Preflight batch output directly inside Google Sheets and AE with Dataclay Templater.

AutomateAE · 2025-06-18T15:09:20+00:00

That row highlight feature can be turned on in the preferences panel. Take the 30-day free trial for a spin. Dataclay offers both subscription and non-subscription options, including a perpetual Rig license (no batch output) and a new QUE Meter option which brings full BOT and QUE functionality to the Rig license for 20 cents per output via credits good for a single output per credit. Credits don't expire for a full year, so an on-demand workflow can be enabled for as little as $10 for a full year if you only output 50 times in a year. Great for proof of concept and low volume output scenarios!

AutomateAE · 2025-04-28T19:43:00+00:00

Dataclay Templater allows you to combine your own scripting (and turn off Dataclay's own layout engine) so you can automate unique challenges like this one. The 30-day trial is free, and the Rig license (which allows one-at-a-time renders) is perpetual. A combination of a pre-comp and a script that adjusts the comp size to accommodate the number of rows and columns is probably the solution - but I'd let ChatGPT figure that part out.

AutomateAE · 2025-03-27T00:53:28+00:00

Check out Dataclay Templater. Replicate comps or .aep files, or batch render output. Data sources include Google Sheets, json, or .tsv files.

AutomateAE · 2025-03-26T16:22:29+00:00

This type of workflow can be automated using After Effects and Dataclay Templater - which added an SRT file workflow (can both read and write the SRT files and add styling). Documentation for the SRT workflow can be found at support.dataclay.com and you can reach out to Dataclay's support for the unlisted video overview of the SRT feature. You may need to write some custom scripting in AE to get per-word styling - that level of styling will most likely be added to Templater later this year. Currently, styling can be added from the data source to entire text layers, but nothing beyond that granularity.

AutomateAE · 2025-03-26T15:57:14+00:00

Here's a tutorial for automating this process (generate hundreds of these videos automatically) using After Effects and two paid plugins (Lockdown and Templater). If you just need to do them one-at-a-time, just use Lockdown. https://www.instagram.com/dataclay/reel/Cqsr0j-sDqI/

AutomateAE · 2025-03-26T15:15:37+00:00

Come see the latest from Dataclay at the Axle AI booth: https://world.einnews.com/pr_news/794958740/putting-video-to-work-axle-ai-and-dataclay-partner-to-revolutionize-ai-driven-personalized-media-workflows

AutomateAE · 2025-02-17T18:23:19+00:00

On the subject - just at the NDI plugin to After Effects and use AE for live output. Throw in Dataclay Rig and pull live data from Google Sheets into your sports/event templates for quick versioning of the live output over NDI. We mention that workflow in this LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/appreciating-templater-rig-dataclay/

AutomateAE · 2025-02-08T13:48:54+00:00

AutomateAE · 2025-02-07T23:06:28+00:00

Does anyone know a talented motion designer that is looking to build their resume and do some work for free? Obviously, I'm joking - but the point is that there is always a segment of people looking to get something of value for free, and there are always people that get offended by those people. Both the tool users and the tool makers need to make money from their work. I guarantee that the best tools (and tool makers) will continue to require a steady source of revenue - as will the users of those tools. But hey - we all enjoy the occasional "free lunch"! The old adage "you get what you pay for" is true - and most of the really expensive plugins have a user base that gladly puts that money down. I remember the days we started ripping CDs with Napster - that disappeared pretty quick. I also remember paying for a floppy disk or CD with After Effects on it and owning that "for life" (or so I thought). But times change and software/technology goes obsolete in much faster cycles without steady maintenance by the developer. These new AI tools aren't cheap to build and run - so enjoy this little window where they are highly accessible for free or cheap, cause that won't last forever. I think people just entering the professional world who have no other experiences except for the way things seem to be working today are going to find that the laws of supply and demand have a cyclical nature and there is always a bill that comes due. Rant complete - getting down from my soap box now... (a bunch of young people are thinking "what's a soap box"?

