aescripts + aeplugins

Marcelo Arias

SO SICK OF THIS DEVELOPERS.

Bought it one a year ago for 30$ plus taxes, now they want me to pay another 20$ plus taxes for updating it when they have not updated it ever and yet they want more money for this? 

Subscription plugin. 

Have been updating Mt Mograph, Battle Axe plugins for years with huge updates for no extra money (some super useful and cheaper than this one)

My advice: DO NOT BUY A PLUGIN LIKE THIS ONE or get ready to pay another 20$, 30$ or 40$ + next year for another useless update.

Alfie Dawes

Hi Marcelo,

I hear you, and see your point of view. If you don't mind, I'd like to reply with my thoughts on that:

• It's not a subscription plugin. I'd hate to charge you on a regular basis if I didn't think I was adding anything worthwhile, and am only charging for this upgrade because I know how much more is included.
  
• I understand that this version might not seem worth it to you, and if that's the case you don't have to upgrade. Handy Hands 1 was always advertised as being a tool for creating simple hands in After Effects, and I hope it continues to provide that for you. If that's all you need, then stick with it.
  
• A lot of work goes into an update like this. In fact, a lot more went into this than the entire release of the first version. When you buy a small plugin like this you don't just buy a product, but also fund all the research and development time that's required. I am hugely thankful to those that do. If Handy Hands 2 is successful, I can justify spending time on the next project (Handy Feet perhaps?).
  
• I've tried to be generous with the upgrade reductions available if you've already bought the previous version of the tool, because no one wants to buy something twice, and I don't want you paying for the features you already have. If you have Handy Hands already it's 50% off, and anyone who bought it in the last 6 months gets the upgrade for free. I make these tools to save you time, and I really hope in the year you've had Handy Hands it might've been worth the initial cost.

I really hope this helps you see why this decision was made. If you want to reach out for a chat about why it's taken so long to add these latest features, drop me a support ticket.

Best,

Alfie

Marcelo Arias

Alfie Dawes said:

Hi Marcelo,

I hear you, and see your point of view. If you don't mind, I'd like to reply with my thoughts on that:

• It's not a subscription plugin. I'd hate to charge you on a regular basis if I didn't think I was adding anything worthwhile, and am only charging for this upgrade because I know how much more is included.
  
• I understand that this version might not seem worth it to you, and if that's the case you don't have to upgrade. Handy Hands 1 was always advertised as being a tool for creating simple hands in After Effects, and I hope it continues to provide that for you. If that's all you need, then stick with it.
  
• A lot of work goes into an update like this. In fact, a lot more went into this than the entire release of the first version. When you buy a small plugin like this you don't just buy a product, but also fund all the research and development time that's required. I am hugely thankful to those that do. If Handy Hands 2 is successful, I can justify spending time on the next project (Handy Feet perhaps?).
  
• I've tried to be generous with the upgrade reductions available if you've already bought the previous version of the tool, because no one wants to buy something twice, and I don't want you paying for the features you already have. If you have Handy Hands already it's 50% off, and anyone who bought it in the last 6 months gets the upgrade for free. I make these tools to save you time, and I really hope in the year you've had Handy Hands it might've been worth the initial cost.

I really hope this helps you see why this decision was made. If you want to reach out for a chat about why it's taken so long to add these latest features, drop me a support ticket.

Best,

Alfie

My point is this: 

• The product isn't a subscription plugin, yet its release was 15 months ago. When the first update was launched, you labeled it V 2.0 and required users to pay an additional fee, correct? 
  
• How many updates has the plugin received since its initial release?
  
• Are you suggesting that products like Motion or BoomBox by Mt Mograph don't require time for research and development? What major upgrades are included in V 2.0? 
  
• Just to give you some perspective, I've purchased numerous plugins in the last three months alone, some of them in this site (photo) . 
  
• Some of these were upgrades to V 2.0, and I didn't express any grievances about them. 
  

My concerns are not about the money 

Alfie Dawes

Marcelo Arias said:

My point is this: 

• The product isn't a subscription plugin, yet its release was 15 months ago. When the first update was launched, you labeled it V 2.0 and required users to pay an additional fee, correct? 
  
• How many updates has the plugin received since its initial release?
  
• Are you suggesting that products like Motion or BoomBox by Mt Mograph don't require time for research and development? What major upgrades are included in V 2.0? 
  
