Create Nulls From Paths Extended
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- This is an update to the After Effects plugin Adobe created for After Effects 2018. It adds several new features including the ability to control the bezier handles.
You can download it here for free!
Version history:
October 25, 2017: Original edit by crunchy, Jakob Wagner.
October 29, 2017: Thor Sarup added ability to scale and rotate points.
October 30, 2017: crunchy, Jakob Wagner. Small bug corrected. The script is renamed back to the original "Create Nulls From Paths Extended". This is going to be the name from now on, but you can freely rename the file as you like.
Download: crunchycreativ...
Make sure to check out Cloners+Effectors too: aescripts.com/...
Handle controls was life saving for my project. Please consider yourself a wonderful person.
Crunchy did it again! What another great tool! Thank you for all the brilliant tools you have put into the world.
You are welcome. More is on the way. Thank you for the kind comment.
This is really awesome! Thank you for making this AND making it free for all to use. Because of this script, I am going to save loads of time making detailed graphs that a client wants animated. Cheers sir and thanks again! great work.
Thank you for enhancing this script - the addition of being able to manipulate the bezier handles this way removes a lot of grief in dealing with points in After Effects shapes.
YESSSS!
Thanks so much for this. If you ever decide to update the script, it could be awesome to include a checkbox that prevent the bezier handles to break from each other.
Paul van Sommeren you’re welcome. I’m kinda planning to do a complete rewrite at some point. Until then, you can rotate the point null and the handles will stay together.
@@crunchycreatives Yup, that's what I'm doing now! I added a short expression that allowed the handles to only move on their original x-axis.
You are a life saver! Thank you so much for this! I've been banging my head on this problem for a week and I think this will help me :-)
This is literally exactly what I was looking for. Awesome work!
Thank you for making this. Very helpful.
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! youre the best!!!! keep it up. was looking and waiting for this for last 5 or 6 year!!!!! GREAT!!!!!!!
You are a King!! Amazing improvement!! Thanks!!
Exactly what I was looking for. Wonderful work!
Might I suggest adding the option to control the appereance of handles and locators?
WOW! Saved my life! Thank you so much!
Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
This is amazing! So usefull and why didn't I find this any sooner!
What an amazing creation, I was just starting to work with the Create Nulls bit that came with AE, and was wondering if there was a way to get the freakin' handles. Lo and behold, it exists! Thanks a ton!
Thank you very much it is a powerful update!
I like it ... it could help very well with animating special stuff like water surface or impact cases ...
and Thanks for arrangable panel , i like scripts & plugins which can change size as needed . hope to see that feature in "Cloner & Effectors"
you're actually a mad genius.
Haha. Thanks. Not sure about genius, but definitely mad as a hatter. :D
Awesome, thanks for sharing!!!... Greetings.
Dude, this is amazing!!!
You Sir, have done an amazing job!!
Hi! Thank you so much! I thought I had a problem with your add on being implemented on version 0.5 where now released version is 0.6 but it works great. Thank you!
I can't thank you enough for this Jakob. Just two quick suggestions. I've been reading the comments and I've already seen one, but not the other.
Right now handles and bezier itself are way too big in a 1920x1080 comp, which makes me almost impossible to select handles (as they hide behind the yellow square). Being able to change this size would be great.
Second suggestion: is it possible to make this handles behaviour as a continous bezier would? I mean grabbing one handle so the opposite one moves accordingly.
As an extra, and I already read in the comments, being able to change color would be very useful too! (I read you answered detailing in which lines is that code so we can change, so I might give it a try).
Thanks again!
Just a quick tip in case it helps someone:
You can create an adjustment layer with two slider controls and link size properties from Bezier to first slider and Handles bezier size to the second one. Automatizing this would be awesome tho :)
Same thing can be done with Fill effect and color property to change every colors at once (in case you don't wanna use master properties as Jakob suggests)
Hi OoNaXoO. Thanks for the comment and suggestions. I'll keep that in mind when I get to revisit this. I have a loong list of things I need to do first though, like physics now v3 and a couple of other useful tools. I agree that it could still be improved so I will see if I can find the time. Meanwhile, the script is open source so anyone are free to take a crack at it.
WOW, thank you, you're amazing!
So great! Appreciate it very much
I have to correct myself. It seems like the script is causing an error that makes me unable to open up my project file when which killed several hours of work. I know it's causing it because I tested it many times with backup files. I know that's probably not your fault and your code may be just fine but man.. Caution people!
turns out the same issue happens with the main script too, so nothing wrong on your part. still great script!
