aescripts + aeplugins

Matthew Phelan

Great script, has save me lots of time!

Harlem Harl

Hi there,

Good job.

I just wanted to know how to do to create a precise range.
0 to 235 for example.

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Fabien,

Thank you for your comment.

In order to create a specific range, you just multiply the desired number (in your example 235) with the first number you see written in the drop down menu and add 1.

For example: if you select the last option of the drop down menu it is (235 * 16) +1 = 3.761 ruler lines

This is the number (3761) you must type in the "Ruler lines" box.
Please, bear in mind that the slider only goes up to 250, so you must type the number directly into the box.

When you hit "Create Ruler", an alert will pop-up asking you if you are really sure you want to create 236 layers. Just hit "Yes".
(The reason that says 236 and not 235 is that it will also create the "0" number text layer)

Also prepare to wait a bit. After Effects is going to create 236 text layers + one shape layer! This is going to take a while (2-3 minutes).
It is a good idea to have the shy button of the composition enabled. This way, only the shape layer will be visible.

Here are all of the ruler line numbers for your example (a ruler from 0 to 235 with a stepping of 1):

• 1st option in the dropdown list = 236 ruler lines
• 2nd option in the dropdown list = 471 ruler lines
• 3rd option in the dropdown list = 1176 ruler lines
• 4th or 5th or 6th option in the dropdown list = 2361 ruler lines
• 7th or 8th option in the dropdown list = 3761 ruler lines

Hope this helps.

Joseph Bourke

 The second I saw this I had to have it! Years ago there was a plugin which did exactly this called Panopticum Rulers, but support for it died even before the Creative Suite was begun. Ever since, I've been laboring in Illustrator to create custom grids and rulers, and this is going to save me hours! Thank you! Just started playing with it in AE CS6, and it seems to be working fine. Well worth the price of admission! 

Trevor Gilchrist

Well, I bought it without hesitating. And it's fantastic, thank you. BUT how do I change the NUMBER of sub lines between main lines. I'm trying to create a ruler that represents TIME for a project manager/calendar, so I need to have 5min increments, which means 12 segments (11 lines) between one hour main lines. I see no way to achieve this. What am I missing?

Also, it would be great to be able to create suffixes fior main line text (eg "hr" or "ft")

Please let me know how I get away from the multiples of 5 and 8 in the presets...

Many thanks

Theodoros Tziatzios

 The second I saw this I had to have it! Years ago there was a plugin which did exactly this called Panopticum Rulers, but support for it died even before the Creative Suite was begun. Ever since, I've been laboring in Illustrator to create custom grids and rulers, and this is going to save me hours! Thank you! Just started playing with it in AE CS6, and it seems to be working fine. Well worth the price of admission! 

Hello Joseph,

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I do remember Panopticum Rulers also. It was a very nice plug-in but extremely slow and buggy. It's sad the company went under.

I sure hope you create some interesting stuff!

Cheers!

Theodoros Tziatzios

Well, I bought it without
hesitating. And it's fantastic, thank you. BUT how do I change the
NUMBER of sub lines between main lines. I'm trying to create a ruler
that represents TIME for a project manager/calendar, so I need to have
5min increments, which means 12 segments (11 lines) between one hour
main lines. I see no way to achieve this. What am I missing?

Also, it would be great to be able to create suffixes fior main line text (eg "hr" or "ft")

Please let me know how I get away from the multiples of 5 and 8 in the presets...

Many thanks

Hello Trevor,

Unfortunately, a clock with five minute increments is pretty rare, that's why I didn't include a preset for it. (noted for the next version, though)

BUT...you can easily create two rulers, one on top of the other.

Here is how you do it:

• First you create a 13 ruler line, circular ruler, only with main lines (first option in the drop down list) with a gap of 300, with texts starting from 0.
• Then delete the "0" text layer.
• Then you create a second circular ruler with 145 ruler lines, again only with main lines, with a gap of 25, no text numbers.
  

(tip: you can safely rename the shape layers to whatever you want. e.g. hour divisions and 5minute divisions)

If you play with the "Height" slider in the second ruler, you get something like this:



Also remember that the text number layers, are editable. You can just use the type tool and edit them.

