Self Resizing Shapes to Text | After Effects Pro Tutorial

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Download the Expression + Project file here
www.mediafire.com/file/l8tfti5...
Expressions (There's three, First one is the main one.)
margin = 50;
text_width = thisComp.layer("Text").sourceRectAtTime().width;
text_height = thisComp.layer("Text").sourceRectAtTime().height;
box_width = text_width + margin*2;
box_height = text_height + margin*2;
[box_width, box_height]
text_height = thisComp.layer("Text").sourceRectAtTime().height;
[0, text_height/2]
t = thisComp.layer("Text");
tRect = t.sourceRectAtTime(time,false);
tUL = t.toComp([tRect.left,tRect.top]);
tLR = t.toComp([tRect.left+tRect.width,tRect.top+tRect.height]);
tCenter = (tUL + tLR)/2
myRect = sourceRectAtTime(time,false);
myUL = toComp([myRect.left,myRect.top]);
myLR = toComp([myRect.left+myRect.width,myRect.top+myRect.height]);
myCenter = (myUL + myLR)/2
delta = myCenter - tCenter;
value - delta
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Today we learn how to auto scale shapes to text in after effects, some may call it Self Resizing Shapes!

[@airey773]

Dear cthutlu on a bicycle you have saved me a massive headache. You now have a fan for life. Meaningless as I'm old and a mediocre human, but still, it's something. Thanks man.

[@Pieprucz]

For total AE noobs like myself 😀 If you want to change the displayed text throughout the length of the composition. You don't have to copy Text and Shape layers and edit the text layer name in the code with each copy. You can just use "Source Text" option in the text layer drop down menu. Thx Maxwell!!

[@thedailyhappening416]

You deserve a like. I knew it was somewhere on the internet. You brought me to it. Thank you.

[@DaveSy]

Subscribed. This is how all tuts should be! Huge value in this.

[@DJJulzNJ]

Excellent video! Helped so much! thank you Maxwell!

[@samprimal8910]

Your vids are great. Thanks so much, you've helped me learn and accomplish so many things in AE!

[@BrendanWilliamsTutorials]

Thanks brotha!

[@MASSIF101]

This was great, so concise and to the point and so easy to follow!

[@jamesbird8603]

Brilliant! Thanks you've really helped me with something here. Question though, I have a text box which has a fixed position, I need the box to expand upwards and the text remain aligned to the bottom of the shape, so it would grow UP. I can get the shape to expand upwards but I want the text to shift upwards when I might go on a second line of text? Does that make sense?

[@BooneLovesVideo]

Legend! Only found a few other tuts on this, and this one worked the best. If you don't mind sharing, where did you find the expressions? A particular site/tutorial? I've seen a few other versions, but this is my favorite. Thanks again!

[@ianbowles7173]

Thanks for the script. worked like a charm. I added an if()else statement, so if the text width drops to zero (if you are animating text for captions or something) , the box width also drops to zero (ignores the margin). if (text_width ==0) box_width = text_width else box_width = text_width + margin*2;

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Oh awesome, great addition. Thanks for that!

[@DanceChicks]

Great vid Maxwell!

[@user-pp2zo4by7q]

This is fantastic! Thanks man!

[@samuelanderson3952]

Loved it! Do you know how I make the shape match if we’re using scale instead of size? For example non square/circle shape layers? Thanks either way!! Love the vids!!!!!

[@user-pt5ke4fg4t]

Amazing tutorial.... Thank you.

[@danielpinocarmona6086]

Súper, muchas gracias por compartir!

[@dancu9271]

a lot of thanks for making and sharing your video!!

[@modeun-users]

Oh my god this is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much. Liked and Subscribed!!

[@skgems1558]

Great video, very well explained. Thanks.

[@Rioni]

Cool! And it gets even better if you create a slider for the marging for example, this is really useful :D The only bad thing is that I don't know how to change the scale unless I precomp it

[@matthijstrenite958]

LEGEND! Helps me a lot!

[@maynardoocara1]

Thanks a lot! Great video, great tutorial!

[@DmitroDubskiy1248]

Thanks! You helped a lot!

[@signalh9958]

Great video thank you so much!

[@jp3young]

Hey Maxwell, this video was extremely helpful. Is there a way to find the center by just using the left and right dimensions of the text rectangle? I'm linking this to a .json file to swap out data easily and depending on the letter height, it is moving the shape up and down. I just need it to move the shape left and right and maintain a constant position on the y axis...

