Hi! (…and sorry in advance if this little issue that I have has been posted already. Couldn't find anything.)
This product is great, everything works fine but I'm having this little bug. When I put 0 on the spacing field, I have a tiny line appearing between my boxes :
(I found out that that pixel line was not appearing if I have special characters in the text.)
Is there a way to fix this ? (other than by manually going inside the pre-comp.)
My problem is : I bought this product for my collegue who is very novice in AE, to save time and improve his level of production. Even though it's not hard at all to fix it manually, it's still an operation to do, it's confusing for him…
Would be amazing to have the solution of this. Thank you very much !
Nice little tool, has helped me on a bunch of jobs so far! Some suggestions/feature requests:
Any way to add a function that 'reads' the settings in use on an existing MonkeyBars comp and loads them in the way the 'Load' button does? Perhaps place a minified version of the XML settings into a comment in the generated expressions that the script can read back in? Being organised and saving settings is always preferable, but I've already found myself needing to reproduce comps that started off as one-offs and so didn't warrant having their settings saved.
Make the generated comps less sensitive to being tweaked. At the moment, MonkeyBars may as well be a plugin for all the editability available to someone who picks up one of my projects and doesn't have this script. Also, far too often I've needed to go back and make tiny text amends to a comp myself (typo, capitalisation, etc.) and found that the text now extends outside the box mask with apparently no way to manually adjust the size of the box to match. What are those that you use for the boxes? Adjustment layers?
Add a feature to justify the widths of boxes in a comp so they're all the same length as the longest one.
Any way to add an option for animation to be per word or even per character, rather than whole lines? I don't mean in terms of a coloured box for each word, but sometimes when a caption is only a few words on a single line, you lose the nice 'ripple' effect you get with several lines. It would be great to give the same kinetic feel to shorter bits of text.
The only slight bug I've encountered is that sometimes the lines of the generated text don't seem to be vertically spaced quite evenly. Anyone else seen this?
When I am in Premiere and see that I need to edit the original comp .....I am taken to AE and I see my comp, but the MonkeyBars Dialogue box contains information from the last time I used MonkeyBars, not the currently open comp. Can I not load up that comp into the dialogue box so I can make changes? Or do I have to start over every time?
When I am in Premiere and see that I need to edit the original comp .....I am taken to AE and I see my comp, but the MonkeyBars Dialogue box contains information from the last time I used MonkeyBars, not the currently open comp. Can I not load up that comp into the dialogue box so I can make changes? Or do I have to start over every time?
Am I doing something wrong?
Alex
Hey Alex- Unfortunately scripts are not like plug ins and pop up in its current setting with the comp every time its called up. I wish that was the case.
You can save the UI and call it back up by clicking the Save button. You can also go into the pre-comp and unshy it to change the text without rebuilding, but thats a bit of a pain and only works if the text is the roughly the same length.
The bottom line is that we tried to make MonkeyBars drop dead simple and fast so if you needed to make changes, rebuilding it would be the best option...
However, I'd love an extra option to globally change text and box colors to the ones that are already on timeline, since that's the most frequent request from clients. I guess it's a hard thing to do, and it would help a lot.
Purchased MonkeyBars this afternoon, and got up to speed very quickly. Just finished a demo comp for a client, and went back to have a final look before encoding, and 3 of my MonkeyBars at the beginning of my comp are no longer animated - they just appear. Guess I'm going to have to go back and recreate them all, unless there's a magic solution.
Purchased MonkeyBars this afternoon, and got up to speed very quickly. Just finished a demo comp for a client, and went back to have a final look before encoding, and 3 of my MonkeyBars at the beginning of my comp are no longer animated - they just appear. Guess I'm going to have to go back and recreate them all, unless there's a magic solution.
Hey Steven-
Can you open up support ticket and send me the project. I'ld like to see it. Thanks.
BTW- if you change the name of the MonkeyBars pre comp (In the monkeybars folder in the project window), it might stop animating...check that. Just change it back to its original name and that'll fix it.
I wanted to say thank you for such fast support & the MonkeyBars plugin is really wonderful. I use it constantly & highly recommend it to everyone!
My apologies though for the novice question, I was able to follow every step but the "click round rectangle mask toolbar."
Would it be possible to see a screenshot of what you suggest?
I have the Project Folder & can navigate to the MonkeyBars Box, but from there I have only been able to replace with my own rounded rectangle box after custom drawing one in that Pre-Comp, which I would prefer the clickable option you suggest, for times when I have dozens of text boxes created.
