Photoshop script - How to get the bounds of the visible portion of a layer set (group)?

Question

I'm writing a simple Photoshop script where I need the bounds of the visible portion of the active layer (i.e. the bounds after the mask is applied).

Thankfully, the ArtLayer.bounds property gives you exactly that for any given layer.

However, if the active layer is actually a group (layer set), things get complicated.

First of all, the group's mask effect is completely ignored. And second, the visibility state of the layers is being ignored as well.

So my question is: how do I get the bounds of the visible portion of a layer set (group)?

Or at the very least, how do I get the bounds of the group's mask? If I have that, I can iterate through all the group's visible layers bounds and intersect all of them with the mask bounds to get what I need.

I didn't find any methods or properties in the reference guide that could give me either of those.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Maher Fattouh Maher Fattouh · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29T23:16:25

Here's a hacky solution, it creates a temp copy of the group, merges it, get its bounds, deletes it and gets back to the group this will deal with invisible layers

var mfDoc = activeDocument;
var mflayer = activeDocument.activeLayer; // currently active layer
var mfnewdLayer = mfDoc.activeLayer.duplicate(); // Dublicates active layer or group (creating a temp layer)
mfDoc.activeLayer = mfnewdLayer; // sets the temp layer as the active layer
mfnewdLayer.merge(); // merges it, this leaves only visible layers

var mfmlayer = activeDocument.activeLayer; //Grab the currently selected layer
var mfheight = mfmlayer.bounds[2]-mfmlayer.bounds[0]; //Grab the H value
var mfwidth = mfmlayer.bounds[3]-mfmlayer.bounds[1]; //Grab the W value

mfmlayer.remove(); // delete the temp layer
mfDoc.activeLayer = mflayer; // gets back to the layer that was active at the begining
mflayer.name = mfheight + " x " + mfwidth // set it's name to the dimintions we now have

now if you want to deal with masks the script gets a little bit longer:

var mfDoc = activeDocument;
var mflayer = activeDocument.activeLayer; // currently active layer
var mfnewdLayer = mfDoc.activeLayer.duplicate(); // Dublicates active layer or group (creating a temp layer)
mfDoc.activeLayer = mfnewdLayer; // sets the temp layer as the active layer
mfnewdLayer.merge(); // merges it, this leaves only visible layers

var mfmlayer = activeDocument.activeLayer; //Grab the currently selected layer

        if (hasVectorMask() == true){ // Only if it has a layer mask
                selectVectorMask(); // Select the vector mask
                rasterizeVectorMask(); // rasterize the vector mask
                applyLayerMask(); // Apply the layer mask
            }
        if (hasLayerMask() == true){ // Only if it has a layer mask
                selectLayerMask(); // Select the layer mask
                applyLayerMask(); // Apply the layer mask
            }
        if (hasFilterMask() == true){ // Only if it has a Smart Filter mask
            }

var mfheight = mfmlayer.bounds[2]-mfmlayer.bounds[0]; //Grab the H value
var mfwidth = mfmlayer.bounds[3]-mfmlayer.bounds[1]; //Grab the W value

mfmlayer.remove(); // delete the temp layer
mfDoc.activeLayer = mflayer; // gets back to the layer that was active at the begining
mflayer.name = mfheight + " x " + mfwidth // set it's name to the dimintions we now have



function hasLayerMask() {
var hasLayerMask = false;
try {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    var keyUserMaskEnabled = app.charIDToTypeID( 'UsrM' );
    ref.putProperty( app.charIDToTypeID( 'Prpr' ), keyUserMaskEnabled );
    ref.putEnumerated( app.charIDToTypeID( 'Lyr ' ), app.charIDToTypeID( 'Ordn' ), app.charIDToTypeID( 'Trgt' ) );
    var desc = executeActionGet( ref );
    if ( desc.hasKey( keyUserMaskEnabled ) ) {
        hasLayerMask = true;
    }
}catch(e) {
    hasLayerMask = false;
}
return hasLayerMask;
}


function hasVectorMask() {
var hasVectorMask = false;
try {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    var keyVectorMaskEnabled = app.stringIDToTypeID( 'vectorMask' );
    var keyKind = app.charIDToTypeID( 'Knd ' );
    ref.putEnumerated( app.charIDToTypeID( 'Path' ), app.charIDToTypeID( 'Ordn' ), keyVectorMaskEnabled );
    var desc = executeActionGet( ref );
    if ( desc.hasKey( keyKind ) ) {
        var kindValue = desc.getEnumerationValue( keyKind );
        if (kindValue == keyVectorMaskEnabled) {
            hasVectorMask = true;
        }
    }
}catch(e) {
    hasVectorMask = false;
}
return hasVectorMask;
}


function hasFilterMask() {
var hasFilterMask = false;
try {
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    var keyFilterMask = app.stringIDToTypeID("hasFilterMask");
    ref.putProperty( app.charIDToTypeID( 'Prpr' ), keyFilterMask);
    ref.putEnumerated( app.charIDToTypeID( 'Lyr ' ), app.charIDToTypeID( 'Ordn' ), app.charIDToTypeID( 'Trgt' ) );
    var desc = executeActionGet( ref );
    if ( desc.hasKey( keyFilterMask ) && desc.getBoolean( keyFilterMask )) {
        hasFilterMask = true;
    }
}catch(e) {
    hasFilterMask = false;
}
return hasFilterMask;
}

function selectLayerMask() {
try{ 
    var id759 = charIDToTypeID( "slct" );
        var desc153 = new ActionDescriptor();
        var id760 = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
            var ref92 = new ActionReference();
            var id761 = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
            var id762 = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
            var id763 = charIDToTypeID( "Msk " );
            ref92.putEnumerated( id761, id762, id763 );
        desc153.putReference( id760, ref92 );
        var id764 = charIDToTypeID( "MkVs" );
        desc153.putBoolean( id764, false );
    executeAction( id759, desc153, DialogModes.NO );
}catch(e) {
    ; // do nothing
}
}

function selectVectorMask() {
try{ 
    var id55 = charIDToTypeID( "slct" );
    var desc15 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var id56 = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
        var ref13 = new ActionReference();
        var id57 = charIDToTypeID( "Path" );
        var id58 = charIDToTypeID( "Path" );
        var id59 = stringIDToTypeID( "vectorMask" );
        ref13.putEnumerated( id57, id58, id59 );
        var id60 = charIDToTypeID( "Lyr " );
        var id61 = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
        var id62 = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
    ref13.putEnumerated( id60, id61, id62 );
desc15.putReference( id56, ref13 );
executeAction( id55, desc15, DialogModes.NO );
}catch(e) {
    ; // do nothing
}
}

function applyLayerMask() {
try{ 
    var id765 = charIDToTypeID( "Dlt " );
        var desc154 = new ActionDescriptor();
        var id766 = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
            var ref93 = new ActionReference();
            var id767 = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
            var id768 = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
            var id769 = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
            ref93.putEnumerated( id767, id768, id769 );
        desc154.putReference( id766, ref93 );
        var id770 = charIDToTypeID( "Aply" );
        desc154.putBoolean( id770, true );
    executeAction( id765, desc154, DialogModes.NO );
}catch(e) {
    ; // do nothing
}
}

Credits: the whole dealing with masks script is from Flatten All Masks.jsx by LeZuse

Photoshop script - How to get the bounds of the visible portion of a layer set (group)?

1 Answers