Introduction

Bendio is a native After Effects plugin for bending layers. It’s core bend is very similar to the native effect CC Bend It, but Bendio has several, more powerful features:

• You can bend a layer whilst preserving pixels before and after the bend, so you get two rigid sections with a bend in the middle.

• You can widen the default cropping to reveal all of your layer.

• You can set attach points and then generate nulls which follow those points as you bend the layer. This enables you to effectively parent up to 8 other layers to the bend.

• Bendio has a workflow for use on continuously rasterized layers, without having to precompose them.

By continuously rasterized layer we mean any of the following:

All shape layers and text layers.

SWF, PDF, EPS, and Illustrator layers which have their continuous rasterize switch turned on.

Precomps which have their continuous rasterize switch turned on.

The continuous rasterize switch is a timeline column that looks like this: 🔆

In practice, this means that Bendio is ideal for incorporating bends into chains of parented layers, like character rigs.

Installation

Close After Effects if it is running. Download the plugin from aescripts.com. Move the relevant file for your OS to the following folder:

Mac OS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Plug-ins/7.0/MediaCore/

Windows: Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\7.0\MediaCore\

Licensing

Bendio will superimpose a watermark on any layers it is applied to until it is licensed. When you purchase a license, you’ll receive an email containing a license code. Copy the entire license code and paste it in to the registration window in After Effects.

The registration window opens when you click the Register button at the top of an instance of Bendio in After Effects' Effect Controls panel.

Uninstallation

To remove the plug-in, just go to the respective MediaCore folder listed above and remove the file.

System Requirements

Bendio is compatible with After Effects 2018 and newer.

It requires Mac OS 10.14 and above or Windows 10 and above.