On the Mac, there’s an alternative to attaching to a process for debugging; ‘Custom executables’. If you go to the ‘Executables’ section of the left hand pane of the main XCode window, and right click on Add->New Custom Executable, you’ll get a dialog that you can point at the host you want to run.
It works the same as attaching to a process, but it makes debugging a one-step process, in the same way as if you’d built the app yourself.
I just wish there was an intermediate step between doing expressions/scripting and having to hack C. Your guide was interesting reading for a scripter, answering my question if I could throw together a plugin with a resounding “No.” I hear that in FCP I probably would be, which is a real bummer…
I get it. There’s a distinction within Adobe as to who handles which sort of requests, but that distinction is artificial and unhelpful, when you’re just trying to get something to work.
If you can still find a copy of Profound Effects’ Useful Things or Useful Assistants, they’ll allow you to hack together lots of fun stuff in Python (my favorite non-C++ language).
As for FCP’s FXScript, or whatever it’s called, best of luck. I’ve been told the marketing of this feature outweighs its capabilities, but how could THAT ever happen?
By Richard Patterson - 10:33 AM on August 23, 2006
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The Jump Start Guide is invaluable. It eliminates hours of frustration and saves innumerable strands of hair.
It might be good to add some explicit pointers for porting from one platform to the other.
I have never been able to get the custom executable trick to work completely on its own without attaching the running application. If it is possible to debug using After Effects as a custom executable, it might be nice to know exactly how to do it and whether it can spare me having to restart After Effects every time I revise my plug-in code.
Comments
On the Mac, there’s an alternative to attaching to a process for debugging; ‘Custom executables’. If you go to the ‘Executables’ section of the left hand pane of the main XCode window, and right click on Add->New Custom Executable, you’ll get a dialog that you can point at the host you want to run.
It works the same as attaching to a process, but it makes debugging a one-step process, in the same way as if you’d built the app yourself.
Yes, that should work, but Adobe’s activation interferes with it in many cases.
I just wish there was an intermediate step between doing expressions/scripting and having to hack C. Your guide was interesting reading for a scripter, answering my question if I could throw together a plugin with a resounding “No.” I hear that in FCP I probably would be, which is a real bummer…
I get it. There’s a distinction within Adobe as to who handles which sort of requests, but that distinction is artificial and unhelpful, when you’re just trying to get something to work.
If you can still find a copy of Profound Effects’ Useful Things or Useful Assistants, they’ll allow you to hack together lots of fun stuff in Python (my favorite non-C++ language).
As for FCP’s FXScript, or whatever it’s called, best of luck. I’ve been told the marketing of this feature outweighs its capabilities, but how could THAT ever happen?
The Jump Start Guide is invaluable. It eliminates hours of frustration and saves innumerable strands of hair.
It might be good to add some explicit pointers for porting from one platform to the other.
I have never been able to get the custom executable trick to work completely on its own without attaching the running application. If it is possible to debug using After Effects as a custom executable, it might be nice to know exactly how to do it and whether it can spare me having to restart After Effects every time I revise my plug-in code.