Thanks for making this great tool. I'm looking for the video that explains how to use the animation feature. Sorry can't seem to find it--do you have a link? Thanks!
First off, I love the script. Really helpful on projects!
Only issue I'm having is, lately whenever I used command + Z to undo an action in after effects, it breaks the plugin. Whenever I do it, a dialogue box appears saying, "After Effects warning: Undo group mismatch, will attempt to fix."
Then, whenever I try to click on one of the colors in the palette, it says "The selected palette comp no longer exists, please choose a new palette comp"
I then have to reimport the .ase file using the shift click command. Generally, this also resets all my colors, so you can see what this would be problematic. :-D
First off, I love the script. Really helpful on projects!
Only issue I'm having is, lately whenever I used command + Z to undo an action in after effects, it breaks the plugin. Whenever I do it, a dialogue box appears saying, "After Effects warning: Undo group mismatch, will attempt to fix."
Then, whenever I try to click on one of the colors in the palette, it says "The selected palette comp no longer exists, please choose a new palette comp"
I then have to reimport the .ase file using the shift click command. Generally, this also resets all my colors, so you can see what this would be problematic. :-D
When you color a text layer. RDC will apply a fill effect to that text layer with the color you selected.
This should not effect the resolution of your text layer. My best guess would be that AE adjusts to a lower resolution because of the applied effect.. but it's just a fill effect so that should not be as heavy on your system at all. Try turning this setting Off:
If the problem still occurs please open a help ticket and send us a quick screencast so we can look into it further.
Is there any way to apply Ray Dynamic Colour to colour values in effects like Tint? I'm trying to use it to re-colour an old project but cannot find a way to dynamically link the colour keyframes in a Tint effect applied to a greyscale image.
Is there any way to apply Ray Dynamic Colour to colour values in effects like Tint? I'm trying to use it to re-colour an old project but cannot find a way to dynamically link the colour keyframes in a Tint effect applied to a greyscale image.
Apologies if this has been addressed previously.
Hi Dylan,
You can colour everything that has a colour control property so that includes the tint effect. You would have to colour it using the timeline because you can't select individual colours in the effects panel.
How do you create just a palette if you dont want it to automatically link colors?
Hi Miika!
Click on the little bottom triangle to open up the advanced settings. At the bottom you'll find a checkbox that says "Turn off Expression link". When this is on, no links will be created when you color and create color palettes.
You can also see this tutorial that explains the two color modes Ray supports. Use whichever works best in your situation, you can always link and unlink colors to the same or other palettes.
If I have several palette duplicates in a project that has been iterated, collected and repurposed several times, can I delete all but one, place that single remaining palette in a top level folder and have RDC recognise it from all comps?
...a better way to put my question of course is: can I consolidate all my duplicate palettes to look at one single palette instance?
Thanks.
You can open the RDC palettes folder in the project window and delete or rename them there. If you want to consolidate them you can open then and copy the colors from the effects panel from one palette into the other.
If I have several palette duplicates in a project that has been iterated, collected and repurposed several times, can I delete all but one, place that single remaining palette in a top level folder and have RDC recognise it from all comps?
The idea is that if multiple color palettes are the same, you can select the layers or comps and link them to the current selected color palette in RAY using the link button. If the colors are the same, they will link up and you can delete the other palettes.
I have an Illustrator file with 70 color objects on the canvas, on import it's telling me that 70 colors were imported but I only see the first 50. In the composition that I import from After Effects (the one with 70 swatches that have been converted to shape layers) 50 of them are linked to my palette and the remaining ones are a dark blue as though they've lost a link. When I hop over to the RDC Comp containing the palettes I can only see 50, and although I can add one then refresh the palette and have the colors show up, I can't import or see more than 50 in the RDC comp. I remember there being an option in the previous version to view more but I can't find it.
Could you provide some direction on how to import more than 50 colors from converted illustrator layers? Thanks!
