This Adobe After Effects script can save your time. If you want to make a digital clock or add some bounce animation to any keyframe, or you want to loop any keyframe animation, or even add some squash animation to your keyframes, this free Adobe After Effects script can do all these things in just one click. And guess what? I made it using ChatGPT. It was a time taking process, but I was able to make it. In this blog, We are going to take a look at how I used ChatGPT to make this very useful After Effects script. Let's get started.
I have been testing out the Chat GPT for the last few months. And after watching the video Of Jack in the Motion, I thought to create my own script using Chat GPT. But I had no idea what the script will all about. So after spending a little time, I found that I should start with a very simple script. Where I can place some expression to my After Effects projects. I usually work with these expressions, and every time I want to use them, I have to copy and paste them from other websites. It might not sound that bad, But I had to do it Almost every day. So I thought, maybe I should create this. Show I fired up the Chat GPT and asked very simple questions.
I asked to create a dockable After Effects UI panel and add 3 buttons to it. And it generated the script very quickly. and also, It suggested to me how can I use it. I had to simply paste it into the text file, and save it as dot JSX. And then I have to paste it into the script folder of Adobe After Effects. Then I followed the steps, and did the same. Now after launching the script, it created the same panel I have been asking for, and all the buttons were working fine. But there were some problems. The user interface was not dockable. So I asked it to Make it similar to the After Effects panel. and it generated The code once again. As a human, I made some English mistakes, but Chat GPT was smart enough to understand broken English. I also fixed some of the words before asking it. I copied this code, and every time I had to make the script, I have to save this copied script in the text file, and then Save it in the document, and after that, I have to paste it right into the script folder. because Windows 11 does not allow me to save the script directly into the After Effects Script folder.
If you are wondering, my After Effects was closed. I had to do this every time, so I searched on Google and downloaded this Adobe Extend Script toolkit. You can download it from the link in the description. Now I have to just paste the code right here, and click on this run icon. The first script gave me an error. But then it got fixed by the Chat GPT of course. Now I asked for More things to do with this script. After generating the new code, it was showing the error once again. This time it was showing me the bad argument button face. Now I'm not a coder, so I really didn't know how Can I fix it. One thing in the Adobe Extend Script toolkit, you can change The version of your After Effects, and After running the code, it worked.
Then I created a very simple ball animation in After Effects, and after selecting the position keyframes, I clicked on the button once, and it added the expression to it. But The thing is, the bounce expression was not working as it should be. because the expression decided to add Hold keyframes, instead of the linear. so I went to my website and copied this bounce expression from it. After copying it, I simply asked Chat GPT To keep this expression instead of that one. And it did that very easily. Now after pasting the expression, I simply click on the run. And it was working fine. It was not that bad. It took me around 30 to 40 minutes for making the first button. I have no idea about the coding, If I wanted to make this one, I would have taken a month or a century. Now I asked to add some icons to the button. But Chat GPT was smart to Let me know that the HTML, or CSS syntax was not allowed.
So it asked me to use the Unicode characters. But I don't want to add the boring Unicode characters, so I skipped designing the user interface, and moved on. Then I asked, after clicking on the second button, it should allow me to select from 3 more buttons. Now I was going to use it as the Loop Out expression, and then the user should be able to choose from all the Loop Out expressions. The button was working fine, but I wanted something else. So I asked to Chat GPT, and it was fixed. See. As you may know, I am not good at coding, so I asked the Chat GPT to merge the entire code, and it did that. Everything was working fine. So it was a success. I asked for A few more changes. I simply asked it to add my name at the bottom. Actually, I asked it to add the link. But the clickable link was not working, so it generated plain text. Well, that was not bad, I just wanted to place my name. because I can. I thought it is a success, so I asked it to generate a cool name for it.
It gave me the button master suite name. But I don’t want to keep it, because this script can do only 4 to 5 tasks. So I asked very Politely to Generate more names, and then it gave me a name list. Well, deciding the name of this script was not the priority, so I skipped that and made a few changes. I wanted to show an error when the property is not selected, because I wanted the user to know that the script is going to work if you are going to select the correct property. Now this error condition was working great. It was time to move forward. I asked to add a button, where the user can click on the clock button, and it will generate a digital clock For you. At first, I thought I should add The expression to the button, but later I got noisy and asked to generate a text layer, and then add the clock script to it. That was actually mind-bending. But chat GPT handled it very easily.
Now after compiling the code once again. The clock was working very fine. And it started working right away. I don't have to create any layer, I just need to click on the button, and The clock was working. Meanwhile, I asked it. Would you take over humans? And it said. It does not have any personal desire or intentions. Humans and AI can work together. We should approach AI as a tool, that can Augment Human capabilities. And I like that. Now after spending a few more hours, the script was working as it should be. I really wanted to change the user interface, But I was failing every time. So I thought I should not design the script because the work is limited, So keep it as simple as possible. After testing it for more than a day. It successfully completed My first script. So I asked it to generate the whole code for me. and it started working. Now The thing is when the code or the text is too huge, Sometimes it will stop generating the code. In this new version of Chat GPT, there is an option to continue generating your code or the text, but previously It did not have any of that option.
It happened Most of the time with me. I had to Click on the continue generate button for generating the whole code. I really think that chat GPT is helpful Because I would have never created this kind of script by myself. I want to make a script, but I don't have any coding knowledge. After generating all the code, it was time to check my script. So I copied the code and pasted it into the Adobe Extend Script Toolkit. And after clicking on the run, the script was working. So it was time to check it. First, I had to remove the expression from the position. Now after selecting the position, I clicked somewhere else to unselect the layer. and after clicking on the button, it was asking me to select a layer first. I did that on purpose.
After selecting the position, and clicking on the button, the script was working fine. Let's delete this clock layer. Now I am going to select the ball layer once again and open the position of it. Select the position, and apply the ping pong expression. Now all of these loop-out expressions working fine, so I am not going to check all of them. As you can see it is working fine. Now it was time for the clock. So I clicked on the clock button, and it generated the clock for me. I don't have to do anything. This script generated the clock in just one click. That was amazing. Now you can also try this script by yourself, and let me know what features you want me to add in future versions of it. If you have any other ideas related to the After Effects script, let me know in the comment as well. So this is it for today, thank you for reading this blog, I will see you in the next one. Till then good luck, and peace.