Super Awesome! Thanks a lot
Killer Script but Caution People: don't try to use this script or the main version of it if you have the "omino snake" applied on your layer. You will end up not being able to open up your project file anymore!
Thank you for letting us know. A possible solution could be to use BAO Boa from aescripts. I havn't tried it, but maybe it will work.
just watched a tutorial on it. Looks like an extremely powerful tool!
I would expect it to be. I've tried a couple of other plugins from Bao, and they have been pretty good.
UAU!!! Thats perfect! Thank you!
Very nice. Thanks
thank you so much!
The extended version is a life saver for me when working with shape layers. Thank you for making it! I'm using it on AE version 22.3 and when I run "Points Follow Nulls" with checked handle controls and use locators on a path (perfect round circle), the path is reshaped as the bezier handles come out too short. I just want to check if you or anyone else experience the same behaviour? Thanks
Never mind, the script works just fine as I started over. I did something wrong previously. 🙈
No problem. I'm happy you find it useful. 😊
Great stuff! Thank you!
I've added some extra features including rotation/scaling of the indicator: www.dropbox.com/s/1vly5k3nm5ixhpg/Path%20tools.jsx?dl=0
Love it! I was really hoping some one would add more to it. I have changed the description with your link and of course giving you full credit.
Sorry for the terrible audio. :|
This is a super powerful tool for character rigging, so thank you very much! I have ran into one small issue which I am curious if there is a solution. Once the points are rigged with nulls I have a great set up to animate my characters, but if I copy and paste the rig, whether it be in the same comp or into a new composition, it seems to break and the nulls no longer adjust the points. Any help would be much appreciated!
EDIT: Did some digging and it is a simple fix. When duplicating you are renaming all the layers, so you need to select the duplicated path layer and view the Layer Control Effects applied. All the layer controls are linked to the original source. Simply link to the corresponding duplicated Nulls and you are good to go.
@crunchy -- Thank you this is great - however I'm now getting an error when I try to use the Handle Controls and Locators and it opens up the script in the ExtendScript Toolkit. It takes me to line 581 and says "null is not an object" - any idea what's gone wrong here?
Hi Mike. Not sure. Are you using AE 2018?
Yeah I am and I was using the script just fine for about a month or two before this happened. May just be something weird in my computer but I thought I'd see if you'd encountered anything similar already.
No, I havn't. If you send me the file I'll take a quick look.
You are the Best! Many many thanks, man. So i have to ask something. In the original CNFP, you can't duplicate the group nulls/path after 1 is set. It won't work. Will this extension of you do the duplicate?
No. I can't imagine it will. But it's a good feature request. :)
I Did exactly what you showed but my null object path won’t curve it just goes along the points I set instead of following the curve what do I do ?
Hi Taffy. I'll need a little more info to answer that. Which function are you using? Trace path? Are you using AE2018 or above?
can i edit the size of tangent lines and control circles on the code (Use Locators control size)? they are very wide and large!
but thx god! omg u r amazing ♥
Hi Fuad. It's a feature I plan to add in the future. You can still do it if you don't mind getting your hands dirty in the machine room. :)
Close the plugin panel.
Open the jsx file in a text editor. (I use sublime text, but it could also be others like nodepad. If you are on PC make sure to open it with admin permissions or copy it to the desktop first)
You can change the following lines in the script to change the look of the handles:
Line 246: Size of the rectangles
Line 253: Color of the rectangles
Line 269: Size of the circles
Line 276: Color of the circles
Line 285: Color of the lines
Line 286: Thickness of the lines
Thank You!
Nulls are coming out to be very big in size. How can i make them small?
Hi. You can't really, Not without changing the script. You can try Use Locators, they are a little smaller but also slower. I don't currently have the time to update the script, but it is open source so anyone with the skills are welcome to do it.
It isnt working in 2020. Point follow nulls doesnt aplly any expressions to the mask path
Hi Diego. I have just tested it in 2020 and it worked. Can you share a little more about your process? Maybe write me at support@crunchycreatives.com
great!!
La versiòn del programa?
Hi. It works for After Effects 2018 and above.
@@crunchycreatives thanks!
hi. i am having a issue. when i click points follow nulls , nulls are created in corner of the comp. it is not following the path. please help. i would really appreciate.
