Rebel's Guide scripts in CS3?

Just curious if anyone's tried out the DVRG scripts under CS3 AE? I know Jeff's been modifying all his scripts on his redefinery site and was wondering if the DVRG scripts need changing too. Anyone?

-- Bruce

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Bruce Findleton
Land's End Productions

I don't think they need to be modified, but there are some cool new scripting features in AE8, one of which is the ability for scripts to be panels in the AE UI. I have a prototype of the DV Rebel Tools palette working like this and it's pretty awesome. When I'm sure it's all working, I'll figure out a way for Rebels (only) to download the upgrade.

-Stu

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The DV Rebel's Guide

sweet!

you rock, Stu!

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if it's not fun, what's the point?
www.mackdadd.com

My tutorials, if you're into that sort of thing.
http://www.mackdadd.com/html/visualfx.html

That would be pretty awesome. Screw the day job; code, Stu, code!

I just installed CS3 last night so it's nice to hear that the tools can go in right away. Thanks for looking out for us. (I know, it's a dirty job but...)

Now if I could just get those pesky RGS plugins to work... Rolling Eyes

-- Bruce

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Bruce Findleton
Land's End Productions

OK, the updates are ready!

This post details how to upgrade your DV Rebel Tools scripts to take advantage of the ScriptUI Panels feature in Adobe After Effects CS3. This upgrade is not necessary, but it's cool. It also adds a new feature to the thumbnails functionality: Auto Tiles. Auto Tiles makes it easier to use the thumbnails by automatically making sure you can always see all your thumbnails, regardless of how many you have visible at any given time.

Please make a backup of your Scripts and Presets folders in case this upgrade messes up your fully armed and operational DV Rebel Tools setup!

Step one is to locate the Scripts folder in the Adobe After Effects CS3 application folder. Whether you've already moved/copied the rd_DVRebelTools folder and script into this new Scripts folder or not, the following steps are the same.

If it's not there already, create a folder in the Scripts folder called ScriptUI Panels.

Move rd_DVRebelTools.jsx and the rd_DVRebelTools folder into this new folder.

If you haven't already, move or copy the DVRG folder from Adobe After Effects 7.0/Presets/ into Adobe After Effects CS3/Presets/.

Now download this file: aeCS3_DVRTools.zip. Expand the archive and you should have a folder containing these four files:

Move the first two files into Adobe After Effects CS3/Presets/DVRG/(components), where they should replace two older files of the same name.

Move rd_DVRebelTools.jsx to the ScriptUI Panels folder, where it will replace an older file of the same name.

Optional: If you don't have it already, and you are a Colorista user, move rd_New_Colorista.jsx into ScriptUI Panels/rd_DVRebelTools so that you can take advantage of bfindleton's awesome New Colorista button!

That's it! Now when you relaunch AE, you'll see rd_DVRebelTools.jsx at the bottom of the Window menu. Select it and you'll see the familiar DV Rebel Tools palette in panel form. You can now dock it anywhere you wish within your AE layout. Sweet!

To try out the Auto Tiles feature, create some thumbnails in the usual way with the Make Thumbnail Comp button. Auto Tiles defaults to on (checked). Play with turning layers on and off, and/or soloing them. You'll see that the expressions automatically pick the right number of Tiles Across to show so that you can always see all the thumbnails. If you want to view fewer (and therefore larger) thumbnails, you can uncheck Auto Tiles and set Tiles Across manually as before.

Note: After you perform this update, the DVRebelTools.jsx menu item will appear at the bottom of the Window menu, not in the File> Scripts menu.

Enjoy, and lemme know how it works for you!

-Stu

PS: Note that while I am making these upgrade files available to anyone for download, they are of no use unless you have the full set of DV Rebel Tools scripts included with The Guide. Those scripts are not freely distributable, so please don't share them with others. They are, in my humble opinion, well worth the purchase price of the book.

UPDATE [070827]: As pointed out later in this thread, the New Vignette button is broken in AE CS3. To fix the problem, download this file and replace your existing rd_New_Vignette.jsx and vignetteControls.ffx files with the ones contained in the archive. Thanks to bfindleton for finding the problem and the ever diligent Jeff Almasol for the quick fix!

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The DV Rebel's Guide

Last edited by Stu on Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:29 pm; edited 6 times in total

Thx Stu-man!

Getting my Adobe CS3 collection next week and this will be the ish!

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What do we know, and how do we know it?

Thats oh so sweet Stu...wicked! and thanks.

Brilliant! So far works like a charm (after I actually read the installation instructions that is; never assume). Thanks.

-- Bruce

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Bruce Findleton
Land's End Productions

Works like a charm for me. Thanks, Stu. (And thanks, Bruce, for that Colorista fix. Works fine for me as well)

J

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www.JasonDenzel.com
www.Argonaut-Ent.com

The Vignette script appears to be broken in CS3. It seems to do OK until it reaches the Vignette CC layer. It assigns the "Levels (Individual Controls)" correctly but then the expression isn't set, the clipping switches aren't set and the track matte isn't changed to Luma Inverted. All I get is a nice blobby radial gradient over my footage. Any one else seeing this?

-- Bruce

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Bruce Findleton
Land's End Productions

Aha, yes, the clipping switches work differently in CS3. I'll ask Jeff to take a look. Thanks for the heads up!

-Stu

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The DV Rebel's Guide

I am just using masks like somebody else here outlined (sorry i forget who) for my vignettes.

cheers
-D

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It is better to ask forgiveness than permission..

	Stu wrote:
	PS: Note that while I am making these upgrade files available to anyone for download, they are of no use unless you have the full set of DV Rebel Tools scripts included with The Guide. Those scripts are not freely distributable, so please don't share them with others. They are, in my humble opinion, well worth the purchase price of the book.

I couldn't believe it when I found the scripts on the dvd...you could charge 100 bucks for that book and it would still be a bargain.

The awesome Jeff Almasol heard your pleas and provided a fix for Vignette. I've appended the download link to the original post.

And with that, we have a sticky!

-Stu

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The DV Rebel's Guide

Nice! Props to Stu and J-man.

-- Bruce

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Bruce Findleton
Land's End Productions