I've read a discussion started in 2014, stating that you can't access property values of type PropertyValueType.CUSTOM_VALUE. Also, you can't set it. There is pretty much nothing you can do with them.
Curves, Levels, Hue and Saturation are the effects (that I know of) that are using this CUSTOM_VALUE. Is extend script still incapable of doing anything with this properties? Is there a way to get a glimps of what they store internally?
As the name CUSTOM_VALUE implies, it's not possible to read/write them. However, you can save such property as Animation Preset and investigate the ffx file to see what's going on in there.
Basically, you cannot access those properties that you cannot edit in the timeline.
Export two .ffx files with only a single parameter of interest changed. Then use a hex editor to compare the two and figure out which bytes changed. Metadata is included in the .ffx files, so ignore that.
A good tip is that if the custom value involved a gradient of some kind, set that gradient to a weird color, and then search the .ffx file for that color's 8-bit hex value. That's how I figured out the format of the colorama .ffx file.
Please note that although .ffx files are forwards compatible, they are not backwards-compatible. So an animation preset created in After Effects CC 2018 won't be compatible with CC 2014. You must create your .ffx on the earliest AE version you want to support (e.g. CS6).
Keep that in mind when distributing your scripts or presets.
4
Replies
AdChoices