Script for Adobe After Effects

USER GUIDE
 CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Installation 3
User interface panel 4
Main window 5
Tutorial 6
Warranties and liability 8

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

1
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS CURVA SCRIPT

Curva is AE script to create a smooth animations of growth a paths based on Bezier algo-
rithms. You just select the last two vertices’s on the Path object in a Shape layer and then the
script does everything for you.
Perfect for animating the appearance of letters, floral shapes and other such vector objects.
My job motion designer is forcing me to write a scripts. And I’d rather spend the time to cre-
ate the code, rather than a routine. Now Curva help me and you to save a lot of time and I
will see to it that it worked as it should.

Curva has two separate versions of the script.

Script UI Panel version and Regular script to launch the main window at
once.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

2
 INSTALLATION
HOW TO INSTALL IT

To install the Curva Script UI version you simply need to follow these 2 easy steps:
1. Copy and paste the «Curva_scriptUI.jsxbin» script file to a specific folder of Adobe After
Effects right after you unpack the archive you have received. This folder is named «Script UI
Panels».
On Windows this folder is located in:
«(After_Effects_Install_Path)/Support Files/Script/»

On Mac Os this folder is located in:

«(After_Effects_Install_Path)/Scripts/»

To install the Curva Common Script version you just need to copy and paste
the «Curva_regular.jsxbin» script file to the Script Folder (not in the Script UI
folder).
2. Allow the Curva Script to access the network so your copy can be registered, en-
abling the check box «Allow Script to Write Files and Access Network». This option can be
found at «General» tab of After Effects «Preferences».
On Windows this located in:
«Edit -> Preferences -> General»

On Mac Os this located in:

«After Effects -> Preferences -> General»

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

3
 USER INTERFACE PANEL
HOW TO LOOKS IT

Curva Script UI Panel can be used as dockable panel or floating window in the Adobe
After Effects. This means that you can freely change position how and wherever you want.

In the UI Panel version of Curva Script you can see only two buttons, the «Animate» ( )
for opening the Main window and «Help» ( ) button, displayed as question mark.
In the Regular version the Main window will opening at once.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

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 MAIN WINDOW
HOW TO USE IT

1. Shape Preview Panel. By left-clicking

on a green dots you can select the only one
vertex for re-arrange the origin of the path or two
1 vertices’s for defining the start animation dots.

2. Selected vertices’s information.

Length of the paths and indexes of a vertices’s.

3. «Set First Vertex» button ( ) for

re-arrange path by new first vertex.

4. This drop-down menu for choosing anima-

2 3 tion preset, such as Linear, Ease, Ease-In,
Ease-Out, Ease-In-Out and Custom types
of animation. Easing’s presets will result your
motion more smoother from the start to the end
4 5 of animation.
7
6 8
5. Customize button ( ) for
open the «Graph editor» window in case if pre-
sets are not enough and you want to control the
speed of the animation by yourself.

6. Set here the length of the animation indicating the number of seconds in the Dura-
tion section.
7. Select this check box next to the «From current frame» to animate from the current
time.

8. Select this check box if you want that shape disappeared in your animation or un-
checked for grow it out of the first vertices’s.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

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 TUTORIAL
LET’S TRY IT

1. Select the Path parameter on the Shape Layer.

2. Click Animate ( ) on the running Script UI Panel version of the script or run a
separate version of the script, by clicking on «File > Scripts > Curva_regular.jsxbin»

3. Set the first vertex of the Path object by clicking on the vertex and «Set First Vertex»
icon to designated the start of animation.

4. Select the last two vertices’s in the animation by clicking on the appropriate green dots
on the Shape preview panel.

5. Select the animation type preset from the drop-down menu under Animation Type,
or adjust style of movement by clicking on the button Customize.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

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TUTORIAL
LET’S TRY IT

6. Opened the Graph Editor window represents property values using a two-dimen-
sional graph with composition time represented horizontally (from left to right).

7. Enter the length of the animation indicating the number of seconds in the Duration
field

8. Select the «From current time» check box to make an animation from the current
time in composition.

9. Select the «Reversed» check box if you want that shape disappeared in your anima-
tion or unchecked for grow it out of the first vertices’s.

10. Click on OK button for start the process of creation animation.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com

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 WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY
TERMS OF USE

DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY

TIMUR CONSTANTINOV MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
WITH RESPECT TO THIS MANUAL OR WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE DESCRIBED
IN THIS MANUAL, ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR
ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CURVA IS SOLD OR LICENSED «AS IS». IN NO EVENT
SHALL TIMUR CONSTANTINOV BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAM-
AGES RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THE SOFTWARE. Copyright (c) 2014 Timur Con-
stantinov. All rights are reserved.

© TIM CONSTANTINOV 2013 www.timhere.com