Modular Plugins

[Christian Lett]

I was wondering, how do effects like Plexus work, where the final result is dependent on a number of separate plugins that are stacked? In the case of Plexus, there are various modular plugins that describe the particles, then a final "Plexus" plugin that does the rendering.

How is this possible?

Do the initial plugins maintain and modify off-screen worlds that aren't visible to the comp, only to have the result copied into the visible part of the main output in the final plugin? I imagine that the output buffer needs resizing during Frame Setup, and is then truncated again at the end of the chain.

Or is there a more elegant channel-based solution?

I was just wondering as this modular approach might work for my latest plugin.

Thanks

[Christian Lett]

Thinking about this, I would imagine the solution would be channel based.

You can access additional (non-RGB) channels using the ChannelSuite, but how do you create new channels from within a plugin? I've looked at the AEIO spec - which is the obvious choice - but don't see a way to add non-RGB channels to a layer.

[shachar carmi · Accepted solution]

as far as i know, the "module" effects of the plexsus render nothing, and

only let the user give it's inputs through their params.

the main effect reads the param values from the "module" effects and

renders everything by itself, according to the values of all modules.

[Christian Lett]

Interesting (and the most logical!).

The simplest solution is usually the best solution!

Thanks.

[Christian Lett]

I wonder what the performance hit is like reading your modular parameters using streams, rather than directly using checkouts.

Looking at Plexus, it looks like the modular plugins are actually one single plugin that does not appear in the Effects panel (Plexus is made up of just two plugin files - Plexter.aex and Plexus.aex). I guess it must apply Plexter every time you add a module, and somehow it shows or hides parameters based on what that particular module does.

Time to experiment.