How to create a custom effect

[Kevin Camp]

you can’t do all of it with a preset (as you’ve found), but you could create a series of presets for each null that has a slider/effect control and the camera that links the camera controls to the sliders and nulls.

still a bunch of steps, but easier than doing it manually.

otherwise you’ll need to write a script that will create the nulls, name them, add the sliders (name them if needed), add the camera and add expressions to link the camera controls as needed… not an easy script, but if you know some java, you may be able to make it.

here’s a page with an introduction to scripting in ae:
https://motionscript.com/ae-scripting/table-of-contents.html

and of course, there’s the ae expressions forum (lead, in part, by the guy who wrote that page, dan ebberts).

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Ben Mcallister]

Thanks but I was kind of hoping to avoid that…

I just saved my rig as a .aep file then import it into any new comp, making sure to change the original precomp size to match my targets comp size then copy all the nulls with my camera and copy the solids into my new comp. Ready to go…

But still writing a script sounds like something I’d like to have a go at. Thanks for the link.

[Kevin Camp]

[Ben McAllister] “Thanks but I was kind of hoping to avoid that… “

yep, i love expressions, but scripts are a bit beyond me…

the setup comp is a good idea, you should be able to import that project into any project to effectively load the camera rig whenever you need it.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Ben Mcallister]

Thanks I’ve done exactly that.