After Effects is known for its crazy-powerful timeline, but lurking below the surface is a great deal of power that’s accessible via scripting.  Manny Tan has taken a break from his usual Flash-based work in order to create a really lovely example of what can be done by driving animation programmatically. [Via Matthew Richmond]

If the prospect of driving AE via code is up your alley, check out AEnhancers.com, a community of people creating expressions, sharing tutorials and presets, and more.  [Via Dennis Radeke, who points out a number of free AE plug-ins]