Setup & Rigs

🛠 Toolkit or rigs setup Best Practices
Objective: Make the toolkit as fool-proof as possible by using proper naming conventions, labeling compositions & layers, write my a readme instructions, making a video tutorial, and master properties arrangement. Fool-proof = intuitive , simplicity, coherent.
Give enough user controls that effectively does the job and not confuse or overwhelm users. AKA "less is more"
Naming conventions
use camelCase and underscore (no spaces) for comp or layer names
File structure: _demo, builds, elements
for rig compositions, rename to build_num eg. build_4
in the comments, you can write a brief description of what the rig do
Labeling of layers and compositions
green label - for compositions / layers that users should modify or use
blue label - secondary stuff for your own development purposes or for users to troubleshoot or their own
gray label for anything that the user should not touch
"readme" sample from plant rigs
Writing a user guide or readme
in a composition, write a description of what your rig does and instructions on how to use it
this should be the first composition user see when they open the AEP
Cleaning the project file before delivery 🧹
be sure to remove any unused assets that may otherwise confuse the users by using Reduce Project or Collect Project Files
close all compositions that will not be use, open all compositions that will be used
Other good practice
render animated elements used (eg. textures)
create demos or samples of what your toolkit can do to let users know the extent of your setup
avoid 3rd-party plugins that would be difficult for user to acquire
Essential Graphics
Create two groups: design and motion
the design controls should change the stylization or look; there should not be any keyframes
as for motion, anything that effects a movement for the rig will go here eg. wiggle sliders, duration,
For users
communicate bugs or error report
For Leads checking toolkits
test if all controls work and Master Properties are nested in the composition
making it simpler to use and lighter to render; keep in mind that users may not be as proficient in AE or expressions. It is
naming convention
Spriting / multi-image texturing
Using string matching 
2020
2019
// timeRemapping
var src = thisLayer.source;
var txt = thisComp.layer("file").text.sourceText.toLowerCase();
​
// loop match
for (i = 1; i < src.numLayers; i++) {
    if (src.layer(i).name.toLowerCase().match(txt)) {
        myLayer = src.layer(i);
        break;
    } else {
        9999 // catch error
    }
}
​
inP = myLayer.inPoint;
outP = myLayer.outPoint-framesToTime(0);
dur = outP - inP;
linear(time,inPoint,dur,inP,outP)
//timeRemap
framesToTime(effect("frameSelect")("Slider"));
​
​
// Slidercontrol
myComp = thisLayer.source;
ext = ""//.png
txt = thisComp.layer("lastName").text.sourceText.toLowerCase();
​
// loop match
for (i = 1; i < myComp.numLayers; i++) {
    if (myComp.layer(i).name.toLowerCase().match(txt)) {
        i-1 // -1 as time starts from 0 ;
        break;
    } else {
        100 // catch error 
    }
}
Text layer as a check
t = timeToFrames(time);
t = clamp(t,1,index-1);
thisComp.layer(t+1).name;

Last modified 2yr ago