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  • Change logs of Dataclay software releases, known issues, and promotions

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    Jeffundefined

    Hello everyone,

    We’ve recently received reports about a few issues that are occurring with Templater version 3.4.1. We’re currently working to develop fixes for both of these problems, but we thought it would be helpful to note the details here in case anyone else is encountering these bugs.

    Google Sheets Login Issue

    This issue appears during the initial login and authorization process when connecting to Google Sheets. Once the user completes the browser login to Google and returns to Templater to hit the “Authorize” button, the Templater “Status” area shows a message reading “Request a Google access token. Please wait…” and does not finalize the login process.

    This issue seems limited to After Effects 2024, so this error should not be present if 2023 or below is used. We’ve also received some reports that this problem might be limited to preexisting files. Some users have reported that if AE 2024 and Templater 3.4.1 are fully removed and reinstalled and a new AE file is opened, that Templater will connect to Google Sheets without an issue.

    If downgrading to AE 2023 or using a new, blank file is not feasible, it should be possible to revert to Templater 3.2.0 to connect to a Google Sheet data source. Templater 3.2.0 can be downloaded here:

    https://dataclay-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/Templater_3.2.0_14224_MFG.zip

    Blank Cells Are Not Being Recognized as Faulty

    This issue is related to the option in the Templater Preferences>Footage panel that reads: “Consider empty cells or null values as faulty.” When this option is enabled, Templater should consider any blank values in the Data Source to be “faulty” and implement the behavior designated in the “When Templater cannot find or import referenced footage…” field.

    At the moment, this does not appear to be functioning as intended, as Templater will ignore the setting present in the “When Templater cannot find…” field.

    If the desired behavior is to use one of the placeholders specified in the “Placeholder for missing visual/audio footage” fields, we recommend that the user substitute the blank fields in the Data Source with direct links to the desired placeholder file. This should cause the assets to be swapped in cases where no data is present.

    However, if we want to use the other options in the “When Templater cannot find or import referenced footage…” drop down, we’ll need to downgrade to Templater 3.2.0 using the link provided above.

    Conclusion

    We are currently working to resolve both of these issues as quickly as possible, and we’d like to thank you all for your patience as we work through these problems. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to our Support Team at support@dataclay.com.

    Thank you.

  • Questions, answers, and discussions about data sources compatible with Templater.

    Google Sheets Local JSON Remote URL Feeds Tabbed Separated Values
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    Jeffundefined

    @eric_dean

    Great question! Escaping the quotation marks should be as easy as putting a backslash before the quotes in the text block of our JSON file. So, for example, if we wanted something like this:

    Lorem ipsum "dolor" sit amet

    we’d write it like this:

    Lorem ipsum \"dolor\" sit amet

    The backslashes should be read as an “escape” to keep the quotation marks in the text from interfering with the formatting of the JSON data file.

    Hopefully, that should be all we need, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

  • Topics related to Dataclay QUE, the optimal datastore with an API for Templater

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    Jonundefined

    @eric_dean shoot us an email at support@dataclay, and we’ll send you a build that should work with the new flags. Also, let us know which platform (MacOS or Windows).

  • Topics related to Dataclay Projector (now available in Beta). Transcode, deploy, and archive your media outputs to streaming providers and cloud storage.

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    No new posts.

  • Questions, answers, and discussions about preparing After Effects projects for processing by Templater.

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    amulundefined

    I’m trying to to remove background via a 3rd party extension automatically on specific set of footage. https://vakago-tools.com/ai-background-remover/

    How would I implement this via Templater? is it even possible?
    thanks

  • Questions, answers, and discussions about batch rendering and replicating re-versioned After Effects compositions.

    Rendering Dynamic Comps Replicating Dynamic Comps
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    Jeffundefined

    @1337err

    We can take a look at the templater.log and templater.err files to see if there’s any additional information there, but from my experience, I doubt that there will be anything more specific than what we’ve already got. Unfortunately, AE tends to be a bit vague with its error syntax.

    However, if we can reliably re-create the error, we should be able to use the technique that I outlined in my previous post to narrow things down relatively quickly. In the past, I’ve done this by making a copy of the file with the problem, opening it, and bulk deleting 50% of the assets in the Project panel. Depending on whether the error persists, we should be able to logically assess which half of the project data contains the error.

    Once we figure that out, we can repeat the process by either restoring the deleted assets and deleting the other 50% or by deleting 50% of what’s left and checking whether the error reoccurs. By chopping out increasingly smaller chunks of the project, we should be able to get a bead on what layers are causing the issue without a massive amount of undue work. Hopefully that helps to get things moving in the right direction.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

  • Questions, answers, and discussions about Templater's automation extensibility and integration.

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    Jeffundefined

    @RyanB

    Glad to hear that you were able to track down the issue. I did some research and spoke with some of our devs, and I can confirm that all write operations for both replication and render actions should be completed before any “post_cmd_job” actions are run.

    If you have any other questions, please feel free to let us know.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

  • Examples of Templater used by creative studios, broadcast, and application developers.

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    Sruli Broockerundefined

    David Graff, John Wirtz, and Brian Kaiser founded Hudl in 2006 with the goal of capturing and adding value to every moment in athletics. Using their computer science backgrounds, the University of Nebraska sports fanatics built a platform that would enable coaches and players to review, annotate, and share game video across multiple platforms and devices. Their hard work paid off.

    With 130,000 sports outfits subscribing to their software worldwide—including NFL, NHL, and NBA teams, and an exponentially growing number of high school teams signing up every season—Hudl recently secured $72.5 million in a single Stage B funding round for a total valuation of $250 million. They expect this fall to be their busiest ever with 30,000 varsity high school football teams subscribing at a minimum of $800 per year for their cheapest package!

    Several times a year, Hudl holds a company-wide event called Skunkworks, modeled after the fabled Lockheed Martin creative think-tank that produced some of the company’s most innovative solutions. One of their teams wanted to address the “cookie-cutter” sameness of the popular highlights feature favored by athletes and recruiters. Developers Casey Batemen, Joel Hensley, and Kelly Herrington discovered Templater Bot, and found the best turnkey solution for making their highlight reels standout.

    Hudl successfully integrated Templater Bot into its robust video automation platform, and will soon roll out the Video Goodness product feature — enabling every team or athlete to have their own customized ESPN-quality highlight reel created in just a few minutes. The feature is eagerly awaited, and should make a huge splash when it goes live just in time for football season.

    Templater Bot’s coding-friendly API and ability to turn huge amounts of data into highly customized and individualized bulk renders allowed Hudl developers to clear some of their most challenging implementation and logistical hurdles.

    We are blown away by Hudl’s ingenious use of Templater in their pipeline and wish them continued success! We look forward to partnering on more solutions in the future.

  • Questions, answers, and discussions about deploying Templater Bot onto servers

    Environments Pulling Data Pushing Data API Development
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    ariestavundefined

    @pbretz The way to architect this would be to have web hooks that broadcast events on QUE, but in Sheets there is no easy way to do that. However, for sheets you might be able to use zapier to ping the sheet every so often to check for specific values in the render-status column. You could do the same with QUE and Zapier. We do have webhooks on the roadmap for QUE this year, but no set date.

  • General topics related to Dataclay products

    License Management
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    Jonundefined

    @UncleMonty To follow on Jeff’s replies, in case you are using an earlier version of Templater 3, it’s recommended to run the Templater uninstaller and download and install Templater from one of those links he provided. The zip names are going to be the same, but the contents will be different—which is why you’ll want to install from a fresh download.