Do AEGPs work with aerender?

[arth14641700]

Hello there. I have a very specific problem. I need to change fonts in an after effects project and render it without opening user interface. I can use only aerender.exe.

Previously I thought it was possible with scripting. So I invested about a month on learning javascript/extendscript. After that I was able to write a script, which could take a font name from external data and change in the project. But the problem was scripts refused to work with aerender. Even if I put scripts in startup folder aerender simply ignored them.

After a research I came across after effects SDK. I looked through it and found a sample project called Text twiddler, which basically could do some manipulation with text layers. Also I found out that AEGPs can run scripts internally. But have no idea if it can be done without opening after effects user interface.

I’m not a programmer, so I’m going to start learning C++ to implement my idea. But before doing it, I want to clarify, if it is possible to write a plugin which will take a font name from an external data (text file) and change text layers in project working with aerender.

Thanks!

[Zac Lam · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

AE projects should not be modified in aerender.exe, but you could launch a headless AE using the command line afterfx.exe -noUI on macOS, or afterfx.com -noUI on Win.

From the plug-in SDK Guide:

After Effects can be driven by executing scripts from the commandline. In your script, you can open the project and run script actions on it. So for example, you can execute the following statement to run a script from the command line directly:

AfterFX -s "app.quit()"

Or you can execute this statement to run a .jsx script that includes a quit at the end:

AfterFX -r path_to_jsx_script

On Windows, AfterFX.com is the way to get feedback to the console, because AfterFX.com is a command line application.

You can modify fonts using scripting, which may be easier to approach than writing an AEGP:

http://docs.aenhancers.com/other/textdocument/?highlight=font

See also:

https://www.aenhancers.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3084

[arth14641700]

Thanks Zac,

I wasn't aware that after effects projects shouldn't be modified with aerender.

But my question still remains open. Will AEGPs (I mean any AEGP) work with aerender or they necessarily need afterfx.exe or afterfx.com to be run?