I have an Illustrator file with 70 color objects on the canvas, on import it's telling me that 70 colors were imported but I only see the first 50. In the composition that I import from After Effects (the one with 70 swatches that have been converted to shape layers) 50 of them are linked to my palette and the remaining ones are a dark blue as though they've lost a link. When I hop over to the RDC Comp containing the palettes I can only see 50, and although I can add one then refresh the palette and have the colors show up, I can't import or see more than 50 in the RDC comp. I remember there being an option in the previous version to view more but I can't find it.
Could you provide some direction on how to import more than 50 colors from converted illustrator layers? Thanks!
Hi Justin, It looks like there is still a 50 color limit in the script somewhere, we'll have a look at it and keep you posted.
For now you could, if possible, split up the Illustrator file into two color groups and merge the two palettes together.
Is there any way to import an ASE file for use in Ray Dynamic Color? I have an entire library of them I would like to use. So far, I manually created one using the eydropper as a palette in an AE project that I could import into any new AE project. Just wondering if there is an easy way that everybody but me knows.
Is there any way to import an ASE file for use in Ray Dynamic Color? I have an entire library of them I would like to use. So far, I manually created one using the eydropper as a palette in an AE project that I could import into any new AE project. Just wondering if there is an easy way that everybody but me knows.
Thx!
Hi Peter, Yes that's possible!
- Import ASE file*: “Shift key" + "Plus Button from RDC”
- Export ASE file*: “Shift key" + "Alt Key" + "Plus Button from RDC”
*Using the ASE files may result in inaccurate colors in some cases so I highly recommend using an alternative way to share colors as suggested in the previous post.
Is there any way to import an ASE file for use in Ray Dynamic Color? I have an entire library of them I would like to use. So far, I manually created one using the eydropper as a palette in an AE project that I could import into any new AE project. Just wondering if there is an easy way that everybody but me knows.
Thx!
Hi Peter, Yes that's possible!
- Import ASE file*: “Shift key" + "Plus Button from RDC”
- Export ASE file*: “Shift key" + "Alt Key" + "Plus Button from RDC”
*Using the ASE files may result in inaccurate colors in some cases so I highly recommend using an alternative way to share colors as suggested in the previous post.
I've noticed that RAY will add dynamic color linking to a layer's drop shadow as well as the Ray-Fill effect. Is there a way to disable RAY from changing the color of a layer's drop shadow when it is applied?
I've noticed that RAY will add dynamic color linking to a layer's drop shadow as well as the Ray-Fill effect. Is there a way to disable RAY from changing the color of a layer's drop shadow when it is applied?
Hi Milton,
I'll think about this situation for the next update, maybe I can include a switch to ignore shadow effects and layer styles. For now here are two ways you can move forward:
1. Instead of selecting the layer you can select the fill effect. This way only the fill color will change. (I often select a layer in the timeline, press Command+F for search, and start typing: color. This will bring up all the color controls on the layer so you can easily select which one you want to color)
2. You could add a simple "value" expression to the color property of the drop shadow. Ray ignores color properties with expressions on them, and the value expression will return your manual input so it won't affect your color.
I've always struggled with the 8bit conversion into 32bit or 16bit, as the colorspace don't match.
I'm now working on a project with some 3D stuff I've imported from cinema 4d in exr 32bit. I had a lot of 2D animation going on that was created in 8bit with the help of Ray DC.
My question is, now that I had to convert my project into 32bit, the colours in the pallette are not correct.
I've always struggled with the 8bit conversion into 32bit or 16bit, as the colorspace don't match.
I'm now working on a project with some 3D stuff I've imported from cinema 4d in exr 32bit. I had a lot of 2D animation going on that was created in 8bit with the help of Ray DC.
My question is, now that I had to convert my project into 32bit, the colours in the pallette are not correct.
Any tricks you would use for these occasions?
Thanks very much,
Joao Monteiro
The UI only supports 8-bit so out of range colors are clamped in the UI but the real colors in the project remain the full 32bit color. Unfortunately this is a limitation of the AE scripting api. If you need further assistance please open a support ticket https://aescripts.com/contact/?direct=1
Can Ray Dynamic Color pull colors from a regular image (jpeg / png / PS) or only from verctor images / AI files?
If you can pull from a regular jpeg to get a palette based on a regular image (without running that image through Illustrator first), could you explain the steps?