Finally, your suggestion for suffixes in the texts is great! I'll definitely have this in the next version. Thank you for that.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

Bill Busse

Bought it and it's great! I'd like to request some video tutorials though to show how to achieve different setups. I don't think the PDF does an adequate job of explaining everything.

Cheers...

Trevor Gilchrist

Trevor Gilchrist

I get what you're suggesting and thanks, but my time "ruler" is linear, not circular (no big deal) and the only only problem with having multiple overlaid rulers, is having to animate them on in sync and unless all the lines are the same color and opacity, they're actiually overlapping each other at the main lines... Don't forget us pretentious types are already animating your rulers into place, with lovely eases and bounces etc. :-)

In my current world, 1min = 400px

So I created the first ruler: 13 lines at 400 px gap, with text.

Then the second ruler at 200px (no text), to give me my 30sec marks, but unless I simply offset another 400px gap ruler, I get overlaid lines at the minute marks, which are visible because my line weight is so fine. I know this sounds pedantic and nit-picky, but if you would consider adding another preset (as you're the mathmatician...) that allowed variations on what I assume would be:

/12 (min) + 1/2 (30sec) + 1/4 (15sec) + 1/12 (5sec) + 1/60 (1sec)

I'm sure a lot of folks would find that very useable.
Sorry for the grief. Loving the script. SUCH a timesaver. Recommend it 5 stars to everyone.

Theodoros Tziatzios

Bought it and it's great! I'd like to request some video tutorials though to show how to achieve different setups. I don't think the PDF does an adequate job of explaining everything.

Cheers...

Hello Bill,

Thank you for your kind words and feedback. Time permitting, I'll try to make some more examples, explaining the process along the way.

Are you having difficulties wtih a certain setup Ι can help you with?

Theodoros Tziatzios

I get what you're suggesting and thanks, but my time "ruler" is linear, not circular (no big deal) and the only only problem with having multiple overlaid rulers, is having to animate them on in sync and unless all the lines are the same color and opacity, they're actiually overlapping each other at the main lines... Don't forget us pretentious types are already animating your rulers into place, with lovely eases and bounces etc. :-)

In my current world, 1min = 400px

So I created the first ruler: 13 lines at 400 px gap, with text.

Then the second ruler at 200px (no text), to give me my 30sec marks, but unless I simply offset another 400px gap ruler, I get overlaid lines at the minute marks, which are visible because my line weight is so fine. I know this sounds pedantic and nit-picky, but if you would consider adding another preset (as you're the mathmatician...) that allowed variations on what I assume would be:

/12 (min) + 1/2 (30sec) + 1/4 (15sec) + 1/12 (5sec) + 1/60 (1sec)

I'm sure a lot of folks would find that very useable.
Sorry for the grief. Loving the script. SUCH a timesaver. Recommend it 5 stars to everyone.

Hello Trevor,

Thanks for the feedback. I've noted down your "time" preset

Cheers!

Matthew Phelan

Is there a way to offset the text position along with the offset angle control when creating an arc ruler? Adjusting the the offset angle only affect the ruler the text doesn't follow.

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Matthew,

Yes, this is the way the offset control is designed to work. It offsets the position of the texts in relation to the ruler lines.

If you want to rotate everything (texts and ruler lines together), just select the "easyRuler" shape in your comp, and rotate it (Transform > Rotation).
Every text is parented to the shape, so everything will move together.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Matthew Phelan

Hello Matthew,

Yes, this is the way the offset control is designed to work. It offsets the position of the texts in relation to the ruler lines.

If you want to rotate everything (texts and ruler lines together), just select the "easyRuler" shape in your comp, and rotate it (Transform > Rotation).
Every text is parented to the shape, so everything will move together.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Thanks for the tip, great script by the way. Couple of suggestions.

1/ I've noticed that if you adjust the width of the lines it can move out of alignment with your figures.
the expression "value+(effect("Width")("Slider")-1)*-.2" added to the offset angle seems to fix this.

2/ When the main easyrule layer is rotated for an overall offset, and you want the text to be horizontal, ticking the rotation follows doesn't incorporate the fact the the layer is offset "x" amount. Could there be an option to quickly rectify this offset discrepancy? Of course you can add the expression "transform.rotation*-1" to the text rotation angle, but would be nice if there was a quicker option. :-)

As i said great script, maybe these options could be included in future updates? 

