Do I Need the AE SDK For This?

[_Tim_Buege_]

Hi,

I hope this posting isn't in the wrong place. I've asked a similar question in the general forum, but have had no "bites" yet.

I'm wondering about custom animation effects (*.ffx files). When browsing through the project templates with AE7, I ran across the Expression Sampler.aet template. This project contains many compositions. These compositions contain effects that I cannot find anywhere in AE. For example, the "bounce" composition contains an effect called "Bounce". It looks to be a simple collection of controls to be used for animating parameters for an expression. By itself, it appears to do nothing. I believe it's main purpose is to supply values for an expression.

What I can't figure out is how to create such an effect (collection of controls). How would I reproduce something similar? Do I need to use the AE SDK? or is there some feature in the software that will suffice, that I just haven't found yet? I've been scourering the 'net and the Adobe site with no luck.

I know about the six Expression Controls effects, but those will only allow you to add one control per effect. You can't group a bunch of related controls together.

Again, I hope I haven't misplaced this question. Thanks,
Tim

[Bruce Bullis]

The SDK won't help you create favorite (ffx) files. When you say there's an effect called Bounce, I think you'll find that it's a favorite.

[_Tim_Buege_]

Hi Brooce,

Yes, I understand that now. However, how can I reproduce what was done with the "Bounce" effect? The Expression Controls only allow you to place a single control in to an effect, not group them together. I'm interested in learning how to create similar groupings of controls.

Thanks!
Tim

[Bruce Bullis]

Sorry Tim, I don't know that one by heart. Perhaps the user guide has something handy to say about favorites...

[_Tim_Buege_]

Nope. The user guide talks about Expression Controls, but not grouping them together. Any other suggestions for resources?

Thanks,
Tim