Rigging a Chopper

Solved a few challenging points to build this complex helicopter's cyclic control transformations.

Turned out pretty satisfying.

New dev project to ease renderpass importing/compositing in AE

Hi! Hope you're all doing well.

I finally finished the first alpha version of my renderpass importer for After Effects, and I need testers to speed up the development. Its very alpha, a bit shaky code but it can already save you some time, or a LOT of time if you have plenty of passes.

To make it useful all your passes must be in the same folder and share the same base name.

What it does:

• After clicking the Browse button Pass.Port analyses the files in the folder you selected to find their shared name (stripped off of everything after the separator tag), it's called Basename. The one detected will be shown in the Basename field
• If Pass.Port is able to detect the Basename, it will enable the Port button. Clicking it will import all found sequences, analyse them for the renderpass type (this is for the future feature of auto compositing) and for the Light Groups
• Then if AutoComp is checked, it will sort the footage into separate compositions corresponding to the detected Light Groups
• As a result you have all sequences imported and one or a few new comps, all placed into the project folder RS render passes created inside currently selected project folder. Pass.port will indicate this in its UI (and in the log file)
• The script saves all your current settings between the sessions, including the last successful folder
• Pass.Port creates a text log file with everything it has found and done named pass.port_log.txt next to your AE project file, or to your desktop if your project is not saved
• Creates 2 undo groups, one for the Footage Import and another one for AutoComp stage, so you can undo by one

What it does not:

• Doesn't rebuild your composition by the book yet, but its 100% next feature
• Doesn't support multilayered exrs by now
• The parsing is built for the default renderpass naming of C4D Redshift version only (with some variations), other Rule sets are on the list. But as long as you comply to the same rules you can use it with any other render engine
• Tested on Windows only, cannot promise if it'll work on Mac
• Doesn't change any of your files and does not access the internet
• Unfortunately it will never be able to make you a coffee
  

Naming the renderpasses:

A tip for getting a consistent basename for your main render and passes with takes in c4d with tokens:

for main output: .../$take/$take

for RS AOVs: $take_AOV

Or with the $camera token in the same manner. Pass.port will recognise this naming very gladly

Usage and Feedback:

You can run Pass.Port as usual using the Run Script menu, or place it into ...Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels to be able to dock it into your AE interface

It is a free script, but please do not sell it and do not include it in any products free or paid

Get it for free from the Pass.port GitHub repository and join my Discord if you're actively using Pass.Port and have some feedback/issue.

My SendTo_FFmpeg scripts, the big update

Updated my SendTo_FFmpeg scripts today.

It's getting much better:

• A few new presets
• Now all of the scripts (except external audio and mux) support multiple file selection.
• Global settings for all batches in sendtoffmpeg_settings.cmd file (includes path to FFmpeg, verbosity level and end pause, descriptive names option in the next commit)

Just a reminder. SendTo_FFmpeg is a set of windows batches for effortless and free video transcoding. It's a set of tools I develop mainly for myself and it saves me tons of time every day. To use it, go to SendTo_FFmpeg scripts github page. Read the description and click "Clone or download" button.

Add current layer(s) info to your After Effects renders

Sometimes you need to include current layer(s) information to your renders, so they could be identified by a viewer or yourself or just for debugging purposes. Here's how.

1. Create an empty text layer
2. Unfold its properties to Text -> Source Text
3. Click its stopwatch while pressing Alt (it enables the expression for the Source Text)
4. Paste this expression:
So your layer should look like this: 




5. You're done. Adjust the text layer's size, font, color and position to your preferences as usual. This expression creates text with your composition name and current layer(s) numbers. If you do not want it to be included in the actual render, use Layer -> Guide Layer option

Or if there's more than one layer active at current time:


This expression takes in account all the layers below itself, so to include all of comp layers make this text layer the topmost.
The expression can be slow if you have some huge amount of layers in your comp.

It's also very easy to get the layers names instead of their numbers. Here's the version for it:
Enjoy!

Adding "Select Parent" command to Cinema 4D

1. Run the script manager, menu Script ➩ Script Manager (Extensions ➩ Script manager in R21)
2. Choose Python (for C4D below R20)
3. Start new script, menu File ➩ New File
4. Paste the code into the code field
as shown on the picture

5. You can render (current viewport) or load the icon for your script using File ➩ Render or File ➩ Load Icon
6. Save your new script File ➩ Save the script
7. Push the Shortcut button on the bottom right, assign your own key
8. Save your C4D config

You're done