after-effects

# After Effects

## Overview

Automate Adobe After Effects — the industry-standard motion graphics and compositing tool. This skill covers ExtendScript for programmatic project manipulation, CEP/UXP panel development, expressions for procedural animation, aerender CLI for headless batch rendering, MOGRT template automation, data-driven graphics, and production pipeline integration. Build repeatable workflows for social media content, broadcast graphics, and VFX pipelines.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Scripting Approaches

1. **ExtendScript** (.jsx) — Full project DOM access, runs inside AE
2. **Expressions** — Per-property JavaScript-like code, runs per-frame
3. **CEP/UXP Panels** — HTML/JS panels with ExtendScript bridge
4. **aerender** — Command-line renderer (headless)

**Run an ExtendScript:**
```bash
# From AE: File > Scripts > Run Script File
# Or place in Scripts/Startup/ for auto-run
# macOS CLI:
osascript -e 'tell application "Adobe After Effects 2024" to DoScript "$.evalFile(\"/path/to/script.jsx\")"'
```

### Step 2: ExtendScript — Project & Layer Operations

```javascript
var project = app.project;

// Create composition
var comp = project.items.addComp("Social Post", 1080, 1920, 1, 10, 30);

// Import footage
var footage = project.importFile(new ImportOptions(new File("/path/to/footage.mp4")));

// Add layers to comp
var layer = comp.layers.add(footage);
var textLayer = comp.layers.addText("Hello World");

// Configure text
var textProp = textLayer.property("Source Text");
var textDoc = textProp.value;
textDoc.fontSize = 72;
textDoc.fillColor = [1, 1, 1];
textDoc.font = "Arial-BoldMT";
textProp.setValue(textDoc);

// Animate position with easing
var position = textLayer.property("Position");
position.setValueAtTime(0, [960, 540]);
position.setValueAtTime(1, [960, 300]);
var ease = new KeyframeEase(0, 75);
position.setTemporalEaseAtKey(1, [ease, ease]);
position.setTemporalEaseAtKey(2, [ease, ease]);

// Add effect
var blur = textLayer.property("Effects").addProperty("Gaussian Blur");
blur.property("Blurriness").setValue(5);
```

### Step 3: Template Automation (Data-Driven)

```javascript
// template-batch.jsx — Replace text layers in a template from CSV data
function processTemplate(comp, data) {
    for (var i = 1; i <= comp.numLayers; i++) {
        var layer = comp.layer(i);
        if (layer instanceof TextLayer && data.hasOwnProperty(layer.name)) {
            var textProp = layer.property("Source Text");
            var textDoc = textProp.value;
            textDoc.text = data[layer.name];
            textProp.setValue(textDoc);
        }
    }
}

// CSV format: Title,Subtitle,Date
// Template has text layers named: Title, Subtitle, Date
var templateComp = app.project.activeItem;
var csvData = readCSV("/path/to/data.csv");  // Parse CSV into array of objects

for (var r = 0; r < csvData.length; r++) {
    var newComp = templateComp.duplicate();
    newComp.name = "Output_" + (r + 1);
    processTemplate(newComp, csvData[r]);
}
```

### Step 4: Expressions

```javascript
// Wiggle: wiggle(5, 50)   — 5 times/sec, 50px amplitude
// Loop: loopOut("cycle")
// Fade in: linear(time, 0, 1, 0, 100)

// Bounce expression (apply to Position)
amplitude = 15; frequency = 3; decay = 5; n = 0;
if (numKeys > 0) { n = nearestKey(time).index; if (key(n).time > time) n--; }
if (n > 0) {
    t = time - key(n).time;
    value + amplitude * Math.sin(frequency * t * 2 * Math.PI) / Math.exp(decay * t);
} else { value; }

// Typewriter (on Source Text)
str = value; n = Math.round(time * 20); str.substr(0, n);

// Counter: Math.round(linear(time, 0, 3, 0, 1000));

// Follow null with delay
delay = 0.5;
thisComp.layer("Null 1").position.valueAtTime(time - delay);
```

### Step 5: aerender — Command-Line Rendering

```bash
# Basic render
aerender -project "/path/to/project.aep" -comp "Main Comp" -output "/renders/output.mov"

# With settings
aerender \
  -project "/path/to/project.aep" \
  -comp "Main Comp" \
  -output "/renders/output_[####].png" \
  -RStemplate "Best Settings" \
  -OMtemplate "PNG Sequence" \
  -s 0 -e 300 -mp

# macOS path: /Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ 2024/aerender
# Windows: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects 2024\Support Files\aerender.exe"
```

**Batch render script:**
```bash
#!/bin/bash
AERENDER="/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2024/aerender"
for aep in /projects/*.aep; do
    name=$(basename "$aep" .aep)
    "$AERENDER" -project "$aep" -RStemplate "Best Settings" -OMtemplate "H.264" \
        -output "/renders/${name}.mp4" -mp
done
```

### Step 6: MOGRT & CEP Panels

**Automate MOGRT property setup:**
```javascript
var comp = app.project.activeItem;
var textLayer = comp.layer("Title");
var sourceText = textLayer.property("Source Text");
comp.addMotionGraphicsTemplateController(sourceText);
// Then export via Essential Graphics panel
```

**CEP panel bridge** (call ExtendScript from panel JS):
```javascript
const csInterface = new CSInterface();
function runInAE(script) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        csInterface.evalScript(script, (result) => {
            if (result === "EvalScript error.") reject(result);
            else resolve(result);
        });
    });
}
// Example: get comp names from AE
const result = await runInAE(`
    var names = [];
    for (var i = 1; i <= app.project.numItems; i++) {
        if (app.project.item(i) instanceof CompItem) names.push(app.project.item(i).name);
    }
    JSON.stringify(names);
`);
```

## Examples

### Example 1: Batch-generate 50 social media cards from a spreadsheet
**User prompt:** "I have a CSV with 50 rows of product names, prices, and image paths. Write an ExtendScript that duplicates my 'Product Card' template comp for each row, replaces the Title, Price, and Photo layers, and queues them all for rendering."

The agent will create a `.jsx` script that reads the CSV file, iterates over each row, duplicates the template composition, replaces text layer values using `property