Adobe 12040118 - After Effects Standard Leitfaden

Using Help Back 1

Help UsingHelp

Using Help Back 1

Using Help

About Help

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Navigating in Help

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Help UsingHelp

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Using Help Back 3

Help Overview

Using Help Back 3

Overview

The

Adobe After Effects 6.5 Render Automation & Scripting Guide

demonstrates how to take procedural control

of your After Effects projects via scripting. This feature set is available only in Adobe After Effects 6.5 Profes-

sional Edition.

With the use of system-level scripting, you can streamline your render pipeline and avoid a lot of repetitive

pointing and clicking. If you have used expressions or other JavaScript-like techniques for animating, or

worked with system scripting in AppleScript or Visual Basic, you will recognize the power of application

scripting in After Effects. With some practice, and with sufﬁcient experience using the JavaScript language,

you can take control of your graphics pipeline.

If you know nothing about scripting

After Effects 6.5 is a visual tool with a graphical user interface; you are used to interacting with it via interface

elements such as menus, palettes and icons. For the most part, this is the most accessible way to work.

Scripting is designed for situations in which this methodology involves tedious repetition or painstaking

searching and sorting that could be automated. It is also useful for leveraging the power of networked

rendering in situations where Watch Folder is less powerful (and less convenient to set up).

Scripting is designed to help users of After Effects get past these types of obstacles, and it is available even to

users who have no inclination to learn the JavaScript language. If you are this type of user, you can still harness

the power of scripting via third party solutions such as Rush Render Queue, a graphical user interface to set

up distributed renders from any computer on the network without having to set up on individual machines.

You can also leverage the contributions of scripting users who share scripts with other users. Larger studios

may have such users in-house, while other users can visit forums such as those found at www.adobe-

forums.com.

After Effects objects

You may not think of After Effects as a collection of hierarchical objects, but when you make use of render

queue items, compositions, and projects, that is how they appear in scripting. Just as the expressions features

in After Effects give you access to virtually any property of any layer inside any composition of your project

(each of which we refer to as an object), scripting gives you access to the hierarchy of objects within After

Effects and allows you to make changes to these objects.

After Effects scripting is based on ECMAScript (or more speciﬁcally, the 3rd Edition of the ECMA-262

Standard). Further documentation on this standard can be found at www.ecma-international.org.

Expressions and motion math

Because scripting can access individual layer properties, and because it utilizes JavaScript, one might assume

that expressions and scripting are one and the same. However, they are two entirely distinct entities. Expres-

sions have no ability to access information from scripts (such as variables and functions), although a script

can be written to create or edit an expression.

The similarity between expressions and scripting is, however, apparent in that they are both drawn from the

same language, ECMA standard JavaScript. Thus, knowing how to utilize one is helpful in understanding the

other.

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Help Overview

Using Help Back 4

Motion math is no longer included in After Effects; its functionality has been superseded by scripting and

expressions. All mathematical and logical operators common to ECMAScript are available in scripting.

For example, with expressions it is possible to simulate the physics of a a bouncing ball by applying mathe-

matical rules to a“ball” layer. But using scripting, you can create a whole user interface that allows a bouncing

ball and shadow layer to be animated using criteria entered by the user.

About this guide

This guide is for users who manage a graphics pipeline (which may include other scriptable applications as

well) and who want to write scripts to add custom capabilities to After Effects.

This functionality is also offered via third-party network rendering management solutions. These products

feature software designed to help manage this process, so it is possible to take advantage of this functionality

without having to perform manual editing of scripts.

Although this guide is intended to provide an understanding of the extensions that have been added to the

ECMAScript/JavaScript language for scripting of After Effects projects, to take full advantage of what is

possible with scripting you will also need an understanding of writing scripts at the system level (for

integration with AppleScript on the Mac and DOS shell scripts on Windows systems) and a background in

how to work with JavaScript.

