creating shape from text and get the path

Hi,

you can execute the code below and follow step by step in estk to see what it does.

(past the execute command it does nothing except accessing properties in the created shape layer)

var comp = app.project.items.addComp('test', 1920, 1080, 1, 30, 25);
var textLayer = comp.layers.addText('Test');
// There is no scripting method to create shapes from text ==> use a menu commend
comp.openInViewer();
app.project.executeCommand(app.findMenuCommandId("Creates Shapes from Text"));
// At this stage, the comp is open in a viewer, the text layer is disabled, and the newly created shape layer is first in stack.
var shapeLayer = comp.layer(1);
var i, I, group, character;
var j, J, pathGroup, pathProperty, shape, vertices, inTangents, outTangents, closed;
I = shapeLayer.content.numProperties;
for (i=0; i<I; i++){
    group = shapeLayer.content.property(i);
    character = group.name;
   
    // Path groups come first.
    // There can be one or more, depending on the font character (eg 1 for E, 2 for e)
   
    j=1; J = group.content.numProperties;
    while (j<=J && group.content.property(j).matchName==="ADBE Vector Shape - Group"){
        pathGroup = group.content.property(j);
        pathProperty = pathGroup.path;    // or : pathGroup.property("ADBE Vector Shape")
        shape = pathProperty.value;
       
        // shape is a Shape object as described in the After Effects Scripting Guide.
        // Its control points are splitted in three arrays :
        //    vertices: Array of 2D points
        //    inTangents : Array of 2D vectors (shape.inTangents : the incoming tangent at vertex n)
        //    outTangents : Array of 2D vectors (shape.outTangents : the outcoming tangent at vertex n)
        // (points and vectors are both represented by arrays of the form [x,y])
       
        vertices = shape.vertices;
        inTangents = shape.inTangents;
        outTangents = shape.outTangents;
        closed = shape.closed;    // should be true for a component of a font character
       
        /*
        * do stuff with that shape
        */
       
        j++;
        };
    };

Xavier

This code will find all vertices and collect them into array.

var comp = app.project.items.addComp('test', 1920, 1080, 1, 30, 25);
var layer = comp.layers.addText("C");
comp.openInViewer();    // open comp
app.executeCommand(3781);   // convert text to shape
var shapeGroup = comp.selectedLayers[0]("ADBE Root Vectors Group")(1);
var verts = []; // array with points of the paths
/* FIND ALL SHAPE PATHS */
for(var i = 1; i <= shapeGroup.numProperties; i++){
    if(shapeGroup("ADBE Vectors Group")(i).name == shapeGroup.name){
        
        verts.push(shapeGroup("ADBE Vectors Group")(i)("ADBE Vector Shape").value.vertices);  
    }
}
alert(verts);