Root - Guide

A short reference for the main panel buttons, plus a visual overview of the main dialog and settings.

Main Panel Preview

Rooted (40) Unrooted (2)

Overview

The Root panel provides fast, one-click actions for rooting, collecting, exporting, and relinking assets in After Effects. Use the buttons below for daily workflow tasks.

Auto-refresh throttles itself on large projects. If scans take over 400ms or 600ms, the interval is raised to at least 30s or 60s, and the snail icon appears next to the global/local prefs indicators. When subsequent scans return below those thresholds the throttle is automatically removed and the snail icon disappears.

Core tools

A focused set of daily actions, modeled after the panel layout in this guide.

Gather Assets

Pull every linked file into one clean project root. Proxy files attached to footage items are automatically copied alongside the main source and re-applied after relinking.

Export Assets to Folder

Package media and structure for fast handoff or archiving.

Find Missing

Locate broken paths quickly with guided search.

Batch Collect Comps

Collect multiple comps at once with consistent output.

Panel Buttons

Root All

Roots every eligible asset in the current project using the active local preferences.

Collect Assets

Copies selected assets into a destination folder for quick packaging.

Export Reduced Project

Builds a trimmed project with only the media needed for delivery.

Find Missing

Scans the project for missing footage and relinks matches from a chosen folder.

Open Main Dialog

Opens the full dialog for detailed asset lists, templates, and settings.

Set Project Root

Creates local preferences for the current project so Root can run workflows.

Global Root. Shows the shared preferences profile available to all projects.
Local Root. Shows project-specific preferences loaded from the current project folder.

Status Badges

These badges appear on assets in the main dialog to describe location and rooting status.

Missing
Footage is offline and needs relinking.
Rooted
Footage is inside the configured root location.
Unrooted
Footage exists but is outside the root folder.
External Drive
Footage lives on an external volume.

Main Dialog

The main dialog shows grouped assets with per-item status. Use Copy all and Move all to apply actions across every item, or toggle individual items per group. You can also mix both: keep Copy/Move all enabled and deselect specific rows.

Renders
  • show_opening.mov
    Copied
    /Footage/Renders/show_opening.mov
    Rooted
  • lowerthird_v03.mov
    Copying…
    /Volumes/Drive_02/Footage/Renders/lowerthird_v03.mov
    External Drive
Designs
  • brand_logo.ai
    /Designs/brand_logo.ai
    Missing
  • styleguide.psd
    /Designs/styleguide.psd
    Unrooted

Settings Modal

This modal manages global defaults and project templates. Each setting below is annotated with what it controls.

  • Delete Local Prefs.
    Removes the current project’s saved settings and forces Root to recreate them on next run.
  • Increment version number (v001). Adds a version suffix to relinked project names so each relink creates a new iteration.
  • Relinked Suffix. Appends a custom suffix (for example, “relinked”) to new project names during relink operations.
  • Auto Refresh Interval. Controls how often the panel re-checks preferences and status automatically.
  • Auto Refresh Throttle. Sets the scan-time threshold (ms) that triggers auto-refresh throttling; the critical threshold is double this value.
  • Local Prefs Search Max Depth. Limits how far Root searches upward in folders when locating local project prefs.
  • Template Actions. Save, update, import/export, or delete asset category templates used for folder assignments.

Customizing Asset Folders

Category cards control where different file types are rooted. Below are examples of the default card layout, a toggled open view, and a full list of default categories with their extensions.

Audio
AUDIO
[ROOT]/
mp3 aif wav m4a
…and more audio formats
Add Variant

Duplicate an existing base category to customize its extensions.

Images

  • pdf
  • bmp
  • rle
  • dib
  • tif
  • crw
  • nef
  • raf
  • orf
  • mrw
  • dcr
  • mos
  • raw
  • pef
  • srf
  • dng
  • x3f
  • cr2
  • erf
  • sr2
  • mfw
  • mef
  • arw
  • cin
  • dpx
  • gif
  • rla
  • rpf
  • img
  • ei
  • eps
  • iff
  • tdi
  • jpg
  • jpe
  • heif
  • heic
  • exr
  • sxr
  • mxr
  • png
  • hdr
  • rgbe
  • xyze
  • sgi
  • bw
  • rgb
  • pic
  • tga
  • vda
  • icb
  • vst
  • svg

Footage

  • r3d
  • crm
  • mxf
  • hevc
  • 3gp
  • 3g2
  • amc
  • swf
  • flv
  • f4v
  • gif
  • m2ts
  • m4v
  • mpg
  • mpe
  • mpa
  • mpv
  • mod
  • m2p
  • m2v
  • m2a
  • m2t
  • mp4
  • omf
  • mov
  • avi
  • wmv
  • wma
  • asf
  • asx

Audio

  • aac
  • m4a
  • aif
  • aiff
  • mp3
  • mpeg
  • mpg
  • mpa
  • mpe
  • wav
  • bwf
  • mp1

Image Sequences

  • bmp
  • dib
  • rle
  • jpg
  • jpe
  • jpeg
  • png
  • tif
  • tiff
  • exr
  • sxr
  • mxr
  • dpx
  • cin
  • hdr
  • rgbe
  • xyze
  • sgi
  • rgb
  • bw
  • tga
  • vda
  • icb
  • vst
  • iff
  • tdi
  • pic
  • rla
  • rpf
  • img
  • ei
  • pcx

Design Files

  • psd
  • psb
  • ai

3D

  • c4d
  • sbsar
  • fbx

Other

  • json
  • mgjson
  • jsx
  • csv
  • tsv
  • txt

Trial Limitations

Trial mode limits how many times key workflows can run. When a limit is reached, Root will prompt you to activate a license to continue.

Installation & Licensing

The easiest way to install and license is by using the aescripts + aeplugins manager. To install a trial you can select 'Add Trial' from the 'Account' menu.

Alternatively you can use the ZXP/UXP Installer.