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pt_TextEdit
Version: 1.11 Sign up to be notified by email when a new version of this script is posted
Use pt_TextEdit to search for and edit text layers in your AE project. You can create your own text style presets and apply them to multiple layers at the click of a button.
HOW TO USE:
SEARCH: Click Search to show all text layers, or use the options to find specific layers. For example, search for layers containing Bold in the font name. Or put tags in the layer comments and search for them.
TEXT STYLE SETTINGS: The panel on the left contains the preset options and a list of text properties that can be edited. Check the properties you want to change, or click the box beside the Preset pulldown to toggle between the checked settings.
TEXT LIST: The text list at the bottom shows any text layers found in the search, along with their text property values. Select the layer or layers that you want to edit.
FETCH: When the box to the left of the Fetch button is checked, selecting a layer from the list will automatically copy its values into the checked settings in the top panel. When the checkbox is off, use the Fetch button to copy the values from the selection. Select a text layer in your comp instead of the list to fetch values directly from that layer.
APPLY: When the box to the left of the Apply button is checked, any change you make is applied instantly to the selected text layers. Alternatively, use the Apply button to apply all checked text settings to all selected layers on one go.
ADD TO TIMELINE: This is like the Apply button except it applies the currently checked settings to any text layers selected in the active composition. If no text layers are selected it adds a new text layer to the active comp instead.
PRESETS: You can save your text styles as presets to be reused later. Click the Save button and choose a name for the preset to add it to the Action/Preset pulldown. Select a preset and click the Delete button to remove that preset.
ACTIONS: The Action/Preset pulldown contains a few other options. Choose “Refresh List” to update the values in the text list after doing an undo or manually editing the text layers. You can also choose to turn on or off any layers selected in the list.
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- pt_TextEdit UI
Upgrade notice: If you previously bought pt_TextEdit v1.0 (before February 2011) you can receive a discount code equal to the same amount as you paid for v1.0. To request this discount code please go here.
Version History:
- 1.11 Fixed bug where listbox didn’t update when editing text. (Feb 2011)
- 1.1 (Feb 2011)
- CS5 compatibility.
- Apply and fetch text values directly to comp layers.
- Search options moved to main panel.
- Fixed issues with saving presets on Windows.
- 1.0 Initial Release (Feb 2010)
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Dear Paul,
I want to speak out all my respect to you!
I’ve just submitted this idea/feature request couple of weeks ago into the feedback and the script is finally here. AMAZING! You’ve made something true for I was beggin Adobe since 2004!??? This is beyond all logic for me!
The script is not perfect but it serves it’s purposes PERFECTLY!
Thank you very much Paul! Best buy since years!!!!
Cheers,
Thomas
Hi Paul-
Thanks for your script. I’m on CS4 Mac and get the panel up, but no interface beyond the panel. I’ve restarted After Effects twice, still no luck. I’m going to reboot now.
Any ideas?
Hi Paul,
Great script! Will this work with CS5 (or in the near future)? Thanks this is such a timesaver.
Peace
Jeff
Hi Jeff, it actually works ok in CS5 at the moment. There is one problem where clicking the buttons in the help window that link back to this site may cause a crash in CS5 on Mac 10.6. I will be releasing an update shortly that fixes that and a few other issues.
if i download PT TEXT EDIT will i be able to use the —-> TEXT LAYER FONT FAMILY –FUTURALT, FONT STYLE HEAVY
TEXT LAYER FONT FAMILY – TRANSFORMERSMOVIE, FONT STYLE REGULAR
if not, do you sell something that can allow me to use that in AFTER EFFECTS cs5? let me know.. i dont mind paying for it!
You can use any font that you can load on your machine.
ok.. so i just buy this text download and would i have to make a folder for it in my ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS? because the one that i really need is “TUTURALT, font style heavy” & “TRANSFORMERSMOVIE, font style regular”
i need them for a project that i am using and it wont let me use the project unless i have those fonts loaded
Hi Paul,
Just bought it. Great tool indeed, it seems to be the only way to search text in AE!!!
Any chance there would be a button or some other way to display a preview of a specific text layer while editing? This would make the tool more sweet
Regards,
Marcin
If ‘Auto Apply” is checked, text will update instantly as you make changes.
Are you saying you’d like an option to reveal a text layer by getting the script to open the comp? Unfortunately scripts don’t have much control over revealing things in the main user interface. I’d encourage you to file a feature request if you want to increase the chances of scripts being able to do that kind of thing in the future. http://www.adobe.com/go/wish
To be honest I’m feeling a bit miffed that i have to purchase the upgrade from 1.0 to 1.1 I totally respect what you guys are doing, and I know we’ve all got to make a buck (pound) but it does leave me a bit apprehensive to puchase anymore scripts from here in the future.
Don’t take this as an attack
just my personal impression. Peace.
Hi John, if you previously bought the script you can get a discount for the amount you previously paid, so if you paid full price you can get the new version for free. See the “Upgrade Notice” above. The last thing we want is for people who paid to have to pay again…you’re our favourite people!
Wonderfull script, would be nice to be able to edit text colours in decimals for HDR colours though
Hi, When using this version, all updating stops after editing the first text layer in CS5. Any way around this? Thanks.
Sorry Paul!
Script Launcher was causing the problem. Launching from the AE Script Menu enables it to work properly. Great Script!
Hi Paul,
Great script!
I have one question/request: When i replace text with another font, all edited attributes like size or kerning get lost. (sometimes i use different sizes in one text layer..) When i do replace the font natively in AE, all attributes are kept… Is it possible to fix this in a future version?
Thanks, Andreas.
Hi Andreas, unfortunately this is a limitation in the way that scripts access text attributes. Scripts read the text style based on the first character, and can only set all characters to the same style. I agree this limits the script’s usefulness if you use multiple text styles or kerning. It’s worth filing a request with Adobe if you’d like to see better scripting support for text editing in the future: http://adobe.com/go/wish
Hi Paul,
thanks a lot for the script. You guys are doing a great job. But I have to say I expected something slightly different befor I tried it out the first time. So now I’m wondering if it’d be posible to add the feature I’m looking for. I’d would be great if I theire would be the feature of font style presets. I mean that I would love to create a font preset – apply it to different text layers or just copy & paste / duplicate a text layer with a preset > so that I later have the opportunity to change only the preset -> to change all the text layers they have the preset, instead of choosing each layer sepeartly from the list. I think it would fasten work even more and reduces the mistake source a lot. I hope my explication was clear enough : ) Thanks Melanie
Would it be possible to have two UI layouts? One the way it is now, and one that’s more vertical and?
Hi Paul,
Your scripts are really useful… If you could make a script for reversioning after effects projects between many languages, I’d buy it! E.g. taking an array (.csv file?) of text, and pasting it into a sequence of text objects in After effects programatically for a given language. I’m not expecting a script to fix the layout, but it would save a lot of copy/pasting time! We also work with many right to left languages (Persian, Urdu, Pashto, etc) which After Effects has problems handling. Take a look at my page here http://www.vimeo.com/tomhannen to get a sense of what I mean.
Anyway, just a thought, and many thanks for creating these scripts.
Tom