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Lazlo_Hollyfeld
Lazlo_Hollyfeld
Inspiring
Feb 7, 2013 6:21 PM UTC
Answered

Creating portable psuedo-effects for AfterEffects

Hi There,

I have some scripts that rely on a bunch of different expressions controls.  I wanted to know if there was a more organized way of creating a preset that included all of the expressions and their default values.  I found the video tutorial over at batchframe where the Jesse Toula explains the method of modifying an .xml to create pseudo effects.  Is there a way to create pseudo effects without having to touch the .xml file?  I'd like for the preset effect to be as portable as possible.  The batchframe tutorial makes it clear that if the .xml file does not contain a declaration of the effect, and the preset is applied, it will prefix the preset with "Missing".  Is there any way to avoid this?

Thanks!

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Todd_Kopriva
Todd_KoprivaCorrect answer
Inspiring
Feb 7, 2013 8:45 PM UTC

> Is there a way to create pseudo effects without having to touch the .xml file?

No.

BTW, these pseudo-effects are an undocumented, unsupported, untested "feature" that we only created for our internal use. The fact that Jerzy and Jesse and a few other folks have discovered them and hacked useful functionality together with them is not a bad thing---but it's out of scope for what is just intended as an internal tool for us.

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5 replies

JakeInMotion
Community Expert
JakeInMotionCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Feb 17, 2017 10:24 PM UTC

For anyone still looking for an answer, yes, you absolutely can create an easily shareable preset containing a pseudo effect without AE prefixing "Missing:" to the front of the effect name. All you have to do is add "Pseudo/" in front of the matchname when building the effect in your PresetEffects.xml file. For reference:

<Effect matchname="Pseudo/Effect Name" name="$$$/AE/Preset/EffectName=Effect Name">

This will tell AE it isn't actually looking for an installed effect, rather just a pseudo effect, and "Missing:" will no longer be displayed when the preset is installed on another machine. Once you have the pseudo effect inside of AE, apply it however you need to, select the effect and anything it's controlling, save it as a preset, and happy sharing!

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    Liran Tabib
    Liran Tabib
    Inspiring
    Feb 26, 2017 9:59 PM UTC

    Just Stumbled upon your reply and it's been super useful for me.

    so thanks!

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    robinsonfrese
    Participating Frequently
    May 19, 2016 8:46 PM UTC

    This has changed.

    Now there's this: Flex Effector - Add Ons | VideoHive

    You can create them and you don't even need to restart AE.

    They are saved as part of your project, and can be used is any AE version back to 5.5.

    Note that CC 12.0 and earlier will likely say "MISSING" in front of them, but aside from that they work totally fine.

    (I am in no way affiliated with the author of that script)

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      Todd_Kopriva
      Todd_KoprivaCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      Feb 7, 2013 8:45 PM UTC

      > Is there a way to create pseudo effects without having to touch the .xml file?

      No.

      BTW, these pseudo-effects are an undocumented, unsupported, untested "feature" that we only created for our internal use. The fact that Jerzy and Jesse and a few other folks have discovered them and hacked useful functionality together with them is not a bad thing---but it's out of scope for what is just intended as an internal tool for us.

      Translate
      Lazlo_Hollyfeld
      Lazlo_HollyfeldAuthor
      Inspiring
      Feb 7, 2013 11:18 PM UTC

      Thanks for the clarification.

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