Much of what scripting can accomplish replicates what can be done via the After Effects user interface, so a

thorough knowledge of the application itself is also essential to understanding how to use this functionality.

Note that JavaScript objects normally referred to as “properties” are consistently called “attributes” in this

guide, to avoid confusion with After Effects’ own deﬁnition of a Property (an animatable value of an effect or

transform within an individual layer).

Activating full scripting features

For security reasons, the scripting features that operate outside the After Effects application (such as adding

and deleting ﬁles and folders on volumes, or accessing the network) are disabled by default.

To enable these features, choose Preferences > General, and select Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access

Network.

By selecting this box, you enable the following:

•

Writing ﬁles

•

Creating folders

•

Setting the current folder

•

Creating a socket

•

Opening a socket

•

Listening to a socket

The JavaScript Debugger is disabled by default so that casual users do not encounter it. When editing or

writing scripts, the JavaScript Debugger can help you diagnose script problems more quickly.

To activate the JavaScript Debugger on the local machine when a script error is encountered, choose Prefer-

ences > General, and select Enable JavaScript Debugger.

Note that the JavaScript Debugger operates only when executing a script, not with expressions, even though

expressions also make use of JavaScript.

Using Help Back 5

Help Overview

Using Help Back 5

For detailed information on the JavaScript Debugger, see “JavaScript Debugging” on page 15.

Accessing and writing scripts

To create and edit scripts for After Effects, use an external text-editing application that creates ﬁles with

Unicode UTF-8 text encoding. Beware of applications such as Microsoft Word that by default add header

information to ﬁles (these create line 0 errors in scripts, causing them to fail). A script can reside anywhere,

although to appear in the Scripts menu it must be saved in the Scripts folder within the After Effects appli-

cation folder. For details on writing and editing scripts, see “Writing Scripts” on page 6.

There is no built-in method for recording a series of actions in After Effects into a script, as you can with

Photoshop actions. Scripts are created outside After Effects and then executed within it, or externally via a

command-line or third-party render management software.

Uses of After Effects scripting

One primary use for scripting in After Effects 6.5 is render automation. Anyone charged with managing a

complex rendering pipeline will be interested in this. Render automation can be accomplished either by hand-

coding scripts or via a third-party network rendering solution that supports automated management of

network rendering pipelines.

There are other uses for scripting; it can be a shortcut around tedious tasks that would otherwise involve

repetitious pointing and clicking.

See “Examples” on page 179 for examples of what scripts can do.

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Help WritingScripts

Using Help Back 6

Writing Scripts

When you use Adobe After Effects, you create projects, compositions, and Render Queue items along with all

of the elements that they contain: footage, images, solids, layers, masks, effects, and properties. Each of these

items, in scripting terms, is an object.

The heart of a scriptable application is the object model. In After Effects, the object model is composed of

projects, items, compositions, layers, and Render Queue items. Each object has its own special attributes, and

every object in an After Effects project has its own identity (although not all are accessible to scripting).

You should be familiar with the After Effects object model in order to create scripts. For more resources for

learning scripting, see “More resources to learn scripting” on page 8.

Editing scripts

After Effects 6.5 does not include a script editor. You can use any text editor to create, edit, and save scripts,

but it is recommended that you choose an application that does not automatically add header information

when saving ﬁles and that saves with Unicode (UTF-8) encoding.

Windows applications that are useful for editing scripts include EM Editor or the built-in Notepad (be sure to

set Encoding within save options to UTF-8).

Mac OS applications that are useful for editing scripts include BBEdit or the built-in OS X Textedit (be sure

to set the Save type in Preferences to Unicode [UTF-8]).

The .jsx format

After Effects scripts must include the .jsx ﬁle extension in order to be properly recognized by the application.

This extension is a variation on the standard “.js” extension used with normal JavaScript ﬁles; any UTF-8

encoded text ﬁle with this extension will be recognized.