Theodoros Tziatzios

Thanks for the tip, great script by the way. Couple of suggestions.

1/ I've noticed that if you adjust the width of the lines it can move out of alignment with your figures.
the expression "value+(effect("Width")("Slider")-1)*-.2" added to the offset angle seems to fix this.

2/ When the main easyrule layer is rotated for an overall offset, and you want the text to be horizontal, ticking the rotation follows doesn't incorporate the fact the the layer is offset "x" amount. Could there be an option to quickly rectify this offset discrepancy? Of course you can add the expression "transform.rotation*-1" to the text rotation angle, but would be nice if there was a quicker option. :-)

As i said great script, maybe these options could be included in future updates? 

Hello Matthew,

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Interesting stuff.
I've noted down a few user suggestions and I'll try to implement as many as possible in the next update.

Take care!

Theodoros Tziatzios

v1.2 update

- changed: smaller and simpler user interface
- changed: "Create Ruler" button, now shows the range of numbers that is going to be created
- changed: changing the "width" property/slider on a circular ruler, keeps the lines aligned by compensating the rotation (user request: Matthew)

- added: new "text offset" effect control for linear rulers
- added: new "time" line subdivisions preset (user request: Matthew)
- added: prefix and suffix capability (user request: Matthew)

Enjoy!

Brandon Hirzel

Can you change the font? 

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Brandon,

Yes, you can change the font after you create the ruler.
Just select all the text layers (and while having them selected) go to the "Character" panel of After Effects and choose a different font.

It would be nice if you could select the font from the easyRulers panel but unfortunately Adobe doesn't give to scripts, access to the font list.

Cheers.

Quint Rahaman

Hello Theodoros, 

I am investigating different ways of visually showing the following:

Let's say that in a 30 second clip, a tracker has been attached to the top of a person's head and one on the chin. A null object has been attached to each one and the beam effect has been used to connect the null objects. 

Over the 30 second clip, the person moves closer and farther away from the camera, thus, the distance between the null objects changes. 

How can your ruler be used to show the changes in length of the line (beam) over the 30 seconds?

Cheers, 

Quint

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Quint,

You can do this by using an expression, and specifically the "length(point1, point2)" expression.

Here is how to do it:

1) Create a ruler
2) On the "Gap" effect control of the easyRuler shape layer, put the following expression on the slider:

point1 =[thisComp.layer("Null 1").transform.position[0],thisComp.layer("Null 1").transform.position[1]];
point2 = [thisComp.layer("Null 2").transform.position[0],thisComp.layer("Null 2").transform.position[1]];
bias = 4;
value = value + length(point1, point2)/bias;

(you can still move the slider and change the length of the ruler)

Now, the length of the easyRuler should change according to the distance of the 2 Nulls. If the effect is too dramatic (the length is too big) you can try changing the bias value of the expression.

Please, tell me if it worked.

Cheers.

Quint Rahaman said:

Hello Theodoros, 

I am investigating different ways of visually showing the following:

Let's say that in a 30 second clip, a tracker has been attached to the top of a person's head and one on the chin. A null object has been attached to each one and the beam effect has been used to connect the null objects. 

Over the 30 second clip, the person moves closer and farther away from the camera, thus, the distance between the null objects changes. 

How can your ruler be used to show the changes in length of the line (beam) over the 30 seconds?

Cheers, 

Quint

Quint Rahaman

Hello Theodoros,

Thank you so much for your directions.  It did work!  However, there must be a better way of implementing your ruler so that it shows off both the capability of the ruler AND what I am trying to illustrate to the viewer.  I have uploaded a rough comp to Vimeo which shows what I'm trying to show including your ruler.

Do you have any suggestions?

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Quint,

Nice video

Can you be a little more specific? Isn't this the optical effect you were going for?
Did you find the whole procedure with the expression difficult?

What is exactly would you like easyRulers to include? (feature-wise or control-wise)

Thanks

Quint Rahaman

Hey Theodoros,

Actually, what would be better is a fixed ruler and some sort of cursor that shows the measurement on the ruler.  I'm new to AE, so when I say cursor, I'm pretty certain there are more professional ways of visually showing your ruler as a tool to show the dynamic measurement of the line length, in this case. 

