Dan Ebberts' AE Expressions and Scripting Resource

Welcome

Welcome to my site. What I've tried to assemble here is a resource for folks that want to learn more about expressions and scripting in After Effects. It's been quite a while since I've had time to update things, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to roll out new topics more frequently now. I have an enormous backlog of content, and I'm trying to organize and present it in a way that should answer many questions that come up repeatedly in the AE forums. If you have comments, questions, or find an error—please contact me..

About Me

I've been doing freelance script and expression design pretty much since those features were added to After Effects. I do a lot of workflow automation where the client needs a script to read in a large amount of data and use that data to drive media and text replacement and batch render (or queue) all the variations. Sometimes this will amount to reading a monthly schedule and generating promos for the entire month. I've set up a bunch of real-time operations, where a script waits for a job to come in via an XML file and then loads the appropriate project, does the media and text replacement and renders the result on the fly.

I also do a lot of math-intensive projects. Most of my projects involve scripting, but some require complex animation rigging via expressions. I've also built a lot of automation tools for animators. I also have experience with scripting for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash.

Partial list of clients: Adobe, Showtime, CBS, NBA TV, MTV, The New Blank, Jugnoo, Ozone, Tendril, and Little Airplane.

If you think you might need this kind of assistance, please contact me..

Newest Articles

Expression Speed and Frequency Control

Animating speed or frequency in After Effects is tricky. Here's how to do it.

Realistic Bounce and Overshoot

Learn the difference between bounce and overshoot—and how to apply them.

Older Stuff

• Expressioneer's Design Guide

This is a series of stand-alone topics designed to showcase a particular useful technique or concept, including a detailed analysis/explanation of the code.

• Mastering Expressions

This is a collection of topics designed for those that are intent on mastering the art of writing expressions for After Effects.

• Expressions Lab

This is my original mini-site consisting of a small collection of experiments with expressions for After Effects. Not a lot of in-depth explanation here, but maybe you will find something useful.

• Scripting

This is a well-intentioned but admittedly inadequate introduction to scripting for After Effects. I hope to correct this eventually.

Other Resources

• JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan

Seriously—you need a good JavaScript reference. This is the one I use.

• Creative Cow After Effects Expressions Forum

I usually check in on this forum several times a day.

• Adobe After Effects Expressions Forum

I also frequently visit Adobe's After Effects Expressions and Scripting forums.

• redefinery

Jeff Almasol's fabulous site for everything scripting.

• AE Enhancers

Another good place to get your expressions and scripting questions answered.

• Adobe's AE Help

Adobe's on-line help for After Effects. Look for the Expressions Language Reference chapter.

Help Keep the Lights On.

I've been asked repeatedly why I don't have a tip jar, or how someone can compensate me for my assistance (short of hiring me). So we'll give this a try.