Create a custom Control effect

Find out why the . goes before the /

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lloydalvarez
Enhancement master
Posts: 460
Joined: June 17th, 2004, 9:27 am
Location: New York City, NY
Contact:

explorer wrote: If there is what would be a path returned by that dialog look like if one would navigate to the AE instal dir?
This code will give you the path to the enclosing folder of the AE application

Windows:
var appFolderPath = String(Folder.appPackage);

Mac:
var appFolderPath = Folder.appPackage.parent.toString();


-Lloyd
explorer
Posts: 17
Joined: March 1st, 2007, 11:12 pm
Location: Poland, Warsaw

ok. nevermind.

[EDIT]

Oh... hey... I didn't see your response :)
I figured it out a bit differently, but it works like a charm.
I'll be publishing this new great app soon.
I'll make sure to let you guys know.

Cheers
lunelson
Posts: 18
Joined: March 26th, 2006, 1:58 am

Hey did anyone ever figure out how to use the "Popup" controller? It is defined at the beginning of the XML file but there is no example of the syntax anywhere.

BTW, this is my version of a JSX to invoke the custom effect once you've created it:

Code: Select all

// Create Undo Group for Applying the Effect
app.beginUndoGroup("My Custom Effect");{
	//Check for selected comp with alert if one isn't selected
	var activeItem = app.project.activeItem; 
	if (activeItem == null || !(activeItem instanceof CompItem)){ 
		alert("Please select a Comp first");} 
	else { 
		//Define comp
		var mainComp = app.project.activeItem;
		//Make a Null Layer to apply The Custom Effect
		newNull = mainComp.layers.addNull();
		newNull.name = "My Custom Effect Null";
		//Add the effect
		newNull.Effects.addProperty("My Custom Effect");
		// close the undo group 
		app.endUndoGroup();}}
toddkopriva
Posts: 13
Joined: July 20th, 2007, 11:13 pm
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Contact:

I just talked with a couple of the After Effects software engineers about the Popup control.

For now, this control is just used internally by layer styles. It doesn't work for custom effects / animation presets.

If you want this functionality, please enter a feature request using the feature-request form.
----------------------------------------------------------
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0
----------------------------------------------------------
lunelson
Posts: 18
Joined: March 26th, 2006, 1:58 am

Thanks Todd,

I figured it was probably internal-use only; but really nice to have the definitive answer.

Much appreciated.

LMN
taravasya
Posts: 6
Joined: February 15th, 2011, 6:19 pm

Is there any way to create my own effects, with several of the controller with a script, but without changing the xml file?
I have this script:
  • MyControl = LayerVideoA.Effects.addProperty("Slider Control");
    MyControl.name = "Transition Duration"
    MyControl(1).setValue(2);
Its create standart Slider Control:
Image
But how can I rename the Slider, and add more sliders(or other controls) to my effect?
MYX_2000
Posts: 12
Joined: February 6th, 2012, 2:01 pm

Hey all,
I thought I would place an FYI for future folks here. I was trying like mad to build a custom UI the past couple of days. I have not had it fail like this in the past. Usually you miss a quote or something stupid. I spent so long looking at quotes and tag beginnings and ends and nothing was working / i.e. the thing was constantly failing. After breaking it down into smaller pieces to troubleshoot it, it turns out that there is a maximum of 30 characters allowed in the naming of the thing. I had "Use Velocity Drift for Master Rotation" (38 characters). Works great under 30 though.
sahara
Posts: 3
Joined: August 12th, 2010, 1:50 am

hi,
has anybody got this script from Nab to create Custom effects?

Does anybody know how to make a group inside such a Custom Effect?
cheers
MYX_2000
Posts: 12
Joined: February 6th, 2012, 2:01 pm

I was never able to find it. But it is not hard to add them as described. Just be mindful of the formatting, and name length (see above).

<Group name="$$$/AE/Preset/Group_Name_Here=Group Name Here">

place your doodads in here

 </Group>
sahara
Posts: 3
Joined: August 12th, 2010, 1:50 am

MYX_2000 wrote:I was never able to find it. But it is not hard to add them as described. Just be mindful of the formatting, and name length (see above).

<Group name="$$$/AE/Preset/Group_Name_Here=Group Name Here">

place your doodads in here

 </Group>
Hi,thank you it works :)

It would be great to have a script that writes the code directly into the XML file :!:
Red_Fox
Posts: 3
Joined: April 22nd, 2008, 4:22 am

sahara wrote: It would be great to have a script that writes the code directly into the XML file :!:
http://aescripts.com/slim-expression-controls/
beginUndoGroup
Posts: 81
Joined: November 27th, 2012, 6:41 am

Any idea how to place a separator in a Popup list (in PresetEffects.xml) ?
What to put instead of the "?" below to get an unselectable separator :

<Popup name="$$$/AE/Preset/List=List" popup_string="item1|item2|?|item3" default="1"/>

I've tried millions of things and none worked. Not a tremendously important question but that would still be helpful to know !
Gnaws
Posts: 2
Joined: May 31st, 2011, 7:54 am

Is this script still available somewhere else? The link listed above is dead.
beginUndoGroup
Posts: 81
Joined: November 27th, 2012, 6:41 am

Don't think so. He puts most of his old scripts on aescripts.com and his newer ones are on motionboutique.com.
If you can't find it on either place he might have judged its was not worth it...

Depending on what you want to do there is another script: http://aescripts.com/slim-expression-controls/ and a (free) online editor http://www.batchframe.com/custom_controls/
(the online one is good but does not provide support for popup list).

Xavier.
Gnaws
Posts: 2
Joined: May 31st, 2011, 7:54 am

Thank you, Xavier.
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