How to compile my Mac After Effects plugins for M1?

[Richard Rosenman]

Hi gang;

I am not a Mac user and as such, my knowledge is limited. What I do know is that it's WAY more finicky than PC's. As an example, I have a client that can't use one of my plugins on his new M1 Mac running Montery 12.4. I assume, unlike PCs, the plugin needs to be recompiled somehow to be compatible with the M1.

I compiled my Mac plugin on an older laptop running an older OS about a year or two ago. I can't recall off the top of my head which one. But what are the steps? Do I need to first update my Mac OS to the latest the laptop will accept? Then recompile my plugin? Is there any specific setting I need to use for M1 compatibility? What if my laptop cannot be upgraded to the latest Mac OS? Do I need to use a particular SDK version?

This is the error message my client sent me:

 

Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks,

-Richard

[jamesastro]

Here's some information that should help:

https://ae-plugins.docsforadobe.dev/intro/apple-silicon-support.html#intro-apple-silicon-support

[ToolfarmJP]

This link might be helpful.

https://developer.adobe.com/after-effects/

[James Whiffin]

Generally you want to compile against the lowest SDK you can so that it has maximum compatibility with the most amount of systems. I believe you can compile a universal binary for mac going back to 11.3 for the apple silicon, and way back to 10.x for the intel version. Any new-ish version of macOS / Xcode should be able to do this. 

[Richard Rosenman]

Hi James!

Thanks for your reply. Well, I'm still using the CS6 SDK so I guess I've got that part covered but I still don't know how exactly I'm supposed to compile for the Mac M1 native support.

Is this something that I do in Xcode specifically? Like a specific setting? Any clues on what / where? jamesastro 

posted a link in his answer to add universal binary support, and this seems to be what you're referring to. Is that step what I need to do?

Is there anything I need to add to the C++ plugin project?

Also, if I compile for native M1 does that mean my plugins won't be compatible on non-M1 Macs?

Any specifics would be welcome from everyone on how to do this.

Thanks,

-Richard

[jamesastro]

It's surprisingly easy to do this, or at least it was for my plugins:

1) Use Xcode 12.2 or later.

2) It'll automatically upgrade your project, adding a target for "Any Mac (Apple Silicon, Intel)".

3) Choose that target near the top-middle of the Xcode screen.

4) The document that I linked to earlier tells you how to upgrade your .r file.

5) Avoid throwing C++ exceptions through C functions. (Once again, see the document referred to earlier.)

6) Build your app using Product > Archive.

It'll build a universal binary that'll run on both Intel and Apple Silicon.

Good luck!

[Richard Rosenman]

Hi @jamesastro 

Thank you very much for these detailed step-by-step instructions and for clarification on compatibility. This is exactly what I was hoping for!

I'll give it a shot and report back.

Regards,

-Rich