[@holke79]

Good one! Thanks

[@a7xforeverfan608]

Thanks man! very good tutorial!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Thanks for watching! Stick around for more!

[@goodgoud3107]

Nice! Thanks a lot!

[@PhunPhun28]

Great tutorial !! But if I want 2 more rectangle shapes with more text in one composition and then... How I can do it? :(

[@ksspang]

Hey Max, do you know how to do this, except with adjustment layers instead of shape layers? I have an adjustment layer underneath, doing a box blur to make the text more legible over the video, and I have to use a shape layer as a stand-in for the alpha matte, but I'd like to keep it to just the two layers. Happy to work some masks in there if needed, but I'm stumped. Thanks!

[@oliverryan2388]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing

[@masoudnooshinfar4707]

Hey man , It was awesome actually ! but I have a question , with if it was a path ! in mean instead of using rectangle we use some deform path! ? could U help me with that?

[@matiaslugones]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU!

[@ajproart2]

✌🏼😎 Clear & precise. Thanks!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Awesome.

[@pipzaman123]

Awesome, thank you!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Thanks for watching!

[@josephinvoneichen]

I LOVE YOU! Thank you so much, you don't know how much you'd help me with that! You're genius :0)

[@MrNumber112]

Always cool Max, Thank you ;)

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Thanks for watching!

[@jouriverhoeven]

Thanks still works :)

[@historygeek_]

Mine doesn't work properly

[@sensesanimation]

Thank you pal. Very usful!

[@ahmedelghandour7063]

Thank you.

[@juangerardo1310]

YOU ARE GREAT! THANKS MAN!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

THANK YOU JUAN!

[@marcsrel4mpn]

Hi Maxwell, I love this tutorial but is there a way to combine this the typewriter text animation preset?

[@Lilqueen._]

you're a genius! thanks!

[@dkamhaji]

great video! what if we need a specific margin on the left and right side, and top and bottom. is there a way to make a variable for each side?

[@PollakritK]

Nice! Thank you

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Thanks for watching!

[@GuidoVasconcelos]

Thanks man!!!!!

[@tomnapper5010]

This is awesome. Are you aware of a way to create seperate rectangles for multiple lines? I.e one box for one line, then overflow to a second when two lines. I can't get my head around it!

[@freshtv3276]

Thanks Mex!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

You're welcome!

[@itskamiar]

Thank you

[@erikciscam]

GREAT VIDEO MAN!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Thanks!

[@drewscottdavis]

Dan Ebberts is a god at writing expressions

[@yamirbhatt]

What if the background needs to be a circle? Would it be possible to have the circle change size based on text inside it?

[@thissvlad]

Hi! Can i link another shape to the border of text box? So that another shape moves with a text box when i type the text?

[@davidzap]

ADDITION 1: you can use a variable called "text_layer_name" to put the name of the layer just once. ADDITION 2: If you want to use it for subtitles you can add an IF statement to set the with to 0 id the text layer is empy. (to prevent the margin to make visible a little rectangle when there is no text)... (Expand to see the code) layer_name = "Text"; margin = 20; text_width = thisComp.layer(layer_name ).sourceRectAtTime().width; text_height = thisComp.layer(layer_name ).sourceRectAtTime().height; if( text_width > 0){ box_width = text_width + margin*2; }else{ box_width = 0; } box_height = text_height + margin*2; [box_width, box_height]

[@ariesnathaniel2245]

I guess Im asking randomly but does anybody know of a method to get back into an instagram account?? I was dumb forgot my account password. I love any tricks you can give me!

[@franklinpeter6067]

@Aries Nathaniel instablaster =)

[@ariesnathaniel2245]

@Franklin Peter thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.

[@ariesnathaniel2245]

@Franklin Peter It worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thank you so much you really help me out!

[@franklinpeter6067]

@Aries Nathaniel you are welcome :D

[@cj.blackedits3289]

I'm trying to use this resize expression on a shape that i've changed to bezier path and that size keyframer isn't there so I'm unable to put in the expression under that, doesn't work on 'scale' or anything. any amends?

[@yieki1]

Thanks heaps for this. I just found you and I'm going to sub.

