We discussed this at length when we were developing it and decided to leave it off our first release since it would have taken too much time to add that feature...but it's on the list for sure.
In the mean time, I suggest you save the text in a text file, and take a frame grab of the settings. It's still going to give you a different result when you re-build (part of the beauty/curse of TypeMonkey), but at least you'll be in the right ballpark.
I have a question that is related to the camera rotation. It may be a Math limitation, but how come it's not possible for the cam to rotate consecutively past 180 degrees? For instance if I manually adjust 4 text nulls in a row, each one at 90 degrees on Z Rotation, you can see that the "MonkeyCam Target" Z Rotation animates from 180 degrees to -90 rather than to 270.
Is there a quick fix for this?
Thanks.
Aldo-
I'm glad you asked this...heres Dan's explanation when I brought this up as we were working on it. It pretty much tells you all you need to know:
"I think that's a manifestation of the dreaded "gimbal lock" you can get when dealing with Euler angles (which is what AE uses). What's happening is that (x=0,y=90,z=0) and (x=180,y=60,-180) are two ways to represent the same orientation. Unfortunately, AE doesn't give expressions a way to easily derive the world orientation of a parented layer. The method I use works most of the time but it isn't perfect, and it is apparently coming up with the second version of the control layer's orientation, which causes the flip. I don't know if there's a solution, but I'll give it some thought."
First off, great script. Wonderful timesaver, in addition to being a creative tool in and off itself.
It worked ALMOST as advertised "out of the box" and I though it might be nice to mention this to the development team and users alike.
When I did a quick test in Adobe CC, the camera consistently stayed at 5 second duration and ignoring the comp length and work area alike. After a few minutes head scratching, I realize that the script was obeying my still footage import settings (which was set at 5 sec, rather than import to length of comp). When I changed that setting, TypeMonkey works 100%.
It's a small thing, but I would prefer to have TypeMonkey work, regardless of what my import footage setting is set to. Just a heads up.
Thank you for this script is super awesome. Even when I want to just add few words I don't have to type "word", accept that, take type tool, type "word2", accept, take type tool... So it's super helpfull in small projects too.
A few insights:
- Motion blur switch - Save preset or just auto save last preset and reset button - Rotation flips - 3d camera movement
These ideas was discussed already and yeah they are needed. Motion blur it's not a big problem, Save preset - a little bit annoying when I have to every time change size of the letters, turn off camera, turn off animation.. I know I can just don't close typemonky box but it will be easier with a saving function. Rotation - I read your comment so yeah, pretty sad.
And not discussed insights:
- Eyedropper - Minimize
Absence of eyedropper in color box is very irritating. Minimize - without saving preset it's needed, with probably not.
If you click on the magnifying glass above the color wheel, and then click on the color you want to select, it works as an eyedropper....not sure why they wouldn't just put an eyedropper icon in there....but there you go.
First off, great script. Wonderful timesaver, in addition to being a creative tool in and off itself.
It worked ALMOST as advertised "out of the box" and I though it might be nice to mention this to the development team and users alike.
When I did a quick test in Adobe CC, the camera consistently stayed at 5 second duration and ignoring the comp length and work area alike. After a few minutes head scratching, I realize that the script was obeying my still footage import settings (which was set at 5 sec, rather than import to length of comp). When I changed that setting, TypeMonkey works 100%.
It's a small thing, but I would prefer to have TypeMonkey work, regardless of what my import footage setting is set to. Just a heads up.
Once again, big thanks for a great script.
Thanks Mike- we didn't know that. We'll put that on the list, but in the mean time, it's going right in the FAQs.
If you click on the magnifying glass above the color wheel, and then click on the color you want to select, it works as an eyedropper....not sure why they wouldn't just put an eyedropper icon in there....but there you go.
On Windows I don't have a color wheel and magnifying glass. And it's not dockable. Hey guys with Windows it's only my problem or Windows problem? Or maybe type of the script - 'Adobe JavaScript Biary file' not like others 'Adobe JavaScript file'. I have no idea so just guessing. http://oi44.tinypic.com/206j3u8.jpg
Thanks Orrin! I decided for this one to simply turn off the camera/use my own to frame things, using the power of the text animation only. So far it's definitely speeding things up!
I'm using Launch Pad for a quick use so I have TypeMonkey script in subfolder in ScriptUI Panels. Oh well... I'll live without dockable box. Thanks Lloyd!
This plugin is amazing and really helps with my workflow when I'm doing lyric videos. However there are 2 things which I think are noticeably absent-
First and foremost, why can I not apply the animation to properties other than scale?? Surely there must be an easier way than cutting and pasting the expression to a different property. Having to do this really negates the amount of time saved. Even just the option to apply it to Opacity would be great.
