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What CustomEffects are

We all use presets. They are very powerful and handy to use, but sometimes, when there are many expression controls involved it starts to get very messy. And that’s where CustomEffects come in.

CustomEffects are standard presets but they look like and behave as standard plugins. After Effects need to know the definition of the preset in order to interpret them correctly. Some time ago I’ve started to publish my heavily expression based presets as CustomEffects. Here is how you can install them manually on Windows and Mac:

Please note, that you don’t really have to go through the installation process. All you really need to do is to copy the FFX file to the Preset folder. Then After Effects is going to say that the plugin is “Missing”, but it should work anyway.

Windows manual installation:

  1. Download the package that you’re interested in
  2. Unpack it to a convenient place
  3. Locate SupportFiles directory in After Effects installation folder
  4. Look for PresetEffects.xml file and open it in any text editor
  5. Open the XML file provided in the package that you’ve downloaded
  6. Copy&Paste its content into PresetEffects.xml, just above the last line of the file
  7. Copy the preset FFX file into Presets directory located inside SupportFiles folder
  8. Save the PresetEffects.xml file and restart After Effects

You can see these steps in action at the end of CE PixelSampler tutorial. You will also see how handy CustomEffects are.

Mac manual installation:

  1. Download the package that you’re interested in
  2. Unpack it to a convenient place
  3. Right click on the After Effects application name in your Application folder
  4. From the content menu choose ‘Show Package Contents’
  5. Navigate to the Resources folder and locate the PresetEffects.xml file
  6. Open PresetEffects.xml file in any text editor
  7. Open the XML file provided in the package in any text editor
  8. Copy&Paste its content into PresetEffects.xml, just above the last line of the file
  9. Copy the preset FFX file into Presets directory
  10. Save the PresetEffects.xml file and restart After Effects

The basic idea of installing CustomEffects manually on Mac or PC is to find the PresetEffects.xml and paste the content of my XML provided in the ZIP file along with the FFX at the end of the file - just above its last line.

To simplify the process of installing CustomEffects I’ve made a CustomEffects Installer. There is only a Windows version available, so if you want to use my CustomEffects on Mac or you just don’t want to use my CustomEffects Installer for some reason, you have to follow these few simple steps mentioned above.

Polygon Studio CustomEffects Installer is simply a small piece of software that will do all these steps for you. It takes polyCE file that contains the definition and the preset itself. It was programmed, compiled and tested on Windows XP, but I’m sure it will run on any Windows system that meets with After Effects requirements.

There are always two versions of my CustomEffects available for download: Windows version, that contains the polyCE files, and Mac version, that contains FFX files and XML definitions.

I have already built a CustomEffect Deployer that creates polyCE files but it is still in beta, therefore it’s not available for download… yet. I hope that polyCE files will become a standard way of shearing expression based presets. I’m looking forward to hear your opinions about them.

Download: PolygonStudio_CustomEffect_Installer (Windows - Build 1.1.10)

This software requires Microsoft VisualBasic6 runtime libraries. You should have them installed on your system by default, but in case you don’t here’s the link. Click here to download.

43 Responses to “What CustomEffects are”

  1. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! i am the first one…. awesome buddy awesome

    Umair said this November 7th, 2007 at 12:43

  2. M, I don’t see the Mac version. Is it a secret?

    Jim W said this November 7th, 2007 at 19:29

  3. It’s all explained on this site. There is no special Mac version, theres only special Win version that one may choose not to use. All you have to do is to “find the PresetEffects.xml and paste the content of my XML provided in the ZIP file along with the FFX at the end of the file - just above its last line.”

    Maltaannon said this November 7th, 2007 at 23:24

  4. umm u say Mac version on both sets of instructions yet i see no mac version….

    Aaron said this November 8th, 2007 at 0:43

  5. Theres no Mac version. Just use the FFX file and paste the content of the XML file into PresetEffects.xml like explained above. Its all in the same ZIP file that you download from tutorial page.

    Maltaannon said this November 8th, 2007 at 1:31

  6. I can’t find the Zip file on the tutorial page either.

    Tudor said this November 8th, 2007 at 8:43

  7. Gotcha. Thnx.

    Jim W said this November 8th, 2007 at 16:11

  8. Well, all of the “custom effects” links above just reload the page. From where can the mentioned files be acquired? I saw some files listed on CCow but are they the most recent? I didn’t see any ColorCorrection preset within.

