Using Premiere Pro Exporter plugin in AfterEffects

[Derek5E2F]

I understood from the SDK documentation that an exporter plugin should be usable in Premiere Pro, Media Encoder and AfterEffects.

The Windows exporter plugin I've developed (using the SDK Exporter example in the SDK) works well in Media Encoder but I couldn't see it in AfterEffects.

I attached a debugger, and found that the plugin was being loaded, and received `exSelStartup`, but the next selector it received had the value 15. The SDK example doesn't have a selector with this value:

Can anyone help?

enum PrExportSelector
{
exSelStartup,                   // fill exExporterInfoRec
exSelShutdown,                  // pro forma: plug-in should release and be ready for app shutdown. 
exSelBeginInstance,             // make private data. Persistent until exSelEndInstance is called.
exSelGenerateDefaultParams,     // generate a default set of params
exSelPostProcessParams,         // validate params from preset/disk. Fill all localized param names, load all constrained value pairs
exSelValidateParamChanged,      // validate 1 param changed. Exporter should hide/dim/change any settings
// related to this one param using the ExportParamSuite, e.g. dimming a control when a
// related checkbox is checked/unchecked
exSelGetParamSummary,           // generate export text summary description
exSelParamButton,               // respond to a paramButton. generate opaque param info
exSelEndInstance,               // 
exSelExport,                    // export!
exSelQueryExportFileExtension,
exSelQueryOutputFileList,
exSelQueryStillSequence,        // ask a still-only exporter if it wants to export 
// as a sequence, and at what frame rate.
exSelQueryOutputSettings,       // query the exporter for general details about the current settings. This is a required selector.
exSelValidateOutputSettings     // ask the exporter if it can export with the current settings.
// exporter should return exportReturn_ErrLastErrorSet if not, and the error string
// should be set to a description of the failure.
};

[Derek5E2F · Accepted solution]

Ok, on the basis of replies to these 2 posts, Exporter plugins are NOT supported in AfterEffects, you HAVE to render through AME if you want to use your exporter:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/exporter-prm-doesn-t-appear-in-after-effects/m-p/6009186...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/ae-fails-to-load-prm-plugin/m-p/3956266?page=1

It would be good if the documentation could be updated - info in the AfterEffects SDK on the IO and FBIO input/output samples says that AEIOs are no longer preferred, and while only import is explicitly mentioned it's not clear that export isn't supported (as one would hope when being redirected from a sample which performs both input AND output):

https://ae-plugin-sdk-guide.readthedocs.io/intro/sample-projects.html

and the Premiere Pro SDK doesn't mention any caveats with exporter plugin support in AfterEffects, so I assumed the documentation was just a little bit incomplete, as opposed to export NOT being supported at all in AE:

https://premiere-plugin-sdk-guide.readthedocs.io/intro/premiere-pro-plug-in-types.html#plug-in-suppo...

Oh well. At least I have a plugin that works in MediaEncoder now.
Ideally I would be able to extend my existing native exporter in AfterEffects, connecting through AME can be quite clunky.
My original problem with the AEIO I have was an inability to easily add a "Format Options" dialog (ideally with the same AE look-and-feel) to select the output codec, any answers gratefully received:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/user-options-dialog-for-aeio-plugin/m-p/11765005?page=1

[Derek5E2F]

I would still be interested to know which selector has value 15 though! 🙂

[Bruce Bullis]

Nice work!
The PPro C++ SDK hasn't been updated in a while; some new selectors have been added, since the version of PrSDKExport.h, from which you're working. [And yes, we'll be updating the SDKs Sometime Soon™...]

The selector you're receiving is exSelStartupLicense; looking through the PPro source base, there's nothing your plug-in should do in response; exportReturn_ErrNone is the right response. 

[Derek5E2F]

Thanks for update Bruce, much appreciated!

If you have any pointers on the AEIO dialog issue, please let me know 🙂