Transform Sammich

There are a lot of quick-rendering effects inside of Ae –but some of them are limited in controls. By stacking two Transform effects around these minimal effects it is possible to add a ton of variety to your designs. Watch through Jake's tutorial ↑ for details on setup; then automate the process with this scriptlet ↓ for KBar (opens new window).

The code

if (app.project.activeItem.selectedProperties.length > 0 && app.project.activeItem.selectedProperties[0].propertyGroup(1).matchName == 'ADBE Effect Parade') {
    
app.beginUndoGroup('Apply Transform Sammich');

var selectedEffects = app.project.activeItem.selectedProperties;
var effectsGroup = selectedEffects[0].propertyGroup(1);
var firstEffectIdx = selectedEffects[0].propertyIndex;
var lastEffectIdx = selectedEffects[selectedEffects.length - 1].propertyIndex;

var first = effectsGroup.addProperty('ADBE Geometry2');
first.name = 'Sammich Top';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0001').expression = 'effect("Sammich Bottom")("ADBE Geometry2-0002")';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0002').expression = 'effect("Sammich Bottom")("ADBE Geometry2-0001")';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0003').expression = '100';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0005').expression = '-effect("Sammich Bottom")("ADBE Geometry2-0005")';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0006').expression = 'effect("Sammich Bottom")("ADBE Geometry2-0006")';
first('ADBE Geometry2-0007').expression = '-effect("Sammich Bottom")("ADBE Geometry2-0007")';
first.moveTo(firstEffectIdx);
var second = effectsGroup.addProperty('ADBE Geometry2');
second.name = 'Sammich Bottom';
second('ADBE Geometry2-0003').expression = '100';
second.moveTo(lastEffectIdx + 2);

app.endUndoGroup();
} else { alert('Select effects to make a Sammich'); }

Scriptlet setup

KBar icon

Download all of our KBar icons here

1. Right click the KBar panel to open Settings
2. Click Add Button
3. Select Run Scriptlet
4. Under Scriptlet paste the sriptlet code
5. Next to Description click ICON
6. Drop down Text Label and select PNG/SVG
7. Click the BROWSE button to locate Sammich.svg icon
8. Click OK to close the icon picker
9. Click OK to close the script picker
10. The new button will be added to KBar