Workflower 2
  • SystemSystem
    imageWorkflower 2

    NEW: ScriptUI Panel, Layer Tagging & More! Messy After Effects comps? Create layer groups, and use other tools, like adjustment layers to selected layers, layer cloning, or matte merging.

    https://aescripts.com/workflower/

  • Thor The God of thunderThor The God of thunder
    Your acting and the script are both top-notch
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Thor The God of thunder said:
    Your acting and the script are both top-notch

    Haha, thanks a bunch! Maybe I should think about switching careers. :D
  • Dirk ArellanoDirk Arellano
    I like it.
  • David HernandezDavid Hernandez
    If I use this and someone else opens my project without Workflower.  Will it break the setup that I used with Workflower?  Or will it continue working without issues if they don't have Workflower?  Thanks for your response beforehand.
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    David Hernandez said:
    If I use this and someone else opens my project without Workflower.  Will it break the setup that I used with Workflower?  Or will it continue working without issues if they don't have Workflower?  Thanks for your response beforehand.

    Hi David, yes, you can work on a project created with Workflower even if you don't own Workflower. Because it might be a bit difficult to continue to work in such comps since all layer names are indented, I recommend to convert your comps to a non-indented layout before handing over your project:

    image
    Left: Indented; Right: Non-Indented (i.e. 'Expression Mode')

    There's also a batch-operation you can perform with Workflower to convert all your comps at once.

    Please read this F.A.Q. section for more information on this topic:
  • Dániel OrszágDániel Ország
    Any chance to make an option for the script ui panel like 50% smaller icon option or responsive ui? :D
    i think i should buy a bigger monitor anyway :D
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Dániel Ország said:
    Any chance to make an option for the script ui panel like 50% smaller icon option or responsive ui? :D
    i think i should buy a bigger monitor anyway :D

    Hi Dániel,

    thank you for the feedback. I'm sorry to tell you that offering smaller icons will be certainly more difficult to implement than it may seem since it was never set up to be able to do this and I'd have to rebuild a lot of stuff in the UI for this. It's on my to-do list because I know that it's an issue for some people but I can't tell when I'll get to it.

    If you want to reduce the panel size, you can also disable some of the buttons if you don't or rarely need them. Go to "Settings > Miscellaneous > Customize ScriptUI Buttons" and choose which buttons should appear on the panel:

    When, at some point, you need to access a button you've disabled, you can simply come up with the main menu by shortcut (Win: Ctrl+Alt+X, Mac: macControl+X) which will always display the full menu.

    Can you let me know what you mean by responsive UI? The UI is already responsive and depending on how you resize it, can be configured in 4 different layouts. Or do you want an even more responsive UI like KBar offers for example? If it's the latter, I don't think I'll be doing this as it will be quite a feat to do. But if you own KBar, you can always set up Workflower icons for it (all  functions can be mapped to KBar buttons) and customize your own toolbar the way you want to. There's also a function that batch-creates all KBar buttons when you go to "Settings > Layout > Install WF KBar Toolbar":

    Please note that the buttons will be created without the modifier keys, so you'd have to arrange them yourself if you want those.

    I hope I was able to help you a bit. Please let me know when you encounter any issues with this or when you have other problems or suggestions.

    Best wishes,
    Constantin
  • Dániel OrszágDániel Ország
    Dear Constantin,

    Thx for the reply. Yes i watched all of your tutorials i know i can turn off and on icon visibility and kbar too.

    Here is 2 script i saved out for you as gifs. I resize them live and you can see they are responsive. No worries 90% of scripts do not use this function, tho they should in these days. :D

    image

    image

    Cheers,
    Danny

  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Dániel Ország said:
    Dear Constantin,

    Thx for the reply. Yes i watched all of your tutorials i know i can turn off and on icon visibility and kbar too.

    Here is 2 script i saved out for you as gifs. I resize them live and you can see they are responsive. No worries 90% of scripts do not use this function, tho they should in these days. :D

    image

    image

    Cheers,
    Danny


    Hi Danny,

    oh, I see what you mean. Thanks for the examples. Unfortunately, the programming enviroment when it comes to ScriptUI panels is extremely limited and does not provide a native way to scale images. There's a hack some people to scale images anyway but unfortunetaly I cannot make use of this hack because the way the panel is set up, this can cause some instabilities and I favored stability instead. That being said, just by looking at the way the scaling is done, it seems to me Boxcam might be doing something else behind the scenes but I'm not sure. However, to be honest, if it's a different method, I have no idea how they're doing it. I'd have to look into this. I would be great if Adobe would offer a native way to do scale within ScriptUI panels but that won't be happening. I could also port the panel to an extension instead of a ScriptUI panel which offers many more design options but I'm not familiar with programming extensions yet and also rebuilding the script to an extension would not be easy.

