Getting Started
Automation Blocks is an infinite collection of premade, one-click tools for any task. With Automation Blocks, you can fully customize all the tools, and even create your own! It's currently available for Adobe After Effects, but we're also developing a version for Premiere Pro, and you'll already find some info about the Premiere Pro version in this documentation.
The Tools
To give you an idea of what Automation Blocks is capable of, here are some examples of tools that are included in the library.
Comp Duplicates From Spreadsheet
Batch replace text, footage, colors and other properties based on a spreadsheet.
Color Palette Workflow
Manage the colors of your project to a central color palette and dynamically link all color properties to it.
Comp Time Tools
Insert frames - in the middle of a comp, for example. This tool will shift layers, keyframes and markers as needed and change the duration of a comp & precomps.
Expressions
Tools to search & replace in Expressions, globally enable or disable expressions, and more.
Keyframes
Save frequently used keyframe combinations in a library and create keyframe presets that automatically adjust to existing keys.
Precompose On Steroids
Precompose & crop to content size, move layers into and out of precomps, and more.
Project Cleanup
Move project items into bins based on their file type, search & replace in project items, and more.
Rigs & Presets
Auto resizing text boxes which live on the text layers themselves (no extra layers needed), a rig to time-remap keyframes, and more.
First Steps
Use the Existing Tools
Automation Blocks comes with many ready to use tools, which are all listed in the library panel. If you hover over any of the tools in the library it shows a short description which will give you a good idea what the tool is actually doing:
Some tools are so easy that this short description is really all you need. But some of the more comprehensive tools also come with more documentation. To see this, just select a tool in the library, then click the "Help" button in the top right corner to open the in-depth documentation. You'll find all of these in-depth documentations in the section Ae Tools.
Most tools in Automation Blocks come with a user interface, which pops up when you run the tool. If a tool comes with a UI, this is indicated with a little dialog icon before the name of the tool:
If a tool has no user interface, it usually means that it performs its job without the need for any further input. In some rare cases, a tool expects you to modify the block code before using it (like connecting a particular layer property to a block). However, in these rare cases, this is clearly described in the tool help.
Join the Community
Forum
If you need help with customizing an existing Automation Blocks script, want to share a script with the community, or if you have a questions, please post in the Adobe After Effects support forum. Your Adobe ID is already your user account for this forum, so you can start posting without any tedious registration. Just be sure to mention "Automation Blocks" in the subject and add the topic "Scripting" to ensure that we see your post. We'll then do our best to answer your questions.
Twitter & Instagram
We monitor the hashtag #automationblocksae on Twitter and Instagram. Feel free to reach out there, ask questions, and share the solutions you've created with Automation Blocks.
Access Community Library
We collect all Automation Blocks scripts that are shared in the community in a public folder, which you can access via Dropbox, Google Drive or GitHub.
Just download the folder right into your Automation Blocks user library, restart Automation Blocks, and you're ready to go.
If you've created a script that you think is useful for the community, please get in touch with us :-). If you are using GitHub, you can also create a pull request.
Where is the User Library?
To copy tools from the community library to your user library, you need to know where the latter is located on your system. By default the user library is a subfolder with name "Automation Blocks Ae Library" inside your user's Documents folder. You can also access the library from Automation Blocks preferences:
After you copied new scripts to your user library, make sure to close and reopen the Automation Blocks panel, to force a reload of the library.
Customize & Write Your Own Tools
In Automation Blocks, you can fully customize all the tools, and even create your own! Instead of programming code, the tools are based on blocks - creating tools feels more like playing with Lego bricks than doing actual programming. It's when you start to customize the example scripts to do what you need, or even write your own scripts from scratch, that the magic really begins!
If you want to become a true Automation hero, let's not waste any time: To get started with writing your own block scripts in After Effects, watch the tutorial series Write Your Custom Project Setup Script and Write Your Custom Template Tool.