Adobe After Effects Help Thread

[pichu]

undefined is not an object... I get that question all the time from people because they do not like to read. The main reason is the typos.

1. Composition names are case-insensitive. It's a linear search from app.project.items

2. Layer names are case-sensitive. It inherits from app.project.items[].layers().

3. Property names are case sensitive. It basically is the same as with(app.project.items[].layers()){eval(property);}

4. [Text] Animators' names are case sensitive. See properties WHY.

5. Style names must be in lower case. Yes, I broke this part, but .ass is indeed case-insensitive, so why shouldn't it be?

Other than that, you guys seriously need to brush up your AE. The script isn't meant for those who are just new in AE. It requires you to create your own templates in AE, so that means you need to know what you're doing. You can't just come here asking how to do this and how to do that... And uhh vertical text layers -- that's basic.

I do have plans to improve the method, but I don't have the time.

PS 0.56 fixed the following:

1. Codes can now be put into layer comments. That's the plan of my next version, as I noticed that comments have limitation of 32kB of text in comparison to expression, which is limited to 8kB.

2. Auto-zero spacing for vertical text layers IS fixed. This means you can use scaling properly in your karaoke for KANJI. It's not like I care.

3. I added automatic layers associations from one template layer to another. My aep posted here demonstrated this procedure.

If it's broken in 0.56, it should be broken in 0.55, because I haven't changed anything.

[phantom_2040]

Hi I'm noob and have a question, how I can make an object(strawberry) moving faster, to point A to B and C, like this 2 images:

Spoiler for image:

http://img27.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=object1.jpg

cause I was trying, but it moves to slow syllable per syllable.
Thanks in advance

[crash-kun]

Originally Posted by phantom_2040

Hi I'm noob and have a question, how I can make an object(strawberry) moving faster, to point A to B and C, like this 2 images:

Spoiler for image:

http://img27.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=object1.jpg

cause I was trying, but it moves to slow syllable per syllable.
Thanks in advance

Is this for karaoke or just to move some object across the screen?

[dj_tjerk]

I'm seeing one picture of BECK, and one of PoT? Anyway, to make the mouth move like Shinji did in his kara of beck, i guess the easiest way is to use AE's puppet tool and animate that.

For an object jumping over syllables like in his PoT karaoke, and do it parabolically, you can just separate the x and y coordinates (CS4 can do that) and use ease-ease on the y coordinate, and normal linear keyframes on the x coordinate. I think.. /me pokes crash

[antonis]

Hello everybody I am an afx noob and I have a question.
I am trying to create a simple scale effect using shinjipiere's script.
First I timed my karaoke using keyframe style 3 and added scale like this:keyframe style 7 add---> scale--->effect selector--> click scale while pressing alt and then take the whip and put it in keyframe style 1 -->effect selector---> start (the clock is stopped). And it worked.
Then I retimed it (deleting KFS7) using keyframe style 2 and did the same thing as before but the effect doesn't show up. All the other effects (glow and mirror) work perfectly.
I am using AFX CS3.

[phantom_2040]

Originally Posted by crash-kun

Is this for karaoke or just to move some object across the screen?

Yes is for karaoke, like dj say for an object jumping over syllables. I can't do that the object move faster.

Originally Posted by dj_tjerk

I'm seeing one picture of BECK, and one of PoT? Anyway, to make the mouth move like Shinji did in his kara of beck, i guess the easiest way is to use AE's puppet tool and animate that.

For an object jumping over syllables like in his PoT karaoke, and do it parabolically, you can just separate the x and y coordinates (CS4 can do that) and use ease-ease on the y coordinate, and normal linear keyframes on the x coordinate. I think.. /me pokes crash

Ok, thanks, although I use CS3, I will try.

[crash-kun]

phantom_2040, are you animating this by hand or with a script?

And dj_tjerk is right, you would want to split the X and Y values of the Position property so that you can use something like Ease-ease (depending on what you want). I would do this with an expression and have a Slider expression control for either the X or Y value (or both). Then you can split up the components regardless of AFX version.

[pichu]

Originally Posted by dj_tjerk

I'm seeing one picture of BECK, and one of PoT? Anyway, to make the mouth move like Shinji did in his kara of beck, i guess the easiest way is to use AE's puppet tool and animate that.

For an object jumping over syllables like in his PoT karaoke, and do it parabolically, you can just separate the x and y coordinates (CS4 can do that) and use ease-ease on the y coordinate, and normal linear keyframes on the x coordinate. I think.. /me pokes crash

Automatic or manual?

The easiest way is to animate time-remap, where you would animate a few mouth movements in a separate comp (animating vectors would be more preferred, as there will be too many variables in puppet tool) , and then animate the time-remap externally based on the audio spectral keys.

There's a great research in lip movements... I suspect most of those jobs are just simple 'wa-wa-wa-wa' movements like what anime artists do all the time, unless you're going in depth in animating mouths like Disney's, which is more accurate (like Little Mermaid). They can be manual (auditing) or robotic (i.e. sensors). Automatic voices to lip movements normally fail, I think.

[chaos4ever]

tl;dr

a year AWOL, and i'm supposing the AFx scene has changed much since. just wondering if scripting is still mostly used for karaoke, or if some of it has expanded into the typesetting/AFx domain?

secondly, i still have CS3 on the computer, how well does it uninstall to allow for the CS4 install, or should i just reformat?

thanks.

... and hi! :3

[crash-kun]

Originally Posted by chaos4ever

a year AWOL, and i'm supposing the AFx scene has changed much since. just wondering if scripting is still mostly used for karaoke, or if some of it has expanded into the typesetting/AFx domain?

Well scripting is really used for repeating a similar process a bunch of times, which is why its perfect for karaoke. I don't really see scripting being useful in typesetting at all since each sign is different in some crucial way, be it movement, placement, font or a whole number of other things.

