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Íslenska - Accounts
Inspiring
March 15, 2009
Question

Script to make multiple layers in one task

  • March 15, 2009
  • 14 replies
  • 9265 views
From time to time I find the need to make many empty layers named A-Z. I use this when preparing a font drawn in Illustrator for moving to FontLab.

I have not found any ready made script to do this and would like a little help to make one. Or, if somebody would like to make this script it would be even more helpful.

The situation is this:
A full set of glyphs is ready in Illustrator and all are on Layer 1.
Artboard is set according to: http://font.is/?p=48
Glyphs are aligned to left on top of each other.
Need to make empty layers, A-Z and even more. Tedious by hand.
Then each glyph is moved from the sublayers to their own new layers. I could continue doing this part by hand.

I could of course make these layers in one file and copy them each time to each project but a script would be soooo much cooler.

Any help with this? Hints?

Thanks in advance.
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14 replies

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try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
March 16, 2009
You can either run it manually by pressing Ctrl+F12 and then selecting the file or by placing it in the Scripts folder, which is typically:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CSx\Presets\Scripts\

If you choose the latter option the script will appear in the Scripts menu under File, but you will need to re-start Illustrator in order to see it.
Í
Íslenska - AccountsAuthor
Inspiring
March 16, 2009
Hi again.

I have copied the code and saved as a little .js file. I can not get Illustrator to run the file. It is grayed out.

The file looks like this:

//Apply to myDoc the active document

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
//define first character and how many layers do you need

var layerIniName =65;
var numberOfLayers=25;

//Create the layers

for(var i=0; i<=numberOfLayers; i++) {
var layerName = String.fromCharCode(layerIniName)
var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add(); myLayer.name = layerName layerIniName++
}

Am I doing something wrong?
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Íslenska - AccountsAuthor
Inspiring
March 16, 2009
Awww... really cool. Thanks so much.
I'll try it later on, just stuck in a major stress project right now.

You English is about the same quality as mine. (not native language).

I'll report, probably tonight when I have tried this.

Thanks again.
A
Anonymous
March 16, 2009
Hello Sigurdur,

With the follow JavaScript you can create layers in Illustrator.

layerIniName -> Put here first ASCII code (A=65, a=97)
numberOfLayers -> Put here how many layer do you need

Code:
//Apply to myDoc the active document
var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
//define firts caracter and how many layers do you need
var layerIniName =65;
var numberOfLayers=25;

//Create the layers
for(var i=0; i<=numberOfLayers; i++) {
var layerName = String.fromCharCode(layerIniName)
var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add();
myLayer.name = layerName
layerIniName++
}

I hope it will be usefully for you. Sorry for my english

Santiago
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