i’ve posted rd: Composition MB Setter (requested by tim thiessen) for batch setting the motion blur shutter angle and shutter phase for selected comps.

rd: Count Markers for counting the number of markers on a selected layer (for tim sassoon) and rd: Partial for batch setting the PAR for footage items (for matthew crnich) are now available for your AE needs. enjoy.

if you’re a mac user of after effects cs4 (9.0 or 9.0.1), and have noticed a crash on quit, be aware of a known issue with scripts that open dockable panels (a.k.a., ScriptUI panels, or scripts installed in the Scripts/ScriptUI Panels folder and accessed via the Window menu). if ScriptUI panels are open after starting the app (that is, they were saved as part of a workpace) or upon quitting the app, after effects cs4 will crash on quit. no data is lost, just that the app isn’t quitting correctly. more info in support technote kb408103.

the team is aware of the issue and is investigating possible solutions. unfortunately, one couldn’t make it into 9.0.1, but that update does have some important updates (choose Help > Updates to get 9.0.1). as a workaround, close all ScriptUI panels before quitting, or run a script from the File > Scripts submenu or one of the script launchers out there (rd: Script Launcher or Launch Pad). windows users and users of ae cs3 are not affected.

also, in general, if you do encounter a crash with after effects cs4, please consider submitting a crash report using the Adobe Crash Reporter. (additional details about After Effects and Adobe Crash Reporter)

this post was brought to you by my day job.

Mark Christiansen‘s Adobe After Effects CS4 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques book, to which i contributed a Scripting appendix (on the DVD), is now available. the appendix contains an overview of After Effects scripting, breakdowns of three scripts (trim layers to zero opacity, render slates from tab-delimited text, apply light wrap using the recipe from mark’s book), a script to set up the camera projection technique covered in the book, and small updates to the existing Duplink and Merge Projects scripts. be sure to check out contributions from dan ebberts, the man when it comes to expressions, and lloyd alvarez, who continues to crank out awesome scripts, on the DVD.

with After Effects CS4 now available, here’s my plan for CS4 updates to various scripts:

• additional scripts on the Adobe Exchange (for the day job): now available… Additional Scripts for After Effects CS4. these are just small updates, with no new scripts at this time.
• redefinery scripts (on this site): existing ones should work in CS4. however, i want to create CS4-specific versions that take advantage of the triple-quote support, remove the reliance on the graphics override for edittext and other controls, use new controls (as appropriate), and implement as many feature requests as possible. work is scheduled to start in november, with release in batches thereafter.
• scripts available on mark’s & stu’s book dvds: the existing ones should work in CS4. as for other stuff, i’ll cover that in a future post.