After Effects¶

The NIM After Effects Connector allows users to manage file directly through the integrated file browser. Browsing by Jobs & Assets or Shows, Shots, and Tasks allows users to circumvent navigating the servers folder structure and use the flow of production to open and save files.
When using NIM’s project structure management, the connectors manage all file naming conventions using task-centric organization of basenames, tags, and versions.
Installation¶
The following procedures describes how to install the integrated After Effects NIM browser. The connector creates a NIM menu within the After Effects / Window menu for file management. The script and the following installation procedures have been tested with After Effects CC and later.
The NIM Connector folder structure is as follows:
nim <-- NIM_CONNECTOR_ROOT
css
img
nim-core
plugins
In the following examples [NIM_CONNECTOR_ROOT] is the path to the top level NIM folder.
Replace all instances of [NIM_CONNECTOR_ROOT] with the actual path to the folder.
NIM.jsx¶
Copy the file [NIM_CONNECTOR_ROOT]/plugins/AE/NIM.jsx
to the ScriptUI Panels
folder.
The After Effects Script UI Panels directory is typically found in these locations:
Windows: |
[After Effects Install Directory]/Support Files/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels |
OSX: |
[After Effects Install Directory]/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels |
The next time After Effects is started, a NIM option will appear in the Window menu.
After starting up After Effects, make sure that under Edit -> Preferences -> General, the Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network
option is enabled. This is necessary so that the NIM connector can read and write versions.
Setting Preferences¶
If you have already installed and launched other NIM Connectors your connection preferences will already be saved in the nim.prefs file.
The NIM preferences are in the following locations:
Windows: |
drive:/Users/[USERNAME]/.nim |
OSX: |
/Users/[USERNAME]/.nim |
Linux: |
/home/[USERNAME]/.nim |
If this is the first time accessing a NIM Connector, after launching After Effects a dialog box will appear to enter the scripts path and the address of the NIM API.

Enter the NIM Scripts path as the full path to the NIM Connector folder [NIM_CONNECTOR_ROOT].
Enter the API URL as follows:
http://[hostname]/nimAPI.php
where [hostname]
is the address you have assigned to the NIM server.
API Keys¶
NIM API keys are an optional security feature that restricts API access with time limited per user keys. Requiring API keys restricts all API access to only those users with an API key.
If Require API Keys is enabled in ADMIN/Security - Options, users will be presented with a dialog box the first time they attempt to use a NIM Connector. API keys are unique to each user. Enter the NIM API key provided to you by your NIM administrator. For more information on enabling NIM API Keys please refer to the API Keys section of the documentation. For information on creating user API keys please refer to the Users Grid section of the Administration documentation.