Originally Posted by chaos4ever

secondly, i still have CS3 on the computer, how well does it uninstall to allow for the CS4 install, or should i just reformat?

thanks.

... and hi! :3

I'm sure it uninstalls fine (though I have both CS3 and CS4 installed).

[krisztian922]

Hy again

I tried to make a karaoke with starglow effect so I needed make different layers for each syllable. First I tried to do it that way how crash-kun said to somebody a few page back, so I just wrote in the KRK layer .l( "romaji" , true ) but with this it's just didn't work. Every syllable invisible, it's just showing up when the syllables are sung and every syllable have severally in-out animation and it's kind of ugly ^_^.

Second time I tried to make 2 romaji layers, the first romaji just make the in-out and the second will move when the sung song and of course when the second are showing the first are visible....it's nice to say but I could do this ^^'
here's my code;

add( “romaji” )
.l( “romaji” , true )
.a( “scale”, true )
.a( “opacity” )
.p( ‘effect(“Starglow”)(“Streak Length”)’ , true )

add( “romaji 2” )
.l( “romaji” )
.a( “in out” )
.a( “opacity” )

Maybe I just did something stupid with my 2nd variation? or there is just something what I should to add my code-karaoke....so I already don't really know what I'm doing anyway >.< help please :P

[antonis]

Hello everybody I am an afx noob and I have a question.
I am trying to create a simple scale effect using shinjipiere's script.
First I timed my karaoke using keyframe style 3 and added scale like this:keyframe style 7 add---> scale--->effect selector--> click scale while pressing alt and then take the whip and put it in keyframe style 1 -->effect selector---> start (the clock is stopped). And it worked.
Then I retimed it (deleting KFS7) using keyframe style 2 and did the same thing as before but the effect doesn't show up. All the other effects (glow and mirror) work perfectly.
I am using AFX CS3.

So I don't know what I am doing wrong.
And another question what is the code that kriztian has posted?
Any help is greatly appreciated

[pichu]

weird, i thought i replied to krisztian922 this morning... but anyways,

1. don't use smart quotes. There's a problem with utf regex replacement. In 0.56 update, I added codes in layer comments. (you can't undo there, so be careful what you wrote there)
2. For syllables per layer, you'll need to have:
a) A text animator that hides the entire selection (usually alpha or size)
b) Another text animator that shows the current syllable using SUBTRACT or ADD, depending in your settings.
c) Play around with text animators more to get the desired effects. You can preview it without generating the karaoke.

antonis, see the link in my signature. I'm going to work on v1.00 script this weekend (a modular form of the old one)

[pichu]

Speaking of which... I came across this on the web:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/aek/

the codes are non-object oriented (procedural programming), console-interface; it looks a lot like shinji's with karaoke styles just by skimming through the codes. It uses some program written in C to parse the .ass and get the positions using FreeType. Has anyone tried it?

[antonis]

Thanks for your help pichu! I am stil trying with my karaoke but in the meantime I tried to use your script with the help of crash's tutorial. For some reason the script didn't ran due to syntax error. My code was the same with crash's except for the part

l( "romaji" )

I typed

.l( "Default" )

.Default like in my ass karaoke file.
I'll try again later (I am awake for more than 24 hours). My only concern is that it might be a little too complicated for a starter like me because it involves writing code.

[LelouchVII]

Well its not that hard of a code. And crash really explains what each command represents... Maybe if you start working with different style names etc. you will become more familiar with the process of writing code.

[pichu]

Originally Posted by antonis

Thanks for your help pichu! I am stil trying with my karaoke but in the meantime I tried to use your script with the help of crash's tutorial. For some reason the script didn't ran due to syntax error. My code was the same with crash's except for the part I typed .Default like in my ass karaoke file.
I'll try again later (I am awake for more than 24 hours). My only concern is that it might be a little too complicated for a starter like me because it involves writing code.

the reason for a 'dot' before the l,p,a is because it's still under 'this' object, or the KRKLayer object. I have kept all calls to methods very simple...
and read the outline i wrote a few posts earlier regarding to the naming conventions...

oh btw, i was playing around with composition markers... the only way to read them is to use expressions, so i create a temporary text layer just to read it... you can't set them automatically.

[MoT7aRe]

Hello guys

I have a problem in After Effects

if i use Script " SSA to after effects loader.v0.82.jsx " and Import file

get Error 354

see in a picture

" Press Here "

pls help me ^^.

[antonis]

I understood what every command does and you are right that's fairly easy at least in crash's tutorial. But I am no programmer so I am not that used in writing code.
Pichu's script is based somewhat in javascript or am I mistaken ? The page in Pichu's site with the KRK codes is pretty comprehensive.
Anyways I guess I'll memorize those and try again with crash's tutorial.

[pichu]

Originally Posted by MoT7aRe

Hello guys

I have a problem in After Effects

if i use Script " SSA to after effects loader.v0.82.jsx " and Import file

get Error 354

see in a picture

" Press Here "

pls help me ^^.

By reading the codes, you might have inconsistent tags, or you might have something like:

{a comment}

Try this:
Replace line 333 from:

									if(valeur != 0) {

To:

									if(valeur) {

This will skip 0 as well as NaN for malformed tags or basic comments. I just didn't like the way how he parsed the .ass... since it will break if you have a inconsistent tag like:
{ \K100 }.

So, just keep in mind about it.
----

antonis, i'm sorry then..there's not a single karaoke scripts out there that don't require you to script... Shinji's requires you to USE expressions, which is another scripting. Though PT's doesn't require you to script at all, your karaoke will be nothing more than what the script can generate -- i.e. presets. Again, like I said, I only use scripting as a format for my configurations... It doesn't require you to make your own script at all.