aescripts + aeplugins

Paul Gale

Hi Francois,

Great work - seem s to be MUCH more responsive and easier to use than v1

One issue I'm seeing which I think was also the case in v1 is that sometimes using shape avenger, the control points for the shape vertices are way offset. 2D shape with no scaling at the layer level or shape level.

I can't see what's causing it - any ideas?

Thanks.

leroy francois

Hi Paul,

Shape Avenger is actually an embeded script, and it's supposed to compensate this offset.

May be the script was interrupted before it finished? Did you get any alert?

Cheers,

François

Stevan del George

Element 3D can read masks as a source to create geo (extrude, etc.).  Will Element 3D read the 3D-space data of the mask points from Mask Avendger?

leroy francois

Hi Stevan,

unfortunately, even if Mask Avenger and Element 3D both use 3D space, they cannot communicate directly.

Mask Avenger converts '3D masks' to '2D masks' (After Effects doesn't know '3D masks') and Element 3D can only use these 2D masks... to go 3D again.

Cheers,

François

Aapo Saaristo

So I bought Mask Avenger about a year ago for a hundred bucks. Now if I want to keep using it with the latest AE version, I need to fork out another $75? Should I expect to keep paying yearly for incremental improvements and current software support?

Motion graphics is a hobby to me, I get absolutely zero return of investment on whatever I spend on software, and as a long-time unemployed person, the Creative Cloud subsrciption is in itself quite high, so I'm definitely not up to "subscribe" to Mask Avenger to the tune of ~$75-99 / year, if that is indeed what you're planning to do with the product.

edit: I realize after re-reading my comment that it might be construed to imply I'm considering buying MA2, so I'd just like to make clear I'm definitely not. $75 is 2.5 months of Creative Cloud, that I'm already struggling to pay. Had I known this is how Leroy handles and prices updates, I probably wouldn't have invested $99 in MA1.8. (to compare, I spent $899 on Red Giant's Trapcode Suite three years ago, so about the same $/plugin price as MA1.8, but with them I've gotten host application support updates for free for three years running now)

leroy francois

Hi,

I understand you're upset. But there is no 'business plan' behind this update.

This case is exceptionnal, as After Effects CC 2015 's architecture changed and Mask Avenger couldn't work anymore... It had to be re-written from the ground, and it takes a lot of time (and money, as I had to stop my 'real' job for a while...).

I launched Mask Avenger 1.0 two years ago now, and all the updates and new features (Shape Avenger, Path Reader, some new scripts...) have always been free, and I like it like that.

It is the same with my other plugins (Mask Brush, Perspective Changer, Distortion Selector and Dynamic Comp). If I find any way to make it better, or add a new feature, I want the updates to be free, and I do think it has to be like this as most of the changes come from user's feedback.

Once again, I can assure there is and was no plan to get more money from users once they bought any product. Just this time, I had no choice but to re-write everything from the beginning.

I hope you understand.

Cheers,

François

Aapo Saaristo

I can certainly appreciate your position, and agree that completely rewriting a tool as unique as Mask Avenger is an extraordinary effort, but I just wanted to make it known, that from the point of view of this user and customer, I basically paid the same price as a user that bought MA on day one, but only got one year of use for my money, and that experience will certainly affect my future purchasing decisions.

I realize most of your customers are professionals who won't have to think twice about paying what would amount to a few hours pay at most for a graphic designer, and who knows, in a different financial situation my feelings on the matter might be completely different.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and just hope I can keep using Distortion Selector and Mask Brush for a little while longer still.

Paul Gale

I'm having a problem with a mask of 37 points and have set vertices only.
I've created null controllers for all the points and then applied a wiggle to those nulls. I can see the expression points moving but the mask doesn't draw/update. Well, it sometimes does if I click the state or baker modes but I just can't get the mask to animate properly.

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong or are there any known issues/bugs?

I also had a load of problems with a shape layer that I was initially trying to animate but the MA points were being radically offset from the actual shape. I did have the shape scaled but set that back to 100% but it was still misbehaving.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Paul Gale

Oh, and the mask path never fills with keyframes - should it?

leroy francois

Hi Paul,

can you open a support ticket and send me your project? So I can check precisely...

Cheers,

François

Paul Gale

will do...

leroy francois

Hi everyone,

the issue Paul described's been fixed, the update is now online.