Second, multiple font support? I'm not sure if this is possible within the confines of AE Scripting but it would be great to create layouts with 2 or 3 different fonts at once.
Third it would be awesome to get some expression controls to control the speed of the animation after the layouts have been generated
Thanks for the script! It really is a wonderful tool
Can you expand a bit on how you'd like to see the animation applied to other properties other than scale? As I see it, the animation is also applied to position and rotation (tho that can be expanded upon in the future). Love to hear your thoughts.
Keep in mind, other scripts might help in your case, such as Randomizer, that will take a group of layers and apply user-defined min/max to various properties.
Concerning multiple fonts...that's on the list, but in the mean time you can go in and unlock text layers and change the font manually...
That'll have to do for the moment...we've got lots more features planned, but had we waited till we put them all in, we'd have never released it!
Lots of fun attributes but uninstalled it because AE wouldn't let me output anything even when not using the script. Although it could be an unfortunate ae bug coincidence, it was the last thing I added to AE, and after I uninstalled everything worked better albeit not perfect...
Well I guess the main thing for me would be just being able to apply it to Opacity, as that would be the other most used way to animate text in. I happen to be working on a project right now that's using a ton of fade ins, and having to manually move the expression from Scale to Opacity and edit the 2 dimensions down to one just seems like something that could be easily avoided prior to hitting the "Do It!" button.
For something like position maybe just offer a "Slide In" checkbox, with an Angle Control to choose your direction and then a simple slider to choose the magnitude of the slide. Sliding in on the Z-axis would be cool too.
Then of course you could combine multiple effects to have it potentially sliding, fading and scaling all at once. Could be cool. Also making each value tweakable through expression controls would be great, just put them on each of the control layers for anyone who wants to go in and edit the timing.
Thanks for listening! Keep up the good work, really looking forward to seeing how this script develops
Lots of fun attributes but sort of regretting paying 50 bucks for the script. I had to uninstall it because AE wouldn't let me output anything even when not using the script. As soon as I uninstalled everything worked fine again...
Something else must be going on. Scripts are not able to prevent output. If you open a support ticket we can help you figure out what the issue might be.
Bought it on last minute with the introductory price Amazing script. Thank you very much.
I'm having an issue with Devanagri font. Its a foreign language font used for Hindi. The font works well in After effects text layer (The red color text is after effects layer not created by Typemonkey)
But when its used with typemonkey (The white color text created with typemonkey), the words get scrambled and its not the same.
The Devnagri fonts I'm using are professional fonts used in publishing industry.
Is there a way I can try to avoid the word scrambling.
Hi, enjoying the script but I have a problem trying to centre a block of text, I've tried parenting the timing control to a null but it seems like I have no control on positioning text at all, is this true? Also I've purchased audio to markers but it won't produce enough markers for my typemonkey (it's clear spoken audio data) have you any tips please?
For centering a block of text, you can just select the text (actually the control layer that the ext is parented to) and move it around manually. There is no Center Text alignment right now. Remember, you can use the [ ] and { } to control they layout more (check out the tutorial).
As far as your other problem, you're really talking about Speech Recognition, which theres no real script that will work for that. You have two options:
1) manually slide the markers (I'd start from the end, and move toward the beginning in small batches, since AE doesn't handle markers the same way it handles keyframes- you can only move them one at a time)
2) Check out Premiere's Speech Recognition feature. I'm about to start a tutorial on that. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. I'm learning about it now.
If you're under the gun, right now I'd just do it manually, that way its fool proof.
Thanks for the prompt reply, I'm afraid we've got crossed lines here.
My problem is that I've used Typemonkey, My animation is complete but I want the remaining text to be central i.e in the middle of my comp window, basically like a newspaper front page.
I've tried changing the position on the control layer but it won't move my text block left, right, up or down, basically I wish to layout my final text without any words missing off the page, it gives the viewers the chance to catch up when they can see complete sentences.
As to audio to layers, it's ok I'll do it manually.
Are you sure its not moving the type (or control layers) but since the camera is parented to the type you're moving, you might not perceive it as being moved?Its a weird optical illusion that took me a while to adjust to. Switch over to a custom view, where you can see the whole thing (camera included), move to the end of the comp, and try adjusting from that POV.
Keep in mind, you might have to generate your own camera (or transition to your own camera) if you want to pull back and just leave the camera stationary. You can't just switch off MonkeyCam mid-comp.