The Scripts menu and Scripts folder

After Effects scripts reside in the Scripts folder, within the same folder as your After Effects 6.5 application ﬁle.

Only scripts contained in this Scripts folder are automatically listed in the Scripts menu, although a script ﬁle

can reside anywhere.

To run a script that does not appear in the Scripts menu, choose File > Run Script > Choose File, and choose

the script in the Open dialog box. Alternatively, you can send After Effects a script from a command line (on

Windows) or from AppleScript (on Mac OS).

To appear in the Open dialog box, your script must include the proper .jsx ﬁle extension.

Shutdown and Startup folders

Within the Scripts folder are two folders called Startup and Shutdown. After Effects runs scripts in these

folders automatically on starting and quitting, respectively.

In the Startup folder you can place scripts that you wish to execute at startup of the application. They are

executed after the application is initialized and all plug-ins are loaded.

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Help WritingScripts

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Scripting shares a global environment,so any script executed at startup can deﬁne variables and functions that

are available to all scripts. In all cases, variables and functions, once deﬁned by running a script that contains

them, persist in succeeding scripts during a given After Effects session. Once the application is quit, all such

globally deﬁned variables and functions are cleared.

Please note that this persistence of global settings also means that if you are not careful about giving variables

in scripts unique names, you can inadvertently reassign global variables intended to persist throughout a

session.

Properties can also be embedded in existing objects such as the Application object (see “Application object”

on page 26) to extend the application for other scripts.

The Shutdown folder scripts are executed as the application quits. This occurs after the project is closed but

before any other application shutdown occurs.

Sending a script to After Effects from the system

If you are familiar with how to run a script from the command line in Windows or via AppleScript, you can

send a script directly to the open After Effects application, which then runs automatically.

How to include After Effects scripting in a command line (Windows)

Following are examples of DOS shell scripts that will send an After Effects script to the application without

using the After Effects user interface to execute the script.

In the ﬁrst example, you would copy and paste your After Effects script directly into the command line script

and then run it, as follows (your script text would appear in quotation marks following the afterfx.exe -s

command):

afterfx.exe –s “alert (“You just sent an alert to After Effects”)”

Alternatively, you could specify the location of the .jsx ﬁle to be executed, as follows:

afterfx.exe –r c:\myDocuments\Scripts\yourAEScriptHere.jsx

How to include After Effects scripting in an AppleScript (Mac OS)

Following are three examples of AppleScripts that will send an existing .jsx ﬁle containing an After Effects

script to the application without using the After Effects user interface to execute the script.

In the ﬁrst example, you copy your After Effects script directly into the AppleScript and then run it, as follows

(your script text would appear in quotation marks following the DoScript command):

tell application “Adobe After Effects 6.5”

DoScript “alert (\”You just sent an alert to After Effects\”)”

end tell

Alternatively, you could display a dialog box asking for the location of the .jsx ﬁle to be executed, as follows:

set theﬁle to choose ﬁle

tell application “Adobe After Effects 6.5”

DoScript theﬁle

end tell

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Help WritingScripts

Using Help Back 8

Finally, this script is perhaps most useful when you are working directly on editing a .jsx script and want to

send it to After Effects for testing or to run. To use it effectively you must enter the application that contains

the open .jsx ﬁle (in this example it is TextEdit); if you do not know the proper name of the application, type

in your best guess to replace “TextEdit” and AppleScript prompts you to locate it.

Simply highlight the script text that you want to run, and then activate this AppleScript:

This script sends the current selection to After Effects as a script.

tell application “TextEdit”

set the_script to selection as text

end tell

tell application "Adobe After Effects 6.5"

activate

DoScript the_script

end tell

For more information on using AppleScript, check out Matt Neuberg’s

AppleScript: the Deﬁnitive Guide

(O’Reilly & Associates) or Sal Soghoian’s

AppleScript 1-2-3

(Peachpit Press).