    I think offering a 50% scaling option would be the most realistic feature I could implement going forward. I'll move it up on my to-do list but I have to see when I can find some time to do it.

    Best wishes,
    Constantin
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Dániel Ország said:
    Any chance to make an option for the script ui panel like 50% smaller icon option or responsive ui? :D
    i think i should buy a bigger monitor anyway :D

    Hi Danny,

    I wanted to let you know that I just released a new Workflower version (2.0.1.) which already includes smaller ScriptUI buttons by default. They're not quite 50% smaller but almost. I felt going 50% smaller would be simply too tiny. Nevertheless, I think the new size will already give you quite a bit of screen space back. Let me know if that's still not working for you or you encounter any other issues with it.

    Best wishes,
    Constantin
  • Dániel OrszágDániel Ország
    Thx very much Constantin! You are AWESOME and the best!

    Danny
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Dániel Ország said:
    Thx very much Constantin! You are AWESOME and the best!

    Danny

    Haha, happy to hear that! :)
  • Serhii SarkisianSerhii Sarkisian
    Good afternoon.
    I tested this module and encountered the following inconveniences and problems.
    1. After ungrouping, the layer effects are deleted and must be reapplied. That is, they are not saved after ungrouping. This may be due to the fact that after creating a group, a separate layer appears containing information about the effects for all layers in the group.
    2. If a transition effect from the Motion Bro collection is applied between two groups, a runtime error occurs.
    I haven't tried other functions.
    Conclusion: this module does not allow it to be fully used with all functions in the After Effects program.
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Serhii Sarkisian said:
    Good afternoon.
    I tested this module and encountered the following inconveniences and problems.
    1. After ungrouping, the layer effects are deleted and must be reapplied. That is, they are not saved after ungrouping. This may be due to the fact that after creating a group, a separate layer appears containing information about the effects for all layers in the group.
    2. If a transition effect from the Motion Bro collection is applied between two groups, a runtime error occurs.
    I haven't tried other functions.
    Conclusion: this module does not allow it to be fully used with all functions in the After Effects program.

    Hi Serhii,

    I'm very sorry to hear about your troubles.

    1.) Do you mean regular effects on the layer, or effects of a group linked adjustment layer?
    If the latter, this is expected behaviour since the layer is not part of the group anymore after ungrouping, hence not containing the group effects anymore. If you want the effects to stay on the layers no matter where you move them, I recommend adding the layers to a non-group linked adjustment layer, and applying your effects via this one.
    If the removed effects are regular effects (not ones of a group adjustment layer), however, this seems to be a bug. This, unfortunately, is not a known bug to me so far. If that's the case, would it be possible to record a screen recording of what exactly happens and send it to me, so I can investigate? Additionally, if possible, it would be great to send me your project file where the error occurs, so I can replicate the bug myself (I could understand, though, if you want to keep your project file private). 

    2.) I don't think I completely understand what you mean by you applied it between two groups. Can you elaborate? What does the transition effect consist of? Also, are there any more specifics to the runtime error message? Unfortunately, I haven't been aware of this issue until now.
    As with 1.) it would be great if you could create a screen recording of the issue as well as potentially send me your project file.

    Additionally, it would be great if you could also send me the Workflower log file of the session where the two issues occurred (in case you just recreated the issues, it will be the latest log file). You find your log files here:
    ~/Documents/Adobe/Workflower/Logging

    Please send me these files (screen recordings, potential project files and log file) via support ticket: https://aescripts.com/contact/?direct=1&sku=CMRW2-SUL

    I'm sorry to ask for so many files but the more information I have, the easier it will be for me to track down the issues. We might have to troubleshoot a bit but I'm confident we'll get this fixed for you. :)

    Best wishes,
    Constantin
  • Thinh AleThinh Ale
    Currently if you create a Linked Adjustment Layer, ok it applies effects like linked and the linked layer will be ok, 
    and I see "Linked Adjustment Layer" uses hidden comments to save information, 
    and it is because the information is saved as hidden comments , 
    and you delete these hidden comments with "Delete All Markers",
    then when you Refresh Connect, the link will be lost.
    There must be some way to recreate these hidden linked adjustment markers?
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Thinh Ale said:
    Currently if you create a Linked Adjustment Layer, ok it applies effects like linked and the linked layer will be ok, 
    and I see "Linked Adjustment Layer" uses hidden comments to save information, 
    and it is because the information is saved as hidden comments , 
    and you delete these hidden comments with "Delete All Markers",
    then when you Refresh Connect, the link will be lost.
    There must be some way to recreate these hidden linked adjustment markers?

