Duplicate multiple layers and update expression references

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 17, 2020
3 replies
5614 views

Hi

Is there any way to duplicate a number of layers and have their expression references update to the new layers?

Example:

I have two layers. LayerA and LayerB. LayerA have this expression:

"thisComp.layer("LayerB").transform.scale"

so when I change the scale of layerB the scale of layerA will follow.

I now select the two layers and duplicate them. I get LayerA2 and LayerB2. LayerA2 is now connected to LayerB and not the new LayerB2.

Did that make sense? Is there a smart work around to have the layer references in expressions update when layers are duplicated? Or do you know any already made scripts that does this?

Thanks,

Jakob

Expressions

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Tomas Sinkunas

This is exactly what you need: https://aescripts.com/duplicatelayers-n-updateexpressions/

Tomas SinkunasCorrect answer

Legend

This is exactly what you need: https://aescripts.com/duplicatelayers-n-updateexpressions/

R

Rick Gerard

Community Expert

Tomas_Sinkunas nailed it... I just bought the script and it is perfect.

Mylenium

Legend

Working with indices as Rick suggested would be the simplest way. Otherwise you would need to integrate string functions to reconstruct the references and also meticulously adhere to specific naming conventions then, all of which could get quite annoying. In fact in such a case it still may often be simpler to manually update the effect references. Really depends on what numbers of layers you're dealing with and how they are ordered in the timeline, though.

Mylenium

J

Jakob Wagner 2048Author

Inspiring

Thanks Mylenium. I was mostly asking to check if I was missing something obvious in AE.

I often have several layers connected in a small setup and wish to just duplicate the whole thing without having to worry much about how the expressions are made.

I'll probably end up writing script that does this kind of duplicate I'm looking for.

R

Rick Gerard

Community Expert

If you have a small setup with a few layers you can pre-compose all of the layers, then duplicate the pre-comp in the Project Panel and then drop the duplicate pre-comp in the timeline.

The only other way I can think of is writing a script that creates the layers and the expressions.

If the layers you are duplicating are shape layers you can write expressions that look at the shape (Rectangle 1 for example) inside the shape layer based on their index, then just duplicate the shape layer or even just duplicate the shape. It would help us help you if we knew what you were trying to accomplish in detail.