Request for Official Guidance on Building After Effects Plugin from Scratch

To Adobe Developer Support Team,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing to request assistance and official documentation regarding the correct way to build an After Effects plugin from scratch, especially for After Effects 2025/2026 (v25+ / v26).

Overview

I am currently developing a custom rendering plugin intended to integrate with Adobe After Effects. We have set up the following:

• A native C++ plugin project in Visual Studio

• A Rust-based rendering engine compiled as a DLL

• A Windows .aex plugin built as a native x64 DLL

• Resources compiled using a .rc and .pipl file

• Compilation against the latest AE SDK (25.6+)

Despite following available SDK examples and developer documentation, the plugin is still being rejected by After Effects with the message:

“No loaders recognized this plugin, so the plugin is set to Ignore.”

Issue Details

We have confirmed that:

1. The .aex file exports a proper EntryPoint symbol.

2. The plugin is built as a native Win32 DLL (not .NET or static lib).

3. Architecture is 64-bit, Release build.

4. The PiPL resource appears inside the .aex file under Resource Hacker.

5. Both .rc and .pipl files are being compiled into the final binary.

6. Multiple PiPL formats have been tested (raw Rez, binary via PiPLTool, and RC-embedded).

7. The plugin folder is correct (Support Files\Plug-ins).

8. Other official plugins load correctly on the same system.

Observation About PiPL Structure

We noticed that Adobe’s working plugins display resource hierarchy as:

PiPL
 └─ 16000 : 1033

However, our plugin—despite compiling the PiPL—sometimes shows:

16000
 └─ PiPL

This reversed hierarchy seems to make After Effects reject the plugin even though the resource exists.

We attempted all possible RC syntaxes, including those used in the Adobe sample SDK, but the resulting resource layout still does not match the structure found in Adobe’s compiled plugins.

What We Have Tried

• Multiple .rc file formats (direct embedding, BEGIN/END blocks, binary PiPL via PiPLTool, resource includes).

• Linking with various subsystem and machine configurations.

• Verifying RC include paths and ensuring no syntax warnings.

• Comparing resource tables with working plugins like HexTile.aex.

• Rebuilding from scratch using different project templates.

• Confirming the plugin loads as a normal Win32 DLL (outside AE).

Main Request

We are kindly requesting:

1. A clear, step-by-step guide (or sample project) that explains how to build a new After Effects plugin from scratch using:

   • Visual Studio 2022 (x64)

   • AE SDK 25+ / AE SDK 26+

   • Required project configuration

   • Correct PiPL embedding workflow

   • Correct resource compiler configuration

   • Correct binary format expectations for .pipl

2. Any updated documentation on PiPL requirements, especially for After Effects 2025/2026, as online examples appear to be limited or outdated.

3. A minimal working template plugin project, if available, containing:

   • A valid PiPL resource

   • Correct plugin entrypoint

   • A minimal render function

   • Proper .def file

   • Correct build settings

Why This Is Critical

Our plugin is part of an ongoing integration project involving a custom rendering engine (Rust/WGPU), and resolving this loader recognition issue is essential to move forward. Having an authoritative reference or template from Adobe would prevent misconfiguration and ensure that we are following the officially supported method.

We would be grateful for any help, updated documents, sample projects, or internal references regarding plugin initialization and PiPL compilation for the latest versions of After Effects.

Thank you in advance for your support. Please let me know if you require the failing .aex file or build logs — we are happy to share them.

Warm regards,
Arunkumar K S
(Developer / Integration Engineer)