1 Reply Latest reply: Mar 7, 2012 11:41 PM by shachar carmi RSS

    Generating After Effects files in Objective-C

    Thomas Mindtransplant Community Member

      Hello,

       

      I´m searching for a way to generate native After Effects files or something similar. I want to bring the contents of a timeline from a non-Adobe product into After Effects. I´m coding in Objective-C on a Mac. Since I´m using AE for creative purposes I´m fairly new to developing for AE. Would someone please point me into the right direction? It´s a bit difficult to get an overview of what´s possible and what´s not.

       

      Best regards, Thomas

        • 1. Re: Generating After Effects files in Objective-C
          shachar carmi Community Member

          hi thomas. (or is it Mr. Mindtransplant?)

          welcome to the forum!

           

          what you want to do is possible, but not in the way you envision it.

           

          i'll start with the bad news:

          there is no public API for the direct creation/reading of an AE project file.

          if you know an app that does so (other than AE itself), then it's creator either used a non public API supplied by adobe, or he hacked AE.

          the project file itself (even more so it's xml version "aepx") is sort of xml-ish, but it contains a lot of custom data blocks that require prior knowledge to read/generate.

           

          the good news:

          you can create an AE project with the help of... well, AE.

          both the SDK, and the javascript API give you all the tools you need to create a full-working-ready-to-render AE project.

          all you need to do is (without belittling the undertaking) convert the input project into import/edit/keyframe commands.

           

          AE ships with a few javascript examples, and the internet is packed with many more examples that demonstrate all you need for the task.

          the AE ASK is in C/C++, and not C#. but for such purposes, i doubt you'll have a problem adjusting.

          a good SDK sample project to start from would be the "projector" sample.

          it shows the opposite route - taking an AE project and writing it's content to a text file, but it's an excellent starting point for you, as it shows how to access all of the project content data.