What scripts do you need?

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Disciple
Posts: 137
Joined: June 5th, 2004, 8:05 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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I'm interested in finding out what type of scripts people are looking for.
For example, are you interested in scripts that allow you to automate import options? Scripts to allow you to manipulate files that are on your hard drive? Scripts that allow you to create specific types of objects in your timeline? Scripts that will perform operations on your project window?

Basically what would be interesting to know is what people are expecting from scripting, or what (if they don't expect anything in particular) parts of their workflow could be enhanced. If there is a flaw somewhere, maybe there is a script to fix it.
glennser
Posts: 7
Joined: June 17th, 2004, 1:58 pm

I have two script requests, both relating to footage;

The first is for a script that will take a bunch of footage items and compify them using decent comp names, my personal choice would be the footage name minus any extension but if there was a way to customize the name that would be cool too. I've heard a lot of people bitch about AE's default naming of comps and I've seen a couple of posts on Creative Cow so if you could figure it out and send a link to the cow it would bring a lot of traffic to this site.

The second one I would like to see is a script that automates the "Guess Pulldown Pattern" in the interpret footage dialogue. We bring a lot of edits in from Final Cut and it's a real pain to have to pick each clip and guess the pulldown pattern, every couple of weeks someone makes the mistake of copying and pasting an interpretation to all the clips which does not work.

Thanks in advance,

glenn stewart
1k studios
sean@qmediadesign.ca
Posts: 3
Joined: June 18th, 2004, 6:59 pm

On thing I miss from combustion is when you double click on a number value, a virtual number keypad would pop up. Allowing you to enter a numerical value without taking you hand off of the mouse, or in my case the stylus. I would love to see a script that brought up a floating numeric keypad. Something you could open and have on all the time.
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Disciple
Posts: 137
Joined: June 5th, 2004, 8:05 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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I'm not sure scripting can do something like that. I have to check, but I believe the amount of UI elements that scripting can create are limited.

So I guess a calculator would be pretty basic, if not down right ugly. Also I don't think you could invoke a palette from any place in the app. Right now you can only invoke a script via the file>run script menu.
I'm sure there are ways to hook up scripts to shortcuts, or, as some scripts on this site already permit, scripts to scripts (a palette that allows you to call the scripts you need the most with one click). But I don't see how you could hook up a script to a regular AE UI element...

Alex
Impudent1
Posts: 57
Joined: June 12th, 2004, 6:40 pm

Hmm I have a couple other things I need to finish up first :)

.. but the thing that comes to mind is one link I had used to repurpose an oscommerce php/mysql/javascript site. I think with a bit of modification to work in ae you could palettize it

http://javascript.internet.com/calculat ... lator.html

its would not be able to be linked to the main app number fields aka you couldnt click a number and then have the calc come up but it would give you a floating calc with cut paste number field

Imp
Impudent1
Posts: 57
Joined: June 12th, 2004, 6:40 pm

Well I poked a bit with modifying that links code tonight and avoided fixing harder problems in other script projects :)

I put the results in the scripts library as Calc.jsx , if I get a chance tommorow I will figure in some sort of film length section. Or would that be preferred as a seperate palette?

Imp
SirRender
Posts: 1
Joined: July 8th, 2004, 10:38 am

Hello,

I do a lot of compositing in AE of 3d animations rendered out as still sequences. Sometimes certain stills get accidently deleted, moved and or corrupted from the orginal source, so when I open the project AE notifies me that I have missing footage frames. Since most of this frames are in the form of imported sequences, I can not easily see which on of the sequences has the missing footage frames without going in and checking frame by frame. :(

I was just wondering if it is possible to have a script that can tell you which sequence is missing the footage frames, but more importantly, which specific frames they are. That would be super helpful. :D

Thanks in advance!
better2dae
Posts: 4
Joined: August 17th, 2004, 8:30 pm

So here is the scripting I am in need of. Maybe you can guide me in the right direction.... posting it here in case you didn't see my original post. :oops:

I am extrememly new to AE. I have used Photshop and ImageREady for sometime, but it is not going to allow me to do what I want, so, I have AE now to help me out. I was told I could get a script to do automation, but I know absolutely no knowledge of scripting or where to look for it.

