This skill should be used when the user asks anything about Adobe After Effects — to "write an After Effects expression", "make a wiggle / loopOut / inertial bounce", "rig a control with a slider / null", "build a MOGRT / Essential Graphics template", "export AE to Lottie or Media Encoder"; OR to "e

After Effects After Effects is GUI software, so this skill delivers knowledge and ready to paste assets — expressions, rig setups, export checklists, diagnostic flows, naming schemes, and ExtendScript — rather than a rendered file. It is a hub covering four domains; route to the matching reference for depth and complete recipes. Routing If the user wants to… Go to Write/debug an expression, rig sliders & nulls, build a MOGRT, export to Lottie references/expressions.md (deep cookbook in references/expression library.md ) Choose a codec/container, export with alpha, fix a black background, set bitrate, recover H.264 references/export recipes.md Fix slow/laggy previews, slow renders, crashes, freezes, out of memory references/performance triage.md Organize the project, relink missing footage, set naming/folders, batch automate with .jsx references/project hygiene.md The .jsx automation scripts live in scripts/ . Expressions & rigging Expressions are JavaScript evaluated on the property they are pasted on; value is that property's value, time is comp time in seconds, and index , thisLayer , thisComp are in scope. An expression overrides keyframes unless it incorporates value . Inertial bounce (overshoot/settle after the last keyframe) and the full loop/wiggle/rigging set are in references/expressions.md . Rig controllable motion: add a null with Slider / Checkbox / Color / Angle / Point control effects, then reference them and parent transforms to drive many layers from one. Expose those controls via Window → Essential Graphics and Export Motion Graphics Template (.mogrt) for Premiere/AE editors. Export recipes Two engines, and choosing wrong is the root of most export confusion: Render Queue (RQ) — masters/intermediates: ProRes, image sequences, lossless, alpha. Adobe Media Encoder (AME) — delivery: H.264 MP4, H.265, social presets. Since AE CC 2014/2015 the native H.264 output module was removed from the RQ — make MP4s in AME, not the RQ. H.264/MP4 cannot store alpha , so a transparent comp exported to H.264 always fills with black; that is the classic "black background" complaint and not a bug. For transparency use ProRes 4444 , a PNG/TIFF sequence , or HEVC alpha (Safari) + VP9/WebM alpha (Chrome) , with Output Module Channels: RGB + Alpha . Quick targets: editor handoff → ProRes 422 HQ ; master/grade or alpha → ProRes 4444 ; web/social/client → H.264 via AME , VBR 2 pass (~10–16 Mbps 1080p, ~35–45 Mbps 4K). Full matrix, social specs, and step by step alpha exports in references/export recipes.md . Performance triage Work top down by symptom, cheapest fix first, and stop when it clears. Most settings are in Edit Preferences (Win) / After Effects Settings (Mac). Slow previews: Half/Third resolution → enable Multi Frame Rendering → raise RAM allocation (leave ~6 GB for OS) → Adaptive fast previews → purge cache → Disk Cache on SSD/NVMe → solo heavy layers/effects → HW accelerated decode → proxy heavy comps. Slow renders: confirm MFR on → RQ for masters / AME for delivery → HW decode H.264 → pre render slow precomps → cheaper effects → transcode long GOP to ProRes. Crashes/freezes: purge + empty disk cache → update NVIDIA Studio (not Game Ready) drivers → reset prefs ( Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift on launch) → pull third party plugins → free disk space → disable MFR if MFR specific → roll back AE after a bad update. MFR needs several GB RAM per active core. Ordered flows, exact preference paths, and the proxy workflow are in references/performance triage.md . Project hygiene Keep projects organized, portable, and automatable. Folders: numeric prefixed bins ( 01 Comps , 02 Precomps , 03 Footage , …, 99 Old ) for stable sort order. Naming: PROJECT section descriptor v01 ; precomps PRE ; rename solids/nulls to their role ( CTRL master ); no spaces/special chars for farm/cross OS safety. Broken links: AE references footage by path, so moving files breaks links. Double click a missing item → Replace Footage File and AE relinks the whole folder at once; enumerate with File Dependencies Find Missing Footage . Always hand off projects via File Dependencies Collect Files , never a bare .aep . ExtendScript (.jsx): wrap batches in app.beginUndoGroup(...) / app.endUndoGroup() ; apply effects by matchName (e.g. "ADBE Gaussian Blur 2" ), not the display name. Ready scripts: scripts/batch rename.jsx , scripts/sequential offset.jsx , scripts/apply effect to layers.jsx . Full naming scheme, label color system, relink/Collect Files/Reduce workflows, and scripting setup in references/project hygiene.md . Reference files references/expressions.md — expressions, rigging, MOGRT, Lottie/Media Encoder basics. references/expression library.md — deeper expression cookbook: tuned inertial bounce, all loop variants, advanced wiggle, valueAtTime echoes, seedRandom grids, full rigging + coordinate spaces, MOGRT and Lottie/Bodymovin steps, Media Encoder presets. references/export recipes.md — full codec/alpha/bitrate matrix, per platform social specs, step by step transparency exports, AME preset cautions. references/performance triage.md — ordered preview/render/crash flows, preference paths and values, MFR/GPU/disk cache tuning, pre render & proxy workflow. references/project hygiene.md — folder template, naming and label systems, relink/Collect Files/Reduce details, scripting setup. scripts/batch rename.jsx , scripts/sequential offset.jsx , scripts/apply effect to layers.jsx — ExtendScript automations. </content

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