Adobe 12040118 - After Effects Standard Using Manual page 5

Help
Using Help
For detailed information on the JavaScript Debugger, see "JavaScript Debugging" on page 15.
Accessing and writing scripts
To create and edit scripts for After Effects, use an external text-editing application that creates files with
Unicode UTF-8 text encoding. Beware of applications such as Microsoft Word that by default add header
information to files (these create line 0 errors in scripts, causing them to fail). A script can reside anywhere,
although to appear in the Scripts menu it must be saved in the Scripts folder within the After Effects appli-
cation folder. For details on writing and editing scripts, see "Writing Scripts" on page 6.
There is no built-in method for recording a series of actions in After Effects into a script, as you can with
Photoshop actions. Scripts are created outside After Effects and then executed within it, or externally via a
command-line or third-party render management software.
Uses of After Effects scripting
One primary use for scripting in After Effects 6.5 is render automation. Anyone charged with managing a
complex rendering pipeline will be interested in this. Render automation can be accomplished either by hand-
coding scripts or via a third-party network rendering solution that supports automated management of
network rendering pipelines.
There are other uses for scripting; it can be a shortcut around tedious tasks that would otherwise involve
repetitious pointing and clicking.
See "Examples" on page 179 for examples of what scripts can do.
Using Help
Overview
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