, I got really close to figuring out how to do everything in one script. I also couldn’t figure out how to link to relative paths.

I just don’t know how to write in the expressions in the same line as the layer in the script editor. Stuff like quotes, “;”, and other things are very confusing. This is as far as I got:

var CSV_DataName_01;
myComp.layers.addText("CSV_DataName_01_Value").property("Text").property("Source Text").expression ="";
//var path = "D:\\Folder\\a.js";
//$.evalFile(path);
myComp.layers.addText("CSV_DataName_01_Label").property("Effects").addProperty("Slider Control").property("Slider").expression="";
//txt=thisComp.layer("CSV_DataName_01_Value").text.sourceText; if (! isNaN(parseFloat(txt))) parseFloat(txt) else value
myComp.layers.addSolid([1.0, 1.0, 0], "CSV_DataName_01", 50, 50, 1).property("Transform").property("Scale").expression ="";
//temp = thisComp.layer("CSV_DataName_01").effect("Slider Control")("Slider");
//[temp, 10]
//Also, I dont know how to add an effect in the same line after the expression: .property("Effects").addProperty("Transform")

[Joe Richardson]

I feel weird posting again, and I’m sorry if it’s improper board etiquette, but…

Basically, I’ve got a CSV with 50 columns or so that get turned into 50 JS files. I used another of Dan Ebberts’ scripts (https://www.motionscript.com/ae-scripting/create-text-layers-from-file.html) to create multiple text files and a solid from a TXT list.

I was wondering if it were possible to insert the corresponding Slider-Control effect and Source.Text expressions into each layer using the script.

This is my var text code:


var text;
while (!myFile.eof){
text = myFile.readln();
if (text == "") text = "\r" ;
myComp.layers.addText(text+".Value");
myComp.layers.addText(text+".Label");
myComp.layers.addSolid([1.0,1.0,0], text,50,50,1);


The way I have it set up is, I can do it manually once, for all 50(*3) layers and then save it as a template project since the Text-Label’s never change. But I’ve been digging a lot, and I wanted to throw it out there before plunging in.

I’ve been trying to teach myself how to do this, but inserting relative paths, expressions, is way out of my league. Again, thanks.

[Joe Richardson]

Update: I found what I think is a solution posted here by Dan Ebberts: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/227/15319#15321

The solution might be:


mySplit = txt.split(" ");
f = timeToFrames()
mySplit[Math.min(f,mySplit.length-1)]


However, I’m not sure how to transpose the code onto the .js file. I’ve been trying for a bit, but I can’t get it to update right.

The text layer’s Source Text expression is


var path = "D:\values.js";
$.evalFile(path);


values.js’ code is:


var string ="255,255,255,93,93,93,93,93,91, ....... ";
a = string.split(",");
f = timeToFrames()
string[Math.min(f,a.length-1)]


This prints a single digit and sometimes a comma in AE. I’m not sure how to co-opt the code as it’s an external JS file.