For this example, think of me sitting with a UFC fighter in the gym informing him/her that the length of your opponents face changes depending on how close or far away it is.  So, the line in the video is the start to the discussion.  The question the person will ask next is, "How much does the length/width/angle change over the clip?"  Employing your ruler, I'm guessing, would be a straightforward way of illustrating the length/width change.  Does that make sense?  These people don't have time for long discussions.  If I can get the illustration across in 5 seconds, then that would be ideal.

I did not find the procedure difficult since I have some javascript experience.  With that being said, I would not have come up with your code since it requires intimate understanding of your tool which I do not yet have.

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Quint,

I now understand exactly what you mean and what you were trying to show. It would be a very interesting way to optically illustrate important information to the fighters.

The indicator/cursor you mention, is actually a pretty good idea!
I've made a note for it, to implement it on a future version of easyRulers.

As for your video, for a quick and dirty solution, you could make a small triangle shape and put the same expression on the X (or Y if it is a vertical ruler) position property and then align it with the ruler

Thank you for your suggestion and purchase.

Take care.

Quint Rahaman

Hello Theodoros,

Thanks for the recommendation.  That should work.

Cheers,

Quint

Theodoros Tziatzios

Version 1.5 is here. Check it out!

• changed: simpler & smaller interface through the use of more tabs
• changed: the "Create Ruler" button now shows a plus sign when the total number of lines, will not create a whole number of divisions
• changed: changed the "mirror" option to "Sides". Now you can select which side of the ruler to populate. Upper/Outer, Lower/Inner or both

• added: shape selection for the ruler lines. You can now select the shape of the ruler lines. Stripes or Dots
• added: ruler baseline with three options. None, Bottom only or Multiple.
• added: reset-to-defaults button

Enjoy!

Thierry Caty

Hi,
thank's for this script, but i have a little problem today with the script,
when i launch the script from window easyrulers.
This message appear : can't execute script line 1. unable to create temporary image file
I work with AE CS6 on windows 7 64 bit, the script is on C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels
thank's for your help

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Caty,

Sorry about that.

Could you please check if the "Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network" in Edit-> Preferences -> General is enabled ?

Also, do you happen to have any firewalls or defenders or special access file permissions that might prevent AE from writing temp files ?

Thank you.

Thierry Caty said:

Hi,
thank's for this script, but i have a little problem today with the script,
when i launch the script from window easyrulers.
This message appear : can't execute script line 1. unable to create temporary image file
I work with AE CS6 on windows 7 64 bit, the script is on C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels
thank's for your help

Mikael Palsio

Hey,

When I start the EasyRulers, I get a message telling me that "Can't execute script line 1. Unable to create temporary image file", which seems to be the same error message as the person a couple of messages ago. The opened script panel is empty without any buttons, images or anything else.

When I first installed EasyRulers, it worked fine, but now it seems to have suddenly stopped working. I haven't installed any extra plugins or other updates between the time it did and did not work. In the settings, the scripts are allowed to write files and access network. I tried turning it on and off (with restarts in between), but that didn't work. The problem doesn't seem to be with the firewall, since other scripts and plugins work fine. I've tried turning off any other scripts I had working at the same time, but that didn't help.

I'm working on a Windows 7 64bit, After Effects CS6.

Theodoros Tziatzios

Hello Mikael,

I'm terribly sorry for that. Would you be so kind as to open a support ticket, so we can investigate the issue?

Thank you.

Mikael Palsio

Thanks to the folks at the support, the latest version of easyRulers seem to work now fine without the error mentioned earlier. 

Thank you to everybody who helped.

Khalid alidroos

HI,
Will it work with AE CC2017?

Theodoros Tziatzios

Khalid alidroos said:

HI,
Will it work with AE CC2017?

Hello Khalid,

Yes, easyRulers works just fine with AE CC2017. (forgot to update the compatibility list)

Cheers!

Theodoros Tziatzios

Version 1.6 just arrived with lots of new extra features. Check it out!

• changed: code optimization and fixes. easyRulers is now a lot faster. You can create hundreds of text layers, instantly!
• added: pointer option. You can now create a pointer and choose between four pointer shapes. Added the appropriate tab in the user interface
• added: text alignment options (left, center, right)
• added: randomize, reset and apply colors for the ruler lines
• added: you can now use the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to change any value of any text box of the interface

Enjoy!

