MANUAL / PLUGIN

Palf Scallop

One- or two-sided scalloped alpha trims for clean transitions.

Installation

01
Quit Adobe After Effects completely.
02
Copy Scallop.aex (Windows) or Scallop.plugin (macOS) into the After Effects Plug-ins folder.
03
Start After Effects and apply from Effect > Palf > Palf Scallop. If After Effects was already running, restart it so the plug-in loads.

Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects <version>\Support Files\Plug-ins\
macOS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects <version>/Plug-ins/

Requirements: After Effects 2023–2026 / Windows / macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) or later.

Caution (macOS)

If macOS blocks the plug-in and it will not load, run the following command in Terminal (enter the path for your install), then restart After Effects.

sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Adobe After Effects <version>/Plug-ins/Scallop.plugin"

Caution (rejected-plug-in cache)

If a previous version failed to load once, After Effects on Mac may keep rejecting the plug-in from cache even after you replace the .plugin file. Hold Shift while launching After Effects to clear the plug-in cache; it may then load. Moving or renaming the preferences file aside before launch is fine too.

~/Library/Preferences/com.Adobe.After Effects.<version>.plist

How to use

01
Apply Palf Scallop to the layer to be trimmed.
02
Set Direction to One-sided or Two-sided.
03
Animate Completion. At 0% the source is untouched; at 100% it is fully removed.
04
Set Size and Depth, then use Centre, Angle and Offset to place the scallops. Enable Symmetric for aligned Two-sided edges.

Parameters

Completion: Transition amount. 0% = unchanged, 100% = fully removed. Default 50%.
Direction: One-sided / Two-sided. Default: One-sided.
Size: Scallop spacing. Range 1–4096, default 64.
Depth: Sagitta as a percentage of Size. 50% is an exact semicircle, 0% a straight edge, negative values scoop inwards. Range −200% to 200%, default 50%.
Symmetric: Two-sided only. Off offsets the second edge by half a period; on aligns the crests. Default: Off.
Centre: Trim origin. Default 50%, 50%.
Angle: Trim-line orientation; positive values rotate clockwise. The established initial orientation is 90 degrees.
Offset: Phase along the trim line; 360 degrees advances one Size period. Default 0 degrees.
Invert: Flips which side of the edge is kept. In Two-sided, keeps the central band instead of the outer halves. Default: Off.

Tips

Animate Completion for dependable start and end states. Depth 50% is a semicircle, 0% a straight cut, negative values scoop inwards. Leave Symmetric off for interlocking edges; turn it on to face the crests. The effect changes alpha only and keeps source RGB, including fully removed pixels.

DEMO edition

The free DEMO offers the same controls as the full edition, with a red cross watermark on every output frame. The effect appears as “Palf Scallop DEMO” (Scallop_DEMO.aex / Scallop_DEMO.plugin) and can sit alongside the full plug-in.