[@kevinboutros7972]

How to make an outside shape react accordingly? And can you give us expression details?

[@fastestfckboi]

damn broooo such an underrated video

[@thedinardi]

Does anyone know if there is a way to do this without using text as the source? I have a container that I want to auto scale depending on the logo I drop into it.

[@Koozmich]

A lil update. If you do not want to rename your text layer, you may use the following way: 1) Add the following text to every script: var textName = thisComp.layer(thisLayer,+1).name; 2) Change the corresponding strings in the scripts to the following: I. text_width = thisComp.layer(textName).sourceRectAtTime().width; text_height = thisComp.layer(textName).sourceRectAtTime().height; II. text_height = thisComp.layer(textName).sourceRectAtTime().height; III. t = thisComp.layer(textName); And just place the Text Layer under the Shape Layer ;)

[@summerburst2221]

AWESOME!

[@justinkfilms]

Great video! You helped me to achieve exactly what I needed ;) Now I can create auto-scaling titles and use them as MOGRT in Premiere! Thanks so much)

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Awesome! I'm really happy you liked it!

[@ValerieToumayan]

Hey! It's impossible to animate the size of the box, in "Rectangle path" Is I want the box to size up before the text arrive, I can only do it, with the basic Size option, but then it squeeze the outline...not nice... Any ideas how to fix this?

[@daniel_morbin]

Nice! Does somebody knows if theres a way to make in this shape a mask that also follows the text?

[@TheRevan5576]

3:11 When he called the pick whip a squiggly I died

[@EnioMaciel]

awesome! Really useful. Now I'm following you and I want to give you a hug!

[@Flavio_S]

Can you show how to make it work with Bezier Paths shape layers? Cause I have a client who's asking me for a shape layer that has 3 rounded corners except one square

[@camdaman377]

This is really helpful and awesome! Here is my question though: I would love to do an expression like this, but with a more complex vector shape that I created in Illustrator and imported into AE. Any thoughts on how to resize vector shapes to text without distorting the complex shape?

[@stevenfreebairn2553]

You might want to convert to shapes, then look at the Create Nulls From Paths script to then make an expression affecting the positions of the points.

[@ahmedaziz287]

when i use type effects on the text, the animation does not affect the box (still big) i need it to start appearing with the text?

[@mimimiday6973]

Круто! круто! круто!)) спасиБо)))

[@virajharshana1206]

Awesome tip man. Thanks alot. Is that working on CS6 ? I get the following error. After Effects warning: Function thisComp.layerasourceRectAtTime is undefined Expression disabled. Error occurred at line 2. Comp: 'Comp 1' Layer: 2 (Shape Layer 1) Property: 'Size'

[@jecamartinez]

Hi! What if I'd like to have the option to type out two lines for the text? The box I made doesn't automatically stay centered to the text when there's more than one line :(

[@tomnapper5010]

I had the same problem until I applied all three expressions. Maybe that helps?

[@chethankvs6256]

Can you make a Tutorial on the Basics of expressions? What Expression contains and what the values means and things like that!

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

I can !

[@nlokesh1717]

How to save the above as an preset template?

[@dbrammelljr]

I have no idea why, but when I'm using the expression when there is an animation property on the text and animating the offset, the box continually resizes during the offset keyframing. the text size is not changing though, just the position.

[@ManuSlime]

How to use Only For text Purpose with out Box ?

[@dwainehiggins4451]

How to grow the shape from just one side?

[@AB-ox1dn]

Well, figured?

[@jasonjensen011]

Homie just dropped this tut and wont answer questions. Don't worry, I got u kzbin.info/www/bejne/opO5YautoK-CmZI

[@onurcelik2140]

gj sir

[@joedsgn8864]

1000/1000 :)

[@SMOKESTRA]

Best

[@shuvrapodder]

what if they are in different precomp?

[@nanes9914]

What if I want it to always have the same width and only resize it vertically? I tried removing the width dimensions but it messes up the expression

[@cardermedia]

Hi, what do you do if you have left-justified text?

[@silasgotsch4458]

I have the same question. Anyone know an answer?

[@leeaverne]

Try left aligning your text under the 'Paragraph' tab. That worked for me, hope that helps!

