Changing Source in a News Ticker

[J_Adam_Wyatt]

Hello..I'm working on a news style ticker for a monthly sports show.  The producer wants to have a template format so new data can be added by linking a document to the scroll.  I'm very new to using expressions and scripts and cannot find a good solution.  Any help would be wonderful!

[dj.summitt · Accepted solution]

Step 1. Copy and paste the scroll text in to the text file. Use "$" to break up the text if you need any line break.

Step 2. In After Effects, there should be one text layer on the timeline. This text layer will be the scroll.

Step 3. On the text layer, twirl down the settings, then twirl down then "Text" settings, then twirl down the "Source Text"

Step 4. There should be an Expression for Source Test. It will look something similar to:
"type= $.evalFile ("file://c:\\\\Transport_EN.txt");

m = thisLayer.marker.nearestKey(time);

sentences = type.split("$");

n = m.index;

if (time < thisLayer.marker.nearestKey(time).time) {n = n-1};

if (n<1){n=1};

subtitle = sentences;

subtitle"

Change the first line at (file://c:\\\\Transport_EN.txt"); to point to your TXT file. NOTE: As you probably noticed the example I have here is a Windows path. This works on Mac just replace with a Mac path name.

Step 6.  Place markers on the text layer to if you want the subtitle to change to the next line break. You may get an error message if there are too few or too many markers on the text layer.Right click to delete any that are extra. Press * on the number pad to add any.

Step 7.Export.