Hi. The script only works if the shape transform groups are zeroed out/reset to default.
@@crunchycreatives Thanks bro. Really appreciate your help.
im getting a "origpath.points is not a function" can this be fix?
This only works in AE 2018 and above.
THANKS!!!!!!!!
Thanks man!!
Thank you very much for the script. I tried to use it using some null points created by the 3D camera tracker, so they are 3D nulls. Unfortunately It seems that the script works only for 2D: it changes al the "Z" to zero. I'm I doing something wrong?
I can't test it right now, but what you say is probably correct. The path is always 2D, but maybe it could be possible to translate the 3D positions to screen space. Anyways, for now I don't have a solution for you.
@@crunchycreatives Thank you anyway! :-D
You're amazing.
The new update has a problem when using "create paths from selected" and using both handle controls and locators. An error comes up that "parent.content" is undefined in the stroke width
Thanks for letting me know. I'll look into that.
It's fixed now. Get the latest from the description. Please let me know if you find more bugs. Cheers.
Hi, trying this on CC 2015 and the Nulls are appearing way above the path and throws up an expression error: After Effects warning: Expression Disabled. Error at line 3 in property ‘Path’ of layer 4 (‘Shape Layer 1’) in comp ‘Comp 1’.
Function origPath.points is undefined.
Any ideas?
Thanks
ArtinTime this is based on new features in AE 2018 and will only work in that.
I see, thanks.
Thank you so much! This has saved me. Any way to move the handles together as opposed to individually?
I'm happy it helped you. You can select multiple nulls or handles and then move them together. Or maybe I don't understand the question correctly.
@@crunchycreatives Thanks for replying! I don't think I explained my question very well. I want to move the 2 handles (of one point) at the same time, as you would do normally with the handles of a regular bezier point. Just wondered if this is possible?
@@georgehobbs4009 I see. No, you can't. But you can rotate the point null and the handles will follow.
I don't know if you still need this but I figured out something that might work for you! A cheap way I just did with it was to parent the position property of one of the handles to the other, then make it negative (just by putting a minus sign in front of the expression).
With this way, you can use one handle to edit both. However, you basically lose control over one handle, so how useful this can be depends on your need for symmetry. I suppose you could fine tune it by using math operators in the expression to, for example, have it only be half the value of the parent handle position if you really wanted as well.
Very great tutorial :) And great Script! How can I learn do develop something like this? Where do I start? Which languages do I need?
Thank you so much for your answer :)
To begin with you should learn expressions. Just search for video tuts, there are lots of them out there. I like to use either forums.adobe.com or creativecow.com if I have questions.
Scripts are more tricky. Not that many good tutorials out there, but if you find some free scripts (like the one in the video) which is jsx files, you can read them and try to understand. But first you should learn the basics of javascript. Happy coding! :)
Here are some resources you will find usefull:
expressions.aenhancers.com/
helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/scripts.html
blogs.adobe.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/48/files/2012/06/After-Effects-CS6-Scripting-Guide.pdf?file=2012/06/After-Effects-CS6-Scripting-Guide.pdf
jongware.mit.edu/Sui/index_1.html
docs.aenhancers.com/
Hey :) Thank you so much for your quick answer! I already tried to learn some basics of coding and it is so much fun. I'm also very into expressions! Right now I'm working on something for a music channel and your tool is helping me so much! There are so many times when I also think: Jesus I need this and that, I wish I could write a Script for that :D But I've never done something like this before. But learning the scripts of javascript is a great tip :) At first I started a bit with Python. And also thank you for the tip just taking a script an trying to understand it :D Wish there where more tut about that^^
Really helpful thank you so much!
Actually I'm also thinking about doing a tutorial, in which I refer to your Script :D Right now I'm doing a Logo Animation in which the Logo transforms to a Box. The tricky part about that was that the Box has a text in it and needs to be generic. But it is so much fun and like I mentioned before - with your script it works great :)
HI CrunchyCreatives,
When i am trying to use this tool, it is showing an expression error in orange.. Could you please advise?
Hi Shahin. Could be many things. It only works in ae2018 and above. If it isn't that. Please write an email to support@crunchycreatives.com and attach the aep file and I will take a look.
HI,
Thanks .. That is it. My version is 2017. But i was wondering if there is some hack to make this plug in work in 2017. I would really appreciate it if you know some thing.