Can you tell me how audiotomarker can be used in conjunction with your typemonkey script? if i use this as a lyric video, what is the best way to sync the audio lyric with typemonkey pasted text lyric. i currently i am trying to move the marker created by typemonkey and try to match it with the audio. it is very tedious. the makers are spread out throughout the compositon and it is a pain try to rearrange them. can i select all the markers at once and then move them around?
Hi there, I'm trying to pause on a word with no camera movement after I've locked everything in (and closed/opened AE) The '^' function seems to only add time between when words appear- but the camera (I have set to Smooth Constant) still starts tracking to the next word right after the previous one appears- I need it to stay on the current word, wait two beats and then move onto the next word- but only in one instance- not the whole sentence (or I would try just using Smooth Stop and Go)
Thanks for your time! Really dig it so far (I'm on the full version) -Jonathan
P.S. (ignore the username- for some reason it won't change even after I've updated my info)
Hi there, I'm trying to pause on a word with no camera movement after I've locked everything in (and closed/opened AE) The '^' function seems to only add time between when words appear- but the camera (I have set to Smooth Constant) still starts tracking to the next word right after the previous one appears- I need it to stay on the current word, wait two beats and then move onto the next word- but only in one instance- not the whole sentence (or I would try just using Smooth Stop and Go)
Hey Randall- In this case I'd try pre-comping, and then applying time-remap...pausing at the moment you want it to hold.
Can you tell me how audiotomarker can be used in conjunction with your typemonkey script? if i use this as a lyric video, what is the best way to sync the audio lyric with typemonkey pasted text lyric. i currently i am trying to move the marker created by typemonkey and try to match it with the audio. it is very tedious. the makers are spread out throughout the compositon and it is a pain try to rearrange them. can i select all the markers at once and then move them around?
Unfortunately, AE does not handle markers like they do keyframes. In general, I'll go over briefly the different types of audio that I can think of, and what I see as the best approach to take with TypeMonkey. I''ll try to be as brief as possible.
-Synching to a beat: I'd recommend MamoWord's Beat Assistant script to create a marker layer that picks up the beat of the track. Use that as a sync layer.
-Synching to keypoints of a track- this is more than just the beat, you'd be synching more to the audio level. This is what audiotomarkers would be good for. It tends to be more reactive than the one above.
-Voice Over (no music): I'm just finishing a tutorial on how easily you can use the Content Analysis function of Premiere to instantly sync to a VO. its amazing...look for it in the coming days.
-Music with Lyrics: This is the hardest one, since none of the above works.... I've seen a script that takes an interesting approach, in that it starts with the user laying down markers manually by "Tapping", or hitting the * key on an extended keyboard at each word, and then running a script that helps sync typemonkey to that. I believe a Tutorial on aetuts on that will be coming out next week.
But at this point, I'd say that manually moving the markers is the best bet. A few tips would be to get as close as you can timing wise with the ^ key, and then work the markers from the end to the beginning in small groups. That way you're not getting all confused by overlapping markers everywhere.<
There anther tip about how to speed up your workflow by working "offline". I discuss that a bit in the FAQs. Check it out.
I'm another one of those TypeMonkey users (full version, on AE CC) that wants to move the camera towards the end so that the viewer can see the whole text.
Now, I understand the parenting thing, and that moving stuff will give the illusion of no movement because "everything" is parented together.
However, as a relative newbie to AE, all I want to do is basically allow TypeMonkey to do it's thing, then scale/position so that all the text is visible. Is there a well known good way of doing that?
Good question. There might be a few ways to do it, but I think the easiest would be to insert a "phantom word" at the end - an extra word that you can reposition (pull forward in Z space, up on the Y axis, or whatever), then unshy the layers and turn it invisible (turn off the eye icon).
I'd also recommend moving the end of the work area earlier so you have a hold at the end.
You could also keyframe the Monkey Cam zoom, but that won't really allow you to reposition it, it would just be a straight pull-back.
Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.
Also, I can't waste the attention without thanking you guys for an awesome script. It's going to be used for my wedding next weekend.
Thanks Rune- and congrats! Post up the animation when you get a chance...we'd love to see it!
Thanks Orrin.
I will try to remember to do that. Keep in mind that the part that TypeMonkey is used for is extremely simple compared even to the tutorials and demos you guys do. I'm just using it to show the number of days (!) since each of us were born, since we met etc. until the wedding. Works reasonably well, and would be considerably more dull without TypeMonkey.
Have some features suggestion for TypeMonkey, I get a lot of text in Illustrator to animate, if I could use TypeMonkey on an Illustrator layer(s) or copy paste my text from Illustrator and keep all the data that would be a tremendous time saver and a killer feature. Having all the fonts with size, color and position of the text withtout having to redo the whole thing in After Effects would be amazing. Also being able to animate other kind of objects would be great. Being able to select a bunch of layers and give it the Monkey treatment would really make this a must have.
