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kalamazandy
kalamazandy
Known Participant
January 2, 2020
Answered

bug - copy paste layers with expressions

  • January 2, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 6189 views

First, i'm not posting this in any bug area because I can't find it. What the hell adobe? But if someone actually wants to fix their software, they'll look into it.

 

How to mess things up:

Create a layer with an expression tied to a layer, lets name the layer "Blue 42"

In my case, the expression was this:

thisComp.layer("Blue 42").content("Rectangle 1").content("Rectangle Path 1").size

 

Create a few other layers, just in case that makes a difference.

Now copy all of the layers.

Paste them into another composition.

 

Your layer blue 42 is now blue 43? But the expression stays attached to blue 42. 

So this is double wrong, in my opinion. If there is no blue42 in the new composition, the number shouldn't increase. Also, if a name is associated with an expression, in the past the expression has updated. 

 

To avoid this problem, remove the numbers. It only increments if you have a number at the end. But it breaks your expression, and it also didn't give me an error, which I thought was odd. I no longer have the layer it's pointing to. Shouldn't it throw an error at me?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Rick Gerard

    Bug reporting is right here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form - adobe.com. Any internet search should find it.

     

    If you copy multiple layers and you paste them in a new comp the layer names will not change. If you copy a layer that has not been renamed so the Source Name and the Layer Name are the same, you can paste it as many times as you like and a number will not be added.

     

    There are three options for copying expressions. Copy with Relative Property Links, Copy with Property Links and Copy expression only. They have 3 different behaviors. 

     

    I cannot replicate your problem in any way. Copying and pasting layers and/or expressions work exactly as expected. If you rename a layer the expression is also edited at the same time so renaming layers will not break expressions. You can also use a number instead of the layer name to point the expression to layer 5 no matter what that layer name is. You can also use index - 1 or index + 1 to point to the layer above or below instead of the layer name.

     

    3 replies

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    January 2, 2020

    Bug reporting is right here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form - adobe.com. Any internet search should find it.

     

    If you copy multiple layers and you paste them in a new comp the layer names will not change. If you copy a layer that has not been renamed so the Source Name and the Layer Name are the same, you can paste it as many times as you like and a number will not be added.

     

    There are three options for copying expressions. Copy with Relative Property Links, Copy with Property Links and Copy expression only. They have 3 different behaviors. 

     

    I cannot replicate your problem in any way. Copying and pasting layers and/or expressions work exactly as expected. If you rename a layer the expression is also edited at the same time so renaming layers will not break expressions. You can also use a number instead of the layer name to point the expression to layer 5 no matter what that layer name is. You can also use index - 1 or index + 1 to point to the layer above or below instead of the layer name.

     

    kalamazandy
    kalamazandyAuthor
    Known Participant
    January 2, 2020

    Thanks Rick. Although, funny thing is that's Not the first internet result, And it's a different option than the "adobe community professional" mentioned. It Is nice to be able to flag something as a bug instead of just submitting it to them through there because they Rarely respond in any way. I've used that one in the past. I think there used to be a link to it in the help menu. 

     

    Anyway, I'll have to go back to my previous version and do a video screengrab to show the issue. Unfortunately it's the worst kind of bug...the kind that only happens Sometimes under unknown circumstances.

     

    Yes, this is Usually the behavior. But it's not what was happening. It could be because this file originated a year ago, so was either 2018 or 2019 AE. It probably has something to do with how AE holds on to autoincremented numbers. I think I had used an autoincremented number and it Happened to be the correct name, so I must not have changed it explicitly. I'm moving to changing names to not end in numbers just to avoid any mistakes in the future. But there's no reason to know that until you've experienced an error, or you're taught about it. 

     

    I AM a little confused at your first statement about copying a layer as many times as you want without numbers being added. I'm trying to replicate what I thought you meant, but I don't think I'm understanding. Duplicating or copying a layer that I've named always adds a number unless I'm copying in a new place where the name doesn't already exist. 

    If I create a solid named black, and rename it "test" then copy that. Now in a new cop and create a null, name it test. Now paste and your solid should be named "test 2"

     

    The issue I was having was that even though the layer didn't exist, it was still being renamed. Not only that, but the expression attached to it was not updated. I'll have to screen record that. But that will have to wait until the project is complete. 

    D
    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    January 2, 2020

    When I Google "adobe after effects report bug" the link Rick posted is, in fact, the first one that comes up. And no, it's not the same one I posted because that is the old wish form that (as you said) used to be linked to from inside After Effects. If you choose "After Effects" from the dropdown on that page it takes to to the new UserVoice page which is what I posted in my inital reply, I was saving you a step.

     

    The old bug reporter gave no impression that anyone from Adobe heard us, but the new UserVoice site, while not the best feedback site I've ever used, does allow you to see other requests, as well as get feedback from the After Effects team. It would be better if there were a clear separatation of feature requests and bugs, but this is what we have.

    Mylenium
    Mylenium
    Legend
    January 2, 2020

    AE has always behaved in a similar way and auto-incremented the numbers when a new source item is created. Nothing wrong here. That's why I always considered it bad practice (or downright stupid, if you will, no offense) to not explicitly rename layers when dealing with expressions. The only thing that's really conspicuous is that indded it should throw a warning right as the expression breaks, but these days with AE's botched caching and über-convoluted ways of dealing with item relationships by ways of hacky functions, master properties and plugged on changes to ther render pipeline anything is possible. it seems more than obvious that it may not be able to detect state changes reliably, given what a mess it is...

     

    Mylenium

    kalamazandy
    kalamazandyAuthor
    Known Participant
    January 2, 2020

    That's not true. AE did not previously incremented numbers that don't exist in your composition. It only did that if you duplicated or pasted a layer in a composition that already had that number. 

    If you cut a layer that is numbered, and paste it just to reorganize, it doesn't rename the layer. I just tried it on a layer named "48 3" and sure enough it's still pasted as 48 3. And pasting a layer with a number into a new composition usually doesn't cause it to be renamed. Something is amuck.

     

    Also, saying no offense when calling someone stupid shows a lack of social intelligence. Maybe just leave those types of comments unwritten in the future, as they don't add to the value. 

     

     

    D
    David Arbor
    Inspiring
    January 2, 2020

    I'm not sure how you tried to find the feedback site, but a quick Google search of "adobe after effects report bug" will show a form at the top for you to choose any Adobe app to file a bug or feature on. An even faster way is directly from within After Effects.

     

    Help > Provide Feedback takes you right to the UserVoice site for After Effects: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects

     

    As for your actual issue I tried the same thing and didn't see Blue 42 increment.

     

    1. I created two rectangle shape layers, one named the default "Shape Layer 1" and the other named "Blue 42"
    2. I linked the size of "Shape Layer 1" to the size of "Blue 42"
    3. I copied the two layers, created a new comp, and pasted both

     

    The layer names were retained and the expression worked as expected.

     

    Can you post a screen recording showing the issue? Also, which version (exact version, please, not just the year) of AE are you using?

      kalamazandy
      kalamazandyAuthor
      Known Participant
      January 2, 2020

      Perhaps that's why it isn't obvious. There's nowhere there that is obvious for Reporting a Bug. That's where I went. And google brought me to the same location.

      You first have to give a title, then search, providing it doesn't exist, give it as an "idea?"

      One of the ideas there is actually, to give a proper bug reporting tool. lol

       

      The useability here is terrible. Adobe should be better at that. 

       

      I'll have to tweak some things to provide a screen recording, but may not get to it till tomorrow. 

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