ColorBob - manage colors in After Effects

This script lets you work blazingly fast with colors in After Effects. It gets rid of the tedious down twirling of folds and replaces this task with a simple click. You don't know anything about colors and having trouble figuring out what color palette fits your project? ColorBob is your solution. The script allows you to import color palettes and applies them to your compositions. Or you can use the random palette generator and try out different styles in seconds.

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Features

• create color palettes in various sizes
• generate random palettes based on different color schemes
• organize your palettes and compare them in a separate composition
• import color palettes with just one line of values
• export color palettes and store them as text files
• apply colors with one click (shape layers, solid layers and text layers)
• add your palette to all selected layers or compositions by the randomize option
• shuffle your palette for different looks
• change palettes instantly without reapplying new colors

Red Circles for visualization purposes

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Installation

This script is dockable and fits into the After Effects UI. Copy the script into the ScriptUI Panels folder and restart After Effects. You will find ColorBob under the Menu Window. 

Win: \Adobe\Adobe After Effects CC XXXX\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels

Mac: /Application/Adobe After Effects CC XXXX\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels

If you cannot or do not want to copy the script into the ScriptUI Panels folder you can also run it from inside After Effects. While After Effects is running click File ->Scripts -> Run Script File... and choose ColorBob.

Bonus Install

(only relevant if you choose to get the AE files and the animation preset)

To use the color sample animation preset copy it to the User Preset folder.

Win: My Documents\Adobe\After Effects CC XXXX\User Presets\

Mac: /Users/yourUserName/Documents/Adobe/After Effects CC XXXX/User Presets/

If this is not possible you can execute an animation preset manually. click on the Animation menu tab -> Apply Animation Preset... and browse for the color sample preset.

Quickstart video

Getting Started

To start ColorBob with no palette composition loaded. ColorBob needs a composition where it stores your color palettes for the current project. Create a new composition. Select the composition and then click the load / reload button in the script panel. Your composition name appears next to the load / reload button if everything went fine.

Now you can add a random palette to the composition. Select how many colors your palette should have and click on the plus / add button. Your new colors appear in the script menu and you can select any of your palettes from the dropdown menu.

To apply a color, make a selection of one or more layers and click on a color button.

UI

Creating Palettes

A ColorBob palette composition must be loaded to create palettes. Select how many colors your palette should have and click add. The script selects a random color scheme to create your palette. (). You can create your own palette. Generate a random palette with a color count you would like to have and change them the way you want. At the end just reload the composition into the script and you are ready to go. You can also regenerate new color palettes from your current palettes. Just select the palettes you wish to change in the ColorBob palette composition and click on the randomize button.

Applying Colors

Make a selection of layers you want to colorize and hit the corresponding color you want. As a second option you can apply your current palette randomly across your selection. You only need to click on the randomize button.

Filters

To not accidentally change colors of layer types you want, you can use the filter buttons. Unselect the layer types you do not want to be affected even if they are selected. Filters are "Fill" and "Stroke" to colorize shape layer properties independently. Then you can filter shape layers, solid layers and text layers independently. At last there is a option to filter compositions. If you select a composition and this filter is active, ColorBob will look through every layer inside, even if there are more compositions, and will change or apply colors to them. With this filter it is possible to change all colors of your project with one click.

Changing Palettes

Import Palettes

ColorBob has only a few rules for importing palettes. The color values you want to import have to be hex values. It does not matter how you seperate them. (space, comma, dash, etc). They have to be in one line of text. As an option you can name your palette before the import. Just put a name on the line above your color values. A batch import is also possible. Repeat the steps from the start and add as many palettes as you want. A special case is the Adobe Color website. To import these palettes you can also copy any of the predefined code snippets (XML, CSS, LESS, SASS) to import these palettes.

Export Palettes

Exporting your current ColorBob palettes is as easy as clicking the export button. Copy the generated text snippet to your favorite text editing tool and save it. You can import the whole palettes with the same text block.

Shuffle

Sometimes it is nice to have a different version of a palette. With a click on the shuffle button your current palette gets a random shuffle. This feature can add randomness without generating a new palette. You can shuffle more than one palette at a time if you select the palettes directly in your ColorBob palette composition.

Keyframing and "Fill"-effect

ColorBob detects if the color value you want to change has already keyframes. In this case a new keyframe gets created with the new values at the current time indicator. Because you can not keyframe solid and text layer color values, ColorBob supports the "Fill"-effect. You can find it under the menu effect -> generate -> fill. This effect gets prioritized over all other color properties. This is a workaround to keyframe also solid and text layer colors.

Adjusting ColorBob Composition

For a better overview in the ColorBob composition every palette has an expression applied to organize them in a nicely looking grid. You can adjust these settings to your liking. The controls to adjust are on every layer but only the current first layer has an impact on the settings. choose a row count, column count and a margin for x and y. All settings are depending on your composition dimensions.

FAQ