Noob friendly guide how to create pseudo effect ffx presets that can be used on any system?

Question

Hey there,
I feel like I've been living under a rock but finally got to look into why it is possible that some people can create animation presets that look like 'plugins' but work natively. So I discovered the beautiful but seemingly incredibly clunky world of pseudo effects and I want to create my own.
 
I've been looking for tutorials but while I can get them to work by altering the PresetEffects.xml in the install or by using a trial version of PseudoEffectMaker, I don't understand how to pack them into an ffx so they can be opened and used anywhere without other dependencies.
 
Does anyone know of a resource that explains the process fully in a way a non script savvy person can follow?
 
I also feel that the entire mechanism should be a complete native integrated feature in AE itself with friendly UI/UX directly in the software. It's a system much more powerful and useable than all these separate controls or Essential Graphics. But that's an entire discussion by itself...

Shebbe · Accepted Answer

Hey there!

The way I ended up doing it was via the presets XML file. It's easy enough to add what you need there imo. After you're done you just load the preset in a project and apply any further data you'd want to include in the preset like expressions. Then save that as a new animation preset and that file can then be shared.

I'm using this page to quick ref what the control names are I want to include.

https://gist.github.com/animoplex/e230636b0f676e5d46b9fd9e4b1fe78a

Hope that helps.

Dan Ebberts · Answer

It sounds like you already have the trickiest part figured out (the syntax of the PresetEffects.xml file). I think you just need a few more key pieces of info. You need to make sure your effect's match name starts with "Pseudo/", which allows it to be used without error on installations that don't have a modified PresetEffects.xml file. Then you need to create a .ffx preset file that contains your effect. To do that, (once you have modified your PresetEffects.xml file and restarted AE), create a new comp and add a solid layer. Then run this simple script (substituting the match name of your effect in the second line):

var myLayer = app.project.activeItem.layer(1);
myLayer.property("Effects").addProperty("Pseudo/My Controls");

This will apply your effect to the solid. Then, in the timeline, select your effect and do this:

Animation > Save Animation Preset...

and navigate to where you want to save your .ffx file. That's it. Now you can apply the preset file (by hand, or by script) to add your controls to a selected layer.

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