Tag Archive for: script

How to export Images from Adobe After Effects – Free Script

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Download a free JPG exporter script for After Effects.

ProductionCrate has released a free JPG exporter for Adobe After Effects, so now it only takes a single click to save and share your art. This script is easy to set up and enhances your ability to work in After Effects.

From mockups to pre-visualizations of new concepts, there are plenty of reasons why you may need to export a still image in JPG from After Effects – and in a short amount of time as well.

Unfortunately, the conventional method of exporting jpg images from After Effects is not only complicated – but it is also unintuitive and a hassle for such a simple task.

But what if we told you that there is a simple way to save jpg images on After Effects?

How to install the aeJPG script for Adobe After Effects

Installation

First, sign up for a free ProductionCrate account. Pro users will be able to access our entire library of 10,000+ VFX, music, sound effects and 3D models.

Next, download and place the script in your After Effects Scripts UI folder:

Windows:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects 2023\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\
Mac:
Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023/Suppport Files/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels/

Relaunch After Effects, and go to Windows -> aeJSX. Once you click this, the script interface will appear. You can position and slot this anywhere into your existing layout for your convenience.

When clicking on the panel’s menu, by enabling Small Tabs in the settings, you’ll be able to make this interface even smaller.

Creating the template

Before you can export JPG images, you will need to create a template with your preferred JPG settings.

Go to Edit -> Templates -> Output Module

In the pop-up window, click “New”, and set the format to JPEG Sequence. You may also set the compression strength in the format options.

 

Click “OK”, and rename the output template to “JPG”.

Once that’s ready, click “OK”. You’re now ready to go!

 

How to Quickly Export Still Image From After Effects?

We believe that exporting a single from After Effects should be a quick and simple process – which is why we’ve introduced our own free image exporter script for Adobe After Effects, called aeJPG.

What is aeJPG? Ae JPG is a simple script that you can download from ProductionCrate and use to export JPG images from After Effects in less than a second.

There are plenty of other reasons why you should consider hitting download on our free script for exporting still JPG images from After Effects.

This After Effects Image Exporter Script is Free

Not only does our ae JPG script save you from having to perform a lengthy process only to get a simple JPG image, but it is also completely free to download and use!

Our aim is to make things more convenient for artists so that the lengthy image exporting process on Adobe After Effects isn’t an obstacle in the way – especially when you’re working on a project that has to be wrapped up within a set time limit.

So, if you haven’t already, visit this link to download the ae JPG script for free.

No more screenshots

Ever tried to hastily take a screenshot of your project, only to get a blurred downscaled image with cropped edges? This After Effects image export script is the perfect alternative.

Downloadable in Every Version of After Effects

Wondering if our script will work on the version of After Effects that you work on? Keeping both our beginners and professionals in mind, we’ve made sure to keep this simple – yet useful still image exporter for After Effects – available on all versions of After Effects starting from version 14.2.1 (2017) and beyond!

This makes our free ae JPG script accessible to almost all Adobe After Effects users and does not require you to get the latest version of After Effects.

Send Work Progress to Clients in Seconds

We’ve all dealt with clients who demand work updates every few hours to make sure that progress is being made on the project.

This can become even more frustrating when you have to deal with the added extended time that it takes to export a still image from After Effects using the conventional method provided by the software.

Luckily, with our free ae JPG script, you can shorten the time it takes to export still JPG to less than a second.

Make Comparing Between Variations of an Asset Simple

Why spend a long time exporting an MP4 file to compare different variations of an asset when you can export stills from After Effects in seconds to achieve the same purpose?

Our ae JPG script makes it easy for you to go through your footage and save a still of your choice in seconds! All it takes is two clicks, and the still JPG will appear in your folder automatically.

Create Youtube Thumbnails in Adobe After Effects

With this script, you can use your existing video footage to export a still JPG in seconds and then bring that still over to another software such as Adobe Photoshop to work on. This means that you can perform all your tasks of exporting still images from After Effects for YouTube thumbnails or video frames all within the software without a convoluted messy process.

Export High-Quality Still Images from After Effects

One of the biggest reasons why you should download the free ae JPG script to shorten the time it takes to export a still image from After Effects is the fact that you get a final-render quality JPG image exported instantly.

Our script was made to automatically export JPG images from After Effects without you having to provide additional instructions.

JPG is the recommended format for most larger and more detailed images as it intelligently compresses it to a manageable size – making the loading, exporting and sending time faster without significantly reducing the quality of the image.

