All the scripts

I’ve been writing new scripts recently, mostly simple UI-less tools that do what they’re called, like show guide layers.jsx and remove disabled effects.jsx. There’s now a decent collection, and I’m adding new ones all the time. So rather than having to download them separately I’ve packaged all the ready-for release ones into a single zip file.

Also included are some more complex UI-based scripts that I’ve posted before. Here’s a list of all the currently included scripts, the link to download them is below.

Scripts with a UI

These scripts will show up in the Window menu

cloninate.jsx – clones or replaces layers recursively, so that their source is independent of the original

copy_multi.jsx – a very handy keyframe copier. Allows you to copy and paste a bunch of keys from different layers , as well as one-click copying and pasting time-reversed keys.

first-n-last.jsx – trims the comp to the first and / or last layers, selected layers, or the current playhead position. Also lets you recursively trim and extend nested layers in a comp at the same time.

in-n-out.jsx – a layer sequencer. Like the “Sequence Layers” animation assistant but with bells and whistles.

proxynator.jsx – lets you set multiple proxies in one click.

zap spatial tangents.jsx gets rid of pesky auto-generated tangents on keyframes.

Stop-n-Go.jsx – an emergency pause button for expressions

this-n-that.jsx – a sooper-dooper layer or keyframe selection tool

find-n-replace.jsx – find and replace text in expressions, layer names, properties and text layers, with regex powers

Scripts without a UI.

These scripts will show up in the File > Scripts> menu.

centerShapeLayerToContents.jsx – centers the anchor point of a shape layer to the center of the contents, and centers any path’s anchor points.

createNullAtAveragePosition.jsx – creates a null at the center of a bunch of layers

hide guide layers.jsx & show guide layers.jsx – turns off and on visibility for guide layers

shy locked layers.jsx – makes locked layers shy and hides shy layers in the timeline window

Mum-n-Dad.jsx – creates a null and makes it the parent of all the layers in a comp

quantiseKeyTimes.jsx – snaps all keyframes to frame boundaries

lightview camera.jsx– adds a camera to a light for ease of aiming

remove disabled effects.jsx – removes effects that are turned off

removeGap.jsx– ripple-deletes a gap in the timeline

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The image for this post comes from Lachlan Donald

Download

You can get source code to all the scripts at Codeberg or just download the zip here

Once you have unzipped, you need to put them in the AE Scripts folder. The Scripts folder will contain a ScriptUI folder, that’s where all the scripts with UIs go, so make sure you keep the folder structure intact.

If you have admin access on your machine, the default scripts folder is here:

  • Windows:
    c:\\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects <version>\Support Files\Scripts
  • Mac OS:
    /Applications/Adobe After Effects <version>/Scripts

(replace <version> with the current version of after effects, e.g. 2023) If you don’t have admin access, or you want to keep your scripts separate from the default installed ones there’s a user-accessible folder here (note that In this case is the actual version number, e.g. 23.4. Nice consistent naming, Adobe.):

  • Windows:
    %appdata%\Adobe\After Effects\<version>\Scripts
    %appdata% is a environment variable that points to your user prefs folder, usually c:\users\<you>\appdata\roaming\. Open an Explorer window and type %appdata%\Adobe\After Effects\ into the address bar and follow your nose from there.
  • Mac OS
    ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/<version>/Scripts/
    ~/ is a shortcut to your Home folder in Finder type ⌘+Shift+G and paste ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/ into the Go To Folder dialog.

15 comments

  1. the copy-multi script has an issue: ‘unable to read the script at line 4’ in AE 17.6.0

    Reply

    1. Actually now it is saying “unable to execute script at line 20. File or folder does not exist” when I isntall just the individual script and then restart AE Is there something I’m doing wrong?

      Reply

  2. Which script was it? Some of them rely on having the (lib) folder in place, but I’m working on making them all stand-alone

    Reply

    1. G’day. I am having the issue “Unable to Execute script at line 4. FIle or folder does not exist” in regards to the “Zap Spatial Tangents” script. I have copied the folder of images for the UI into the appropriate folder. Does it require another script to be installed in addition. I am trying out a few of your scripts. BTW I really enjoyed going through your blog posts! Thanks in Advance from up the highway in Shepp!

      Reply

  3. Where is the download link? I cannot find it :/

    Reply

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