Pret-A-3D

Great work on the plugin! Exactly what I have been looking for Good job on the tutorial as well.

Thank you for this time saving script!

I recommend using this build of blender 2.49:
http://www.graphicall.org/builds/builds/showbuild.php?action=show&id=1127

It has this advantage:
when zoomed the title bar is removed (saves some space).

Your script is nice!!! thanks for share this with us…

Thank you all. Glad you like the script. I’m trying to spread the word as much a as possible and I could use some help. I posted the news on CGDigg two days ago but it’s still stuck in “limbo.” Can you go there and vote for the article, if you feel like it, so that it gets published in the front page?
The link is:
http://cgdigg.com/upcoming.php

Thanks!

Hi first of all thanks so much for this script.. it looks amazing!

I’ve done a test of this after watching your CreativeCow tutorial and it seems straight forward.

However I’m getting a error in AE CS3 “Unable to execute script at line 16 Expected: ;

I opened AEs script editor and it looked like “;” was there

here’s the first few lines of my .jsx (line 16 has a * beside it for ref)

//
// After Effects Blender Importer v.1.01
// Composition created from AEbox.blend
// On 2010-02-05 at 10:03:19
// To create the composition execute this script via the “File/Script/Run Script File” menu in After Effects
//
var width = 800;
var height = 600;
var duration = 1.000000;
var aspectRatio = 1.000000;
var fps = 30;
write(“Creating composition…”)
var newComp = app.project.items.addComp(“AEbox”, width, height, aspectRatio, duration, fps);
var BlCam = newComp.layers.addCamera(“Camera”,[0,0]);

*var Plane.002 = newComp.layers.addSolid([1.000,0.000,0.000],”Plane.002″,124,124,1);
Plane.002.threeDLayer = true;
var Plane.001 = newComp.layers.addSolid([1.000,0.000,0.000],”Plane.001″,124,124,1);
Plane.001.threeDLayer = true;
var Plane = newComp.layers.addSolid([1.000,0.000,0.000],”Plane”,124,124,1);
Plane.threeDLayer = true;

it seems to have generated an empty line at line 15 is this okay?

Empty lines are perfectly valid, your problem is in the name of the Planes. Plane.002 is not a valid name for a JavaScript variable. Rename your objects to something like “Plane_02″ and it should work

@Pret-A-3D
Ooops!

I’ve run into this problem with AE before.. I forgot about that.

thanks for the quick response!

Great Script!!!!!!

@comeinandburn, glad it works, I’ll add some check in the next version of AEE to make it more bullet-proof.

I’ve done another test and I’ve renamed the planes. This worked.

I do notice a slight difference in the 3d space between the render and the planes that were created in AE.

here’s a video sample http://blip.tv/file/3179583

is there something that I could be doing wrong? I am using QT contrary to your suggestion could this be a problem?

sorry just playback the clip on blip.tv and realize you should change the format type to mp4.. this way you can look at it frame by frame.

here’s a direct link http://blip.tv/file/get/Comeinandburn-AEEScriptExample585.mp4

Hi,

Is there AEE verdion for windows?? The one u’ve done is for MAC

@comeinandburn, my “warning” about image sequences is purely for the time required to render long animations. Test renders will work just fine in movie format, nothing changes in the image dimension.
Now, one thing that can be happening for you is if you use non-square pixels. Your example should work. Try again and be sure to use square pixels for your render and re-work the steps. If you can’t figure it out send me your .blend file and I’ll try to debug it.

@jhb972, the exporter is not for Mac. It’s a Python script for Blender and as such runs unchanged for Mac OS, Windows, and can even run on Linux, although there is no Linux version of AE. Be sure to use version 1.03, there was a Window-specific bug in 1.0 but I fixed it. Follow the install instructions in the manual and it will work unchanged in your Windows version of Blender 2.49

Cheers.