Ok, here is what I want to do. Don't laugh, it is a little silly. I make signature tags... sometimes in excess of 500 (same graphic, different names) I was told that I could make a script and use that to do the 500 names automatically attaching from a list of names I have, into the same gif graphic, saving individually.
So, I thought I would make the gif in Image Ready and bring it into AE to finish it up with the different names.
Any help or guidance on where to get such scripts and how to do it, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Danielle
pants
Posts: 22
Joined: October 8th, 2004, 8:35 am

i have a folder with six images in it, that make up the 6 sides of a cube. a script that could take these 6 images, put them in a comp that's the same size as those images, turn the layers into 3d layers, select all the layers, then choose box creator lite assistant, then check the "fit box to layers" box, to make all the layers into a cube in 3d space.

either as a script, or a button on a custom palette?

is this possible?


thanks
Paul Tuersley
Posts: 704
Joined: June 5th, 2004, 7:59 am
Location: London, UK

While you could write a script to do this, you wouldn't be able to get it to interact with the box creator lite assistant, so you'd have to recreate the box creator functionality in your script.

It wouldn't be that hard to do, but you'll end up recreating that existing functionality, just to save yourself dropping 6 layers into a comp and clicking a couple of buttons.

On the plus side, you get the chance to create your own new and improved version of the box creator palette.

Paul T
bradshaw1965
Posts: 98
Joined: March 14th, 2006, 2:16 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
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It's been a while since this was posted, but a quick search didn't turn up a reply to...


The second one I would like to see is a script that automates the "Guess Pulldown Pattern" in the interpret footage dialogue. We bring a lot of edits in from Final Cut and it's a real pain to have to pick each clip and guess the pulldown pattern, every couple of weeks someone makes the mistake of copying and pasting an interpretation to all the clips which does not work.

I use...

Code: Select all


{
	var proj = app.project;
	
	if (proj) {
		
		app.beginUndoGroup("Set Field Separation");
		// loop through all items selected in project window
		
		for (var a = 0; a < proj.selection.length; ++a) {
		
			thisItem = proj.selection[a];
		
			// check item is footage and is not a still image
		
			if (thisItem instanceof FootageItem && !thisItem.mainSource.isStill) {
		
				// set footage's field separation type.
		
				thisItem.mainSource.guessPulldown(PulldownMethod.PULLDOWN_3_2 );
	
			}
		}
		
		app.endUndoGroup();
	}
}
as an easy start...

a much more elegant approach, could be crafted from the Premiere-AfterEffects workflow (also on aenhancers)
here using the very cool fieldskit plugin set.

Best,

Dale Bradshaw
creative-workflow-hacks.com
ScottG
Posts: 38
Joined: March 19th, 2006, 2:45 am

This is probably going to sound stupid, but I'm new to scripting and am still learning what is/isn't possible.

Could you theoretically have a script record what actions you're doing, and write the appropriate javascript to some location? If you can't write the HDD in a txt file, you could just write to an AE text layer, then copy and paste the code somewhere else.
I imagine it'd be a faily huge script, as it would have to contain a lot of code for possibilities.

But then one of the most requested features of AFX, ie, recording actions like in photoshop, would be there. You could charge a lot of money for this kind of functionality (if you didn't want to give it away free!).

Then again, if such a thing was possible, surely Adobe would have implemented the recording of actions?? I don't understand why this is left out of the program!
byronnash
Posts: 321
Joined: July 7th, 2004, 2:30 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC
Contact:

ScottG,
AE has not way of logging script commands that I know of. Photoshop has something called "Scriptlistener" that does that. It would be nice if they had a feature like that in AE too. I'm not on v7 or CS2 yet (soon!) but I haven't heard about these things so I'm pretty sure they're not a feature.
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