Determining Width and Height of a Text Layer

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bradshaw1965
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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Hey nab,

Not sure if my spam filter ate it or what, but I don't have a recent email from you. Care to send it again? sorry about that.

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
nab
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Location: Royan
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No problem, the files have been send again (at the creative-workflow-hacks address). Check your PM as well.
bradshaw1965
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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I've compiled a version of nab's text length plugin for Macintosh.

nabscriptsTextDimensionsMac.zip

This version works the same as the Windows version:

1: place the script in the Scripts folder of your AE Application
2: place the plugin in the Plugins folder of your AE Application
3: create a text layer
4: select it
5: run the script
6: thank nab

The plugin writes the file TextDimensions.txt to the root of your boot volume and it assumes you have read/write privileges there. It tidies up and removes it after the script runs.

Thanks again to nab for his efforts.

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
nab
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woH, great job Dale ! 8)
zold

Hi, nab 'n' Dale.
Many thanks for these efforts.
Not working on my Intel Mac with AE6.5.
Intel Mac the problem? Or the fact that I'm running v6.5?
Is it possible to compile this a certain way to make it work? I could try compiling a version, too, if it could possibly make any difference ...

Thanks in advance


Chris G
bradshaw1965
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...
Not working on my Intel Mac with AE6.5.
Intel Mac the problem? Or the fact that I'm running v6.5?
...

Hey Zoid,

Was wondering about that when I was putting the package together. I compiled it on a G5, but I can look into setting the target for Intel and PowerPC and test it on my Intel laptop. Might take a couple of days for me to swing the time.

Best,

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
bradshaw1965
Posts: 98
Joined: March 14th, 2006, 2:16 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
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So, I did a quick test on my Intel Mac Book and I'm having success as compiled with AE 7. Can anybody else confirm that it is working on AE7 Intel, but not AE 6.5 Intel? I don't have an install of AE 6.5 on a readily accessible Intel machine.

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
zold

bradshaw1965 wrote:So, I did a quick test on my Intel Mac Book and I'm having success as compiled with AE 7. Can anybody else confirm that it is working on AE7 Intel, but not AE 6.5 Intel? I don't have an install of AE 6.5 on a readily accessible Intel machine.
Hi Dale. Did you compile a universal or a separate target? Perhaps I should give the Intel version a whirl on my MBP with AE6.5?

-cg

p.s. I think I like "zoid" better than zold ... :-)
bradshaw1965
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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zold wrote: Hi Dale. Did you compile a universal or a separate target? Perhaps I should give the Intel version a whirl on my MBP with AE6.5?
I've updated with a universal version at:

http://creative-workflow-hacks.com/down ... salMac.zip

why don't you give this one a shot, if you've still got problems it might be a 6.5 issue.
zold wrote: p.s. I think I like "zoid" better than zold ... :-)
doh!

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
bradshaw1965
Posts: 98
Joined: March 14th, 2006, 2:16 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Hey zold,

did a quick check in the SDK guide.

Since I'm using XCode I'm pretty sure this won't work on 6.5 since I'm generating a Mach-0 bundle package which started support in 7.0. Do you have access to Code Warrior? I don't have a copy so I can't generate a CFM binary.

Anybody else have ideas for workarounds?

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
zold

yep, 7 only.
I believe I will be upgrading at the next paycheck. What better time?
Then I'll get all up in that text dimension thang.


to be continued ...
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lloydalvarez
Enhancement master
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Hey Dale,

I am trying the plugin (mac universal version) with TextLength.jsx and it always reports that the Text Length is 193 pixels. Have you encountered this?

-Lloyd
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lloydalvarez
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figured out the problem.. I changed the path to the .txt file. I realize now that the path of where the text file is written is hard coded into the plugin.

Dale, do you think you could change the path to the home directory (~/TextDimensions.txt) since it's common that shops don't give admin level permission to freelancers so writing to the root is not an option.

thanks,
-lloyd
bradshaw1965
Posts: 98
Joined: March 14th, 2006, 2:16 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Hey Lloyd,

I talked with NAB about doing some path coercion to the user folder or even application support, but I'm reluctant to do that because of the support issues that path munging involves with people who aren't very technical. I spend a lot of time supporting users of my open source stuff, and I'm glad to do it, but I'd like to keep my role in this project to a minimum.

That said, I can see what you mean about freelance installs, so I've compiled a version here:
http://creative-workflow-hacks.com/down ... erPath.zip

that works to ~/TextDimensions.txt

This version uses a bit of C to coerce the home folder getenv("HOME"); that is not guaranteed to return the user folder, though it should in most cases unless the env variable is being rewritten. That's why I'm not anxious to take on a support role here.

Good luck.

Dale
Dale Bradshaw
Technology Director | Primal Screen
creative-workflow-hacks.com
Atlanta, GA
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lloydalvarez
Enhancement master
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I hear ya Dale.. thanks for doing it though.. at least now there's 2 options.

-lloyd
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