[@lowdandcleer]

Works great, but when I went to use it for subtitling, the box expands a split-second before the text changes. Is there any workaroud for this? Just to be clear, I'm using keyframes to change the text on-screen, in sync with a voiceover. The box shifts in size about a half-second before the text changes. Maybe there's a way to add a delay on the transformation code to compensate?

[@lowdandcleer]

George Follen i thought it might be just a question of adding time..just didn’t know how. Thank you I’ll try it! :)

[@georgefollen396]

Cool, hope it works!

[@jimmymac4926]

@@georgefollen396 I know this is 3 years old but I can't see what workflow you added for this query in the comments, could you pls re-send? Thanks!

[@ArtByAliHaider]

Hi Maxwell, I copied the expressions from the description and pasted in the expression box of my shape layer but it says" After Effects warning: Function thisComp.layer().sourceRectAtTime is indefined Expression disabled. Error occured at line 2. Comp: Comp 1' Layer: 5 ('Shape Layer 1') Property: 'Size' Please help, Thank you!

[@retrohunt3207]

Hi! What if I want to fix the left side of the shape so it only scales to the right and doesn't expand to the left?

[@DenverMcQuaid]

Takes some extra expression work as follows: Move anchor points to be left aligned Create a Null and add a Slider effect to it. Add expression to the Null Position: [value[0]- thisComp.layer("NAME OF NULL").effect("NAME OF SLIDER")("Slider"),value[1]]; Use the Slider to adjust X position if needed On your Text Background/Shape add to Position: var xpos = content("Group 1").content("Rectangle Path 1").size[0]/2 - thisComp.layer("NAME OF NULL").effect("NAME OF SLIDER")("Slider"); var ypos = (content("Group 1").content("Rectangle Path 1").size[1]/2)+80; [xpos,ypos] ***NOTE*** The +80 at the end of the shape expression is subject to your project. May need to adjust or may not need at all. Used to recreate Facebook comments for a project. Various adjustments to padding and margins allow for extra spacing if needed. Everything will scale properly.

[@samicklow5086]

@@DenverMcQuaid Thanks! I'm trying to do this too, but I get an error: "property or method in 'Group 1' in class 'Group' does not exist" .... any idea why or where to point me to understand why?

[@samicklow5086]

I figured this out actually -- if you have your anchor points for text and shape both to the left and have the text aligned left before you begin applying expressions, it works out in the end!

[@harrywinter7769]

@@samicklow5086 I still can't figure out that error you typed "property or method in 'Group 1' in class 'Group' does not exist"

[@RobHeeney]

How would you alter the expression for left justification as in a Lower Third?

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Just make sure your text is left justified and positioned correctly on screen. Does that answer your question?

[@RobHeeney]

Thanks

[@MrMnmn911]

Maxwell, the link says it violates the terms of service. It's disabled. :-(

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

Fixed!

[@MrMnmn911]

YAY! Thanks!

[@ianerivera4198]

i followed your entire tutorial but mine keeps saying After Effects warning: Function thisComp.layer().sourceRectAtTime is undefined. Expression is disable. i don't really know what to do now

[@accountingfourme6663]

Very useful vid but seems doesn't work with text that has tracking animation

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

We figured that out!

[@israelgalindo6600]

expressions does not pop up when i left click colding the command button

[@craveleaks8102]

Press ALT and while holding it left click on stopwatch button.

[@artboolat]

not working with several rows of text :(

[@qinghillstudio]

This wont work on old version (CS6 for me)

[@nahasco]

This doesnt work on the latest After effects version

[@dafilmktoregopotrzebujesz4995]

yes ;( not working Error in line 5

[@dasvidaniya3817]

Does this work on CS6?

[@MaxwellRidgeway]

This method does yes!

[@virajharshana1206]

I get this error After Effects warning: Function thisComp.layerasourceRectAtTime is undefined Expression disabled. Error occurred at line 2. Comp: 'Comp 1' Layer: 2 (Shape Layer 1) Property: 'Size'

[@adegbengaojoyido550]

thaks sir but i dont know why my is ivin me hero sir

[@ChristineDeer]

This just crashed my After Effects and I can't open the file now. It crashes every time I try to open it. If you are going to try this, duplicate the file or make a new one, and do not use your original file. I just lost 8 hours of my time. :(

[@ryancollinsvideoads8228]

After Effects standing in the kitchen

[@bigautismososa3012]

1000000000000000000 tutorials about how to resize the shape and 0 about how to resize the text