The JPG format makes our free JPG exporter for After Effects script convenient in terms of time-saving when exporting high-quality still images from After Effects.

 

Start exporting JPG images from After Effects today!

If you want to switch to the two-click method of exporting JPG image from After Effects, then download our free ae JPG script today!

Texture Flow – Free AE Script

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Sign in to your account and download our free TextureFlow Script here!

Projection mapping to flat, non animated objects is pretty easy. It’s even easier if you use our Projection Mapping Script (also free!) But what do you do if you want to map on to an animated surface? This is something we’ve struggled with in the past. For compositing pre-rendered VFX assets, the ability to do this would be extremely powerful.

Luckily, we have some pretty smart people working here at ProductionCrate. David came up with this clever technique using the Content Aware Fill tool in AE.

To simplify things even further, Nate built us a script! This script will save you time while approaching this technique. I suggest watching David’s video above to have more control over the script’s results. The entire process will take you less than a minute to set up.

Here is how you can use our Free Texture Flow Script

 

Download Crate’s Toolbox – After Effects Extension

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We have amazing scripts, many of them completely free, for After Effects. Crate’s Camera Shake, the Hologram Generator, Crate’s Chromatic Aberration and tons of other useful tools are available for download on ProductionCrate.

Accessing these amazing products is now easier than ever before. With our free Crate’s Toolbox, you can download and install our After Effects scripts from inside of After Effects!

Remember, you don’t have to Log-in every time, you just need to log-in to download the scripts. Click the Offline Button if you don’t want to log in but still want to use the AE scripts you have already downloaded.

Watch the video below to see how it works.

First, if you have any ProductionCrate Scripts already installed, delete them! This will ensure Toolbox can launch the most recent versions and locate the files without issue.

If you are on a Mac, run the .DMG installer, if you are on Windows, run the .EXE

Restart After Effects if you have it open

To locate the Extension if After Effects, go to Window > Extension > Crate’s Toolbox

You’ll need to select 2 Download folders:

  • The first folder is likely your default Downloads folder. This is just where all of your downloaded items go to when you download from Chrome, Firefox, Safari or any web browser.
  • The second folder is for storing your Crate Scripts. This can be anywhere on your computer. Don’t delete it, this will be where all the script files will be referenced! You can create a new folder and call it anything, ProductionCrate Scripts, for example.

You will only have to do that step once!

After that, log in to ProductionCrate using Toolbox and download any Scripts and tools you want to use. Hitting Install will launch your browser to install the script, make sure it downloads to your Downloads Folder, or whatever folder you chose as your first folder (see above)

The scripts will be automatically copied over to your store folder, the second folder mentioned above!

HUD Generator Extension for After Effects + Premiere

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We’re happy to release our latest extension, the HUD Generator from ProductionCrate! Make sure to log in to your Pro Account to download this tool.

4-13-20201
Our HUD Extension has received an important update! This includes UI improvements, an option to reset where your HUD elements are located, 20 new HUD Assets, and a plethora of bug fixes that will make your experience smoother than ever! If you have already installed this extension, simply run the installer file again to overwrite the previous version (.exe on Windows, .dmg on Mac). To include the new HUD Assets, simply merge the “HUD Graphics” folder with your currently used one.

Check out this video to learn how to quickly and easily install and use the HUD tool in After Effects and Adobe Premiere.

 

Updates 4-13-2021

Crate’s Shape Script – Our Most Feature Packed Tool

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Sign in and Download the Crate’s Shape Script Here

Place the script into your Adobe > After Effects> Scripts Folder, and the Images into Adobe > After Effects > Scripts > Images, if you already have an images folder just drag the images from Crate’s Shape Script .ZIP into that folder. Please report any bugs you may find in the comments below, we will continue to update this script.

We love After Effects. What other software offers you so much creative flexibility? Whatever your project calls for, from Visual Effects to Motion Graphics, this software gets the job done.

That being said, we do have some gripes.

Why is it so difficult to create some of the most basic shapes? Why are all the shape controls hidden, requiring toggle-down menu after toggle-down menu?

You’ve probably run into these annoyances yourself at one point or another. We definitely have, and we were fed up. That’s why we created Crate’s Shape Script. This feature-packed script addresses our most common issues and solves them with just a few clicks.