    Hi Thinh,

    sorry to hear about your issues. With default settings, Workflower uses the layer comments to store internal information and only makes use of layer markers as a backup for the internal information, so executing 'Delete All Markers' shouldn't have any effect and nothing should be lost. Do you maybe use the 'Allow External Layer Comments' feature (which is available since v2.0.4 as a beta feature)? If you use this feature and you overwrite the layer comment on a layer, Workflower will save the internal information to a marker. If you execute 'Delete All Markers' on such a layer, the internal information will be lost, that's true. If you don't want this kind of behavior, please deactivate 'Allow External Layer Comments' in the 'Layout' settings.

    If you experience this issue with the 'Allow External Layer Comments' setting turned off (or you want 'Allow External Layer Comments' to work differently), please send me a support ticket:

    Since I can't reproduce the issue myself, it would be great if you could make a screen recording of your issue and send it to me in the ticket. That way I could understand what's happening exactly leading up to the issue. Also, please let me know what OS, AE version and Workflower version you're using.

    BTW: As a quick fix to a linked adjustment layer loosing its properties due to its internal information being lost, what you could do is the following: Create a new linked adjustment layer, copy the content of the layer comment of the new layer and paste it to the layer comment of the old layer. Now execute 'Refresh Layout' and the layer's state as an adjustment layer should be recreated.

    Best wishes, Constantin
  • Taylor ScottTaylor Scott
    My review of workflower 2 having used it for over 3 months - 

    I kinda of wish you could break this whole plugin up into multiple smaller plugins, while also keeping the main plugin as a whole for people who want it. I look towards DUIK as a good example of this. There is a main Plugin UI and then there are options just to have certain parts of the main plugin live as smaller UI panels. Personally, I use only a handful of shortcut keys to do specific things, but i have a TON of UI panels that I just constantly have floating for when I do need them (I have 3 monitors and have found this workflow to be way faster for me while also using shortcuts). I haven't really seen anyone else really talk about this, so sorry if this seems like criticism. But, I think this plugin is a bit bloated to the point of intimidation and could use a UI refresh that helps the user navigate all of the different functions and features of this plugin. Don't get me wrong; After effects biggest issue (IMHO) is the fact that there isnt a way to group layers or put them into a folder instead of just pre-comping them. Workflower 2 solves that, along with adding a BUNCH of other changes features to it, which are all great! But, I stil would really like to have just the folder features be their own UI panel, as when I only need that, id really like just to only see that. Or maybe a way to hide/reveal other functions of the program. I dono how easy or hard that would be as I couldn't make anything like this if my own life depended on it Lol 

    With that being said, this entire plugin and all of its functions should literally just be apart of after effects because the depth and sophistication that this plugins brings to AE is unmatched. To get something this deep, youd have to find a metric ton of other plugins just to fill in all of the gaps that this one does very very well! 
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Hi Taylor,

    thanks for your thorough review of Workflower. First of all, I'm very happy to hear you find Workflower overall to be so useful. :)

    Regarding your criticism:

    I hear you on this. The UI originally was built right at the beginning of coding when I didn't know how big the tool would eventually get. It has been adapted to the larger and larger toolset but I see that it's certainly not optimal for the current scope.

    First of all, I wanted to ask whether you know about the ability to hide certain buttons in order to customise your ScriptUI panel? It's not an elaborate way of customising but maybe it can help you already a little bit with the issue you're describing. That way you'll have a more condensed ScriptUI panel and in case you need the hidden functions again, you can simply hit the shortcut for the main menu (Win: Ctrl+Alt+X / Mac: macCtrl+X) to access those.
    --> As well as this user guide chapter.

    I won't be able to add new UI capabilities for the upcoming version of Workflower (everything is already planned out) but I can put it on the agenda afterwards. However, I'd be interested in what you would like to see specifically as there are a few possible paths as I see it:
    1. Have at least 2 panels, one with group function buttons and one with layer function buttons. (Or maybe 3 panels with layer buttons separated into 2.)
    2. Offer the ability to have several customisable panels as KBar has for example. So let's say you maybe have three panels which you could customise like the current customisation already offers.
    3. Offer more comprehensive panels on each of the larger functions. This is certainly the most difficult one to achieve but I think this is more on line with what you want. The way Workflower has evolved, it, for example, now offers a lot of functions within a given function, depending on how you use it (what type of layer you have selected, etc.) Allowing more UI space would allow more buttons and in turn making it easier to use/remember them. I can see this also opening up the possibility of even other custom UI displays, tailored to the specific function.

