BUG: JSON footage files do not auto reload when written by ExtendScript
If a valid json footage asset is imported into a project and used for Expression data in a layer, and it is subsequently overwritten by an ExtendScript process, After Effects CC 2019 will not auto-refresh the JSON footage item in the project nor in any layer referencing the JSON footage layer. Choosing "Reload Footage" on the json footage item does not seem to do work either — this this did work in CC 2018. However, if focus is removed from AE, and a different process opens and overwrites the source of a JSON footage item, then focus is returned to AE, the JSON file updates immediately.
It seems like the method by which After Effects "refreshes" or "re-reads" changes to imported JSON files needs to be addressed. At least on macOS, it seems like writing to the imported JSON file via an ExtendScript is likely not being broadcast as an fsevent which is what AE might be latching onto to detect changes to the file.
Expected Result: When an ExtendScript process writes to a JSON file imported into After Effects, the corresponding data and any expressions using that data are updated immediately upon write.
Arie Stavchansky
shared this idea
Thanks for posting this bug, Arie.
After an extensive back and forth with our developers, we’ve concluded that yes, there’s a bug here. We’ll need to investigate further what’s going on, but the problem appears to connected to the fact that it’s a script, being run by After Effects, that is updating the JSON file.
There was some confusion as to whether we’d expect this to work automatically, without manually calling the Reload Footage command (either in the script or via UI), but that the behavior changed between releases of After Effects tells us that something in the code changed and we should understand why.
2 comments
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Arie Stavchansky
commented
Hello,
Has any progress been made to this bug? What is the status of it? -
Arie Stavchansky
commented
Thanks Tim, for looking into it — much appreciated. Yes, it appears to be specific to ExtendScripts writing to imported JSON footage sources. If you do the editing in something else, like Sublime, and hit save, then re-focus to AE it will update accordingly. The bug was manifest in CC 2018, but doing a simple "Reload Footage" was the work around. Thanks again for looking into it! I definitely want to push the JSON feature as far as possible, but it needs to be a bit more stable.