Project history

Project history

"What changed between v11 and v12?" ae_project_history answers that question for After Effects projects.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a record of the open project:

• every item: comps, footage with its file paths, solids, folders;
• comp settings;
• every layer with its switches, timing, parent and track matte;
• every property that isn't at its default or is animated: values, keyframes with interpolation and easing;
• expressions, effects, masks, text, markers and the render queue.

Taking a snapshot doesn't change the project and adds no undo step. Give it a short label to refer to it later: "Take a history snapshot labelled v11."

Snapshots are kept in ~/.surehand/ae/history, the last 100 per project.

Every checkpoint saved with ae_checkpoint (or Save one now in the panel) stores a snapshot too, so checkpoints can be compared. That snapshot has a 15-second time budget, so saving stays quick. If that isn't enough, the checkpoint says its snapshot is partial; take a full one with a separate snapshot.

Diffs

A diff compares two snapshots, or a snapshot with the project as it is now. It lists what changed, grouped by comp, with a summary first:

Summary: 1 layer added, 1 layer renamed, 2 values changed, 1 keyframe change, 1 expression changed, 1 effect added
Comp "Main" (id 12):
  + layer #1 "Logo" (shape)
  ~ layer #2 "Title": renamed from "Headline"
  + Title > Effects/Glow (ADBE Glo2)
  ~ Title > Transform/Opacity: keyframes: @1s 100 -> 80
  ~ Title > Transform/Position: expression changed:
        - wiggle(2, 10)
        + wiggle(3, 10)

Refer to versions by label (v11), snapshot id, checkpoint id or label, latest, previous or current (the project as it is now). Without from and to, it compares the latest snapshot with now.

Long diffs are cut at 150 lines by default (limit, up to 5000), with a count of what's left. detail shows one comp in full.

In the panel

☰ › Checkpoints… › Compare with now shows the diff between a checkpoint and the open project: the summary line, the changes, and where it compares from and to. It appears only for checkpoints that have a snapshot. See Checkpoints.

Big projects

Reading a big project takes a while (seconds for thousands of layers).

• comps limits a snapshot to some comps (items are always captured).
• timeBudgetSeconds caps the time (default 90 s, 5–900). Comps not reached are reported, never silently skipped.
• fast skips property groups After Effects reports as unmodified. It is faster, but an expression inside such a group can be missed, because After Effects' own "modified" flag ignores expressions. Off by default.

Limits

• Checkpoints saved before 1.4 have no snapshot. Comparing them would mean opening the old .aep in place of your project, so it isn't done automatically.
• A diff describes the project's structure and values. It does not compare rendered pixels; for that, see Proven edits.

In the chat

In AI apps that show views (for example Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, VS Code and Cursor), the result also comes as a view in the chat. See In-chat views.