Love the product but need advise on a couple issues. 1. Purchased 7 licenses for my team of artists but now experience AE crashes when opening other artist's AE projects if I leave the TypeMonkey script window open when doing so. Is there a fix for this? (Running Mac OS 10.8.2, AE CS5) 2. Second question echo's a previous forum question; Is there a way to save presets? Frustrating to have to keep re-picking colors/fonts/setting each time we create a new project or open an existing one.
A few insights:
- Motion blur switch
- Save preset or just auto save last preset and reset button
- Rotation flips
- 3d camera movement
These ideas was discussed already and yeah they are needed. Motion blur it's not a big problem, Save preset - a little bit annoying when I have to every time change size of the letters, turn off camera, turn off animation.. I know I can just don't close typemonky box but it will be easier with a saving function. Rotation - I read your comment so yeah, pretty sad.
And not discussed insights:
- Eyedropper
- Minimize
Absence of eyedropper in color box is very irritating. Minimize - without saving preset it's needed, with probably not.
Thanks again!
On Windows I don't have a color wheel and magnifying glass. And it's not dockable. Hey guys with Windows it's only my problem or Windows problem? Or maybe type of the script - 'Adobe JavaScript Biary file' not like others 'Adobe JavaScript file'. I have no idea so just guessing.
http://oi44.tinypic.com/206j3u8.jpg
You need to install it in the ScriptUI Panels folder to make it dockable. Here is a tutorial on how to install and run scripts in After Effects: https://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-install-and-run-scripts/
I'm having an issue with Devanagri font. Its a foreign language font used for Hindi.
The font works well in After effects text layer (The red color text is after effects layer not created by Typemonkey)
But when its used with typemonkey (The white color text created with typemonkey), the words get scrambled and its not the same.
The Devnagri fonts I'm using are professional fonts used in publishing industry.
Is there a way I can try to avoid the word scrambling.
Thanks.
The text got scrambled due to the "All Caps" tickbox was left ticked.
It works great now.
Thanks.
We've been discussing ways to make non-English language work...Arabic is tops on the list. Stay tuned...
Can you tell me how audiotomarker can be used in conjunction with your typemonkey script? if i use this as a lyric video, what is the best way to sync the audio lyric with typemonkey pasted text lyric. i currently i am trying to move the marker created by typemonkey and try to match it with the audio. it is very tedious. the makers are spread out throughout the compositon and it is a pain try to rearrange them. can i select all the markers at once and then move them around?
Thanks for your time! Really dig it so far (I'm on the full version)
-Jonathan
P.S. (ignore the username- for some reason it won't change even after I've updated my info)
http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/fb98642e316540b0
In general, I'll go over briefly the different types of audio that I can think of, and what I see as the best approach to take with TypeMonkey. I''ll try to be as brief as possible.
-Synching to a beat: I'd recommend MamoWord's Beat Assistant script to create a marker layer that picks up the beat of the track. Use that as a sync layer.
-Synching to keypoints of a track- this is more than just the beat, you'd be synching more to the audio level. This is what audiotomarkers would be good for. It tends to be more reactive than the one above.
-Voice Over (no music): I'm just finishing a tutorial on how easily you can use the Content Analysis function of Premiere to instantly sync to a VO. its amazing...look for it in the coming days.
-Music with Lyrics: This is the hardest one, since none of the above works.... I've seen a script that takes an interesting approach, in that it starts with the user laying down markers manually by "Tapping", or hitting the * key on an extended keyboard at each word, and then running a script that helps sync typemonkey to that. I believe a Tutorial on aetuts on that will be coming out next week.
But at this point, I'd say that manually moving the markers is the best bet. A few tips would be to get as close as you can timing wise with the ^ key, and then work the markers from the end to the beginning in small groups. That way you're not getting all confused by overlapping markers everywhere.<
There anther tip about how to speed up your workflow by working "offline". I discuss that a bit in the FAQs. Check it out.
Have some features suggestion for TypeMonkey, I get a lot of text in Illustrator to animate, if I could use TypeMonkey on an Illustrator layer(s) or copy paste my text from Illustrator and keep all the data that would be a tremendous time saver and a killer feature. Having all the fonts with size, color and position of the text withtout having to redo the whole thing in After Effects would be amazing. Also being able to animate other kind of objects would be great.
Being able to select a bunch of layers and give it the Monkey treatment would really make this a must have.
Cheers