@@chalu919 it can not be done pre ae2018. What I used before was this: aescripts.com/bao-mask-avenger
@@crunchycreatives Okay.. THanks Crunchycreatives. I will check it out. This script is new to me.
Спасибо! Like
شكرا لك
مرحباً بك
Can work with CC 2017?
Unfortunately no. Only from AE 2018 and up.
If you need functionality like that for 2017, I recommend trying aescripts.com/bao-mask-avenger/
hey crunchy creatives!! i learned so much fro you , but honestly my after effect is 2019, even though it appear handle , it cannot move my path:(( may you helpm e?? or i would say please help me!! im going to make soke very cool animtions!! the second question is that , i dont know once i click on create nulls follow path, all the nulls are not next to my path, they werea ll squzuee in the corner:(((
Hi.
If you click "Points follow nulls" then the path will be locked to those nulls and you wont be able to move the path.
If on the other hand you click "Nulls follow points", then it is the nulls which are locked to the path, and the path can be edited.
As for the dislocated nulls. The script is not very happy about transformations on the path layer. So Anchor Point and Position in the Path shape group should be zero. I realize that is not always optimal but it is what it is right now. I might have a rework of the script released at some point which will take care of that, but it will be several month before and if I get it finished.
@@crunchycreatives thank you so so much for trying to solve my problem you are so generous!! but im so sad that none of your extended buttons work for me, no matter i click on "points follow nulls" or "null follow points", they handle wont move:(( basically your extended scripts is just a original one for me:((i would love to share with you my screenshooting video of explaining my problem , could you temporarily add me into your contact so that i could send video to you??? thank you so much, my gmail: ericqaz111111@gmail.com thank you so so much man!!
@@narutoyang7787 You can send the screenshot to support@crunchycreatives.com
@@crunchycreatives thank you so much for giving me chances!! i ju st sent you questions ( clips) about physics and this extended plugins!! i hope you have a nice dayyy
I think it's not working for After Effects CC 2019
Thank you or reporting. It works fine for me. Can you be more specific about which parts doesn't work?
@@crunchycreatives Hey! Turns out it was my mistake, the script works fine! Thanks!
@crunchy
Thanks for add that features to the script :) .
I have a question Please
Is there a way to attach one point to a null while leaving others free to manipulate as paths and not have them locked by the expression ?
Your welcome. No. But it's a good idea. I will see if I can put it in there.
Thank for your reply and can't wait to see some news if its going to work :)
I'm afraid I can already say that it wont be possible. Since there is no selectedVerticies property. But you could code it your self with this expression (Note: you would have to disable the expression by clicking the = button when editing the remaining points):
var origPath = thisProperty;
var origPoints = origPath.points();
var origInTang = origPath.inTangents();
var origOutTang = origPath.outTangents();
var vertexIndex = 2;
var nullLayer = thisComp.layer("Null 2");
origPoints[vertexIndex] = fromCompToSurface(nullLayer.toComp(nullLayer.anchorPoint));
createPath(origPoints,origInTang,origOutTang,origPath.isClosed());
Thank you for your help, I'm not that good with expression and i don't know how/where to add this in the expression code ?
Thank you
You forget about the plugin. And manually put the code into the expression for the path. Here is an example. In the expression you can change controlLayerName and vertexIndex values.
we.tl/vjTrRTVXhG
f*ing amazing!!!!!
NICE
Fedt! :) Var selv på vej til at udvide standard .jsx filen med lidt ekstra funktionalitet. Men - den jeg hentede fra dropbox linket er vist en tidligere version? Den har er ikke responsive og virker ikke med bezier handles. Har du en ny?
Neeej. Tak for du siger det. Har opdateret linket.
Hi @crunchy thanks so much for sharing, I'm trying to use the script for Tracing a path but that must be something wrong as it just creates a Null with no expression on, I've tried another option and it appears an error saying: Expression Disabled. Error at line 2 in property ‘Position’ of layer 1 (blabla) Function srcLayer()()()()().points is underfined. Can you help me? Thank you anyway
Hi Laura. Not sure what you could be doing wrong. It should be as simple as unfolding the layer, selecting the path and clicking "Trace Path". Are you using AE 2018?
I did that, I'm using AE 2017
That's it then. It only works in 2018, since it's using new features included in the new AE. So you'll have to download the newest.
Thank you very much crunchy!