I wanted to say thank you for such fast support & the MonkeyBars plugin is really wonderful. I use it constantly & highly recommend it to everyone!
My apologies though for the novice question, I was able to follow every step but the "click round rectangle mask toolbar."
Would it be possible to see a screenshot of what you suggest?
I have the Project Folder & can navigate to the MonkeyBars Box, but from there I have only been able to replace with my own rounded rectangle box after custom drawing one in that Pre-Comp, which I would prefer the clickable option you suggest, for times when I have dozens of text boxes created.
It worked!! Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me thru it & cool to be able to have the functionality to change the look up like this. Really appreciate your help!
I wanted to say thank you for such fast support & the MonkeyBars plugin is really wonderful. I use it constantly & highly recommend it to everyone!
My apologies though for the novice question, I was able to follow every step but the "click round rectangle mask toolbar."
Would it be possible to see a screenshot of what you suggest?
I have the Project Folder & can navigate to the MonkeyBars Box, but from there I have only been able to replace with my own rounded rectangle box after custom drawing one in that Pre-Comp, which I would prefer the clickable option you suggest, for times when I have dozens of text boxes created.
Fantastic product and I would say in the 2 days I have had it it's paid for itself 10 times! Thank you so much.
One issue I am having is with punctuation. Adding anything that ascends or descends above or below the height of an uppercase letter ("|" or "," for example) will cause the boxes to be a different height from a line without punctuation, and messes up my layout when matching up with other artwork (I have a bug lower left)
Obviously I can scale the comp, but it would be nice if the boxes predicted the height of a font and made allowances even without the use of punctuation.
Just a small gripe and I feel bad for criticising such a well thought out script. Thanks again
Fantastic product and I would say in the 2 days I have had it it's paid for itself 10 times! Thank you so much.
One issue I am having is with punctuation. Adding anything that ascends or descends above or below the height of an uppercase letter ("|" or "," for example) will cause the boxes to be a different height from a line without punctuation, and messes up my layout when matching up with other artwork (I have a bug lower left)
Obviously I can scale the comp, but it would be nice if the boxes predicted the height of a font and made allowances even without the use of punctuation.
Just a small gripe and I feel bad for criticising such a well thought out script. Thanks again
Hey Andrew- Thanks for the note...and don't feel bad- we need to hear feedback. It helps a lot.
I see what you mean - heres a few thoughts:
-There are a lot of common fonts that don't have a huge ascender/descender difference using all caps (Helvetica for one). If your project has the latitude to work with one of those it would help.
- for a more creative solution, try this:
-Turn off All Caps
- Put the highest and lowest ascender/descender as the first characters in each line of text and then put a 5 or 6 spaces after them.
- Type your text in all caps in the text box.
- Animate and then matte out theextra characters and spaces on left side of the animation.
This will work as long as you're not using text that animates in from the right.
I'm all into workarounds, since no script is built for all usages...theres always something. The best we can do is make it work for a lot of them.
Is there any way to save color pallets? The color interface that pops up does not have an eye dropper, and after manually setting up a pallet, the next time I open AE, it is reset, and I have to redo the custom colors again.
Is there any way to save color pallets? The color interface that pops up does not have an eye dropper, and after manually setting up a pallet, the next time I open AE, it is reset, and I have to redo the custom colors again.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hey Kevin- Theres not a way to save the palettes without saving the rest of the UI settings (Save/Load). The best I could recommend is just taking a screen grab and eye dropping the colors from there
Is there any way to save color pallets? The color interface that pops up does not have an eye dropper, and after manually setting up a pallet, the next time I open AE, it is reset, and I have to redo the custom colors again.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hey Kevin- Theres not a way to save the palettes without saving the rest of the UI settings (Save/Load). The best I could recommend is just taking a screen grab and eye dropping the colors from there
That's the problem - there is no eye-dropper in the pallet window.
Is there any way to save color pallets? The color interface that pops up does not have an eye dropper, and after manually setting up a pallet, the next time I open AE, it is reset, and I have to redo the custom colors again.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hey Kevin- Theres not a way to save the palettes without saving the rest of the UI settings (Save/Load). The best I could recommend is just taking a screen grab and eye dropping the colors from there
That's the problem - there is no eye-dropper in the pallet window.
You're not seeing this when you click a color box?
And the custom colors are always blank until I fill them in each time I reboot AE.
