@Ridvan Thanks for getting in touch with us. We’re currently working on integrating native srt support into the next version of Templater. Once set up, this process would be very similar to the way that Templater already reversions other assets, like footage or text. We currently have a method to support .srt file-swapping in Templater, but it does require some customization to get up and running. You can check that out at this link on our GitHub Page. Hopefully, that helps, but if there’s anything else we can do to help, please feel free to reach out. Thanks, Jeff

@Jeff Thanks so much! That all makes perfect sense. I was quite pleased to have reasoned out the solution I did, so your confirmation that it matches your recommendation is all I needed!

@ermalr Hmmmm. This could be a bit tricky as this use case would be relatively uncommon in After Effects. However, I can think of a couple of methods we might use to achieve the desired result. The first wouldn’t be a “true” randomization and would require some generation of placeholder assets, but the upside is that it would be relatively simple. For this method, we’d want to generate several “dummy” clips of various lengths that contained no audio or video. These files could then be used in conjunction with Templater’s Time Sculpting feature to determine the placement of our random audio clip. So, for example, we could create clips that were 15, 48, and 50 seconds long. We could then set the audio clip to start and the endpoint of the “dummy” clip. This would allow us to move the audio clip in a relatively straightforward fashion using Templater’s Time Sculpting feature. The downside to this method is that, depending on how much granularity was needed, it would require quite a few “dummy” clips to be generated. It would also require some sort of mechanism to randomly designate a dummy clip for each Job that we wanted to create. We might be able to accomplish that with a Google App Script for Google Sheets or a Zapier process if we’re using QUE. The other method would be a “true” randomization, but it would require Templater Bot and the use of the Event Scripts feature. Event Scripts allow users to create After Effects ExtendScripts that can be run at various points throughout the Templater process. With that in mind, it should be possible to create a script that adjusts the inPoint of the audio layer to a value generated using Math.random(). This would give us a “true” randomization for the inPoint of the layer but might be a bit more challenging to set up, depending on your familiarization with AE’s ExtendScript language. Hopefully that helps, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to let us know. Thanks, Jeff

@1337err Hmmmm. Typically, when we’ve seen issues like this occur in the past, it’s generally related to either a logic issue with the Time Sculpting setup or some kind of problem with an After Effects Expression that makes adjustments to the layout before the Time Sculpting process can be completed. Either way, we’ll likely need to start by simplifying the project to see if we can narrow down which layer is causing the issue. For this project, I’d recommend starting by creating a backup copy that we can use for troubleshooting. Once we’ve got our backup opened up, I’d recommend removing all of the layers in the project except for B Small Message2, [cameratemplate_15.wav Comp 1], and camera_2_photo_5 since those are the layers that seem to be having a problem. We might need to adjust the properties on [cameratemplate_15.wav Comp 1] and camera_2_photo_5 if they’re being Time Sculpted to other layers. Once that’s done, we can try refreshing to see if B Small Message 2 lines up correctly. If that works, we’ll want to restore our backup and try removing layers a few at a time to see if we can isolate which one is causing the issue. Once we’ve identified our problem layer, we should be able to address whatever is causing the hangup in the Time Sculpting operation. This process can be a bit tedious, but I’ve found it to be the most efficient way to track down logic issues that cause this sort of problem. Typically, issues of this nature occur when a layer is set to adjust to another layer that can’t finish its Time Sculpting calculations until yet another layer is changed. This results in a scenario where the Time Sculpting can’t complete on its first run and requires two refreshes to complete. One last suggestion. While Templater should process the Time Sculpting rules in whatever order makes the most logical sense After Effects tends to load layers in the order that they’re presented in the stack from top to bottom. So, it’s never a bad idea to make sure that the layers are ordered logically based on how they should be Time Sculpted. So, for example, if layer A is being adjusted to the position of layer B, layer B should be placed higher in the stack than layer A. This should ensure that A doesn’t get processed before B. If we still run into issues after performing these troubleshooting steps, we’ll likely need more information about how the project file is set up. If you’d like to get in touch with us directly, please feel free to email us at support@dataclay.com, and we’ll be more than happy to help. Thanks, Jeff

@1337err Thanks for reaching out. The most common cause of this particular error occurs when Time Sculpting is applied directly to an audio layer in After Effects. After Effects treats pure audio layers differently than footage layers since, by default, they don’t have any video data. This causes AE to read audio layers differently than video layers, which changes how their time codes interact with other footage in the project file. This frame difference is the most common cause for the “invalid image buffer size” error that you’re seeing. The easiest way to test if this is what’s happening is to either temporarily remove any audio layers or disable Time Sculpting and see if the error message persists. If it does turn out that audio layers are causing this issue, there are a few ways to get around this. First, we could try pre-composing the layer and then applying the Time Sculpting to the pre-comp instead of the audio layer. Pre-composing audio footage in After Effects will add video frame data to the layer, preventing this issue. The other solution is to pre-render any audio files you might want to use into a format with frame data, like an .mp4 or .mov file. Even if the rendered file has blank “video” data, it should still cause After Effects to generate the frame information needed for Time Sculpting. Hopefully, this is an easy fix, but if this isn’t the cause of the problem, or you encounter anything else we can help with, let us know, and we’ll see where we need to go from there. Thanks, Jeff