Cheers,

François

clayton douglas

Hi
I just updated to the latest version. Im having the same problem as Paul. On Ram Preview....after a purge....playback is intermittent. If I move the null controller it sometimes works , but sometimes not. Im on a win 7 machine running cc2015
The null controllers are 2d tracks that we converted to 3d(just added pos Z value of zero)
here is my file
https://www.yousendit.com/download/bXBaanZpeFU4NVZMWE5Vag

Edit...it does seem to work if I dont use lasso/script to parent the nulls to the vertexes....but this is not optimal.

leroy francois

Hi Clayton,

thanx for the file, I'll check it as soon as possible.

Cheers,

François

Teagan Thisby Young

Hi, I'm having an issue where the mask no longer lines up with the 3D nulls once the camera has been repositioned. For this project I've gotten around it by moving the objects in the scene rather than the camera, but still, wondering if there's a known issue/fix for this? Plug-in is great, btw.

leroy francois

Hi Teagan,

Can you open a support ticket and send me a file? So I can check more precisely, and fix it if it can be fixed.

Cheers,

François

leroy francois

Hi everyone!

A new version of Mask Avenger is available, with better camera support in 3D mode.

Enjoy!

François

Anders Meisner

Hi!

Just bought and downloaded the plug-in. But I don't get it to work. When pressing Shape Avenger under Layer I got the following:

"Unable to execute script at line 101…"

And I can't find the actual mask Avenger Plugin under Effects > BAO. There I only find Mask Reader.

I just moved all the plugin files into a folder named BAO under AECC2014>Plugins>

leroy francois

Hi all,

the issue's been fixed and a new download is available.

Cheers,

François

Jeff Hanson

Thanks for a fantastic product!

 Am I correct in observing that Shape Avenger will not work on a "procedural" shape layer -- that is, one created with the polygon tool? It seems to work with shapes drawn with the pen tool, and also text converted shapes, but I get no response when attempting to apply it to a shape layer created with any of the polygon tools (rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star).

I'm in CS6 on Mac with OS 10.11.4    Thanks!

leroy francois

Hi Jeff,

glad you like it!

You're right, Shape Avenger can only control custom shapes, as they are built on the same model as masks (Mask Avenger was first build for masks...)

But you can build your shapes with this pretty nice tool that I didn't write  ;-)

https://aescripts.com/shapes-and-masks/

and then control them with Mask Avenger

Cheers,

François

Jakob Wagner

Hi

UPDATE: What I thought was an error, was really just a limitation in the demo version. It only bakes 1 sec animation. Now that I bought it, everything works perfectly! Great plugin, and great support.

I track a point in a video and apply that tracking data to a control null created by Mask Avenger. Unfortunatelyit doesn't work 100 %. I think it might be the baker? Or am I doing something wrong? The baker leaves large blank areas in the timeline with no keyframes, and in these areas the actual spline will be off compared to the spline created by Mask Avenger.

This photo should show the problem: http://wagnercph.dk/forum_posts/maskavenger.jpg

Please let me know if this is a bug, or I am doing something wrong.

Thanks,
Jakob

leroy francois

Hi Jakob,

it could come from a bad registration (usualy after an OS update, or because of your anti-virus).
You can try to re-register.

If it still doesn't work, please open a support ticket and send me your .aep file (no sources needed), so I can have a look.

Cheers,
François

Filippo Marchetti

Does this script work with shape layers' paths vertices? Thanks.

leroy francois

Hi Filipo,

there is a small limitation: it can't control predefined shapes (stars, rectangles, etc...) as they have no vertices.

But for all the rest, it will work with shapes just like with masks.

Hope you like it!

Cheers,

François

Jakob Wagner

Hi

I'm using the mask reader which comes with mask avenger. And animating a layer along a path. Everything works, except the speed is not even. It's depending on the space between each point on the path.

Is there a way to even out the speed? (other than changing the curve of course)

Thanks,
Jakob

leroy francois

Hi Jakob,

unfortunately, you cannot do it directly with Mask Reader.

The only way is to write your own expression, computing the whole path and extracting the portion you need. This will be a heavy calculation (that's why I didn't choose this way for Mask Reader...)