There are a lot of features to unpack here. Your first option is a Shape Layer or  Solid Layer. Solid Layers have the shaped masked out of them while the shape layer is made specifically to be that shape. We suggest Shape Layers, but each has their Pros and Cons. Shape Layers also allow you to generate Strokes instead of Fill shapes.

Next you can pick your shape, use the left and right arrows to scroll through all your shapes or simple click the question mark to see them all on the drop-down.

Next, pick whatever color you want. Personally I just leave this as-is, since I can change it later with the eyedropper tool. I also leave the size at 500 and adjust it later, but that is just my preference.

The anchor point will automatically set to be centered (yay!) but if you want to move it to any other axis you can do so after you have generated the shape.

We have built Control Nulls so you don’t have to toggle down menu after menu to change basic features of your shapes. This is helpful in the obvious ways but if you want to adjust basic features the old-school way you can uncheck the Control Nulls box to generate shapes that have no built in parent features. Alternatively you can Alt-click whatever parameter you would like to adjust without using the Control Null.

The randomization powers can be utilized to take one asset and create unlimited variations. Duplicate whatever layer you have for as many duplicates as you want, you can then randomize the start time, the end time, the opacity, the color (or tint), scale, and rotation! This is fun to mess around with, which I encourage you to do. If you want the specifics I’ll list them below.

Last of all choose the number of layers for whatever shape you have chosen and hit Generate.

Enjoy!

How the property randomisation works

Default Random (Random slider checkbox unchecked)
Pos– randomize based on the comp width (comp wide distribution) [x, .75x]
Rot– randomize between 0-360
Opa– randomize between 0-100
Scale– randomize between 0-500 [x, x, x]
timeIn– randomize between 0-comp length (in seconds)
timeOut– randomize between 0-comp length (in seconds)
Tint– randomize r, g, and b values of a tint effect between 0-255 (applies to “Map Black To” property)
3D– randomize Z Position between 0-15000

Slider Random (Random slider checkbox checked)

Pos– randomize between 1-slider value
Rot– randomize between 1-slider value
Opa– randomize between 1-slider value (0-100 limit)
Scale– randomize between 1-slider value
timeIn– randomize between 1-slider value (seconds)
timeOut– randomize between 1-slider value (seconds)
Tint– randomize r, g, and b values of tin effect between 0-slider value (0-255 limit)
3D– randomize Z Position between 0-slider value

How the keyframe section works:

Fade Keys (two sets of key frames at the beginning and end)
Creates two group of key frames, one starting at the beginning of the selected layer, the other finishing at the end point of the layer. In and Out are optional, so you can apply the keyframes to just the beginning, just the end, or both. You can set how far apart the two possible sets of keyframes are, by changing the textbox labeled “frames” next to it. (ie, if you select In and 30 frames, it will apply a keyframe at t:0, then t:0+30frames)

Continuous Keys (a keyframe at the beginning and end)
Creates a keyframe at the inPoint and outPoint of any selected property

Download Free After Effects Glow Script – Crate’s Glow

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Download the Free After Effects Glow Script here

Believe it or not, there’s a lot that goes into a good glow effect! I’m overly passionate about this particular topic, and would happily spend hours fine-tuning each little pixel of my glow to make sure it makes my VFX absolutely perfect – and ProductionCrate wants to help you do the same.

Except it won’t take you hours… Instead, just a few seconds!

We have built out a powerful glow extension for After Effects, capable of producing the most stunning optical effects for your compositing projects with a single click. We’ve tested this tool to its limits, and are insanely proud of what this can do for VFX artists like you. Additionally, we’ve made this free to download for everyone!

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Crate's Glow

So why did we make something that After Effects can already do? Those who have already used After Effects built-in glow effect already know the answer – it’s pretty ugly.

That leads us to our next question; what makes Crate’s Glow any better? Our script has been carefully designed to follow the natural physical properties of light, allowing the final result to imitate the realistic gradient-based falloff that we see in the real world. This eliminates the artificial look that After Effect’s built-in glow generates and instead gives us an incredibly aesthetic result.

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Crate's Glow

Each parameter has been fine-tuned to create the best result with one click. You can easily make further adjustments with user-friendly parameters. These can be changed even after the glow has been created by using the sliders in the “Glow Controls” null layer.