@SteveUlrich Glad to hear that we were able to get the previous issue resolved. As far as the erroneous Spot Check goes, we did have a bug a few versions back that would cause this to happen when Projects were using some specific frame rate options. What version of Templater are we running? If it’s anything older than 3.2, I’d recommend updating to the latest version (3.3.2, download link here) to see if that changes what we’re seeing. If that doesn’t make any difference, we’ll likely need to get some more information on how exactly Spot Check is set up and what frame rate options we’re using for this project. If we end up needing to go down that road, please feel free to open a troubleshooting ticket with us at support@dataclay.com if you don’t feel comfortable sharing project details here. Either way, let us know how it goes, and we’ll see where we need to go from there. Thanks, Jeff

@wcs Thanks for the clarification. This should absolutely be doable with Templater. You’ll probably need to use a combination of Expressions driven by Templater data like the one suggested above and maybe some of Templater’s flag options to turn layers on and off as needed. Hopefully, that’s enough to get you started, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to post them here or get in touch with us directly at support@dataclay.com Thanks, Jeff

Hi @Antoonyx! Thank you for your question — we are happy to help answer your questions. In full transparency, you are going to get a biased answer as to which software you should use as you’re on the Dataclay forums :smiling_face_with_halo: ! First, I would recommend Adobe After Effects to build our your master, dynamic, template. You can achieve that with Templater Rig. When you outfit an AE project to accept dynamic data using Templater, the resultant project is what is known as an “Autograf”. This project file can be linked to a variety of data sources, but a spreadsheet, such as a Google Sheet, is an easy one to use for starters. Each row in the sheets represents a new output video to be rendered, while each column in the sheet refers to the dynamic items (i.e. layers) within the After Effects compositions. As you design and build your Autograf, you link Templater to a footage repository containing the footage you want to use for each output. Then, in the data, you write a relative path from that footage repository to where the footage actually exists. The best part is that the footage does not necessarily even have to be on the same machine that AE is running on. In the linked datasource, you can use URLs and when Templater reads that URL it will attempt to download the footage locally to that drive. In your case, you can keep sub folders within the main footage repository so that each video’s contents are separated. Then, in the data source, you can enter the subfolder path to the assets. Dataclay customers are achieving the bulk production and automation you are currently seeking. Templater for After Effects can re-version master After Effects projects into still images and videos. To get a comprehensive overview of the software and workflow, please take a look at this video which just scratches the surface of what’s possible with Templater Rig, Pro, and Bot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAnZB2aZWTg

@Jeff After not having any success with the expression I posted, I actually did what you suggested, using an expression to change the source text for each layer, adding in the dynamic text. I just didn’t think of using an Animator for the faux italics, so I had just resigned myself to keeping the font the same. I appreciate your ideas, and I’ll give them a try soon. Thanks!

@Jon Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I got everything working with Jeff’s advice and your tips. Big thanks for the help.

@dave Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it’s not possible to change a text layer to a footage layer dynamically in After Effects. From what I can see, this appears to be due to the fact that AE sets each layer’s type when it’s first created, and text layers seem to be using an entirely different logic engine than footage layers. If I understand the scenario that you’re describing and you’re using Google Sheets, our best bet might be to use some Sheets formulas to turn “First Last - usa.png” into two cells that contain “First Last” and “usa.png”. That would be data that would be more useable for Templater since the “usa.png” value could be set to refer to footage, and the “First Last” input could be added to a corresponding text layer. Hopefully, that helps, but if you have any other questions, please let us know, and we’ll see what we can do. Thanks, Jeff

@Jeff That is awesome! Thank you! Worked like a charm

@Jeff Thanks for the info. I’m familiar with expressions, but far from an expert. We’ll see how this goes. I’ll circle back either way. -josh

@jeff YESS, that worked!! :) Thank you so much.

@turnerryan Glad to hear that worked!

@citizensam interesting solution! We would love to see the transcription/captioning panel from Premiere come to AE, as dealing with subtitles in AE has always been less than ideal. Burn-in shouldn’t be the only option—sidecar files and embedded subtitle streams need to be added. I would recommend searching the Adobe forums to see if there’s already a feature request related to it, or making a new one if there isn’t. Ideally, AE should be able to handle SRT, VTT, and other common formats as inputs, as well as industry-standard outputting.

@jeff That makes sense. And unfortunately the aspect ratio is different for all the sizes, so it’s not as simple as just scaling the video. I’m going to make another post to see if anyone here uses Coda.io to generate JSON files. We use Coda with our client to submit project requests, so I’m thinking I may be able to make a document with that service to make a JSON file with all the variations. Thanks again for your help.