I created a camera conversion script using ChatGPT, but it doesn't work.

Report · Apr 07, 2025

I want to import a camera created in C4D into AE and convert the imported two-node camera into a one-node camera.

(The two-node camera has keyframes for both Point of Interest and Position.)

After asking ChatGPT, I got the following result:

// Get the active composition in After Effects

var comp = app.project.activeItem;

if (comp && comp instanceof CompItem) {

// Find the 'Two-Node Camera' layer and store it in a variable

var camLayer = comp.layer("Two-Node Camera");

if (camLayer && camLayer instanceof AVLayer && camLayer.hasCamera) {

// Get the Position and Point of Interest values of the two-node camera

var position = camLayer.transform.position;

var pointOfInterest = camLayer.camera.pointOfInterest;

// Create a one-node camera (new camera layer)

var oneNodeCam = comp.layers.addCamera("One-Node Camera", position.valueAtTime(0, false));

// Set the position of the one-node camera

oneNodeCam.transform.position.setValueAtTime(0, position.valueAtTime(0, false));

// Calculate the direction vector of the two-node camera: (Point of Interest - Camera Position)

var direction = [

pointOfInterest[0] - position.value[0],

pointOfInterest[1] - position.value[1],

pointOfInterest[2] - position.value[2]

];

// Convert the direction vector to the one-node camera's rotation values

var rotation = getRotationFromDirection(direction);

// Set the rotation of the one-node camera

oneNodeCam.transform.rotation.setValueAtTime(0, rotation);

// Copy keyframes from the two-node camera to the one-node camera

for (var i = 1; i <= camLayer.transform.position.keyCount; i++) {

var time = camLayer.transform.position.key(i).time;

oneNodeCam.transform.position.setValueAtTime(time, camLayer.transform.position.valueAtTime(time, false));

}

alert("Conversion to one-node camera completed!");

} else {

alert("No camera layer exists.");

}

} else {

alert("Please select a valid composition.");

}

// Function to calculate rotation values from the direction vector

function getRotationFromDirection(direction) {

// Convert the direction vector to rotation values

var pitch = Math.atan2(direction[1], Math.sqrt(direction[0] * direction[0] + direction[2] * direction[2])) * (180 / Math.PI);

var yaw = Math.atan2(direction[0], direction[2]) * (180 / Math.PI);

var roll = 0; // Roll value is set to 0 by default

return [pitch, yaw, roll];

}

I am trying to save it as a .jsx file, but it gives an error saying that there is no camera layer.

The two-node camera definitely exists in the layer, and I changed its name to "Two-Node Camera."

What is wrong?

Additionally, if there is a way to import the camera as a one-node camera directly from C4D to AE, or if there is a script I can purchase to do this, I would appreciate it if you could let me know.

thx.

Report · Apr 07, 2025

The only way I know of to convert a two-node camera to a one-node camera would be like this:

var myCamera = app.project.activeItem.layer("Camera 1");
if (myCamera instanceof CameraLayer && myCamera.autoOrient == AutoOrientType.CAMERA_OR_POINT_OF_INTEREST){
	myCamera.autoOrient = AutoOrientType.NO_AUTO_ORIENT;
}

Also, seriously, ChatGPT just makes stuff up. Your example has at least a couple of nonsensical, non-existent commands. Don't trust it for anything important or that you're going to hand off to anyone else.