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If you want to revert to an older version of Workflower, please check out the dedicated download page for older versions.

2.5 - January 16, 2025

NOW AE 25+ COMPATIBLE!

Attention: If you want to exchange your project with someone who uses Workflower 2.0.4 and/or AE 24, you have to downgrade your project beforehand. To do this, go to Settings > Layout > Convert Project to older WF/AE Version.

Added

Pre-Rendering

  • New function: Pre-Render (Win: Ctrl+F2, Mac: no default shortcut). Pre-renders the selected groups, layers, Precomp Clones & precomps. When pre-rendering group/layer, the function effectively renders group's/layer's Precomp Clone, so if there's no existing clone, it will be created. To show actual layers again, execute Show Clone Layers (Ctrl/Cmd-click on Cloning-button). For visible pre-renders to appear in your final render, set AE's Proxy Use to Current Settings in Render Settings.

  • New function: Show / Hide Pre-Render (Win: Ctrl+Alt+Space, Mac: no default shortcut / Via Main Menu: Shift-click on Pre-Render-button). Shows or hides pre-renders.

  • New function: Show / Hide Pre-Render WF Proxy (no default shortcut / Via Main Menu: Ctrl/Cmd-click on Pre-Render-button). Shows or hides WF proxies of pre-renders. To avoid confusion with After Effects' proxies, Workflower's pre-render proxies are consistently called WF Proxies, as opposed to AE Proxies. If you want to show or hide only footage AE proxies, right-click on the function button and click on Show/Hide Footage AE Proxies.

  • New function: Push Frame to Photoshop (only available via Main Menu: Alt/Option-click on Pre-Render-button). Pushes the current frame to Photoshop and imports it into After Effects' timeline.

  • New function: Mark Pre-Render State (only available via Main Menu: Right-click on Pre-Render-button, then click on Mark Pre-Render Skip State). Either marks an element to only pre-render still, or marks a group to be skipped when pre-rendering all groups.

Masking / Matting

Project Items

  • New Feature: Sort Project Items (Win: Alt+Shift+F2, Mac: no default shortcut / Via Main Menu: Alt/Option-click on Create Group-button). Sorts comps, footage, imported projects and clones in the project panel. By default, folders with label None will be excluded. Go to the Sorting Settings to customize more settings.

  • Import and directly sort files by right-clicking on the Sort Project Items-button. This function additionally offers the ability to set the framerate on EXR sequences on import when creating a layered composition.

  • New Feature: Create Project Item Folder. Right-click on the Create Group-button, then select Create Project Item Folder to create a folder from all currently selected project items (as opposed to AE's function which does NOT create a folder that contains selected items).

  • New Feature: Dissolve Project Item Folder. Right-click on the Dissolve Group-button, then select Dissolve Project Item Folder to dissolve the currently selected project item folder.

  • When right-clicking on the Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group-button, you can now access Duplicate Project Item/s too.

Layer Storing

  • New feature: Save Global Store Comp (Right-click on the Store Layers-button). Saves a Global Store Comp, meaning that the Store Comp is accessible across AE projects.

  • New feature: Load Global Store Comp (Right-click on the Paste Stored Layers-button). Loads a Global Store Comp that was previously saved via Save Global Store Comp.

  • You can now store and paste Store Comp 2 and 3 via the Main Menu: Right-click on the Store Layers-button or Paste Stored Layers-button and click Store Layer/s by ID / Paste Stored Layer/s by ID' (Previously these were only available via shortcut.)

  • You can now choose to paste stored layers to the current time indicator. This is disabled by default; enable it by going to Settings > Miscellaneous > When Pasting Stored Layers, paste to Current Time Indicator.

Layer Relationships

  • New feature: Show / Hide Layer Relationships (no default shortcut / Via Main Menu: Alt/Option+click on Refresh Layout-button). Toggles layer relationships (= layer markers representing effects referencing other layers) on and off in your current comp. Updates during Refresh Layout. (Attention: Can slow down Refresh Layout; so if too slow, only enable when needed.)

Cloning

  • New Precomp Clone type: Downwards Clone. Grabs all layers in comp downwards from the Precomp Clone layer. To use it, select the first layer, then execute Clone and Precomp and check Create Downwards Clone. To update added/removed source layers, execute Refresh Connections.

  • New function: Show and Solo Clone Layers (Win: Ctrl+Alt+Return, Mac: no default shortcut / Via Main Menu: right-click on Show Clone Layers-button).

  • When executing Show Clone Layers on a group header and the group holds a Group Clone, the clone layers will now be revealed.

  • You can now show/hide clone layers of multiple Prime Clones if selected when executing Show Clone Layers.

  • When executing Show Clone Layers with no layer selected, you can now show/hide all clone layers in comp.

  • Compatibility with sources to Advanced 3D renderer's Environment Lights in Precomp Clones. Since it's impossible to read the source information via scripting, you'll have to re-select the source on the Environment Source layer created by Workflower upon cloning. Afterwards, execute Refresh Connections to include the source in the clone.

  • Quick Refresh Connections will now take Compositing Options on true 3D objects in the Advanced 3D renderer into account.

  • Ability to choose not to link properties via expressions upon creating a Precomp Clone.

  • Greatly improved the speed when creating & refreshing Precomp Clones that contain layers with AE's Paint effect.

  • During Refresh Layout, names of Precomp Clones in the project panel will now automatically inherit the Precomp Clone layer name as well as always indicate the Precomp Clone layer's containing comp with the suffix (in '[COMP]').

  • The icon for a Prime Clone showing its layers can now be displayed as a marker instead of within the layer name. (On Windows, enabled by default. On Mac, has to be enabled in the Icons settings.) This increases performance on showing/hiding and reduces the risk of expression errors originating from the clone.

Precomposing

  • When using Workflower's Precompose, ability to update all layer references in expressions within the entire project to new comp. Works in every precompose or unprecompose action.

  • On the Precompose dialog, you can now quickly preprend the current comp name to the precomp name and more.

  • When using Workflower's Precompose, ability to set the start timecode of a new precomp to a specific frame (instead of only to zero).

  • Ability to precompose multiple groups in Workflower's Precompose. Advanced precompose features for this function are disabled (except for updating expressions).

  • Ability to precompose all layers in comp. With no layer selected, hit Workflower's Precompose. Advanced precompose features for this function are disabled (except for updating expressions).

  • Ability to precompose your current comp. With no layer selected, hit Workflower's Precompose.

  • Ability to unprecompose all precomps in your current comp. With no layer selected, simply hit Workflower's Precompose. (As of now, does not take precomp's transforms into account.)

  • Rig Multi-Pass Layers from Precomp now has been officially implemented. With a precomp layer selected, hit Workflower's Precompose to access it.

Control Creation

  • New feature: Create Control (only available via Main Menu: Alt/Option+click on Parent Layers to Group-button). With layer/s selected, creates a null & parents layers to it.

  • Ability to create a null control layer to a point control property: Execute Create Control while a point control property is selected.

  • Ability to create a transform control layer to a layer: Execute Create Control while the layer's transform property is selected.

Miscellaneous

  • Compatibility with AE's new Spectrum UI. IMPORTANT: Due to AE using a different font in the Spectrum UI, Workflower now has to use regular characters as icons in its layer names on both Windows and Mac (previously this was only necessary on Mac). Check out the user guide on Unavailable Characters for more information.

  • New feature: Reveal Project File (via Main Menu: right-click on empty space, then click on Reveal Project File). Reveals the current project file in the file explorer/finder.

  • You can now trim all layers in comp to work area duration by executing Trim Layer to Layer with no layer selected. (Function doesn't extend trims.)

  • New function: Push Comp to Premiere (only available via Main Menu: Right-click on Push Frame to Photoshop-button, then click on Push Comp to Premiere). Pushes the active comp or the currently selected project panel items to Premiere Pro via Dynamic Link.

  • Added KBar functions for new Workflower functions: 'showLayerRelationships', 'sortProjectItems', 'showAndSoloCloneLayers', 'showMoveIndicator', 'preRender', 'showHidePreRender', 'showHidePreRenderWFProxy', 'pushFrameToPhotoshop', 'markPreRenderState', 'saveGlobalStoreComp', 'loadGlobalStoreComp', 'storeLayersByID', 'pasteLayersByID', 'revealProjectFile', 'createControl'

  • New API function: wfAPI.kbarExecute('functionName'). Similar to wfAPI.execute() but allows to execute a single Workflower function through KBar's Add Scriptlet feature. If you want to call multiple commands, however, check out the user guide section on the function. (Please note: wfAPI.kbarExecute() always creates Workflower undo groups.)

  • Updated to aescripts licensing framework 4.3.1.

Changed

  • IMPORTANT: To make room for the new pre-render functions on the main menu, Precompose has been moved behind the Create Group button (Ctrl/Cmd-click to access it).

  • To improve performance when frequently showing/hiding layers of a Prime Clone, connections will now not be refreshed on hiding. (Can be re-enabled in the Cloning settings.)

  • When refreshing connections of a Precomp Clone that shares the same clone comp with a Precomp Clone in another comp, the Precomp Clone in the current comp will now get a new clone comp (instead of the Precomp Clone in the other comp). Additionally, the Dependent Clones within the other comp will now refer to the Precomp Clone in their comp.

  • Relabel Layer/s has been renamed to Relabel Layer / Group / Keyframe to better reflect its functionality. Additionally, on the shortcuts panel, it has been moved to the Groups category.

  • Create Matte has been renamed to Create Matte / Mask to better reflect its functionality.

  • Add / Remove Layer References has been renamed to Add / Remove Layer / Mask References to better reflect its functionality.

  • When you duplicate a regular layer with Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group and the original layer is contained in a regular Linked Adjustment Layer, the duplicated layer is now added automatically to the Linked Adjustment Layer too. You can disable this feature under Settings > Adjustment Layers.

  • Linked Adjustment Layers will now only be set inactive when the layer is disabled; not when it's not solo'd while other layers are solo'ing. This only applies to newly created/refreshed Linked Adjustment Layers, not those created in older Workflower versions. To return to the way it used to behave, go to Settings > Adjustment Layers and enable Set Linked Adjustments inactive when not solo'd while other Layers are solo'ing.

  • When grouping multiple layers, the lowest layer name will now be suggested as the group's name by default (can be disabled in the Naming Settings).

  • When precomposing, the suffix 'Comp' will now not be added to the suggested precomp name by default (can be enabled in the Naming Settings).

  • The default Renaming Mode Preference of Rename Layer/s has been changed to Remember Choice.

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug in Refresh Layout that could slow down the function by 2x or sometimes even more when the comp contained Precomp Clones.

  • Fixed a bug in Create Matte that sometimes caused a matte created from a Set Matte effect (or any other effect) to jump to an incorrect position when the base layer didn't have comp dimensions or Collapse Transformation enabled.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Convert Property to Comp Size to work on degrees properties when the After Effects language was anything other than English.

  • Fixed a bug that would falsely remove Ambient and Environment lights from a Precomp Clone during Quick Refresh Connections.

  • Fixed a bug on Mac that would not allow to flip through naming levels on the Rename Layer/s panel properly. However, it's still important to let go of the shortcut immediately after pressing it to avoid flipping through the next naming levels.

  • Fixed a bug in Quick Refresh Connections that would incorrectly use regular Refresh Connections when the Precomp Clone comp was stored in a Store Comp.

  • Fixed the WQ plug-in issue message on Mac to reflect the settings dialog on newer Mac OS systems.

  • The WQ plug-in launch error on Mac will now not be triggered anymore on Workflower updates. (It may, however, still happen on the first installation.)

  • Fixed a bug that would sometimes not switch the view from Source Name to Layer Name on a comp where Workflower was first executed on.

  • Fixed a bug on Mac that would cause AE to freeze when a folder was opened in the Finder from within Workflower and the folder path contained special characters.

  • Fixed a bug on Mac that would sometimes not display the correct label colors on Workflower's panels when you've had AE installed in more than 1 language.

  • Fixed a bug that would not properly close all opened comps when updating all comps within the project.

  • Fixed a bug when using a Precomp Clone that would sometimes not link layers with Element 3D effect applied properly.

  • Fix for local license activation when license server is configured.

  • Fix for -38 license deactivation error.

  • Fix for -6 activation error.

Tutorial for v2.5 is Coming!

I’m currently tied up with other projects and haven’t had a chance to create a video tutorial yet, but I’ve heard your feedback, and it’s on my radar. While I can’t promise a timeline, I’ll do my best to get to it when I can.

In the meantime, please refer to the user guide for detailed instructions.

2.0.4 - January 15, 2024

Added

  • Full compatibility with the new Advanced 3D renderer, introduced in AE 24.1.

  • Rename Layers by Number lets you now define by what increment you want to renumber as well as to keep a certain suffix. To do this, go to Settings > Naming > When executing Rename Layers by Number:.

  • Rename Layers by Number now also works on project panel items. Make sure to have no layer in your current comp selected, then select your project panel items and execute 'Rename Layers by Number'. IMPORTANT: This will only work when you execute the function from the menu (not via shortcut).

  • You can now duplicate project panel items by selecting them and executing Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group. When you duplicate a comp, it will open the timeline of the duplicated comp and make all its Precomp Clones independent. IMPORTANT: This will only work when you execute the function from the menu (not via shortcut) AND you don't have any layers in your currently active comp selected (otherwise Workflower will duplicate the selected layers)!

  • When executing Paste Stored Layers while Precomp Clones are within the selection, Workflower will now create unique Precomp Clones and potentially update contained Dependent Clones to the new clone comp. Check out the user guide on Using a Precomp Clone in another Comp for more information.

  • Clones and Stored Layers folders in the project panel will now be identified solely by their name and not their item comment. This makes Workflower compatible with add-ons that rely on folder item comments (like Pro IO).

  • [Beta feature]: It's now possible to add layer comments without Workflower overwriting them. This also makes Workflower compatible with a variety of add-ons that rely on writing/reading data to/from the layer comments (like Flatten Layers or AutoSway). Workflower achieves this by saving its data to a layer marker when a non-Workflower layer comment is added. Do not remove this marker! Using non-Workflower layer comments can reduce performance of Workflower functions, so it's recommended to use as few as possible. To return to Workflower using layer comments in order to store data, just put in an empty string into the layer comment and execute any Workflower function. Since this feature is still in beta, you have to enable it under Settings > Layout > Allow External Layer Comments.

  • When right-clicking on some functions on the Main Menu (like matting-, cloning- or naming-functions), you can now access the dedicated settings page directly.

  • You can now quickly access the Convert all Comps to another Layout function by right-clicking on empty space on the ScriptUI panel and choosing Export/Import Project.

  • When an error occurs, you can now send a support ticket on the spot, directing you to a pre-populated contact form.

  • When you execute a function that requires an active comp and there is no active comp, you will now get an error.

  • Added the function wfAPI.refeshLayouts(comps[, doNotLabelLayersOutsideToNone]) to the scripting API. This allows you to refresh the layout of several comps at once, making the overall execution faster.

  • Added the functions wfAPI.isInTagID(layer, tagID) and wfAPI.isInTagName(layer, tagName) to the scripting API. This checks whether a given layer is within a tag group with either a certain ID (0 - 16) or name.

Changed

  • When Refresh Layout or Rename Layers by Number renumber layer names, Workflower now doesn't add a space between the original name and the new number when the last character is a '0' or a symbol like '_'.

  • When you execute Rename Layers by Number, Workflower now will try to find a unique name for each selected name after the entire renaming process took place.

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug when executing Reveal Layer Opacity that would falsely reveal other properties on a layer.

  • Fixed a bug that occurred when showing/hiding Prime Clone layers and properties on a layer's effect were hidden (e.g. in certain circumstances on Element 3D and others).

  • Fixed a bug that would occur during Refresh Layout after a Precomp Clone was moved in time and its keyframes became negative.

2.0.3 - November 4, 2023

Added

  • Compatibility with After Effects 2024.

  • The Layer Tagging panels now feature buttons that let you switch between Tagging and Performing.

  • You can now apply keyboard shortcuts to Trim Layer to Keyframes and Trim Layer to Layer.

  • When moving Precomp Clone layers in time and executing Refresh Layout, the keyframes on the Precomp Clone layer will now stay exactly where they used to be relative to comp time.

  • Unless a TTT marker has been added, Dependent Clones will now adjust during 'Refresh Layout' to the in/out of their contained layers too. When executing Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group, a TTT marker will be added automatically to the Dependent Clone (you may change this behavior in the Cloning Settings). Remove the marker to make use of the automatic trimming. Since the automatic adjustment of a Dependent Clones' in/out point would break legacy comps, a trim exception will be added to all Dependent Clones upon executing any Workflower function on any comp created with Workflower v2.0.2 and lower.

  • The speed when using Add / Remove Layer References while having two layers selected in order to set an effect layer control dropdown has been improved.

  • Ability to limit the calculation of the layer size/s during cropping in Precompose to comp size (enabled by default). This will speed things up when you know that the layers to be precomposed are within the bounds of the current comp. When layers stretch beyond the comp size, please disable this checkbox.

  • Added the parameter doNotLabelLayersOutsideToNone to Refresh Layout in the scripting API. Call it like this: wfAPI.refreshLayout([comp, doNotLabelLayersOutsideToNone]). This sets the current comp to not label layers outside groups to None. Default is false.

Changed

  • To make room for the new shortcuts on the shortcuts panel UI, Store Layers 4 and Paste Stored Layers 4 have been removed. You can still access these functions using KBar.

  • When duplicating groups or layers using Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group and the group/selection contains Precomp Clones as well as corresponding Dependent Clones, the source comp of the duplicated Dependent Clones will now be set to the duplicated Precomp Clone source comp.

  • When creating a Group Clone and NOT choosing Prime Clone, the created Precomp Clone will now be disabled by default since the clone will generally only be used to be referenced by an effect or a Dependent Clone of it will be the layer that's actually visible.

  • When performing Toggle Motion Blur on a Tag Group, and a contained layer holds a motion blur effect (Pixel Motion Blur, RSMB, etc.), the layer's motion blur switch will now be toggled on/off too in addition to the effect.

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug that would prevent Essential Properties of the same type (e.g. text) from being referenced properly in a Precomp Clone.

  • Fixed a bug that could occur when trying to unprecompose layers in certain situations (e.g. when the precomp was within a Group Matte).

  • Fixed a bug that would additionally precompose the Group Matte layer when a layer within a group with Group Matte was precomposed.

  • Fixed a bug that would occur when creating a group with the new Advanced 3D renderer selected in AE's beta.

  • Fixed a bug that could create a Missing Font error upon reopening a project file created with Workflower.

  • Fixed a bug that would accidentally execute some functions twice when executed from the ScriptUI Panel.

  • Fixed a bug that would use a wrong date naming format for log files.

  • Fixed a bug that could falsely create a mov file titled [WF] Interpretation Reference in the project panel when opening Workflower's settings.

2.0.2 - June 30, 2023

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug that would generate an error after applying a layer name using Rename Layer/s.

  • Fixed a bug that would create an expression error on a text layer's Source Text property in a Precomp Clone.

2.0.1 - June 26, 2023

Added

  • The ScriptUI Panel now uses smaller buttons by default. To revert back to larger buttons, right-click on any button and select Use Large Buttons.

  • On the ScriptUI Panel, center-clicking on empty space will now execute Refresh Layout.

  • [WF beta feature:] Compatibility with proper 3D objects (GLB, OBJ) using the Mercury 3D renderer in AE's beta. Since those objects can't contain effects, no effects will be added when the layer is a Group Opacity Layer, Prime Clone Layer, Clone in Comp Base or Matte Layer. Instead, control the opacity of a Group Opacity Layer by clicking on the original opacity property; Control the Prime Clone Layer opacity from the Custom Opacity Slider on the layer's corresponding effect on the Precomp Clone; Control the Clone in Comp properties from the clone itself; Control the Matte Layer properties from the Matte Merge Layer Effect. Also: Mercury 3D objects can't set track mattes, therefore, when adding a Group Matte, you might want to create a Prime Clone of your contained Mercury 3D objects first before creating the Group Matte.

  • [WF beta feature:] Ability to change the comp's renderer from Mercury 3D to Classic 3D after having created a Prime Clone containing Mercury 3D objects in AE's beta. When you execute Refresh Connections on a clone that contains Mercury 3D objects, the clone's renderer will be always set to Mercury 3D regardless of the source comp's renderer. This enables you to work with proper 3D objects while being able to use blend modes, track mattes, etc. on non-Mercury 3D layers in your comp.

  • When re-assigning a Tag Group and the newly selected Tag Group already contains layers, you can now choose to either merge or swap both Tag Groups.

  • On Workflower's shortcuts panel, you now have the ability to export and import shortcuts to/from a txt file.

  • You can now assign shortcuts that contain the Tab key on Workflower's shortcuts panel.

Changed

  • When merging while re-assigning a Tag Group, the newly merged Tag Group will now always take on the name of the tag that it was re-assigned to.

Fixed

  • Since AE will display scripting progress bars as of 23.5, Workflower will now disable them automatically during Workflower's execution on Windows, and guide you to disable them on Mac. (The automatic disabling mechanism seems to fail on Mac at the moment. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the future.)

  • Circumvented permissions issues that could prevent shortcuts slots from being installed on Mac. Now, an alternative method to install the slots will be used when the original one fails.

  • Fixed a bug on Mac or when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows that prevented the user, in certain circumstances, to be informed correctly to set a shortcut for the Main Menu when there was none.

2.0 - May 12, 2023

FINALLY AE 23/24+ COMPATIBLE!

Attention: If you work in AE 22 (no matter whether you use Workflower v2 or v1 in it) and you want to open up a project that was created in AE 23/24 + Workflower v2, you have to downgrade that project beforehand. To do this, go to Settings > Layout > Convert Project to older WF/AE Version.

Added

ScriptUI Panel

  • Option to use Workflower's Main Menu as a ScriptUI Panel. Install Workflower ScriptUI Panel.jsxbin into AE's ScriptUI Panels folder. Please note that it is still mandatory to additionally have --- Workflower ---.jsxbin installed in AE's Scripts folder.

Matting

  • All matting tools (creating single/multi-layer mattes, creating Group Mattes & merging mattes) now conform to AE's new Selectable Track Matte system (introduced in AE 23). Especially Group Mattes benefit significantly, making them many times faster. When, within a Group Matte, existing track mattes have to be merged or you reference another matte layer (like the group header), an Intermediate Matte Merge (Inter-Merge) has to be added above the Group Matte Layer that is being used as track matte for group layers. Read the updated user guide chapter on matting for more information.

  • If you create a Matted Adjustment Layer to a single Layer in AE 23 and up, an adjustment layer with a track matte set to the selected layer will be created (instead of an additional clone).

  • When you execute Create Matte on a single layer while having a Set Matte effect on the layer selected, now the created matte layer will not be used as a track matte but the Set Matte layer control will be set to the new matte layer instead. This also works for other effects too, e.g. to create to depth map layer to a Camera Lens Blur effect. Please read the user guide chapter on Matting for more information.

  • Invisible Mattes now display the icon ‡ for easier detection of the layer type.

  • Matte Clone Collection Groups will now get deleted if there are no clones within anymore upon executing Merge Mattes.

Relabeling

  • Using Relabel Layer/s, you can now affect keyframe label colors, too (introduced in AE 22.6). Instead of layers, select keyframes and execute Relabel Layer/s.

  • When keyframes are transferred (for example when Workflower adds a special opacity slider to apply group opacity), keyframe label colors are now transferred as well.

  • Now, when you have keyframes selected and you execute Select Group, all keyframes of the selected label color will be selected.

  • When using the relabel panel with keyframes selected and you hold down Ctrl+Alt (Win) / Cmd+Opt (Mac) while clicking on a label color, all keyframes in the current comp with the old label color old the selected keyframe will change to the new one.

  • On the relabel panel, you can now press keyboard shortcuts to quickly apply label colors (0 - 9, A - G).

Learning

  • Extended tooltips with additional info when hovering over function buttons. You can also disable the extended tooltips under the Miscellaneous settings tab.

  • Ability to disable any kind of tooltip on the 'Main Menu'. To do this, go to the Miscellaneous settings tab.

  • When first executing certain functions (like creating a group), Workflower will now display useful tips about the functions.

  • When you right-click on any function in the Main Menu, a menu will open with links to the user guide and video tutorial chapter on the function.

Layer Tagging

  • New functions: Tag / Untag Layer/s & Perform Action on Tagged Layer/s. Tag layers and groups with a specified label color by using the Tag / Untag Layer/s panel. Afterwards, use Perform Action on Tagged Layer/s to execute any of these actions on them: activating (= enable & solo if necessary), selecting, enabling, soloing, locking, toggling effects, toggling motion blur & jumping to the top-most layer of a Tag Group.

  • New functions: Activate / Deactivate Tag Group 1 / 2 / 3: (De)activate Tag Group 1, 2 or 3 quickly without the need for first opening up the Perform Action on Tagged Layer/s panel. Activate / Deactivate Tag Group 3 is only available via shortcut.

Group Functions

Trimming

  • New function: Trim Layer to Keyframes (Ctrl/Cmd+click on Paste Stored Layers button / Not available via shortcut).

  • New function: Trim Layer to Layer (Alt/Option+click on Paste Stored Layers button / Not available via shortcut). With two layers selected, trims 2nd to 1st selected layer. With more than two layers selected, either trims to 1st layer, or trims 1st layer to other layers.

Precomposing

  • When using Workflower's Precompose while having multiple layers selected, you now have the option to create a precomp for each selected clip.

  • When using Workflower's Precompose and having checked Adjust Composition to the Time Span of the Selected Layers, you can now add handles before and after the precomposed clip/s.

  • When using Workflower's Precompose, you now have the option to choose Leave only Transform Attributes if you have a single layer with a source item.

  • When using Workflower's Precompose with Leave all/only Transform Attributes checked, you can now choose to Adjust Composition to the Time Span of the Selected Layers too.

  • When executing Precompose while having a precomp layer selected, you can choose to rig multi-pass layers from the precomp's contained layers (still experimental!).

Naming

  • When you execute Rename Layer/s while having a layer property selected, the selected layer will now be renamed to the property name, e.g. to the selected mask name. (Please note that this is disabled by default. Enable it by going to Settings > Naming > When Property is selected while executing 'Rename Layer/s', rename Layer to it.)

  • Group elements (Group Mattes, Group Inter-Merges, Group Adjustment Layers and Group Clones) will be renamed to their group header name automatically within Refresh Layout. You can also deactivate this in the Naming Settings.

  • Matte Merge layers will be renamed to their matted layer name automatically within Refresh Layout. You can also deactivate this in the Naming Settings.

KBar Integration

  • Now you can execute every Workflower function from KBar. (4 previously not available functions were added + 7 functions introduced in v2.0.) Check out the user guide chapter on Installation for more.

  • When installing a WF KBar Toolbar from the Layout Settings, the buttons will now be installed without modifier keys.

Miscellaneous

  • When you execute Reveal Layer Opacity while having properties selected, all contained properties with an opacity will now be revealed too (e.g. clone stroke opacity properties when having the Paint effect selected).

  • When using Add / Remove Layer References and the 1st selected layer has properties selected that contain a layer control (e.g. Set Matte effect) & only 2 layers in total are selected, the function now sets the layer control to the 2nd layer (regardless of whether it's a Precomp Clone, Matte Merge Layer, or Linked Adjustment Layer).

  • Upon executing Preview Custom Clone Size, the Precomp Size of the Precomp Clone will now be automatically set to Custom Size.

  • In the Cloning Settings, you now have the ability to turn off automatic Refresh Connections of Precomp Clones that happen within various functions, e.g. when executing Parent Layers to Group, clones will be generally updated to the new parent. However, this can slow down the execution of these functions significantly when working with larger clones and thereby hinder your workflow. When turned off, you will have to execute Refresh Connections yourself to update these clones.

  • Functions have been updated to work when AE's new Mercury 3D renderer is active.

  • Workflower now has its own scripting API in beta. Please be aware that the API is experimental at the moment and has to be used with caution! Some functions might not work as expected. Read the user guide on the Scripting API for more information.

System

  • Updated to AEScripts licensing framework 4.1.4.

  • Improved support and better error messaging for online activation.

  • When checkboxes hold a tooltip with additional info, the icon [ ? ] will now indicate this.

  • Workflower will now remember the last position of a borderless panel separately when executed from ScriptUI Panel / KBar and when executed via a shortcut.

Changed

System

  • IMPORTANT (Win only): Due to AE now occupying Shift+J & Shift+K, the default shortcut for Parent Layers to Group has been changed to Ctrl+Alt+3 & for Set Parent Exception Layer to Ctrl+Alt+Shift+3.

  • (Win only in AE 22 and below): Due to Activate / Deactivate Tag Group 2 now occupying Alt+F5, the default shortcut for Unshy Layers has been changed to Alt+9.

  • Due to great usage, Delete Layer / Clone / Group has been moved on the Main Menu to the spot of Ungroup Layer/s so that you don't have to a press modifier key to access it. Now press Shift to access Ungroup Layer/s & Ctrl/Cmd to access Dissolve Group.

  • Relabel Layer/s has been moved on the Main Menu to the Groups category since it's mainly used for group relabeling.

  • Precompose has been moved on the Main Menu to the Layer category.

  • Delete Layer / Clone / Group has been moved on the shortcuts panel from the Layers to the Groups functions section since it's mainly used for groups.

  • Duplicate Group has been renamed to Duplicate Layer / Clone / Group to better reflect its functionality.

  • System-related settings have been moved from the Miscellaneous settings tab to the new System tab.

  • Logging is now enabled by default in order to make troubleshooting easier.

  • Made online activation period more graceful.

Group & Layer Functions

  • For improved visual clarity, sub-group headers will now NOT display the extra icon (Win: └ / Mac: >) left to the expanded/collapsed icon in Indented Layout.

  • Automatic trimming of regular track mattes to matted layers is now disabled by default since it sometimes resulted in confusing automatic trims. (Re-enable it by going to the Trimming Settings.)

  • The clone border expansion of Clones in Comp will now be set to 0% by default.

  • The experimental option to combine track mattes on one layer when merging mattes has been removed due to low usage.

Fixed

System

  • Fixed a bug that would cause a JSON.parse error.

  • Fixed error in alert to open After Effects preferences to allow scripts to access network.

  • Fixed a bug that caused Workflower not to find AE's shortcut file if you only had a major AE version installed whose version number had three digits.

Group & Layer Functions

  • Fixed a bug when using Workflower's Precompose that would shift a precomposed layer's position if it were parented to a layer outside of the selection.

  • Fixed a bug when using Workflower's Precompose that would not set the created precomp to the correct length if Leave all Attributes was checked.

  • Fixed a bug that would copy group-less layers in the wrong order to the clipboard after selecting all comp layers using Select Group without any layer selected.

  • Fixed a bug when using Delete Layer / Clone / Group that would cause layers to shift position if they were parented to deleted layer.

  • Fixed a bug that would throw an error while refreshing Group Mattes when a Matte Merge layer was the first layer within the comp.

  • Fixed a bug within Store Layers that prevented a group from being copied into a Store Comp when only the group header was selected.

  • Fixed issues that occurred when you executed Workflower on a comp with existing non-Workflower layer comments which could have caused Workflower to malfunction. Now, all existing layer comments will be deleted by Workflower beforehand.

  • Fixed a bug that would cause AE to crash if illegal group header/footer constellations existed. Workflower will now exit the execution to prevent the crash and give instructions on how to fix the comp structure.

  • Fixed a bug that would falsely remove the Group || Settings effect when converting all comps to another layout and enabling Remove all Layer/Comp Comments.

  • Fixed a bug that would falsely add a Group Opacity slider to a disabled track matte within a disabled group.

1.1.4 - May 26, 2022

Added

  • If you separate position dimensions by default (introduced in AE 22.4), group headers as well as other Workflower layers will now separate dimensions too.

  • When you use Store Layers and Paste Stored Layers, layer references in effects will now be retained.

Changed

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug that prevented the check within Refresh Layout whether Group Adjustment Layers need to be refreshed to work in certain circumstances.

  • Fixed a bug that would prevent entire groups to be pasted using Paste Stored Layers.

  • Fixed a bug that would falsely parent a Clone in Comp, created from a layer with Collapse Transformation, within a parented group.

  • Fixed a bug that would not precompose a layer while leaving all attributes in the comp when the layer contained a sampleImage() expression.

1.1.3 - May 15, 2022

Added

Changed

  • When opening Workflower for the first time, the user will now be asked whether they want to label layers outside groups to None.

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug on Mac or when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows that would not set the shortcut slots to the correct value when entering the shortcuts panel for the first time.

1.1.2 - May 4, 2022

Added

  • When you Un-Precompose layers, you can now choose to adjust transforms of the un-precomposed layers to the transforms of the precomp layer.

Fixed

  • Fixed a bug that removed all parents within a group when unparenting a group.

1.1.1 - April 17, 2022

Added

  • When you create a Linked Adjustment Layer and one of your selected layers has currently selected effects, those effects will now be cut from the layer and pasted to the Linked Adjustment Layer.

Fixed

  • Fixed issues that occurred after updating to a new AE version. Workflower will now inform you correctly to go to the Workflower shortcuts panel to apply shortcuts for the new version.

  • If you updated to v1.1 from an earlier version, the default of Trim Matte Merges with only Group Matte FXs to Matted Layer has been incorrectly set to off. This will now be set to on.

  • If you have a duplicate file of Workflower within the ScriptUI Panels folder (either in the system or user folder), Workflower will now inform you to remove the file. (Otherwise, the script won't work.)

1.1 - April 1, 2022

ATTENTION: Projects created in v1.1 or newer are not fully backwards-compatible!

You can open up older projects with v1.1 but when you're switching back to v1.0.6 or older and you try to open up a project created with v1.1 or newer, you will have to downgrade your project beforehand. To do this, go to Settings > Layout > Convert Project to older WF Version.

Added

Speed Improvements

New Group Functions

  • Ability to use Group Opacity and Layers respect Group In/Out. Once you enable Group Opacity, Workflower will add an expression to the opacity of the layers and it will add a special opacity slider effect to all group layers as it does with Prime Clone layers. Execute Reveal Layer Opacity to reveal the slider in the timeline.

  • Ability to add masks to a group header. When you draw a mask on the group header and you execute Refresh Connections, a Group Matte linked to the group header will be applied to all layers. However, it will only consider the masks, not the effects of the group header. (The border size of the group header will be set to comp size. You can change the size by going to the layer's Contents > Border > Fill > Size.) If you remove the mask/s from your group header, it will turn back to the default group header size.

  • Ability to add effects to a group header. When you apply effects to the group header and you execute Refresh Connections, a Group Linked Adjustment Layer will be created which will consider the effects of the group header in addition to its own effects.

  • When you create a group with Parent Layers to Group enabled, the group header will now be set at the average position of the contained layers' anchor points.

  • New function: Center Group Header. Moves the header to the average position of all group layers' anchor points. (That way you can center the group header at any point, even after having created the group.)

  • On the Create Group dialog, you can now choose a group label color.

  • Ability to create an empty group. With no layer selected, execute Create Group.

Automatic Trimming

Matting

  • Ability to shy Matte Merge layers that only contain Group Matte effects (Shy Mattes). Select any of the group layers and execute Select Group to select the corresponding Shy Mattes too. If enabled (under Settings > Matting), all shy'd layers will then be unshy'd temporarily. Now move your layers and the next time you execute Refresh Layout, all Shy Mattes will be shy'd again.

  • New function: Unshy Layers. Only available via shortcut (Win: Alt+F5, Mac: no default shortcut). Temporarily unshy's all Shy Mattes until the next time you execute Refresh Layout. Useful when you, for example, want to move a layer without existing Group Matte into a group with Group Matte and you want to be able to easily place the layer at the correct position.

Precomposing

  • New function: Precompose. A replacement for AE's Pre-compose with additional options. Using this function, you can convert a group to a precomp and vice versa too. When doing this, you can also convert transforms, Group Mattes, and Group Linked Adjustment Layers so that the precomp layer/group will inherit these attributes.

Connections

  • When you add/remove a layer to/from a group, Group Mattes and group effects will now be added/removed when executing Refresh Layout without the need for executing Refresh Connections afterward anymore. (You can also deactivate this behavior under Settings > Matting or Settings > Adjustment Layers since it might slow Refresh Layout down when dealing with a lot of layers.)

  • When you're unlinking a Precomp Clone or Linked Adjustment Layer where source properties have expressions applied to them, you can now automatically convert all expressions to keyframes on the cloned/linked layer to improve performance. (You need to enable this feature under the Cloning or Adjustment Layer Settings.)

Duplicate Group (& Layers)

  • An advanced way to duplicate groups and layers. For example, all effects that reference other selected layers will be updated to their duplicates, as well as a more straightforward naming of the duplicates and an automated way of updating Group Mattes and Group Adjustment Layers to the duplicated group.

  • If you don't have a group header selected, Duplicate Group will now duplicate only the selected layers (not the group) with the advanced features mentioned above.

  • When duplicating a group, the duplicated group will now get a new label color.

Layout & Naming

Miscellaneous

  • New function: Expand / Collapse all Sub-Groups.

  • You can now create Clones in Comp from shape and text layers as well as from comps that have collapse transformation enabled, too.

  • When you're creating a group with a lot of layers, or you're toggling between layout styles in a larger comp (40+ layers), a progress bar will now indicate how long it will take until the action is complete.

  • Ability to create a KBar button to directly label the selected group/layer with a specific color. Simply pass the label ID as an argument in the function, e.g. to label with the 3rd color, write: relabelLayers(3)

System & Shortcuts

  • On Workflower's shortcuts panel, you can now reset a single function to its default shortcut by Shift+Clicking on Edit.

  • Option to simulate an enter press to skip the AE panel after applying Workflower shortcuts. (You need to enable this by going to Settings > Miscellaneous.)

  • On Windows, you now have the option to select a different method of how Workflower determines the current mouse position. Go to Settings > Miscellaneous and set Mouse Position Calculation to External File (Advanced). (This has been added because some people experienced issues with dialogs not coming up which happens due to the fact that the mouse position calculation fails.)

  • Ability to log Workflower activity. To enable it, go to Settings > License & Help > Enable Logging or create a file named "wf_enable_log.txt" (without quotation marks) in your Documents user folder if you cannot access the settings dialog. In case you encounter issues and you contact customer support, you might want to include your latest logfile (to be found under ~Documents/Adobe/Workflower/Logging).

  • Ability to disable the update check from outside of the script. Useful since there are rare instances when the update check prevents the script from being opened. In these cases, please add a file named "wf_disable_update_check.txt" (without quotation marks) in your 'Documents' user folder and start the script again.

  • Updated to AEScripts licensing framework v4.0.3.

Changed

Group Functions

  • When you release a layer from a parented group and you execute Refresh Layout, the parent will now be removed from the layer.

  • Now you can have any group layer selected to execute Select Group. This does not apply when you have a group layer and a group header that is contained in the same group selected. The other exception is when the selected layer has a Shy Matte above. (In that case, only the Shy Matte will be selected).

  • When you execute Ungroup Layer/s while a group header at the highest level is selected, the group will now be moved after the next group at the highest level (instead of dissolving the group).

  • You can now delete a Group Matte layer and then execute Refresh Layout and all Matte Merge layers with Group Matte effects will be removed. (Before, the only option was to select the group header and execute Create Matte to remove the layers.)

  • When you duplicate a group, only the duplicated group header will now be selected (instead of the whole group).

Groups in 3D Space

  • When a group header is 3D, the shy'd layer above the group which exists to display potential group error messages will now be disabled. That way, 3D space is retained and layers across different groups can intersect. Potential group error messages will still be displayed but only the shy'd layer above the topmost 2D group header will be used for that.

  • When you create a Group Matte or Group Linked Adjustment Layer on a group header that is 3D, they will be turned into 3D as well by default so that 3D space is retained beyond the Group Matte and Adjustment Layer.

Precomp Clones

  • When you execute Refresh Connections on a duplicated Precomp Clone layer, now the duplicated Precomp Clone layer (or more precisely: the selected layer) will get a fresh clone comp while the non-selected Precomp Clone keeps the existing clone comp.

  • When you move a Group Clone out of its group and you execute Refresh Connections on it, it will now be turned into a regular Precomp Clone.

Matte Merging

System & Shortcuts

  • When you open a project that was created with an earlier version or on another OS, you will now be informed and you can choose to update all comps in the project to the current version/OS.

  • On Mac or when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows, when you have a reduced number of shortcuts and you click Reset to Default on Workflower's shortcuts panel, shortcuts will now be applied by priority (not by index).

  • On Mac or when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows, two new default shortcuts have been added: Precompose (Win: Alt+F3, Mac: macControl+C) and Ungroup Layer/s (Win+Mac: Shift+H). To make room for those, Clone in Comp and Store Layers 1 have been removed from the list of functions with default shortcuts.

Fixed

Group & Layer Functions

System

  • On Windows, when you use multiple monitors with different DPI scalings, panels that appear at mouse position, now come up at the correct position. (For this to work properly, you need to disable Warn User when Executing Files in AE's Scripting & Expressions preferences because Workflower has to execute a file at startup to check the different monitor scalings.)

  • Fixed ExtComms error handling.

1.0.6 - February 19, 2022

Added

  • Updated licensing framework.

  • On Mac, when pressing a modifier key on the Main Menu, new icons for the additional functions will now be revealed. (Unfortunately, this will only happen once you move the mouse.)

  • Slightly improved the speed of Refresh Layout. (In the upcoming v1.1, the speed of Refresh Layout will be improved by at least 4x.)

Fixed

  • Fixed issues when the user folder and/or AE shortcut file couldn't be found. Sometimes, this could have prevented the user from opening the script and/or reduced performance when executing functions.

  • Fixed issues that occurred when shortcuts with a combination of Shift+Alt/Option+Key were applied.

  • Greatly reduced the number of times you could get the No corresponding Function found error message.

  • On Windows, when you use a scaled monitor resolution, panels that appear at mouse position, now come up at the correct position. (Unfortunately, Workflower will only take the scaling of the primary monitor into account. This will be fixed in the upcoming v1.1.)

  • Fixed a bug on Mac that would cause panels that are supposed to appear at mouse position not to come up when multiple monitors with custom scalings were used.

  • If dialogs that are supposed to appear at mouse position do not come up because the calculation of the mouse position fails, Workflower will now inform the user to restart AE, and if it doesn't help, to change the Position of Borderless Dialogs to At Last Position.

  • On Mac or when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows, when no shortcut has been applied to the Main Menu, the user will now be informed to add a shortcut. (Otherwise, the script won't work.)

  • Fixed issues that caused the automatic update check to get disabled by accident.

  • Fixed a bug when using Individual Scripts Mode on Windows that would prevent shortcut slots from being updated correctly if the shortcuts panel wasn't accessed via the Main Menu.

1.0.5 - October 23, 2021

Added

Changed

  • When you create a group that contains 3D layers and that is supposed to parent the layers, the group header will now automatically be turned into 3D.

  • Store Comps now don't depend anymore on staying within the Stored Layers folder in the project panel. Useful when working with a tool like Declutter that will overwrite the current folder structure.

Fixed

  • On Mac, when Indent Layers Outside Groups to Fit AE Icons is deactivated, no space will now be added in front of group-less layer names.

  • Linked Adjustment Layers now resize if the comp size has been changed.

  • Fixed a bug that would occur if layers of a Prime Clone were shown and a layer was renamed using Workflower's renaming tool. (The expression on the opacity of the Prime Clone used to then contain undefined.)

1.0.4 - September 10, 2021

Added

Changed

  • Matte Merge layers now resize automatically if the comp size has been changed.

  • A more robust updating process for shortcut slots on Mac and Individual Scripts Mode on Windows. There's no need anymore to go to the shortcuts panel yourself. Also, if the update wasn't successful, Workflower will keep reminding you to update.

Fixed

  • Under certain conditions, some Japanese users experienced problems with opening the script. Now, alerts with more meaningful messages have been put in to guide the installation.

  • The user will now be informed if the script file was accidentally put into the ScriptUI Panels folder.

1.0.3 - August 26, 2021

Added

  • Ability to batch convert all comps to another layout style. Very useful when exchanging the project with someone who doesn't own Workflower. (For example, you might want to convert all of your comps to Expression Mode then.) Go to Workflower's settings and click on Convert all Comps in Project to another Layout Style.

Fixed

  • As there are issues with Workflower's shortcuts on Windows when the OS language is Japanese, the user will now be informed about the problem and how to set up everything correctly.

  • Fixed a bug that would occur when actions are executed for multiple comps at once (like linking/unlinking elements across all comps in the project).

1.0.2 - August 20, 2021

VERSION WITH CRITICAL BUG FIXES. PLEASE UPDATE!

Added

  • Support for Supercomp layers in Indented Layout. Now, the Supercomp layer will not be indented so that it doesn't break the Supercomp.

  • Speed for the Relabel panel to come up has been improved. Also for the execution of Create Matte, Delete Layer / Clone / Group and Paste Stored Layers.

Fixed

  • Fixed issues that could lead AE to crash/freeze.

1.0.1 - August 18, 2021

Added

  • Precomp Clones now support text style expressions on the Source Text property.

Changed

  • Within a Precomp Clone, when a text layer has different text styles, no linked expression will now be created, as an expression on this property will set a uniform text style. (Please execute Refresh Connections to refresh potential changes.)

Fixed

  • As some users were not able to open the script when AE's shortcut file contains special characters, the user will now be alerted to change the shortcut file name to only contain regular English characters. (Fixing the underlying issue might take a bit as this seems to be a bug within AE.)

  • The user will now be alerted when, under certain circumstances, AE's shortcut folder cannot be found. (The user will have to manually select the shortcut file then.)

  • Fixed a bug that occurred when the shape content of a group header was deleted.

1.0 - August 13, 2021

  • Initial release

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