:)
just one question, everytime i impost from Ai then convert to shapelayer in Aex then apply this effect the null layers are slightly offset from the original points. u have any idea why is that?
if i draw shapelayer inside Aex myself, everything works just fine, but when i convert from vector to shapelayer, this script offsets the nulls...
any idea?
ok seems offset points with shapes. with lines works just fine, but with shapes...
Hi. Yeah this is a problem. Maybe I'll fix it in an update, but it's a little trickey, and I have loads of other things to do right now. If position in the group transform is set to other than zero, the curve won't match. Same for scale and rotation. At this point it is how it is. Still improved from Adobe script though. I'm planing a revisit when I get time for it, but maybe I'll wait for the next version of AE to come out and see what Adobe have corrected them self.
thanks for a quick answer. still helped a lot!! no pressure tho, anytime^^. consider yourself a legend!!!
idk why adobe didnt include this kinda options from begin with. i always wondered, why i cannot keyframe the position of a single vertex, only of all together..... I mean shud be aesy for them to includ this option under path keyframes, like an pop down menu to manipulate single points. but no... adobe plz!!! :DDD
This is only for CC2018? What about CC 2017?
It will only work in AE 2018. The expressions used are new for this version. You can check out 'mask avenger' which works for AE 2017. Not entirely the same thing though.
I've found the script code at Nomagmolia website...looks the same...Haven't tried it yet. Will test it in earlier versions
Kostas Fassoulas I don't know that site, but make sure you purchase it if you use it. You can get it here aescripts.com/bao-mask-avenger/
I thought this was an alternative, not some ripped off code...Check this out, if it violates any rights...by bad...
The BAO solution seems to be the best option out there! Thank you!
nomagnolia.tv/ae-link-path-points-tangents-nulls/
Ah. I see. Sorry for making assumptions, it sounded like you found Mask Avenger on some "free software" website. :)
That script seems to be much like the one I did, while that's totally cool, it still wont work for you in AE 2017.
U rule
Hey! Awesome! I was actually trying to make something like this myself when someone pointed me toward your version!
Here's what I had: www.pemling.com/experiments-scripts/.
You're way further along than I was, but one thing that doesn't seem to work out of the box are Paths within Groups that have had their own Transformation properties altered... For example if you bring in artwork from Illustrator and convert it to a Shape Layer, often paths are created within Groups that have a Transform other than [0,0], which causes the script to create Nulls in the wrong spot.
I had kind of worked out how to do that in my script, and had a few other ideas I wanted to try... mind if I attempt to adapt them into your version?
pemling Cool. By all means, go ahead and do that. Maybe link to it if you succeed and we will all end up having something better.
For sure. I'll keep you posted!
Hey again,
I had some success. I uploaded the version I messed around with here: www.pemling.com/experiments-scripts/.
Shape Paths that are contained within a Group with Group Transform/Anchor Points altered are now offset correctly. Again, this was most noticeable to me when dealing with Paths converted from AI files.
A few things:
1) it only works for Paths either not contained in Groups, or only contained within one Group. I'm hoping to continue to improve it to work with multiple groups...
2) alterations to a groups Scale, Rotation, Skew, and Skew Axis aren't factored in. I'm hoping to eventually get at least the Scale and Rotation stuff sorted out...
3) oddly, I had some issues when getting a path's tangent vectors to work correctly when they were associated with Nulls that had been scaled (as they were for non-indicator handles in your original script). My solution was just to create "Fake Nulls" (Shape layers that basically look the same) instead of regular Nulls. You can resize/position them a little more reliably...
Sort of my first foray into scripting... hope the features help!
Hi Pemling. Thanks a lot! Wierd with the tangent issue, we'll have to look into that. I think some people would prefer real nulls. And they also have better performance. Rotation, scale and skewing will properly require a different approach to the problem I think, I'll probably also give it a go when I have the time and reach out to you. I'm sure we'll end up having something really good here. :)
No problem!
The "Fake Nulls" didn't seem to slow down my machine, but I hear you; that might not be everyone's experience... especially with more complex paths.
Getting rotation, scale, skew stuff in the script would be awesome too. For now though, I'm just happy my nulls are showing up in the right spot! :)
Thanks again for your work on this, by the way! And thanks for letting people like me attempt to alter it!
1 dislike from Adobe :))
Haha! I was wondering who would dislike this? You might be right.
I love this script! Thank you!!
you are awesome, thank you so much
thank you sir!