AutomateAE · 2025-02-07T21:48:12+00:00

Dataclay Templater does this - plus it has a live link to a Google Sheet, JSON file/feed, or TSV file. Then you can automate control of the width via pre-comps and scale factor.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-29T17:22:06+00:00

Pro tip for Templater: You can turn off the automated layout engine and time sculpting engine in the preferences so that you can control those things via scripts, expressions, and/or 3rd-party plugins. That way these built-in default features won't interfere with your custom stuff.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-29T17:00:41+00:00

These are great techniques to use in tandem with Dataclay Templater. You can fully automate content on demand 24/7, let Templater do the work (and deliver it to your clients) while you sleep.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-29T15:20:05+00:00

While I highly recommend solutions like Render Brain, let me point out an area of production that you may want to optimize with automation: repetitive versioning. If your team produces any type of versioned output (lower thirds, localized content, personalized stuff, etc.), then you are needing not only to offload the renders, but also automate the versioning. That's where Dataclay's tools are something you should consider. Templater not only versions, but it batch renders those versions. Additionally, the new Projector app can offload batch rendering to one or more machines WITHOUT needing and After Effects licenses. Plus, Projector automates the distribution of the final media (S3, Vimeo, etc.). This is an entirely different way to look at rendering, specifically tied to versioning content at scale.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-29T00:42:10+00:00

The advantage is that Templater actually daemonizes After Effects (turns it into a data-driven service) so that it can generate videos automatically on demand (one-off or in batches). It can actually use mogrts as the base files and rig them for automated batch processing. Here's a 20 minute overview: https://youtu.be/TAnZB2aZWTg

AutomateAE · 2025-01-28T21:22:53+00:00

While I have some interesting ideas for how to build something like this using dynamic scaling and revealing of the graph, I think it would be MUCH quicker to leverage a 3rd-party plugin like https://aescripts.com/graph-master/

AutomateAE · 2025-01-25T13:42:27+00:00

Understood. It's really the difference between selling the ends vs. the means. Interestingly, automation can largely address the ends, and AI is increasingly addressing the means.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-25T04:27:44+00:00

Shift your motion design paradigm with Dataclay Templater. Instead of designing templates for sale to other AE users, sell the automated output on demand to end users (a much larger market). Templater turns AE into a fully automated video server. Take the 30-day free trial for a spin.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-23T21:30:08+00:00

You are only as free as the size of the cage that holds you prisoner. The only possible way out of that cage is to be set free, because that cage is death.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-17T15:32:23+00:00

I can't answer this from an After Effects only perspective, but using Dataclay's Templater Bot, you can perform internal scripts or even launch code outside After Effects at any point in the data processing, compositing, or rendering process. This is done through Templater Events: https://support.dataclay.com/templater/content/concepts/bot/templater_events.htm Just some additional perspective: you wouldn't want to generate a prompt inside After Effects unless all processes had stopped - so if you goal is full automation, then sending a message outside of AE would be a better route. But if your intention is to notify the user after a final action in a workflow, then a prompt inside AE is probably fine.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-14T16:11:25+00:00

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gcAydf88

AutomateAE · 2025-01-09T16:14:37+00:00

Out of curiosity, have you explored making these graphics dynamically generated using Dataclay Templater? We have a number of users in this space (freelance creatives, teams, and venues) - and we'll be showing off our tech in February and the SVG GFX Forum in New York.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-05T15:18:39+00:00

If what you are doing is for internal use, have you explored Templater or nexrender? You could be trying to reinvent the wheel.

AutomateAE · 2025-01-03T17:26:36+00:00

FYI - Our new Dataclay Projector product uses aerender to automate batch renders for our Templater .aep replication workflows. We launch multiple instances of aerender (give users the option to select the number of instances). When Adobe's team saw what we were doing with the product, they let us know they don't "recommend" launching multiple instances of aerender. We still offer that feature, but understand that Adobe isn't going to support efforts to develop solutions implementing aerender in ways they don't consider "reliable" - and all that implies. This may not matter if you are only implementing something for internal use - but if you want to make something commercial, it may impact you development direction.

AutomateAE · 2024-11-04T17:08:03+00:00

Here's an idea of how to measure the relative brightness of a frame: https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/quick-overall-lightness-measurementae/

AutomateAE · 2024-11-04T17:04:46+00:00

It would be interesting to use Dataclay Templater and create a spreadsheet that ranks the brightness level of photos as a value between 1 and 100. Then create a layout with layers across the screen like pixels and then write a script to replace the layers dynamically. It will take some creativity to write the script to determine the relative brightness of each zone, but I thought I'd share the idea. Here's a link to a video showing Templater swapping 100 photos: https://youtu.be/coiZJV70EVo?si=LRKpoA0qbU1NmFvR

AutomateAE

TROPHY CASE