If you want to try, here's a good explanation to start with:

http://motionscript.com/expressions-lab-ae65/bezier.html

You can replace P0, P1, P2, P3 with your Mask Avenger vertices and tangents parameters.

Cheers,

François

Jakob Wagner

OK. Thanks.

Laurens Verwijs

Hi guys,

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but somehow the mask path is not being refreshed when changing some nulls to control the mask shape.

Strangly, other masks are in other comps are working fine, but this new one doesn't work... 

What should I check?

Thanks!

Cheers

leroy francois

Hi Laurens,

can you open a support ticket and send me your .aep file (no sources needed)?

I'll check it as soon as possible.

Cheers,

François

Roei Tzoref

Hi François. Amazing Plugin and looks like just what I need. 

a question and a feedback:

1.it looks like when you create nulls from mask avenger you don't get real-time feedback as you do with choosing the points (1,2,3) correct?

(found out how - use the 2D mask preview and turn off the stroke gives better performance)

2. I looked in the manual and did not find the difference between Nulls and Nulls with Composition Name - why would I want to use composition name? I thought at first that this means I could change the name of the null but No. BTW changing the expression to " instead of ' for the null name gives you the ability to change it's name and I think this could be very useful: take a look in this link. also filed a support ticket about that

thank you.

leroy francois

Hi guys!

the 2 bugs you pointed have been fixed, an update is available.

Thanx for reporting!

Cheers,

François

Lukasz Pason

I haven't upgraded to v2 yet but v1.8 isn't working any longer with the latest update of AE. Will you continue support for 1.8? 

leroy francois

Hi Lukasz,

sorry but only Mask Avenger 2 is supported.

Since CC 2015, the architecture of AE changed and doesn't allow the old architecture of Mask Avenger anymore... The good news is Mask Avenger 2 is much more efficient and responsive. Hope you'll like it!

Cheers,

François

Ross McDowell

Hello 

I bought Mask Avenger this morning, but I have run into a problem.  For some reason the plugin only bakes 87 frames before it stops, and my sequence is more like 2000 frames. 

How can I fix this? 

Thanks

leroy francois

Hi,

Can you open a support ticket and send me your project (no sources needed) ?

I'll have a look at it as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Francois

leroy francois

Hi guys,

the bug affecting long compositions (and footage) has been fixed. An update is available.

Cheers,

François

Mark Santella

Downloaded and purchased license (2.47). Installed and it says 2.3 under about?  Please explain.Thank you

leroy francois

Hi,

sorry, I forgot to change the version number in the 'About' button, but don't worry, the version you downloaded is the latest version: 2.4.7

Thanx for reporting, I'll fix it.

Cheers,

François

Colin Harvie

Hello!

I've been playing around with the demo, tryign to decide whether or not this will work for me, and so far it's looking excellent! There is just one problem that I'm running into and I'm not sure if it's just a limitation of the demo or not...

I have all my points (and tangents) hooked up to an expression that is controlled by a slider in that comp. That slider is then in turn controlled from another comp. The layer with Mask Avenger is precomped 2 levels deep. When I change the slider in the parent comp, the line preview shows up, but the actual mask does not update until I go into the comp and manually update it via the Baker property in the effect.

Is this just a limitation of the demo? Or have I encountered some sort of error? It seems that it's just not updating when I change the value using the parent comp's slider, though changing the slider in the same comp works fine.

Thanks!

leroy francois

Hi Colin,

sorry for the late reply... It is not a limitation of the demo. Mask Avenger is baking keyframes in the background, so some delay can occure. However, the issue you hit seems a bit more than that. Can you open a support ticket and send me your file (no sources needed)?

I'm not sure I can fix it or not (AE's new architecture is a bit tricky for this kind of issues), but I can try, and it could help to make Mask Avenger more responsive.

Cheers,

François

leroy francois

Hi everyone,

the bug Colin noticed's been fixed, and now Mask_Avenger runs faster!

Oh, and this time I didn't forget to update the version number ;-)

Cheers,

François

David Kerman

Sorry I cannot find this anywhere. What are the llimatations of the demo version?

Also, when I scrub, the update isn't live. Is there any way to fix this?

thanks.

leroy francois

Hi David,

the demo version is limited to 1 second. That's probably why you don't see your mask updated when you scrub the timeline.

