Release — Templater 3.0

[Jeff]

The Dataclay team has released Templater 3.0, which adds some exciting new features, improvements, and bug fixes, and establishes the groundwork for integrating Dataclay’s new API, QUE. Thank you for being so patient. Enjoy!

WHAT’S NEW IN 3.0

• Dataclay QUE Integration
  We are happy to introduce QUE! Moving forward QUE will be the primary and preferred data source for Templater. QUE exposes a REST API to leverage the full capabilities of Templater to produce dynamic videos. QUE frees you from the scalability constraints of traditional tabular data sources, such as spreadsheets, which become unwieldy as the volume and complexity of your video production needs grow. QUE supports security measures such as data-at-rest encryption as well as field-level masking. Easily integrate front-end applications for Templater with QUE’s REST API.
  • An overview of QUE can be found here: https://dataclay.com/que
  • Read and study QUE’s API endpoints here: https://que-api-docs.dataclay.com
  • Learn more about using QUE with Templater here: http://dcly.io/que-tutorials
     
• Spot Checking
  Spot Checking lets you export still images of individual frames from target compositions to help assure the quality of merged data in a batch process. Use composition timeline markers to set which frames you want exported, otherwise Templater exports an evenly distributed number of frames from the target composition. Spot checking can be performed exclusively or together with render or replication tasks, and export data can be sent to event scripts. Use new properties in templater-options.json to invoke spot checking via the Command Line Interface.
   
• Use expressions-based layout engines
  Users now have the option to turn off Templater’s auto-layout engine and Time Sculpting features. Doing this allows you to rely on layer expressions or other custom plugins to achieve dynamic layouts as Templater processes your data. For example, if Templater’s internal layout engine does not suit your needs, you can disable the Layout Engine in Templater’s preferences and author your dynamic layout using tools such as Mamoworld’s Pins & Boxes or Zack Lovatt’s Flex.
   
• Support for Google Shared Drives
  Users can now store Google Sheets in a Shared Drive, and Templater will be able to access those documents. Users no longer need to explicitly share the individual Sheets with Shared Drive members.
  Various other improvements
  License activation has improved messaging when it encounters an issue. Offline activation is now accomplished using the Templater panel.
   
• We’ve also included these new improvements in Templater 3.0
  • Support for the new Multi-Frame Rendering feature in After Effects 2022.
  • You can now install Templater directly into After Effects Beta application folders on both macOS and Windows.
  • On Windows, utility executables are now signed with a digital certificate so that they pass anti-virus flagging on Windows.
  • The {{off}} flag now mutes audio in addition to visually hiding a layer.
  • Added support for references to JPEG File Interchange Format (.JFIF) assets and Google WebP (.webp) formatted file assets.
  • Improved error messaging for missing output destination, missing footage root, and footage importing.