Plug-ins

Plug-ins are small software modules—with filename extensions such as .aex, .pbk, and .8bi—that add functionality to an application. After Effects effects are implemented as plug-ins, as are some features for importing and working with certain file formats. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, for example, provides After Effects with its ability to work with camera raw files.

When After Effects starts, it loads plug-ins from the Plug-ins folder, which is in the Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files (Windows) or Adobe After Effects CS4 (Mac OS) folder by default. Several plug-ins come with After Effects and are automatically installed in this folder. You can obtain other plug-ins for After Effects and other Adobe products from Adobe or other vendors. For specific instructions for installing a plug-in, see its documentation.

Note: (Mac OS) Some third-party plug-in installers incorrectly install their plug-ins into the Mac OS X Package for After Effects. To reveal these plug-ins, Control-click the After Effects application icon in the Finder and choose Show Package Contents. You can then move the plug-ins into the After Effects Plug-ins folder.

When exchanging After Effects projects between computer systems, make sure that the plug-ins that the project depends on are installed on both systems. Similarly, if you are rendering a composition with multiple computers on a network, make sure that all plug-ins used in the composition are installed on all rendering computers.

After Effects comes with several third-party plug-ins, including Foundry Keylight, Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse, fnord ProEXR, and Cycore FX plug-ins. Some plug-in installers—including the installers for Keylight and Color Finesse—install documentation for the plug-ins in their subfolders in the Plug-ins folder.

Documentation for Cycore FX plug-ins is available on the Cycore website: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_cycorefxdocumentation.

Documentation for fnord ProEXR plug-ins is available in a PDF document on the fnord website: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_fnordproexr.

For information on plug-ins available for After Effects, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_plugins.

Other resources for purchasing and learning to use plug-ins for After Effects include the Toolfarm website: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_toolfarmhome.

Many plug-ins for After Effects are written in the C++ programming language using the After Effects SDK. For information on developing plug-ins for After Effects with the C/C++ SDK, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_devcenter.

Increasingly, many effect plug-ins for After Effects are written in the Adobe Pixel Bender language.

For more information about Pixel Bender effect plug-ins, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_pixelbender.

To see a video tutorial on Pixel Bender effects, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4106_xp.