    Thanks.
    J.

    Jim W said this November 8th, 2007 at 16:15

  9. NM. Found the link at the bottom of the page. Hard to find - didn’t think it was more useful than tapping the RSS though. FYI, the link from the AE/Home pages goes directly to the video.

    Thanks again,

    J.

    Jim W said this November 8th, 2007 at 16:18

  10. hi there i have downloaded zip file which has a pscei.exe which needs the presets to install…i dont seem to find the presets at all in this site….can u give me a link

    Saumin said this November 18th, 2007 at 0:29

  11. Presets and other project files are available under each tutorial details. Click on the tutorial Title (not on the thumbnail) to read the details and get the files you need. If you are confused about this please read this: http://maltaannon.com/how-tos/

    Maltaannon said this November 18th, 2007 at 14:36

  12. Just wanted to say…you’re a genius. I definitely wanna grow up to be like you. I love your tutorials. I see all these remarks, and yet no one has said how wonderful your work is. Keep up the FANTASTIC job.
    And people… common- on this page, I see no praise. Can you actually stop for a minute and thank the man for his knowledge? I mean it seems like you all are using the database and not thanking him.

    A.S. said this November 27th, 2007 at 6:12

  13. Thank you my friend. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me. Thanks again.

    Maltaannon said this November 27th, 2007 at 13:03

  14. again and again

    25Frame said this December 2nd, 2007 at 22:50

  15. Will the presets work with AE 7 PRO?

    GEO said this December 5th, 2007 at 19:23

  16. Yes, they should. After Effects sees them as regular presets, so if any preset made in CS3 works with AE7, than these CustomEffects will work as well, as long they don’t use any CS3 features (like CE PixelSampler).

    Maltaannon said this December 5th, 2007 at 20:12

  17. Witam, niestety preset jak i projekt nie działa w AE7 Pro. :( Otrzymuję komunikat, że projekt oraz preset zostały utworzone w nowszej wersji AE. Czy mógłbyś przygotować wersje swych CE dla AE7? Z góry dziękuję i pozdrawiam.

    Ryszard said this December 9th, 2007 at 13:59

  18. Project files from CS3 won’t work in CS2, but the presets should. As far as they don’t use any special CS3 features. Try CE ColorCorrector. It should work in CS2 even though it was build with CS3.

    Maltaannon said this December 9th, 2007 at 16:20

  19. I’m totally into you :) Looking fantastic!!! I can’t wait to try out some of your stuff.. wooooooooooww!

    Jimmy said this December 12th, 2007 at 8:44

  20. Great work, learning a lot here!
    As soon as I use something yours on a commercial base, I’ll stop by at the PayPal-logo.
    (We all should, so this guy can dedicate his life to making ours easier…)

    peter said this December 21st, 2007 at 15:43

  21. That’s my goal. I’m glad someone understands it. Thanks my friend!

    Maltaannon said this December 21st, 2007 at 19:30

  22. Hi , I just started with AE and your tutorials are great , I think no book can match to what you are doing for us .

    Fine holidays and thank you for everything . Belgium

    Danny said this December 22nd, 2007 at 12:21

  23. As a beginner to AE i thank you for helping me! This is a very sweet plugin

    John said this December 27th, 2007 at 23:40

  24. First of all, I would like to say you are a master. I work for a cable company in alabama and I have just started using after effects to create a better commercial for our clients. I was having trouble with dropshadows until one of your recent tutorials. I have successfully learned it. I didn’t want to just download your presets, Because I wanted to learn how to do it, instead of just taking it. so I watched it over and over. But, I wanted to know if you can create it the same way for a stroke and if possible can you possibly do a tutorial on the stroke alone, as for as creating it and importing it into after effects. Other than that your tutorials ROCK! Thanks you for the help. Robert

    Robert Brown said this December 28th, 2007 at 23:24

  25. Hi!
    im looking for this plugin for MAC system.
    does it exist?
    thanks!

    lea said this January 9th, 2008 at 1:20

  26. Hi there,

    I think your toutorial and this preset is very helpful and awesome, nevertheless after going thruogh the specified steps mentioned above, when i start up After Effects, and apply 3D Shape Extruder, it doesn’t take effect and there is a warning as follows,

    After Effects Warning: Undefined value used in expression. Could be an out of range arrary subscript? Expression disable

    Would you please help me solving this problem? Very appreciated.