    Doing something like option 3.) would be a huge undertaking, though, and can't be expected to be done in the near future. But I'll keep it in mind going forward and I'll take a closer look at DUIK as you mentioned. I'm not a user of this tool but I did look at it when the new version was released recently and I was quite impressed with how it offered all its tools in separate panels. Nevertheless, something like 1.) or 2.) or some type of variation of it would certainly be something more realistic to be accomplished in a closer timeframe.

    Let me know what you think about it and maybe you have your own thoughts on how this could look like specifically - whether it be ideas on how some smaller fixes could already help your workflow, or ideas on a bigger rewrite of the UI can look like.

    Best wishes,
    Constantin
  • Taylor ScottTaylor Scott
    Hey! 

    Sorry for the late response, I just now noticed the email that you sent me lol

    Thank you for responding though! The advice is helpful! I will need to watch the video you linked (and maybe even read the user guide haha) to get a deeper understanding of the tool and how I can make it work for me! 

    Onto the question that you posed; I think this is completely subjective so please don't take this as the word of all artists that use this tool the way I do. 

    So, I like the floating panel's LoL I might be crazy to have my entire screen covered in floating UI panels, but It helps me visualize everything possible with the plugin. With DUIK, the panels are laid out in a way where the core functions + the additional functions attached to them, have their panel. For instance, there is a panel in DUIK specifically for creating bones, there's one for Camera rigs, etc ... but there is also the main DUIK panel that houses everything that the plugin has, exactly like how Workflower 2 is designed now. 
    For me, this helps with seeing the options before instead of having to memorize a bunch of shortcuts. I don't use DUIK everyday, so I also created a separate Layout in AE just so that it makes it easy to switch from one Layout to another.

    The flip side of this is, this workflow is really only geared towards people who have multiple screens. Its impractical to have UI panels floating if you only have one screen, because they disappear as soon as you click onto the main timeline or the comp window. 

    I think this would be the "Option 3" in this scenario. The core functions can split into their own UI panels, OR/AND there is one main panel that houses all of the core features but is heavily reliant on clicking through a bunch of menus or memorizing shortcuts. 

    Option 2 - I personally haven't used KBar or MoBar, so I can't totally speak to this, but I could see the benefit of having rows of buttons that you can add or subtract certain buttons from. I also know Kbar is limited to only having 3 Rows so if you have more buttons that don't fit beyond those 3 rows being filled, that might not be ideal. But again, I don't really know as I haven't used that plugin. 

    Option 1 - I honestly think this might be the best "short term solution" as it does break the plugin up into 2 (or 3) Main function panels, while also giving you the ability to either keep or remove one panel or the other. I still haven't really dug into the Layers section of this plugin yet, so it might be nice to only have the folder functions as a UI panels. 

    This whole message might be a bit incoherent so please ask my questions if you need clarification lol 


    Also, I know that I am sort of a madman with these layouts lol 
    AssemblyLayout.png
    1915 x 1080 - 391K
    RiggingLayout.png
    1920 x 1076 - 206K
    AnimationLayour.png
    1917 x 1080 - 211K
  • Constantin MaierConstantin Maier
    Hi Taylor,

    I'm sorry as well for my late response...

    Thanks for this detailed explanation! I totally see the benefit of going a similar route as DUIK. As I said before, at the moment, there are other features up on the to-do list but I'll keep it in mind for the future. It's certainly something that would improve the ease-of-use for a lot of users.

    Also, I'll think about how I could implement one of the other more short-term solutions.

    In the meantime, there's yet another option, though:
    All of Workflower functions are available in KBar which allows you to completely customize one or multiple Workflower toolbars. You stated that you don't own KBar but it might be worth a look. I can't confirm that you can only add 3 rows of buttons - it goes beyond that. However, maybe you were talking about panels - which is true since you can't set up more than 4 panels. Nevertheless, the way I use KBar, this is still plenty of space to work with.
    Check out this user guide section on how to add Workflower buttons to KBar, providing you with the function names and icons. Additionally, Workflower also features a function that batch-creates all KBar buttons at once:

    image

    Maybe this'll help you...

    If you have any other remarks or questions, don't hesitate to reach out. :)

    Best wishes, Constantin

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