CODEWITHSUNDEEP
macosscriptingadobeterminalafter-effects
Alex Morales
Alex Morales

Reputation: 2791

After Effects (Mac) Execute a Script from Terminal

I'm trying to figure out how to execute an After Effects script from the command line.

Official documentation says:

Example (for Windows):
afterfx -r c:\script_path\example_script.jsx

And nothing for Mac. However I'm trying:

open -b com.adobe.AfterEffects --args -r /script_path/example_script.jsx

And nothing happens. The program get opened though, but it seems that the script is never called.

Anyone had figured out this?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 5965

Answers (5)

Timbucktato
Timbucktato

Reputation: 115

I would like to throw in here, some answers where great though possibly outdated. This code:

on run argv
    tell application "Adobe After Effects CC 2018"
        DoScriptFile item 1 of argv
    end tell
end run

For the applescript file works, the POSIX code does not. Then running it in the terminal for Mojave works like this:

osascript AppleScriptAETest.scpt "/Users/.../Your/file/here.jsx"

This works best for me.

Upvotes: 1

davemyron
davemyron

Reputation: 2542

This is actually documented here

You should now be able to use DoScriptFile (instead of DoScript) with Applescript. Something like:

tell application "Adobe After Effects CS6"
  DoScriptFile path/to/file.jsx
end tell

you can also call a specific function using external parameters by mixing this method with the one mentioned by MentalFish

  • make an applescript [in this case called ASfile.scpt]:

    on run argv
    set SomeName to (POSIX file (item 1 of argv))
    tell application "Adobe After Effects CS6"
        DoScriptFile SomeName
        DoScript item 2 of argv
   end tell
end run

  • from python and assuming you have a 64bit machine you can call:

    ae = subprocess.call('arch -x86_64 osascript /AppleScriptLocation/ASfile.scpt %s/SomeScript.jsx "SomeFunction(\'%s\')"' %( ScriptsFolder, ParameterFromPython),shell=True)

Upvotes: 5

Keith Rose
Keith Rose

Reputation: 11

you could place it in the startup folder (I use windows, the folder in win is Adobe After Effects CS4/Support Files/Scripts/Startup). Scripts in that folder are executed upon AfterEffects booting up.

Might be helpful?

Upvotes: 1

MentalFish
MentalFish

Reputation: 11

Apparently AE on Mac does not support command line execution of scripts: http://www.aenhancers.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1903

This works, create an AppleScript that tells AE to run the script via the DoScript command:

set test to (POSIX file ("/Users/username/Desktop/test.jsx"))
tell application "Adobe After Effects CSYourVersionNumber"
    DoScript test
end tell

... and run the script via the command line as such (to run it in 32-bit mode):

arch -i386 osascript test.applescript

If you want to pass in the parameter of what script to launch you can do it like this:

on run argv
    set test to (POSIX file (item 1 of argv))
    tell application "Adobe After Effects CSYourVersionNumber"
        DoScript test
    end tell 
end run

Run the script and pass in the path to the jsx file:

arch -i386 osascript test.applescript /Users/username/Desktop/test.jsx

Upvotes: 1

i4n
i4n

Reputation: 220

I got it working with this:

open -b com.adobe.AfterEffects --args /Users/[user]/Desktop/[folder]/file.aep

seems all I had to do was get rid of the 'r' flag.

Good luck!

Upvotes: 0

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