Centering the anchor point

[jonathanp53717501]

Is there an easy way to set the anchor point of a layer right in its center using script?

Currently, my script adds text layers to the active composition and styles the text. The things is I need the anchor point to be straight in the middle of the layer to make some position calculations.

By default, it seems to be set to the center/bottom of the text. (X/Y)

Thanks in advance

[Alex White]

    var myComp = app.project.activeItem;    
    var myLayer = myComp.selectedLayers[0]; 
    centerAnchorPoint(myLayer);
function centerAnchorPoint( layer ){
    var comp = layer.containingComp;
    var curTime = comp.time;
    var layerAnchor = layer.anchorPoint.value;
    /* find center by bounding box of the layer */
    var x = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).width/2;
    var y = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).height/2;
    /* we need this for text layer */
    x += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).left;
    y += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).top;
    var xAdd = (x-layerAnchor[0]) * (layer.scale.value[0]/100);
    var yAdd = (y-layerAnchor[1]) * (layer.scale.value[1]/100);
    /* set new anchor point*/
    layer.anchorPoint.setValue([ x, y ]);
    var layerPosition = layer.position.value;
    /* fix position with adjustments */
    layer.position.setValue([ layerPosition[0] + xAdd, layerPosition[1] + yAdd, layerPosition[2] ]);
};

[jonathanp53717501]

Works like a charm! I will keep this for sure! You are awesome.

[tardigrade01]

In case you need to use it with box text, you will need to substitute boxTextSize for sourceRectAtTime

[jonathanp53717501]

I did try it with a text layer and it seemed to work fine. I did see a little offset of a couple pixels to the top, that might fix it, I'll try it and we'll see if that changes something.

Edit: After looking at the code again I think everything is just fine. it's already using sourceRectAtTime.

[tardigrade01]

Right, I was just pointing out that point text (if you click the text icon and start typing) uses sourceRectAtTime, while boxed text (if you click the text icon and then draw a text box before typing) uses boxTestSize

[jonathanp53717501]

Oh, thanks for the information, I'll see if I can tweak the function to choose the right one all by itself. (if so I'll repost it here)

[tardigrade01]

I just brought it up because this same issue vexed me for months when I was new to ExtendScript. Drilling down to the boxTextSize property can be a headache, but this thread proved invaluable for me as a reference when setting up my function.

ADBE Text Document boxTextSize attribute

[jonathanp53717501]

I just fixed it up and tested it with these layer types:
Null object, Adjustement layer, solid, text box, unboxed text

There's the final code:

var comp = layer.containingComp;
    var curTime = comp.time;
    var layerAnchor = layer.anchorPoint.value;
    var x;
    var y;
    try{ 
        x = layer.sourceText.value.boxTextSize[0]/2;
        y = layer.sourceText.value.boxTextSize[1]/2;
        x += layer.sourceText.value.boxTextPos[0];
        y += layer.sourceText.value.boxTextPos[1];
    }catch(e){
        x = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).width/2;
        y = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).height/2;
        x += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).left;
        y += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).top;
    }
    var xAdd = (x-layerAnchor[0]) * (layer.scale.value[0]/100);
    var yAdd = (y-layerAnchor[1]) * (layer.scale.value[1]/100);
    layer.anchorPoint.setValue([ x, y ]);
    var layerPosition = layer.position.value ;
    layer.position.setValue([ layerPosition[0] + xAdd, layerPosition[1] + yAdd, layerPosition[2] ]);
};

Thanks for your quick answers! You guys rock!

[tardigrade01]

Looks good. I am partial to putting it in a switch or if ... else statement but above should work just as well

[jonathanp53717501]

I tried to do it this way but was unable to obtain an undefined value. Instead AE always crashed and gave me an error.
text box -> can use both boxtextSize and sourceRectAtTime. (sourceRectAtTime -> wrong value)
unboxed text -> can only use sourceRectAtTime, otherwise will crash AE and not return undefined.

That's why I used a try catch.

If you know way that works to check if the text object has the boxTextSize property without crashing Ae and without using a try/catch, I'll sure use it

[jonathanp53717501 · Accepted solution]

For some reason, the script I pasted earlier is missing the first line and I can't edit it, so there it is again:

function centerAnchorPoint( layer ){
    var comp = layer.containingComp;
    var curTime = comp.time;
    var layerAnchor = layer.anchorPoint.value;
    var x;
    var y;
    try{
        x = layer.sourceText.value.boxTextSize[0]/2;
        y = layer.sourceText.value.boxTextSize[1]/2;
        x += layer.sourceText.value.boxTextPos[0];
        y += layer.sourceText.value.boxTextPos[1];
    }catch(e){
        x = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).width/2;
        y = layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).height/2;
        x += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).left;
        y += layer.sourceRectAtTime(curTime, false).top;
    }
    var xAdd = (x-layerAnchor[0]) * (layer.scale.value[0]/100);
    var yAdd = (y-layerAnchor[1]) * (layer.scale.value[1]/100);
    layer.anchorPoint.setValue([ x, y ]);
    var layerPosition = layer.position.value ;
    layer.position.setValue([ layerPosition[0] + xAdd, layerPosition[1] + yAdd, layerPosition[2] ]);
};

[tardigrade01]

In my function, here was how I set it up where you assume theLayer is an instanceof TextLayer:

if(theLayer.property("Source Text").value.pointText){
     //do calculations using sourceRectAtTime
} else {
     //do calculations using boxTextSize
}

[TryxDesigns]

how do i add the script

[avinashr60929084]

Thanks, very helpful

[Mathias Moehl]

Our new extension Pins & Boxes offers a very easy and convenient way to do that using expressions.

See this tutorial: