Set Composition Duration from Spreadsheet

UncleMonty

I have a requirement to control the duration of the composition from the spreadsheet.

I have 4 GFX layers of varying lengths time remapped above a FOOTAGE layer.

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I would like to be able to set which DURATION layer appears and set the composition to that DURATION from the spreadsheet.

I’ve seen Comp Ends at Out Point but not quite sure how to trigger that.

Any help is much appreciated.

Jeff

@unclemonty

I believe the easiest way to achieve what you’re trying to do would be through a feature of Templater called Comp Swapping. Templater has the ability to swap a layer between different pre-comps based on data from your Google Sheet.

To do this, you’ll want to start by setting a composition to swap. Using the data in the screenshot above, maybe rename the “10 SECONDS” layer to something like “TIMING” (without quotes) and apply the Templater Effect. Then, add a column that matches the layer name in your data source. From there, you’ll want to populate that column with the names of the pre-comps you’d like to swap surrounded by double curly braces, i.e.: {{10 SECONDS}}, {{15 SECONDS}}, etc.

Once this is done, Templater should swap the TIMING layer with the pre-comp specified in the data source. From there, you should be able to use the Time Sculpting options “Comp Starts at In Point” and “Comp Ends at Out Point” to have Templater match the comp duration to the pre-comp file. You can see an example of this technique in this video from our Youtube channel.

If you’re using Templater Bot, you can also set the comp duration using a feature called Event Scripts. This feature allows you to run custom scripts at various points throughout the Templater process and allows for some interesting customization options. You can see an example of using an Event Script to set comp duration in this forum thread.

Hopefully, that’s enough to get you started, but please feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks!

UncleMonty

Hi @jeff many thanks for the information - this is exactly how I ended up doing it after learning about the curly braces feature after 3 years of using Templater, incredible.

Cheers!