Threshold                              – Minimum brightness for an area of the image to begin to glow

Intensity                                 – Brightness of the glow

Spread                                   – How far out the glow reaches

Flicker Intensity                    – Increase this to have the intensity shift over time

Flickers Per Second             – How often the flicker fluctuates in a second

Tint Strength                         –  When increased, the glow will match the chosen color more

Tint Colour                            – The color used for the tint

Vibrance                                – If you’re losing color in your glow, you can use this to boost the saturation

Usually, the glow effect will work without any extra squabble, but I’ll quickly go through how you can take full advantage of the features available.

Here’s an example of an explosion VFX shot that needs an exciting glow effect to give the fire some further intensity.

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Crate's Glow

Since we’re organised (most of the time), we have the robot-explosion VFX layer separated from the background. Using keying tools, we can isolate the orange flames in a new layer.

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Crate's Glow

Selecting this layer, and clicking “Generate” on our glow script will have the glow effect only applied to these flames, adding an extraordinarily epic glow to our fire VFX.

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Explosion Effect

And it’s as simple as that!

Download Free After Effects Glow Script - Explosion Effect

To download and install the script, open up After Effects and navigate through File -> Scripts -> Run Script File. Find a folder you wish to keep the script stored, and extract “Crate’s Glow.jsx” to the new location. Double click the .jsx file and the script window will open.

If you’re looking for even more scripts to add to your workflow, check out our incredible Hologram extension!

Free After Effects Glow Script - Crate's Glow

Free Hologram Generator Script (Download)

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Download Crate’s Free Hologram Script here

This Script has been updated for AE CC2021 on 12-17-2021

Create a Free or a Pro account, then simply click the link above to download! This script was built with an older version of After Effects, but is completely compatible. If you have errors appearing, please go to File > Project Settings > Expressions and change your expression engine from JavaScript to Legacy ExtendScript

Creating holograms in After Effects is about to get a lot more fun with the release of our latest script.

These effects are one of the most requested on ProductionCrate, our library of thousands of digital assets to help build your creative endeavours. We know that often you will need to control what’s projected in the hologram, which is why we released this tool to help you do exactly that.

Not only can you download it for free, but using it to create your After Effects hologram is a one-click process!

Download Free Hologram Script for After Effects

Every feature that you could possibly need was built into the script. This includes:

  • ColorDownload Free Hologram Script for After Effects
  • Glow
  • Projection Rays
  • Chromatic Aberration
  • Scan Lines
  • Displacement
  • Flicker
  • Signal Interference
  • Framerate
  • Pixelate
  • Blur
  • Sharpen

All properties are fully customisable, meaning no matter what style you were aiming for, you’ll get there.

If you wanted to save your customised hologram, you can also click Animation -> Save Animation Preset to be able to apply it to any other shots you may have.

And if you wanted to save time, you might be interested in checking out the presets that we have built into the script. You can navigate through these by clicking the arrows on the pop-up window. These have been built to mimic some of the most recognisable movie holograms, referencing Star Wars, Iron Mans HUD, Aquaman and more.

Download Free Hologram Script for After Effects

To download and install the script, open up After Effects and navigate through File -> Scripts -> Run Script File. Find a folder you wish to keep the script, then extract both the images folder and “Crates Camera Script.jsx” to the new location. Double click the .jsx file and you’ll be ready to create your holograms in an instant!

If you’re wanting to save even more time, you can download these HD hologram VFX assets for your video.

Crate’s Free Midpoint Null Generator Script

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Crate’s Midpoint Null Generator Script is Free and can be downloaded Here.

Start with two null objects, these can be tracked in manually or using one of the various tracking features in After Effects.

Make sure your AE Script is installed in the After Effects > Scripts Folder

Within After Effects go to File > Scripts > Crate’s Null Generator Script

This script works in both 2D and 3D, so select either 2D Midpoint or 3D Midpoint depending on your needs.

You have the option to add some wiggle to the midpoint null as well. By default there will be wiggle controls on every null but you can select ‘control null’ if you want one set of controls for every null all in one place.

If you don’t need wiggle, keep the Wiggle Amplitude and Wiggle Amount at zero.

By default you just get one Midpoint null, which will be right in the center of your two animated nulls. If you want more than one null, they’ll be automatically distributed evenly between the two animated nulls.

Each midpoint null has a bias slider you can use to move it closer to Point 1 or Point 2.

Check out how we can used this script below. We tracked the handle of the sword and the tip of the sword, and applied that data to two nulls.

There are many ways you can utilize this powerful script in your projects.

