Add or remove effect parameters

[philrosenberg2013]

Hi

Does anyone know if it is possible to add or remove effect parameters after the initial PF_Cmd_PARAM_SETUP event?

I would like to be able to select a number of items to add to the animation using one parameter, then generate a number of colour pickers with a default colour for each item but giving the user the oportunity to customise the colour. You could almost image it's like drawing a chart in excel - you get a default colour for each dataset, but then you probably want to customise each one or some of them yourself.

I saw this thread about changing popups http://forums.adobe.com/message/3274585#3274585 and the reply was that it's not possible so I'm not very hopeful.

My only other option would be to limit the number of items and create that many hidden parameters which could then be unhidden when the number is selected. This isn't ideal as there could be a few hundred items, but often might be less than 10 so it seems a bit of an unwieldy way to do it.

On a related note - can I change the name of the parameter after the initial param setup event or is this too fixed?

Thanks in advance

Phil

Message was edited by: philrosenberg2013

[Guest]

As far as I know, the number as well as the name of the parameters are fixed.

The general route to go is as you described: hide and show parameters according to your requirements

[shachar carmi · Accepted solution]

mdoepfer1234 is correct. you can't add params at any time other than the initial setup.

mdoepfer1234 is wrong. you can change the name of a param, by getting it's streamRef, and changing the stream's name.

sorry for stating you're wrong mdoepfer1234! i just found these two adjacent lines funny! 🙂

the name change won't stick though between sessions. when you load a project, the default names will be used again. (just rename them again on sequence_resetup)

there is another solution for adding parameters, and it's not easy to perform...

lookup the "Plexus" plug-in for AE.

it adds additional effects to th layer which do nothing but contain sets of controls, and the main effect reads their params while rendering.

[Guest]

Yes, you are right, you can rename parameters when you directly access the stream. I remember some problem with it though in Premiere Pro, so I never followed this road further...

[philrosenberg2013]

Thanks for the quick replies. I shall go down the hide/unhide route then. I hope there is not a huge performance penalty for having many hidden controls. I guess even a few hundred colour pickers isn't really going to involve doing much processing if the values aren't used.

I might have to quiz you again if i get stuck trying to access the stream names but if i know it can be done then I know I'm not wasting my time looking into it.

Thanks

Phil

[Jakob Wagner 2048]

Hi. So, here ten years later, would this still be the same answer or is there now a way to add a parameter after the initial setup?