M Control Documentation

Documentation | How to

What is new in V 3.0

V 3.0 is a massive update with lots of new features and user interface. Here are the complete lists of features in V 3.0

  1. New dockable UI. Small and light. It takes very less of your workspace. As it is dockable now, you can run it directly from you window menu.
  2. Control Plus option to connect to a pre-existing control in the control layer.
  3. Copy Paste option to copy control and past it to another property. It can also be used as standard Copy Expression option.
  4. And finally, an organiser to organise your projects at last.
How to Install:

You can install MControl V3 as you install other After effects Scripts.

  1. Unzip MControl V3.
  2. Copy “MControl V3.jsxbin” to “ScriptUI Panel” folder of you After Effects installation folder.
  3.  Restart After Effects.
  4. Go to Windows menu and launch “MControl V3”.

Note: “Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network” preference option must be checked to run MControl V3 properly.

How to create Controls:

Creating Controls works as the previous versions.

  1. Project Must have at least one composition and one layer to create a control.
  2. Click “Composition” or “Layer” icon to update the list of Compositions and layers available in the project. This is a one-time task. But note, if you add or delete any Composition or layer, you must reload the composition and layers using any of these icons.
  3. From Composition Dropdownlist, Select One Composition that has the layer on which you want to add controls.
  4. From Layer Dropdownlist, Select One layer on which you want to add controls.
  5. Now Select the layer property for which you want to create controls.
  6. Click Update Control Button “+” to update all available controls for the selected property.
  7. Choose a control type for the available options.
  8. Now add name or Names for the controls depending on the control type. Make sure the same name is not already present on the control layer.
  9. You may need to add Checkbox value if you choose check box option. For any property that has only ON/OFF option, you may not change the default checkbox value (1 and 0). For any other property, you may change  Checkbox ON/OFF value as desired.
  10. Now click “Create Control” button to create a control.
Note: All the above option must be filled correctly to activate “Create Control” button. If you see find the button is not activated, please check all the value filled are correct.

How to connect to the existing Controls:

Connecting to a pre-existing control is the new option in V 3.0. With this option, you can create a control with any effects. You are no longer limited to expression controls.

  1. Select the “Composition and Layer” as earlier.
  2. Now you can find all the list of all applied effects in the selected layer.
  3. Expand any effects to see all the available properties that can be used as a control.
  4. Select any layer property and the desired property from the list.
  5. Click “Connect”  Button to connect those two properties.

How to copy paste controls:

Copy Paste controls works as same as Copy Expression Only option.

  1. Select the property and Click “Copy” Button to copy control expression. Post action, you can find the copy details in the script panel.
  2. Now select another layer property where you want to paste the control, and click “Paste” button. Post action, you can find the paste details in the script panel.

Note: As this option works similar to the “Copy Expression Only” option, you can use it to copy and paste the expression from one property to other. Unlike “Copy Exporession Only” option it can only paste expression in one property at a time.

How to Organize Project:

As a finalizing option, we have included “Organize ” option to this Script. It’s very easy to organize your project with “Organize option.” Just Click on “Organize” icon and your project will be well organized and structured. This will structure all your assets and composition to the specific folders.

If you want some of your composition or assets not to be affected by this option, just select those compositions or assets and click “Organize” icon. It will ignore the selected items and organize rest of the items. This is very useful when you want to keep your final or main composition out of the folder. Just select the composition and  click “Organize” button.

UPDATES:

Version 3.0:

Dockable panel.
Three new options added.
Added option to connect a property to any pre-existing controls.
Added support to use any effects as control.
Added support to copy-paste controls.
Added option to organize the project.

Version 2.1:

The compatibility issue with AE CC 2015 was fixed.
Basic UI Changes. Fixed UI issue with help window.

Version 2:

Changes in expression engine. All expressions were universalized
Complete UI changes for cleaner look and easy to use.

Version 1:

The initial release of the script

Report Bug:

If you are facing any issue with M Control V3.0, Please report it here.