AE Under the Hood: Custom Effect (un)Answerable Question?

Report · Apr 14, 2017

Hey all,

I've got a question which might cross over into insider/trade secrets but it's both been nagging at me for a while and I can't seem to find anything out about achieving it. Can they be live loaded i.e. installed by a script and used right away without app restart?

I know Custom Effects (installed into AE.app/Content/Resources/PresetEffects.xml) aren't a "supported" use of scripting, but I've seen a few scripts that can create custom effects on the fly and have them applied to layers WITHOUT an app restart (Flex Effectors to name one). Does anyone know how this might be achieved? Would it require utilizing the C/C++ Effects SDK? I'm totally ok doing that if needs be. Is there some unpublished functionality in scripting that allows this to work? A shell command maybe? I'm at a loss...if anyone is at all knowledgable about this and has a charitable heart, I'd love to figure it out.

Along those lines also, is there a way to have custom effects travel with the project file in case it gets transferred to a system without the proper PresetEffects.xml? I have a few ideas how to do it programmatically but they hinge upon being able to live load.

Thanks for the help in advance! As always, it's greatly appreciated.

Calvin

Report · Apr 14, 2017

If you want to come up with the same solution as FlexEffector you'll have to deconstruct the ffx presets and spend lot of time with hex editor finding how ffx file built.

Not sure about C++ SDK, maybe someone else will shed some light on this.

Report · Apr 14, 2017

Yeah, you can always go to crazy lengths to reverse engineer code (and I've gone to plenty). I'm more asking if anyone knows already.

I forgot about this one before but the more accurate example of what I want to do is Pseudo Effect Maker. You create the effect with the script and then it's available to you right away. Again, it's probably a pretty hard won piece of information that someone would rather keep to themselves...I totally get that. Trade secrets and all...