Crate’s Free Text Animator script for After Effects! (Download)

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Download the Crate’s Text Animator script for After Effects here

All ProductionCrate members can now download the exciting Text Animation script for free!

This exciting addition to the range of tools gives you the power to create fun animations for your text – with a single click.

With 25 hand-made presets to choose from, you’ll never run out of a fresh way to liven up your videos, commercials or presentations! The presets include glitches, fly-ins, slides, spins and more.

Without the script, to create a text animation graphic in After Effects, you may spend hours manually adjusting countless keyframes and meticulously modifying their speed, opacity, motion blur and many other parameters. This script puts an end to the suffering, doing all of the work for you within seconds!

To give you even more control, our script creates a Null object that contains adjustable parameters, so you can tweak your design to perfection even after generation.

Let’s take a look at the After Effects script:

Free Crate's Text Animator script for After Effects! (Download)

 

 

Choose Animation – This opens up the range of presets that you can choose from.

Eye Icon – Generate a preview that helps you see what the animation looks like.

Text – Enter what you want to be displayed!

Preset Parameters – Once you’ve selected a template, a number of sliders will appear that lets you customize each preset to meet your expectations. These are also accessible through the Null object that is generated with the preset.

Create New Comp – Enabling this creates the new text in a new composition. Disabling will generate the text in your selected composition.

Preview All – A handy tool that creates a grid previewing all the available presets

Create – Once you’re happy with your settings, hit this and let the script make your text come to life!

 

The script has been built to balance simplicity with function, so whether you’re a Vlogger wanting to spice up your editing skills, or are building a title card for a blockbuster movie, this script is for you!

Crate's Text Animator script for After Effects! (Download)

To install the script, extract the files from the download, and drop  “Crate’s Text Animator.jsx” folder into your After Effects > Scripts folder. You then can run the script by heading through File -> Scripts -> Crate’s Callout Script.jsx.

We’re excited to see what you create with this script! If you’re interested in our other After Effects scripts, extensions and plugins, check out this page here. 

 

Create Callouts for Free in After Effects (Script Download)

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Creating callouts for your video can often be a complicated and time-consuming process, though all that is about to change…

We’ve created a free powerful script for Adobe After Effects that can do all the work for you in seconds: Crate’s Callouts!

Download the Free Callout Script here.

 

Callouts are the small infographic labels that overlay a video, highlighting an important feature to inform the viewer of a name, statistic or the anatomy of a seal:

Create Callouts for Free in After Effects (Script Download)

The script is packed with a huge bundle of presets, all fully customizable and ready for you to composite onto your video. This means that if you work for an organization or run a YouTube channel, you will be able to match the branding by adjusting the colours of the templates with one click!

To get started, you’ll need to first use a Null object to mark the position of what you want to be featured by the callout. The best part about this script is that it can be completely animated, so if you need the callout to follow a moving subject then this is the script for you.

Create Callouts for Free in After Effects (Script Download)

For the next step, we’ll need to install our script. Extract the files from the download, and drop the “productioncrate-callout-script.jsx” file into your After Effects > Scripts folder You then can run the script by heading through File -> Scripts -> Crate’s Callout Script.jsx.

Now let’s take a look at what features we have at our disposal:

Create Callouts for Free in After Effects (Script Download)

 

 

 

 

 

Arrows: Navigate through the presets to find the one you want.

 

Track Layer: Select the Null object you want the callout pointer to follow.

Title + Subtitle: Here’s where you input the text you want to be displayed.

Animation direction: Which way would you like the callout to come in from?

Color tools: Adjust the look of the preset to match your brand.

Smart Color Change: This nifty feature will automatically adjust any other colours that can be controlled to match your theme.

In/Out: What period (in seconds) do you want the callout to be on screen?

Base Point/Outline: Control the shape of the feature mark.

 

F: Click this to open up the text composition after creation, so you can adjust the font manually.

 

Once you’re happy with all the settings, hit “Create”, and you’ll save hours of time while the script creates your dream callout card within seconds!

Each preset has been carefully designed animated to give it the most professional appearance possible, helping you increase your production value at no extra cost!

If you want to control and customise the callout card after it has been generated, that is no problem! There will be a control null generated in your main composition window, clicking on this will reveal all of the various colour settings that you can adjust instantly in the effects window.

We’re excited to see how you make use of these free After Effects callout presets. If you’re interested in how else you can boost your workflow, take a look at our Lower Thirds script.

Create Callouts for Free in After Effects (Script Download)