[Max Haller]

I know this thread is nearly a decade old. HOWEVER! I was just wondering the same thing today and set out to write a script that would do this.

I’ve tested it a few times in my own projects and this seems to work! The trickiest part was getting it to loop through the open comps. There’s not a built in way to do that as far as I could tell. So instead it adds the active comp, closes it and then adds the next active comp. This effectively will loop through all the comps you have open in the timeline panel.

// Add Active Comp to Render Queue and Move to Next
function addActiveCompToRenderQueueAndMoveToNext() {
// Start the undo group
app.beginUndoGroup(“Add Active Comp to Render Queue and Move to Next”);
// Keep track of processed comps
var processedComps = [];
// Function to check if an array contains an element
function arrayContains(array, element) {
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
if (array[i] === element) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
// Function to add the active comp to render queue and move to the next
function processActiveComp() {
var activeComp = app.project.activeItem;
if (activeComp && activeComp instanceof CompItem && !arrayContains(processedComps, activeComp.id)) {
// Add the active composition to the render queue
app.project.renderQueue.items.add(activeComp);
// Mark this comp as processed
processedComps.push(activeComp.id);
// Close the active comp
activeComp.openInViewer();
app.executeCommand(app.findMenuCommandId(“Close”));
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
// Loop until no more active comps are found
while (processActiveComp()) {
// Do nothing, the loop will continue until all comps are processed
}
// End the undo group
app.endUndoGroup();
}
// Execute the script
addActiveCompToRenderQueueAndMoveToNext();

[Max Haller]

Hey Vu Dyk,

I think you want to make that pink glow attached to the character’s hand, right? I believe tracking it with the motion tracker or animating it by hand to match the movements might be your only options really.

The motion tracker should work on that image fairly well, you might need to adjust the sizes of the inside and outside box on the tracker if it’s jumping around a lot. The inside box tells after effects what shape its supposed to be looking for frame to frame and the outside box is the region that it will search for that shape. Or if the tracker doesn’t work you might have to animate it by hand to match. Good luck

[Max Haller]

Hey Marc

Theres no built in method of doing this that i know of. But i have had luck in the past using the following technique, although it’ll depend a lot on your footage.

You start by generating a black and white luma matte of the scene, where the small objects are white. Usually just by Tint and then levels adjustments. Then you can try to apply blurs to the luma matte layer and tweak the color levels of it with the levels or curves effects. The idea being that between the blurs and level changes the small objects will get blacked out and thus become invisible.

Doesn’t always work but worth a shot. You might have to make a garbage matte over the subject of your shot so the edges don’t get eroded. You can also try other effects on the matte like chokers to expand the matte enough to block out the tiny objects.

[Max Haller]

Brilliant. Filing this under something i never knew i needed!

[Max Haller]

Can you send a screenshot of your render settings? Might find the culprit there

[Max Haller]

Hey Tom

It would depend on how you’ve combined the shapes to make this effect. Sometimes you can get edge issues from alpha mattes. This article might be helpful https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/set-matte-fringes/td-p/11281932

[Max Haller]

Hey Martin can you give a little more detail about what you want to do?

When i make a solid layer and then draw a mask it normally rescales with the layer already so im not sure what you’re asking for exactly.

[Max Haller]

Glad you got it working. Shot in the dark here (sorry light pun) but I’ve had weird issues like that when i bring in a psd file that has layers with layer styles. They always cause weird issues for me when interacting in a 3d scene. The Classic 3D vs Cinema renderer can sometimes create unexpected issues too but not usually what you’ve described.

[Max Haller]

Walter you never cease to amaze! Thank you very much ill try this script

[Max Haller]

Thanks Graham, the copy and paste method is how i normally do it currently. I would use the built in guide except its a slightly different safe area for some of the networks. Some have a lot less space than others or big bug safe areas i have to avoid so that’s why i rely on their overlay. Appreciate your answer though!