@Pret-A-3D
Here is a link to an archive of the AE CS3 project with the .blend file and the .jsx that was generated. http://fastfreeupload.com/download.php?file=134AEBoxBlender%20folder.zip

I appreciate all your help. I hope this is helpful for debugging.

thanks!

p.s. the pixel aspect doesn’t look like it’s a problem.. AE recognizes this NTSC comp correctly.

@comeinandburn, you just provided the answer. Of course AE recognizes the NTSC format but the AEE doesn’t work with anything but square pixels. The calculations for the scale conversion from Blender to AE can only work with square pixels. Render your comp as a progressive-scan, square pixel animation and your scaling problems should be solved.

excellent I’ll give this a try as soon as I have a chance!

However I’m almost positive that it gave similar results using Blender’s default 800×600 setup (with square pixels). I’ll confirm.

thanks

Dying for a Blender 2.5 version. Thank you so much

@sam, it will come soon.

Thanks for the script. I loved ultra2 — and its gone in CS4. This is a very nice approach. How would I handle Object in front of the talent though ? I guess I’ll have to render the front objects in another pass. If the was behind a LCD screen… I would have to export twice, generating two AE-Scripts. How can I combine them into one AE project ? Best regards, Christian.

@Christian. You don’t need to export twice, you need to create two passes in the render and use layers. If you use the composite nodes then you can extract one layer and use the File Output node to output the second, third, layer in the same rendering pass. Just remember to click on “Do compositing”. If you need to create a matte for the object that is in front of the talent, like a table or desk, assign an id to the object, and use the “ID Mask” node to save the mask. Import the mask in AE and use it as a “Luma matte” or “Inverse Luma Matte”.

@Pret-A-3D
WOW. That is what I’d call “compact knowledge”. Sounds like an easy solution — but it will take some time to try this. Thanks for your help !!

Wow. Great Plugin, congratulation!

Everyone can be glad that there are people like you out there! We all share the same vision of creating unique pieces of creative work. For all of us as a creative community, it’s all about giving some and taking some on the other hand.

And in that case you GAVE some really cool stuff for free – thank you very much!

Keep seeing this error. any idea what it might be?

Unable to execute script at line 13. After Effects
error: Unable to call “addComp” because of
parameter 5. Value 0 out f range greater-than-0
to 10800.

this is my .jxs

//
// After Effects Blender Importer v.1.04
// Composition created from test.blend
// On 2010-02-24 at 20:49:34
// To create the composition execute this script via the “File/Script/Run Script File” menu in After Effects
//
var width = 1280;
var height = 720;
var duration = 0.000000;
var aspectRatio = 1.000000;
var fps = 30;
write(“Creating composition…”)
var newComp = app.project.items.addComp(“test”, width, height, aspectRatio, duration, fps);
var BlCam = newComp.layers.addCamera(“Camera”,[0,0]);

[rest removed for space, issue resolved]

Keep seeing this error. any idea what it might be?
Unable to execute script at line 13. After Effects
error: Unable to call “addComp” because of
parameter 5. Value 0 out f range greater-than-0
to 10800.

Hi Andrew.
Yes, it looks like you don’t have enough animation data. The AEE expects at least a second of animation. If you have set the frame rate at 30fps and your animation ends at the 25th frame then you’ll have an error. Extend the animation a bit and it should work.

thank you so much for the info

Paolo…
Thanks for the Wonderful Survival tutorials. However I just cannot get ‘space station’ to render. I have followed your instructions and rendered in ###PNG But nada! What am I not doing? AE Scipt ie camera; footage import; no problem but no final render footage attached. Why?

Thanks for your help

Hi Joyus, I didn’t attach the footage because it would make the archive fairly huge and it can be recreated by re-rendering. Can you give me a few details about what happens when you hit the “Anim” button? Do you see the rendering happening? If so, where do you store the images? What OS are you using?

Cheers.

Fabulous! Been struggling with this and found your script, which did in 5 mins what I’d been trying all afternoon to accomplish.

Thanks for sharing

You’re very welcome Nick.