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

[Shebbe]

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...

[nishu_kush]

I think @JohnColombo could help.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Dan Ebberts · Accepted solution]

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.

[Shebbe]

Thanks @Dan Ebberts ,

This I got working, but the .ffx file I save is not working when opening in the beta probably because that version does not have the same PresetEffects.xml file. AFAIK there is a way to work around that so you can share the .ffx file with others which is what I'm trying to achieve. Do you happen to know how?

Unless it was supposed to work regardless... here's my code and the error I get in beta AE. (same error as I'd get by removing the code in main install from PresetEffects.xml)

[Dan Ebberts]

It should work regardless. I just added your effect to the PresetEffects.xml for AE 2022, created the .ffx file the way I described, and then added the preset to a layer in the latest AE Beta build (which doesn't have your control defined in its PresetEffects.xml file), and it all appears to work fine. I'm not sure why you're getting that error message. Is it possible you have multiple effects defined with the same name?

[Shebbe]

Ah! File / name duplication may have been the culprit. I removed all .ffx files that i created everywhere and remade it with a different name. It works flawlessly now :). That's not easy to spot. Thanks a lot for your help!

[lenny_bouh]

Hi Shebbe !
Have you found the solution yet?

I came across this GitHub page that supposedly allows you to create shareable pseudo effects without having to modify the XML file.

I must admit that I struggle a little with this world of programming and code, but I'm a die-hard fan of "do it yourself" and prefer not to use a paid solution like "Pseudo Effect Maker".

I'm still looking for it myself. Please let me know if you have a solution or can provide any help.

[Shebbe · Accepted solution]

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.

[lenny_bouh]

Whaaat ! I thought that we would necessarily need to have the code in the XML for it to work, and that it was therefore not possible to share it easily...😅

Well that's perfect, a bit tricky but finally does the job !
Thanks