• Just to give you some perspective, I've purchased numerous plugins in the last three months alone, some of them in this site (photo) . 
  
• Some of these were upgrades to V 2.0, and I didn't express any grievances about them. 
  

My concerns are not about the money 

Hi Marcelo,

• I can see why subscription plugins are controversial, which is why I wanted to make it clear that this isn't the case. A subscription plugin has an ongoing charge which you have to keep paying to use it, which isn't what's happening here. No one is forcing you to pay any more, but additional features are available to you if you wish to upgrade.
• There were a few minor updates to Handy Hands 1 to make sure it was stable for everyone who was trying to use it, and any bugs were fixed. I would argue that the amount of updates isn't relevant. The development time gone into this version is considerably more than the first version, and most of that time goes into the hand rigs themselves. The stroked hand rig alone was much more complex to create than the one provided in Handy Hands 1. I wouldn't be charging for the upgrade if I didn't think my time commitment didn't justify it.
• The main major upgrade is the new styles, manage buttons, and panel changes. You should be able to start a trial to help you decide if it's worth the upgrade, but the choice is always available not to if you disagree.
• No, I don't want to imply that other products have any different development times or challenges. I'm sure they all do. If they can dedicate free time to provide additional content, then that's great.
• I'm very sure that some of the tools in your list provided have more development time dedicated to them than Handy Hands 2. If that's what you're implying, I agree with you. These are big tools, some of the most popular on the site, and some have people or teams working on them full time. Handy Hands is a niche tool developed by a single person.

Best,

Alfie

Seyfi Cem Baskin

I can create a hand, no problem, but none of the other buttons apply anything on the hand layer. I'm assuming this is a bug since I did a double take to no avail.

Alfie Dawes

Seyfi Cem Baskin said:

I can create a hand, no problem, but none of the other buttons apply anything on the hand layer. I'm assuming this is a bug since I did a double take to no avail.

Hey Seyfi,

Sorry you're experiencing issues. I can see you've opened a support ticket so I'll try and fix the problem with you there.

Best,

Alfie

lee hansol

there is no option to change each finger when i choose seprate fill hand. Is there any way to do this other than disconnecting the existing expression and replacing it manually?

I think you should include an option to change the color per finger.

And when in advanced stroke mode, it lags enough to make it generally unusable.

If I keyframe in a different mode and change it, it renders very quickly, but when I move around in the basic preview, there is serious lag. It looks like a bug of some sort. Other than these minor early bugs, it's a very good plugin. I really like the freedom to express hand movements. I can adjust the length and thickness of each hand, rotate the movement, and assign key values, so I can express hand movements very naturally with simple operations. It seems like a groundbreaking plugin for creating animations.

Chan Woo

what time is the "Handy Feet" release

Alfie Dawes

lee hansol said:

there is no option to change each finger when i choose seprate fill hand. Is there any way to do this other than disconnecting the existing expression and replacing it manually?

I think you should include an option to change the color per finger.

And when in advanced stroke mode, it lags enough to make it generally unusable.

If I keyframe in a different mode and change it, it renders very quickly, but when I move around in the basic preview, there is serious lag. It looks like a bug of some sort. Other than these minor early bugs, it's a very good plugin. I really like the freedom to express hand movements. I can adjust the length and thickness of each hand, rotate the movement, and assign key values, so I can express hand movements very naturally with simple operations. It seems like a groundbreaking plugin for creating animations.

Thanks Lee - Yeah there's currently no option for changing each finger, but you can disable the expressions or add your own strokes if you wanted to style each finger manually. I did originally have the idea that this style could be a "high-contrast" mode with each finger a different bright color for people who wanted to use it to draw hands over the top like a guide.

Advanced stroke uses a lot of expressions, which I think is why it lags. I'm always trying to think of different ways to optimize this and will try and get it running quicker if I can, but in the meantime I do recommend animating in a different style and switching before render as you suggest.

Alfie Dawes

Chan Woo said:

what time is the "Handy Feet" release

Sorry Chan, though I have started playing around with a good rig for feet/shoes, I don't have any plans to release anything anytime soon.

lee hansol

Thank you for your detailed response

Christian Schinkel

Seyfi Cem Baskin said:

I can create a hand, no problem, but none of the other buttons apply anything on the hand layer. I'm assuming this is a bug since I did a double take to no avail.

It is the same for me. It will create a hand, but none of the functions work. Is this because im also runnign  V1?