Can Ray Dynamic Color pull colors from a regular image (jpeg / png / PS) or only from verctor images / AI files?
If you can pull from a regular jpeg to get a palette based on a regular image (without running that image through Illustrator first), could you explain the steps?
Thanks
Hi Robert,
It really depends on what colors you want to pull from an image, is it a 2D image or more like a photo with lots of colors?
You can grab the colors you want from an image using the color picker. Simply color pick the colors you are looking to use from the image and after that, you can color with them using ray.
If you have an AI file, you can convert it to shape layers with color properties by right-clicking on the Ai layer and choosing "Create shapes from vector layer". Ray will recognize that and its able to create a palette from those shape layers.
Let me know if you have an answer to your question,
Can Ray Dynamic Color pull colors from a regular image (jpeg / png / PS) or only from verctor images / AI files?
If you can pull from a regular jpeg to get a palette based on a regular image (without running that image through Illustrator first), could you explain the steps?
Thanks
Hi Robert,
It really depends on what colors you want to pull from an image, is it a 2D image or more like a photo with lots of colors?
You can grab the colors you want from an image using the color picker. Simply color pick the colors you are looking to use from the image and after that, you can color with them using ray.
If you have an AI file, you can convert it to shape layers with color properties by right-clicking on the Ai layer and choosing "Create shapes from vector layer". Ray will recognize that and its able to create a palette from those shape layers.
Let me know if you have an answer to your question,
Sander
Thanks for the reply - and yes, that answers my question about creating color palettes from images.
Have a separate question from a tutorial on Ray Dynamic Color: I've downloaded the Offset Expression available in one of your tutorials, but in the tut, it just shows that being placed into an Expressions directory. I'm using Windows 10 Pro and After Effects 2019 - and I don't see an expressions folder inside of Support Files / Scripts / and/or ScriptsUI Panels. Where should I put that file (Ray Offset 2.0.js )? [EDIT: Never Mind - Just found it here: C:\Users\Robert\AppData\Roaming\aescripts\Ray ]
I'm receiving the following error while using the latest version of Ray Dynamic Color 2 with CC 2019: Expression result must be of dimension 4, not 1. I was wondering if you know any fixes for this?
I'm receiving the following error while using the latest version of Ray Dynamic Color 2 with CC 2019: Expression result must be of dimension 4, not 1. I was wondering if you know any fixes for this?
I'm working with many templates that differ only in colors. Using RDC 2.0.10. In the "Ray - palette" comp, I duplicate the shape layer and then when I rearrange the color order in the top layer, some of the templates update and others don't. They all have "color" chosen for the expression type in the RDC palette, so it's not a cycling issue. Any ideas? Is there an issue with how many layers can be in the Ray-palette comp? - I'm using 3. Thanks for the help!
Hi Mitch,
There should be no limit to the layer amount. Ray just uses the top layer to pull colors. It's a bit difficult to determine what's going on. Would you be able to send over a project file or screen recording? Please open a support ticket so we can help you further.
this is really stupid and basic but how I delete palettes? I tried several things but I am afraid I am messing with forbidden stuff I bet is super easy but I cant find how.
If I have several palette duplicates in a project that has been iterated, collected and repurposed several times, can I delete all but one, place that single remaining palette in a top level folder and have RDC recognise it from all comps?
The idea is that if multiple color palettes are the same, you can select the layers or comps and link them to the current selected color palette in RAY using the link button. If the colors are the same, they will link up and you can delete the other palettes.
Perhaps a silly question but is there a way to create a Default Palette that will load each time I open AE?
Hi Bartek, Valid questions. but unfortunately AE does not support that. A workaround could be that you always start with a template project that has a color palette and perhaps a folder structure in it. You can also just hold the "option" button and click the " + " button to generate a default palette at the start.
Would love it if this were capable of saving gradients as well.
Hi Jessica, This is on the list of updates. How would you imagine/prefer it to work? Would be good to know so I can take it into account when I'm updating the tool.
Alas, there is no file for this link.Could you provide some direction on how to import more than 50 colors from converted illustrator layers? Thanks!
Hi Peter, Yes that's possible!
Any tricks you would use for these occasions?
Thanks very much,