Have a central location for scripts & presets like the MediaCore is for plugins

[Paul van Sommeren]

The MediaCore folder is pretty handy to keep plugins between versions when upgrading versions. But scripts & presets still need to be copied manually (which is quite annoying). 

If there's a location like MediaCore where all AE versions can pull plugins from, why shouldn't there be such a location for scripts & presets? My biggest pain point in upgrading is "all" the manual work involved, which feels strange since updating itself is real easy with the CC app. 

[David Arbor]

As a regular user of the public beta, this is something I've taken for granted for quite some time now. I haven't had to migrate scripts in ages since that file path there never changes. Often, though, when I use the release version I have to do some sort update or script management, so big +1 from me.

[JohnColombo]

Thanks @Paul van Sommeren and @David Arbor! The migration pain is very real, as I can personally attest from my days as a motion designer. I could see this being a possible alternative solution to the problem described here in regard to the current lack of migration. A central location for scripts and presets would solve this issue for those who utilize it.

Would you see your proposed central location as optional, as the MediaCore folder is, or would you expect it to be the default? Part of the challenge around a feature like this is the shift in the existing paradigm, which can be confusing for some, and sensible defaults can either help or hinder the transition.

Thanks again for your input,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

[David Arbor]

You're right, any solution could be messy. I can count the number of people on one hand who have said they would prefer the existing paradigm over a global location, so I'm all for ripping the band-aid off and doing this quickly.

One way that might not be as disruptive is if a global location is the new default, but the current location still works just fine. This allows any dev that uses an installer for a script (which I'm sure are few and far between, but they do exist) to not have anything break. Then it also allows bigger names like Aescripts to update their installer app, throw up a nice big notification explaining this wonderful change, and give the user a pref to install all scripts to the new global location going forward. For bonus points, it might be neat if you all offered a feature to migrate scripts from the local to global folder (could be executed from "Preferences > General" or "Preferences > Scripting & Expressions", expose that in the API, then aescripts could offer the official migration option to their users.

Just spitballing, but I'd rather see a quick change than a painfully slow one.