Alfie Dawes

Christian Schinkel said:

It is the same for me. It will create a hand, but none of the functions work. Is this because im also runnign  V1?

Hey Christian,

Really sorry it's not working. I've been working with Seyfi to find a fix for this, and should have it uploaded in the next few hours.

kalin Sankey

I can create a hand as others have mentioned but, poses, strokes, rotate, nothing works. I can use the control settings, but even stroke color fill i feel is linked incorrectly because it's always what the main fill color is set to. I submitted a ticket and Alfie responded quickly. Once fixed this plug in will greatly help speed up my work flow for client character animations!

Alfie Dawes

I've uploaded a new version that should fix that bug, but if any other issues arise do drop me another support ticket and I'll get on it as quick as I can.

Many thanks for your patience everyone!

Seyfi Cem Baskin

Alfie Dawes said:

I've uploaded a new version that should fix that bug, but if any other issues arise do drop me another support ticket and I'll get on it as quick as I can.

Many thanks for your patience everyone!

Hey Alfie, I can confirm that it works now. Thanks for solving this under a day.

Torin Bell

am i limited to choosing poses or can I rotate the fingers individually?

Alfie Dawes

Torin Bell said:

am i limited to choosing poses or can I rotate the fingers individually?

Hi Torin,

Not limited at all - For each finger, there's a percentage slider in the effect controls to control how much of a bend they have. These can be set, changed and keyframed without using the pose buttons at all.

Best,

Alfie

Lora Mitchell

Thanks for this

Sabine Füreder

Hi there, I am just testing the plugin and noticed, that some of the poses are not working with 3 Finger + Thumb and the Advanced Stroke feature, for example the victory hand. I initially select 3 Fingers and when I click on the victory pose, the hand changes to 4 fingers and it cannot be changed back to 3.

Alfie Dawes

Sabine Füreder said:

Hi there, I am just testing the plugin and noticed, that some of the poses are not working with 3 Finger + Thumb and the Advanced Stroke feature, for example the victory hand. I initially select 3 Fingers and when I click on the victory pose, the hand changes to 4 fingers and it cannot be changed back to 3.

Hi Sabine,

Sorry, the advanced stroke style doesn't currently support 3 fingered mode. Hopefully I can add this in a future update.

You can check which of the Style Dependent settings work with each style in the online documentation here.

Best,

Alfie

Cole Jennerson

This is super powerful and extremely helpful, I was curious if there was a way to choose 'round caps' on the strokes? when i change it manually it makes the stroke fill the entire shape vs just the trimmed path. Hope that makes sense! 

Alfie Dawes

Cole Jennerson said:

This is super powerful and extremely helpful, I was curious if there was a way to choose 'round caps' on the strokes? when i change it manually it makes the stroke fill the entire shape vs just the trimmed path. Hope that makes sense! 

Hi Cole,

Sorry, it's not possible to change the caps on the strokes hand. Each finger is it's own stoke, and the stroked effect really works by layering these strokes up rather than tracing the path - If that makes sense?

Best,

Alfie

Chris Lupton

it would be great if we had an independent rotation control for the thumb in a future update, currently my thumbs up is at half mast. 

Nicholas Wellfair

In love with this but would love to have advanced stroke for 3 fingers and a thumb! Great job though!

yves hellemans

Is there a way to change the shape of the palm path in a custom way (not with shape modifiers)? 

I can't seem to find a way to move any of it's handles/curves individually.

Alfie Dawes

yves hellemans said:

Is there a way to change the shape of the palm path in a custom way (not with shape modifiers)? 

I can't seem to find a way to move any of it's handles/curves individually.

Hi Yves,

Not currently. The palm path shape is set with an expression - This is so it can deform as you rotate the hand around the Y axis. You can however alter the dimensions of the palm in a couple of ways via the settings section of the effect controls:

Palm Length - Changing this will alter the length from the bottom of the palm to the base of the fingers, making the palm shorter/longer.

Wrist Width - Changing this will alter the width of the palm at it's base when the hand is rotated. Setting Y Rotation to 90 degrees will make the results of changing this setting more obvious.

Hope this helps. If there was something else you had in mind for how you wanted the palm to look I'd love to hear it!

Best,

Alfie

Andrew Hoeveler

I was surprised to find that tapered fingers and stroked outline are mutually exclusive and can't be used together. Is there some process I'm missing?