[Justin Porter]

Ok, I figured that out. I had left out the “target =” right at the start.

So now the problem is this creates a line of text that spans the video, but it’s only a single line. I tried duplicating it and moving it, but the line of text does not seem to change based on where it’s positioned.

Again, I’m a little new to AFX scripting so I’m having trouble picking out what the problem is.

[Justin Porter]

Hey Kevin, thanks again for all your work on this. I tried doing it through this method, the problem is that it takes around 2000 of these single character layers to properly fill my work area. After Effects crashes around 1200 or so.

I also found this other technique:

https://www.creative-workflow-hacks.com/2007/08/27/more-fun-with-sampleimage-ascii-animation-in-after-effects/

It uses the expression:

target = thisComp.layer(“layerToSample.mov”);
samples = new Array();

var spacing = 10;
var w = target.width / spacing ;
var layerOrder = 1;
var h = 10 * layerOrder;

letters = ” .,:!-+=;iot76x0s&8%#@$”;

for(x= 0; x < w; x++){ samples[x] = target.sampleImage([x* spacing ,h],[spacing , spacing], false, time); } var string = ''; for(z = 0; z < samples.length; z++){ var y = Math.round((0.299 * samples[z][0] + 0.587 * samples[z][1] + 0.114* samples[z][2]) * 100)/ 4; string = string + letters.substring(y,y + 1); I applied this to the text field and it gives me an error: " Class "Layer" has no property or Method named "Target" " on line 5. I'm really new to After Effects scripting, so I don't know why it's giving me that error. But I think this one is set up to replicate the whole grid rather than just a single character.

[Justin Porter]

wow, thanks a lot Kevin, that’s really helpful. I’ll try to implement it a little later on and I’ll let you know how it works out.

Justin

[Justin Porter]

Anyone? I could really use some help with this.

[Justin Porter]

ha, yeah, that would have been smart, thanks for the tip.

[Justin Porter]

errr, sorry, click on the “Athena’s Birth” link on the left side to see the video I’m referring to.

[Justin Porter]

thanks, I’ll check it out

[Justin Porter]

yeah, tried that, my prayers weren’t answered. Mybe this show just isn’t meant to be 😉

[Justin Porter]

Hmmm, don’t know if I have a full answer to your question, but at least for making pixel art and getting it high res (which might make it easier to trace in Flash or AI) I will create it on a single pixel level in photoshop and then blow it up really big using “Image Size” and for “resample Image” pick “Nearest Neighbor” this retains the original pixels and doesn’t smooth it at all and might create something that Flash or Illustrator can then easily trace. Hope this helps.

[Justin Porter]

Nevermind, it seems to work fine now. I don’t know what the problem was before.