Hey Kevin-
Sadly thats not something we can control- thats the system color picker. We're not Windows based, so can't check- but see if theres a system preference (in the General section) that allows you to switch...or possibly some sort of 3rd party one.
Let me know how you make out - it'll be good thing to have on record in case someone else asks.
And the custom colors are always blank until I fill them in each time I reboot AE.
Hey Kevin-
Sadly thats not something we can control- thats the system color picker. We're not Windows based, so can't check- but see if theres a system preference (in the General section) that allows you to switch...or possibly some sort of 3rd party one.
Let me know how you make out - it'll be good thing to have on record in case someone else asks.
-oz
Yeah, this suck SO BAD. It would be amazing if you could at least add the option to use Hex codes so we only had to enter one number. We have Monkey Bars at work and I am terrified of closing After Effects mid-project because all the Monkey Bars settings reset. I have to keep a text file with RGB codes and cut and paste 3 numbers for each color every. single. time.
Does anyone have the issue where suddenly In and Out functions just stop working for seemingly no reason and text no longer animates in and out?
If I precomp a Monkeybars comp this happens instantly. The text just all appears at once. So I delete the layer and re-add it to the sub comp. Even that might not work. That's a good way to kind of protect animations most times, but sometimes MonkeyBars gets in a real funk and if you adjust anything whatsoever (In, Out, Layer visibility) animations die and sometimes you can't UNDO or delete you have to start an entirely new comp to get animations to work.
Does anyone have the issue where suddenly In and Out functions just stop working for seemingly no reason and text no longer animates in and out?
If I precomp a Monkeybars comp this happens instantly. The text just all appears at once. So I delete the layer and re-add it to the sub comp. Even that might not work. That's a good way to kind of protect animations most times, but sometimes MonkeyBars gets in a real funk and if you adjust anything whatsoever (In, Out, Layer visibility) animations die and sometimes you can't UNDO or delete you have to start an entirely new comp to get animations to work.
Is there a fix?
Hey Benjamin- So pre-comping will mess up the expressions...we posted about it in the FAQs...but in a nutshell:
Since Monkeybars relies on a complex set of expressions referencing multiple comps, you can’t duplicate MonkeyBars layers with markers. If duplicate layers are detected, MonkeyBars will always get its marker timing info from the top MonkeyBars layer in the timeline.
Along a similar line, if you pre-compose a MonkeyBars layer, you may notice that the animation is frozen at full reveal. This means that the animation expressions can no longer find the In and Out markers because the comp name has changed. In order to avoid this issue when pre-comping, drag the composition onto the comp icon at the bottom of the project window.
Alternatively, you can manually select layers within a comp and follow these steps:
1) Select Pre-comp, naming the new comp with the exact name of the existing comp (eg. if the original is named Comp 1, the new comp must be also named Comp 1).
2) After pre-comping, you can then rename the original comp if you’d like - but the new pre-comp cannot be changed or the expressions will be broken (eg. after pre-comping the original Comp 1 can be retitled Old Comp 1) .
If you have already pre-comped a MonkeyBars build and the expressions are broken, then you can take the following steps to fix it:
1) Change the name of the main comp - but remember what it was.
2) Rename the new pre-comp with the old name of the main comp.
Note: When pre-comping you must always select 'Move all attributes into the new composition’ - expressions will be broken if you click “Leave all attributes in Comp”.
this suck SO BAD. It would be amazing if you could at least add the option to use Hex codes so we only had to enter one number. We have Monkey Bars at work and I am terrified of closing After Effects mid-project because all the Monkey Bars settings reset. I have to keep a text file with RGB codes and cut and paste 3 numbers for each color every. single. time.
Hey Benjamin - let me look into it...the last thing we want is something to suck so bad if we can help it!
I actually am not the one who said it sucks so bad (but I agree with the statement - only because I LOVE this script, but use it a lot less than I would because of the "reset" limitations).
Since I last posted here, I discovered a couple of things. Using a third party color picker (with an eye dropper) to "paste" a value into the color picker doesn't help, as MB opens a new instance of color picker with the custom colors reset. I don't know if that's a windows thing or something within the script itself.
As a work around, I tried saving a MB, then reopening it after restarting AE and MB. upon loading, the settings were restored by the saved file, but both the colors and text field remained default.
I know some other third party scripts call up this color picker as well - even when "use system color picker" is unchecked in General Preferences.
Ideas (not knowing much about scripting and/or MB's limitations).