Huy Tran

We use this tool at work and it's awesome!!!But how to calculate exactly the Gap on a circle?

Theodoros Tziatzios

Huy Tran said:

We use this tool at work and it's awesome!!!But how to calculate exactly the Gap on a circle?

Hello Huy,

Thank you for your kind words

You can calculate the gap for a perfect circle using the following equation:

If you want the first line to overlap the last line of a circular ruler:
Gap = 3600 / (Ruler Lines-1)

If you don't want the first line to overlap the last line of a circular ruler:
Gap = 3600 / Ruler Lines

I know this is not the most intuitive way to calculate this.
Maybe on the next update I will include an auto-gap checkbox for perfect circular rulers

Cheers!

Huy Tran

Theodoros Tziatzios said:

Huy Tran said:

We use this tool at work and it's awesome!!!But how to calculate exactly the Gap on a circle?

Hello Huy,

Thank you for your kind words

You can calculate the gap for a perfect circle using the following equation:

If you want the first line to overlap the last line of a circular ruler:
Gap = 3600 / (Ruler Lines-1)

If you don't want the first line to overlap the last line of a circular ruler:
Gap = 3600 / Ruler Lines

I know this is not the most intuitive way to calculate this.
Maybe on the next update I will include an auto-gap checkbox for perfect circular rulers

Cheers!

Thanks for the quick reply. I am actually interested in the math behind it so how do you come up with the number 3600? It seems you divide 360 degree to get the gap, but why multiplied by 10? Just curious

Theodoros Tziatzios

Thanks for the quick reply. I am actually interested in the math behind it so how do you come up with the number 3600? It seems you divide 360 degree to get the gap, but why multiplied by 10? Just curious

Hello Huy,

Yes, you are correct. The Gap is divided with 360.
But, in order to make the effect slider 10 times less "sensitive" the above result is then multiplied by 10.

So the actual equation is:
Gap*10 = 360 / Ruler Lines
which is simplified to:
Gap = 3600 / Ruler Lines

Cheers!

Theodoros Tziatzios

Version 1.65 of easyRulers is here with a few fixes and user requests. Enjoy!

• changed: renamed a few effect controls for a more uniform look
• added: “Text rotation” effect control for Linear Rulers
• added: "Auto-Gap for Perfect Circle" effect control - adjusts the Gap value for a perfect circle
• fixed: dropdown menus not appearing on some resolutions
• fixed: some icons not appearing in AE CS6
• fixed: pressing Undo, after creating a ruler, doesn't crash older versions of AE

sungwoo Kim

EasyRulers is a really good script.

I'm really satisfied with it.

I hope you will distribute many other good scripts.

I sincerely hope.

Drake Schaberg

Is this AE 2019 compatible?

Theodoros Tziatzios

Drake Schaberg said:

Is this AE 2019 compatible?

Hey Drake,

You can run easyRulers in AE 2019 just fine, as long as you select the legacy Javascript engine in

File > Project Settings > Expressions > Legacy ExtendScript.

(This goes for most scripts that are compatible with the previous AE 2018 version)

Theodoros Tziatzios

Version 1.73 of easyRulers is here:

• optimized: easyRulers is now fully compatible with After Effects CC 2019
• changed: the "Stepping" field now accepts decimal numbers (separated either with a comma or a dot e.g. 0.52 or 0,52)
• fixed: several bug fixes on the colors of stripes, dots and baselines

As always this update is free for existing users.

Enjoy!

Simon Knights

Fantastic script - already saved me tons of time!

Quick question - after creating a circular ruler, is there anyway to adjust the radius. I played with a lot of sliders, but only came up with the scale option - not ideal as it scales everything?

Again, many thanks for this!

Theodoros Tziatzios

Simon Knights said:

Fantastic script - already saved me tons of time!

Quick question - after creating a circular ruler, is there anyway to adjust the radius. I played with a lot of sliders, but only came up with the scale option - not ideal as it scales everything?

Again, many thanks for this!

Hello Simon,

Thank you for kind words.

Yes, you can adjust the size of a circular ruler by scaling the easyRuler shape layer.

I haven't added any scaling functions to neither the linear nor the circular rulers, to keep the number of effect controls a low as possible.

Having said that, I've noted your request for future releases.

Is there a specific type of an animation you're trying to create?

Cheers.