Testing and troubleshooting

Any After Effects script that contains an error preventing it from being completed generates an error message

from the application. This error message includes information about the nature of the error and the line of

the script on which it occurred.

Additionally, After Effects includes a JavaScript debugger. For more information on activating and using the

debugger, see “JavaScript Debugging” on page 15.

More resources to learn scripting

Many resources exist for learning more about scripting that uses the ECMA standard.

The After Effects scripting engine supports the 3rd Edition of the ECMA-262 Standard, including its

notational and lexical conventions, types, objects, expressions and statements.

For a complete listing of the keywords and operators included with ECMAScript, please refer to Ecma-

262.pdf, available at www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/ECMA-262.HTM.

Books that deal with JavaScript 1.2 are also useful for understanding how scripting works in After Effects. One

book that is something of a standard for JavaScript users is

JavaScript, The Deﬁnitive Guide

(O’Reilly) by David

Flanagan. Another very readable source is

JavaScript: A Beginner’s Guide

(Osborne) by John Pollock. Both of

these texts contain information that pertains only to extensions of JavaScript for Internet browsers; however,

they also contain thorough descriptions of scripting fundamentals.

There are also books for using AppleScript and creating Windows command line scripts, each of which can be

used to send scripts to After Effects.

Using Help Back 9

Help WritingScripts

Using Help Back 9

Keywords and statement syntax

Although it is not possible to provide an exhaustive resource describing usage of JavaScript, the following

tables provide an overview of keywords, statements, operators, precedence and associativity.

The following table lists and describes all keywords and statements recognized by the After Effects scripting

engine.

Table 1 Keywords and Statement Syntax

Operators

The following tables list and describe all operators recognized by the After Effects scripting engine and show

the precedence and associativity for all operators.

Table 2 Description of Operators

Keyword/Statement Description

break

Standard JavaScript; exit the currently executing loop.

continue

Standard JavaScript; cease execution of the current loop iteration.

case

label used in a switch statement

default

label used in a switch statement when a case label is not found

do - while

Standard JavaScript construct. Similar to the

while

loop,except loop condition evaluation occurs

at the end of the loop.

false

Literal representing boolean false.

for

Standard JavaScript loop construct.

for - in

Standard JavaScript construct. Provides a way to easily loop through the properties of an object.

function

Used to deﬁne a function.

if/if - else

Standard JavaScript conditional constructs.

new

Standard JavaScript constructor statement.

null

Assigned to a variable, array element,or object property to indicate that it does not contain a legal

value.

return

Standard JavaScript way of returning a value from a function or exiting a function.

switch

Standard JavaScript way of evaluating an expression and attempting to match the expression's

value to a

case

label.

this

Standard JavaScript method of indicating the current object.

true

Literal representing boolean true.

undeﬁned

Indicates that the variable, array element, or object property has not yet been assigned a value.

var

Standard JavaScript syntax used to declare a local variable.

while

Standard JavaScript construct. Similar to the

do - while

loop,except loop condition evaluation

occurs at the beginning of the loop.

with

Standard JavaScript construct used to specify an object to use in ensuing statements.

Operators Description

new

Allocate object.

Using Help Back 10

Help WritingScripts

Using Help Back 10

delete

Deallocate object.

typeof

Returns data type.

void

Returns undeﬁned value.

Structure member.

[]

Array element.

()

Function call.

Pre- or post-increment.

Pre- or post-decrement.

Unary negation or subtraction.

Bitwise NOT.

Logical NOT.

Multiply.

Divide.

Modulo division.

Add.

Bitwise left shift.

Bitwise right shift.

>>>

Unsigned bitwise right shift.

Less than.

Less than or equal.

Greater than.

Greater than or equal.

Equal.

Not equal.

Bitwise AND.

Bitwise XOR.

Bitwise OR.

Logical AND.

Logical OR.

Conditional (ternary).

Assignment.

Assignment with add operation.

Assignment with subtract operation.

Assignment with multiply operation.

Operators Description

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