•Would it be possible to implement some sort of pallet storage - almost like Adobe's libraries work? I know there is a 5-chip color pallet in EditMonkey (I've never had a use for it, as I use EM for non-text animations, so I don't know if it is "saved" in the next session). Could a "saveable" element like this be added?
•A BIG feature would be to be able to import ALL values from an existing MB creation. Not only would it make gobacks/edits much quicker and easier, it could also be used as a partial work around.
•Is there a general Adobe/AE color picker that could be specifically called upon? Or maybe a check box that could toggle between the system default and a user-established alternative app?
I can't speak for anybody else (but I'm SURE there are many others who share this predicament) - I absolutely LOVE this script, but the color selection and go back editing limitations keep me out of it at times, as it becomes something that really only saves a bunch of time if you use it perfectly in a single instance of AE. I've seen you mention that it would be too complicated to "go back" into a created MB and alter things, but perhaps a way to "read" everything back into the panel settings, make adjustments, then "RE-Do It!" could kill a few birds...
Are those last comments really from today? I just came here to ask the same re colour picker - it's REALLY difficult to work what that terrible system colour picker. Having another better option would be awesome
I actually am not the one who said it sucks so bad (but I agree with the statement - only because I LOVE this script, but use it a lot less than I would because of the "reset" limitations).
Since I last posted here, I discovered a couple of things. Using a third party color picker (with an eye dropper) to "paste" a value into the color picker doesn't help, as MB opens a new instance of color picker with the custom colors reset. I don't know if that's a windows thing or something within the script itself.
As a work around, I tried saving a MB, then reopening it after restarting AE and MB. upon loading, the settings were restored by the saved file, but both the colors and text field remained default.
I know some other third party scripts call up this color picker as well - even when "use system color picker" is unchecked in General Preferences.
Ideas (not knowing much about scripting and/or MB's limitations).
•Would it be possible to implement some sort of pallet storage - almost like Adobe's libraries work? I know there is a 5-chip color pallet in EditMonkey (I've never had a use for it, as I use EM for non-text animations, so I don't know if it is "saved" in the next session). Could a "saveable" element like this be added?
•A BIG feature would be to be able to import ALL values from an existing MB creation. Not only would it make gobacks/edits much quicker and easier, it could also be used as a partial work around.
•Is there a general Adobe/AE color picker that could be specifically called upon? Or maybe a check box that could toggle between the system default and a user-established alternative app?
I can't speak for anybody else (but I'm SURE there are many others who share this predicament) - I absolutely LOVE this script, but the color selection and go back editing limitations keep me out of it at times, as it becomes something that really only saves a bunch of time if you use it perfectly in a single instance of AE. I've seen you mention that it would be too complicated to "go back" into a created MB and alter things, but perhaps a way to "read" everything back into the panel settings, make adjustments, then "RE-Do It!" could kill a few birds...
Let me suggest a work around to avoid using the color picker - save a project solids for each color you'll need in a separate project. Then when building (using default colors) click Pre-Comp Box Fill. Once built, open the fill pre-comps and place the appropriate solids in the pre-comps.
Are those last comments really from today? I just came here to ask the same re colour picker - it's REALLY difficult to work what that terrible system colour picker. Having another better option would be awesome
Let me suggest a work around to avoid using the color picker - save a project solids for each color you'll need in a separate project. Then when building (using default colors) click Pre-Comp Box Fill. Once built, open the fill pre-comps and place the appropriate solids in the pre-comps.
And the custom colors are always blank until I fill them in each time I reboot AE.
Hey Kevin-
Sadly thats not something we can control- thats the system color picker. We're not Windows based, so can't check- but see if theres a system preference (in the General section) that allows you to switch...or possibly some sort of 3rd party one.
Let me know how you make out - it'll be good thing to have on record in case someone else asks.
-oz
Yeah, this suck SO BAD. It would be amazing if you could at least add the option to use Hex codes so we only had to enter one number. We have Monkey Bars at work and I am terrified of closing After Effects mid-project because all the Monkey Bars settings reset. I have to keep a text file with RGB codes and cut and paste 3 numbers for each color every. single. time.
Let me suggest a work around to avoid using the color picker - save a project solids for each color you'll need in a separate project. Then when building (using default colors) click Pre-Comp Box Fill. Once built, open the fill pre-comps and place the appropriate solids in the pre-comps.
As a work around, I tried saving a MB, then reopening it after restarting AE and MB. upon loading, the settings were restored by the saved file, but both the colors and text field remained default.
Hey Kevin- when you load a saved setup, the text field won't chance, but the color boxes should revert to the saved colors...is this not working for you?