Cheers,

François

leroy francois

Hi everyone,

a new update is available. You can now choose to retore original mask (or not) when you deselect it in Mask Avenger.

Have fun!

Cheers,

François

Susan Braswell

Hi,  Two questions.  Do you offer education discount?  Do you offer discounts if persons buy more than one of your products?  I have "Perspective" and "brushes" and wish to purchase Avenger 2 and Bones. 

Lloyd Alvarez

Susan Braswell said:

Hi,  Two questions.  Do you offer education discount?  Do you offer discounts if persons buy more than one of your products?  I have "Perspective" and "brushes" and wish to purchase Avenger 2 and Bones. 

Details on Educational Discounts  here: https://aescripts.com/knowledgebase/index/view/faq/educational-discounts/

And we do not offer additional discounts on multiple purchases, only in volume licenses for certain products which are clearly indicated on the product page.

Anthony Hairgrow

Hi Francois,

*I've posted this same question in the comments section for Bones as well. 

I wanted to know if your Bones plugin could be used in conjunction with Mask Avenger 2. I'm interested in purchasing both and I'm currently trying out the demos to see if I could combine both methods for rigging a character designed with shape layers. 

I'd like to create a character out of shape layers and then apply Mask Avenger/Shape Avenger to create a "Node" for each major vertex point in the shape layers. But instead of generating null objects as the "Nodes" for controlling each vertex point, I would like to link the Distort Points from Bones to the Points in Mask Avenger and then apply the Puppeteer so I can avoid cluttering the timeline with several Null Object layers. 

Ultimately I'm trying to harness the power from both plugins. I love the freedom that Mask Avenger brings, but I hate having to select to through several Null Objects. If I could combine it with the Puppeteer from Bones then ideally I could place all the control points on one Adjustment layer which would speed up my animation process, because I wouldn't have to scroll through several layers to get what I want. 

Currently I'm experimenting with using the demos from both plugins together by linking the points from Mask Avenger to the Distort Points in Bones via expressions. It sort of works. I can see the shape layer path being manipulated, but the shape itself doesn't react exactly they way I would expect, because bones is now taking over the distortion method. If you can let me know how I can achieve what I'm looking for, then I will gladly purchase both plugins today. I'm not sure if this is even possible or if this would be consider a feature request, but either way I surely hope you can point me in the right direction. 

Thanks. 

leroy francois

Hi Anthony,

I've replied your question on Bones page.

Cheers,
François

Anthony Hairgrow

Hi Francois,

Thank you so much for the speedy reply. After tinkering for a bit, I can clearly see that I can't use Bones in the direct way that I would like to. But I am still very interested in purchasing Mask Avenger, so I have another question thast more related to it.

Like I said before, I like the cleanness that Bones provides over the "Control Points" via the Puppeteer. In a effort to provide a more efficient animation workflow, I borrowed the same concept from Puppeteer and applying it to the Null Objects that are generated from Mask Avenger. Essentially, I'm linking the generated Null Objects to individual Shape Objects, within a single Shape Layer. I know this methods is just adding another layer of complexity (parenting), but it should simplify the workflow so I can stay more focused and animate fluidly. 

This method should speed up my animation process, by allowing me to select the point I want to control directly within the Composition Window, versus scrolling the timeline. If I try to select the Null Objects directly from the Composition Window, I can't because it's layer maybe behind another, even though I can clearly see it. With Shape Objects within a single Shape Layer, I should only have to double click on the one I want, directly from the Composition Window. Right now I'm experimenting with just a square and I'm confident I can get it to work. 

Thus far, I've created a blank shape layer, positioned it at 0,0, so it has the same Global Coordinates as the Null Objects. I then created a new Group, with a Bezier circle shape, so it has it own position transform. This Null Objects position has been linked to the Circle Shape Groups position via the expression pick whip and it worked. I've only done this to the first point, now I'm going through to set up the rest. 

My question is, can this process be added as an automated feature through Mask Avenger?

Right now, I'm working with just a square, so I'm working with 4 points (12 total if you include the in and out tangents). But you can clearly see this process would be painful for more complex characters. I do have limited scripting knowledge, but I know something like this could even be done with several Custom Presets, but before I go down that path, I wanted to ask you if its possible to include something like this as an added feature or is there any other means of automating the process. 

Once again, thanks for your help.