Box surrounding text with bounding box

[davidb92037566]

Hi all,

Can someone please help me. I want to create a text layer (with a bounding box) and have a regular box shape (using RectAtTime script) behind it reshape to match the height/width of the text. I can get it to work with text layers that 'don't' have a bounding box.

I have also added script so that the text will vertically center itself. Is there an easier way? I don't know how Adobe haven't added this as a standard feature by now.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David.

[Mylenium]

I don't know how Adobe haven't added this as a standard feature by now.

The whole point of  paragraph text is to align the text relative to a user-defined bounding box, which ultimately is totally arbitrary depending on the formatting. I fail to see why it should be any different. As far as I'm concerned you are simply usingh a wrong approach and in your image I see nothing that couldn't be done with normal line-based text, text animators and possibly pre-composing and effects.

Mylenium

[davidb92037566]

I think you missed my point. Perhaps I didn't explain myself well enough.

Firstly... We do a lot of copying and pasting text from Word into After Effects (long quotes). I am using a bounding text box so I don't have to adjust each line. I also want that text (either being 1 line or several lines typed) to vertically center dynamically in its position so I don't have to manually adjust it (position) each time. After Effects does 'not' let you do this (without scripting).

I then want a self-resizing box to sit behind that text (being the width/height of that text paragraph)

As I mentioned, I can get that work work with a standard text layer, but as soon as I use a bounding box, the self-resizing box only sees the width/height of the bounding box, and not the actual text within the bounding box..

I hope that made more sense.

This is what I want to create:

..but I simply want to paste some text in to a text layer, it constrains and the box automatically reshapes to the length/height of that text.

Thanks.

Cheers,

David

[Mylenium]

I still dont get why you insist on using paragraph text. None of what you describe would be un-doable using normal line text with e.g. vertical centering merely being a matter of using a text animator set to Line mode and a simple expression calculating the number of lines, give or take the initial tweaking when creating the template. I'm afraid you have locked yourself into a specific way of thinking and are working against the program, not with it, so of course what you wanbt will be difficult or impossible to implement.

Mylenium

[davidb92037566]

Mylenium. I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand my issue. Your suggestion of a text animator is not a solution.

The bounding box is important to me as I don't want to have to break up the lines manually after pasting the text.

[Szalam · Accepted solution]

There are ways to do this sort of thing, but they involve very interesting expression stuff.

I can certainly understand wanting and easy way to do that sort of thing. Please check and see if someone has made a request like this in the User Voice page and upvote it. If nobody has, make a feature request of your own! After Effects: Hot (725 ideas) – Adobe video & audio apps

[davidb92037566]

Thanks Szalam. As you mentioned, I'm sure there is some expression that can make it happen. I'll follow your advice and search around before making a feature request. Cheers, David.

[produktion01k47279958]

Hey,

I´m facing the same problem. do you have any solution yet?

Cheers,

Paul

[produktion01k47279958]

Ah! I did. You just need to tell after effects to ignore the extends of the textlayer. 

w = thisComp.layer("Text").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).width;
h = thisComp.layer("Text").sourceRectAtTime(time,false).height;
[w,h]