No. I get the default MB colors (orange, black, etc.). I'm using CC2019.1.
Thanks again for all your time & attention!Hmmm...it works here - can you open a support ticket and send us a screen capture of a save, and load with custom colors.
Just wanted to touch base and thank you for your help. The text addition to the save feature really opened up the usefulness of this script (which I love). I think you will find it is a very healthy addition to the "pro" column, as client "tweaking" is now not nearly as cumbersome.
Now, if only we could get microsoft off of its HORRIBLE mid-90s color picker (which I STILL can't find a replacement and/or workaround for...)
Anway, it looks like ShapeMonkey is the next thing on my radar - can't wait to play with it!
Just wanted to touch base and thank you for your help. The text addition to the save feature really opened up the usefulness of this script (which I love). I think you will find it is a very healthy addition to the "pro" column, as client "tweaking" is now not nearly as cumbersome.
Now, if only we could get microsoft off of its HORRIBLE mid-90s color picker (which I STILL can't find a replacement and/or workaround for...)
Anway, it looks like ShapeMonkey is the next thing on my radar - can't wait to play with it!
Thanks again!
Kevin
Hey Kevin- Thanks for the note - We were kicking around with the idea of tying a color fill effect to each of the color boxes, so you could use the dropper from those to pick up new colors, but sadly that would be a crazy amount of work and we dont hear too many complaints to justify doing that...so maybe the idea of pre-comping and swapping out a solid and usign the color picker from that would do the trick.
I understand the potential complications of adding certain functionality to a script. Though I don't program at all, it's like clients who think they're asking for the moon, and it's a five-minute fix. (And then there're the ones who want you to copy the transitions they love in PowerPoint, and that takes you half a day...)
I understand the potential complications of adding certain functionality to a script. Though I don't program at all, it's like clients who think they're asking for the moon, and it's a five-minute fix. (And then there're the ones who want you to copy the transitions they love in PowerPoint, and that takes you half a day...)
It still goes back to Mr. Gates in the end...
its like this:
1) Click pre-comp Box Fill & Build
2) Open Box Pre-comp
3) Change color - (apply fill effect, drop a saved solid in..whatever you need to do to avoid using the crappy color picker.
Say I want to use the Script on another platform other than AE. So for example, I create my video on platform A but I want to import just the rule of thirds I rendered from AE inside that other platform, can this work? Can this imported without a box around it and keep its transparency? Thank you.
Say I want to use the Script on another platform other than AE. So for example, I create my video on platform A but I want to import just the rule of thirds I rendered from AE inside that other platform, can this work? Can this imported without a box around it and keep its transparency? Thank you.
Hey Elias- you’d have to render it out with an alpha channel first...if you need any info on how to do that either google it or submit a ticket (it’s easy).
Hope that helps.
Oz
Bought the script yesterday, worked like a charm in CC19. Today, it's no longer adding "out" animations to any combination of selections in the "Animation" section of the panel. Is there a fix for this?
(We work on the latest AE CC).
Since Monkeybars relies on a complex set of expressions referencing multiple comps, you can’t duplicate MonkeyBars layers with markers. If duplicate layers are detected, MonkeyBars will always get its marker timing info from the top MonkeyBars layer in the timeline.
Along a similar line, if you pre-compose a MonkeyBars layer, you may notice that the animation is frozen at full reveal. This means that the animation expressions can no longer find the In and Out markers because the comp name has changed. In order to avoid this issue when pre-comping, drag the composition onto the comp icon at the bottom of the project window.
Alternatively, you can manually select layers within a comp and follow these steps:
1) Select Pre-comp, naming the new comp with the exact name of the existing comp (eg. if the original is named Comp 1, the new comp must be also named Comp 1).
2) After pre-comping, you can then rename the original comp if you’d like - but the new pre-comp cannot be changed or the expressions will be broken (eg. after pre-comping the original Comp 1 can be retitled Old Comp 1) .
If you have already pre-comped a MonkeyBars build and the expressions are broken, then you can take the following steps to fix it:
1) Change the name of the main comp - but remember what it was.
2) Rename the new pre-comp with the old name of the main comp.
Note: When pre-comping you must always select 'Move all attributes into the new composition’ - expressions will be broken if you click “Leave all attributes in Comp”.
Hope that helps...
Hey Elias- you’d have to render it out with an alpha channel first...if you need any info on how to do that either google it or submit a ticket (it’s easy). Hope that helps. Oz