    Moi,Carole said this January 14th, 2008 at 9:10

  27. I wish I could. I have no idea what is causing the problem. Some other people had encountered it as well, but it seems, that when one is doing everything as explained the problem does not occur. Please make sure you have the right version of After Effects, that the CustomEffect is properly installed, and that you’re using it properly.

    Maltaannon said this January 14th, 2008 at 11:57

  28. Really nice !

    But how do you build these presets ?
    I don´t understand how to build all these sliders … into just one layer FX?
    Even If i watch your ffx file, i don´t find a way how to set ranges or multivector attributes.

    It would be really nice to see a tutorial about makin cool presets :)
    Or get some Infos about that stuff

    thanks !

    jamsven said this February 13th, 2008 at 18:46

  29. Oh yes this tutorial is coming soon along with an tool for building CustomEffects for both Mac and PC. Stay tuned. Cheers

    Maltaannon said this February 13th, 2008 at 20:34

  30. OK…I’ve read all the entries and still can’t find the MAC CustomEffects ffx files. I understand your Mac install directions, but can’t find the CustomEffects mac version.

    regards

    Brian McGovern said this February 19th, 2008 at 16:03

  31. It’s included in the regular zip file. You should find polyCE file (for windows) and XML and FFX that are meant for manual installations for Mac. You’d be glad to hear that I’m developing new installation software what will work on both - Mac and PC. Stay tuned!

    Maltaannon said this February 19th, 2008 at 18:02

  32. The only files in my download are a pscei.exe, a zlib.dll file and a read me txt file unless your speaking about the files in the 3DShapeExtruder download.

    Thx

    Brian McGovern said this February 21st, 2008 at 15:48

  33. The file you’ve downloaded is a installer package - a piece of software to install polyCE files. If you want to get some of my CustomEffects you have to download them separately from tutorial detail page.

    Maltaannon said this February 21st, 2008 at 17:44

  34. Hi there,
    I downloaded the file and open it, but i didnt see an XML file in it? i just did it 20 minuets ago?what shell i do than???????
    thanks

    seth said this February 21st, 2008 at 17:52

  35. Oops!
    just read the last message and i understand someone else had my problem. So now i know what to do. Thanks again

    seth said this February 21st, 2008 at 17:59

  36. Are the custom effects mainly for using with AE CS3 or can it be used with older versions?

    Romeo said this February 25th, 2008 at 0:32

  37. They are meant for CS2 and CS3. Did not check it with 6.5, but even if they’d work, I’m making my presets with CS2 or CS3, so I think they wouldn’t open in any other version.

    Maltaannon said this February 25th, 2008 at 0:41

  38. Thanks for these effects - looking forward to see how you make them. I’m getting an error message using the install program “Invalid procedure call or argument” I have downloaded the basic files, that didn’t seem to help. I can install manually, but . . .

    Brian said this March 22nd, 2008 at 16:53

  39. Hey! Please help!! I have a big question…Im woorry about what can happen if I pasted the file “3D ShapeExtruder” in the “PresetEffects.xml” it can affect the program AE CS3????

    aDriAn said this March 23rd, 2008 at 3:11

  40. I wanna use your tool for my presets, how long does it take, till u publish it here on your site ??

    Eassay said this March 30th, 2008 at 23:11

  41. dude im using cs3 after effects. i installed your custom effect pixel sampler manually and when i use it i drag it on to the window to make a new layer. thats fine but when i got to expand the pixel sample field it doesn’t show the boarder of the field the color changes but i cant see the out side of the field to position it.

    Pumpus said this May 5th, 2008 at 14:20

  42. i also downloaded the custom effects installer. i drag a polyce file (pixel sampler) on to it. it boots and then says (9 Subscript out of range) and idea how to fix?

    Pumpus said this May 5th, 2008 at 14:22

  43. hey i read this through a fue time tryed it and still really confused on ho to do this please help me and all so can you do the same thing with illustrator brushes?

    please i feel stupied but can you make it in to a tutorial

    michael said this May 11th, 2008 at 8:18

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