@January 13, 2024 I have recently heard from the developer of Quick Menu that he is working on a new and improved version. There is no timeline at the moment. In the mean time, Quick Menu is still incredibly useful.

I have long dreamed of a way to work in After Effects that feels calm, focussed, efficient, and importantly - Keyboard First.

There are still so many things in the way of getting to that point, but I’ve gotten to the point now where I know there are some things that can be done. The scripts and tools I use in After Effects have gotten so numerous I’m actually overwhelmed by them. + I’m starting to write my own.

So, lets get organized.

• The problem is search
• Setting up QuickMenu
• Apply effects
• Apply animation presets
• Apply Expressions (Expression Templates)
• Run Scripts
• Launch Extensions
• Menu commands
• Shapes
• Custom icons
• Other Enhancements
• Command groups

The problem is search

I have been using KBAR for a while now. I thought it would fit into my workflow. The idea is to reduce the number of tools you have on screen by putting them into these neat little icons.

You can make it look cool, but really… you still have the same number of things on screen, they are just smaller. I also forget what many of the icons mean. And it's just more clicking… 😓.

Even though it looks a bit neater, the workspace still isn't focussed and clean. So we need to find something else.

The answer to this overwhelming feeling is, in my opinion, searching.

FX Console has been a common tool for people for years. However, it does not run scripts or launch a user interface. Recently, I have been using QuickMenu, which is much better.

Essentially, you need a clean and focussed single launcher for AE that allows you to immediately:

• Apply effects
• Apply animation presets
• Apply expressions
• Run scripts
• Launch Script UI panels
• Launch extensions

So let’s get this set up.

Setting up QuickMenu

Firstly, you need to assign a shortcut to QM. After you install it, it will appear in AE’s keyboard shortcuts editor.

Apply effects

By default, QuickMenu finds and launches these. It's like FX Console out of the box. Any issues? Contact the developer.

Search for the name, and the effect should appear.

For the other resources, though, you need to specify their path – which is great, because you can decide where on your computer you want to store them. This means you can put them in Google Drive, Dropbox, or whatever.

Apply animation presets

I always found it weird saving animation presets inside the Adobe After Effects folder itself (in your applications folder).

Open QM's settings and head to the Command Resources section. Add a new resource folder and on the next launch, QM will show those files in the search.

Now I can actually organize my presets and know they are backed up.

Apply Expressions (Expression Templates)

There are tons of tools that let you have your own expression library right in After Effects. MoCode, Expressionist, Quiver, etc. To be honest, I think they are all slightly overengineered for my purpose. I just want to have a library of code I can manage in a normal editor and then search and quickly apply those expressions right away. If I need to do tweaks, I'll do it in the normal way—by opening the property expression editor.

QuickMenu lets you do this just like you do with animation presets. You have to select the property you want to apply it to, but that takes only a moment with a shortcut or ⌘F.

The interesting thing that QM adds is the ability to expose variables as expression controls. Then, when you apply that expression you can choose to put those controls on a parent layer, null layer, or on the selected layer.

Run Scripts

Now there’s often confusion (for me anyway) between scripts, scriptUI, .jsx and .jsxbin files. Let me clear that up.

• .jsx files are plain text files that can be opened and edited with any text editor.
• .jsxbin files are binary files used to store compiled scripts and are more secure and efficient than .jsx files. You can’t open these as easily as you can with .jsx files.

Both file types can either execute actions without opening UI or they can load a UI panel that gives you more control over what you want to do.

For the purposes of our launcher, this distinction doesn’t really matter — either way, you’re just launching a script. It might do something, or it might load UI for you to do stuff.

99% of the time, .jsxbin files go in the Script UI folder and .jsx files go in the top level Scripts folder.

I’ve decided to keep any premium scripts I install in this normal area. But for all my own custom scripts I write, I’m going to manage my own library in Google Drive.

This allows me to manage it away from the clutter of the Application folder, let’s me structure it how I want and also gives me peace of mind that they’re backed up.

The default scripts and script ui folders are already setup with your QM install. To point Quick Menu to additional folders - click on ‘Scripts’ and then ‘Add Resource Folder’.

Last time I checked, the only way to refresh QM’s search index is through quitting and re-opening After Effects. Although I know Edgar the developer wants to work on a way of improving this.

Launch Extensions

You’ll see another area in the image above called ‘Extensions’. If you’re confused like I was, extensions are basically more ‘official’ Script UI panels. (or you could think of script UI panels as extensions… up to you).

Extensions are things that you install like a regular file however. You don’t put script files in the scripts folder.

After you’ve installed however, this distinction is not really important - you’re just loading a new UI window that does stuff. But, for interest, there is a separate path for this in QM’s settings. You can’t change this.

Menu commands

Some menu items seem to be automatically in the search index. Some don’t.

If you want an item in the index and it’s not, head to the Menu Commands area and make sure Make Command Searchable is ticked .

Shapes

QM can also quickly add shapes and apply shape layer filters.

Custom icons

And finally with the customization — custom icons.

QM loads with these pretty average looking icons. I love good interface design, so at some point I might upgrade these for a better user experience. In the image above you’ll see an icon. At various areas in the settings panel, you’ll find you can change these - just by clicking on it and pointing it to a path where your new image is stored.

Other Enhancements

Command groups

This is the second killer feature for me after search. Let me explain why and recap where we’re at in this process:

1. After Effects is powerful, because there are so many ways to enhance it with new functionality.
2. All of this new functionality presents a UI problem; how do you call up what you need, when you need it and make sure that your UI stays simple.
3. Central search and launch solves this

But then a new problem emerges. You start to forget what tools you have and when you are working in a certain scenario, you can’t remember what tools you have at your disposal.

I can theoretically see how command groups could help with this. I haven't done much with them yet, so I don't have great examples. But, for instance, if you do a lot of drawing and shape making in After Effects, you can save animation presets, shape extensions, scripts, etc. related to your drawing workflow. Then, you can access the command group to remind yourself of the tools available for the particular task.

You can also even setup shortcuts for these, but I haven’t had lots of success with this yet. QM still feels like a slightly underbaked product. Looking forward to when these kinks are ironed out.