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Q for the Almighty Ebberts and other scripting gurus
Mr. Ebberts,
I’d like to ask you and other scripting gurus some quick questions.
I’d like to learn scripting, primarily for After Effects, but I’m not sure where to start. I’ve been searching the Cow and gone through parts of your website, but there seems to be much to learn about how variables are defined, the structure of scripting, and the proper terminology. What books/websites would you suggest to really get a good grasp on the principle/theory and rationale behind scripting. I’d like to get my head around the reasoning rather than simply borrowing code and trying to reverse engineer everything when I’m not sure what anything means. Any and all insight direction is greatly appreciated.
Also, it seems to me a person could prepare entire animation before even opening After Effects, then popping up the program and running a script. Is this possible? It would be a fun, although probably frustrating, thing to try. Thanks in advance!!
Michael.
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2 Replies
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>What books/websites would you suggest to really get a good grasp on the principle/theory and rationale behind scripting.
I guess that depends. Have you done any programming before? If so, probably all you need is a good JavaScript book and the After Effects scripting guide. Create a simple project for yourself. Look at the sample scripts to see if there’s something similar that you can use. Ask questions if you get stuck. Keep at it.
If you haven’t done much programming, I’d still get the JavaScript book, but I’d tackle expressions first. Use expressions to learn JavaScript (looping, conditional code, arrays, string manipulation, etc.) After you’ve got your JavaScript chops down you’ll be better equipped to tackle scripts. Again, ask for help if you get stuck.
>Also, it seems to me a person could prepare entire animation before even opening After Effects, then popping up the program and running a script. Is this possible?
Absolutely. AE 6.5 comes with a sample script I wrote called “shapeTimeInsanity”. Just open the application and run the script and see what happens.
Dan
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Thanks Dan. I haven’t done any programming before (well, once in the 8th grade with visual basic, but that hardly counts considering it was about 11 years ago and for a science fair project), so I’ll start with expressions, pick up a JavaScript book, and see how it goes from there. Again, thanks. The COW is surely one of the internet’s most valuable and precious gems.
Michael.
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