@ben-forman-0 Sure! You can use a few different Expressions, but the basics are relatively similar. For solids, the mapping is automatic, so you can apply Templater to a solid and then directly input the hex code you’d like to use in the data source. For other layers, the process is a bit more complex. First, you’ll want to create a text layer with the Templater Effect applied and map it to your data source. For the purposes of this example, we’ll call that layer “color” (with no quotes). Next, you’ll want to add the “Fill” effect to the layer whose color you want to change. Finally, you’ll want alt/option click the “Color” value of the “Fill” effect and add this expression: hexToRgb(""+thisComp.layer("color").text.sourceText+"") This should change the value of the “Fill” effect to the hex code brought into the “color” text layer. Hopefully, that’s enough to get you started, but if you have any issues or additional questions, feel free to let us know. Thanks!

Thanks @seth! Just to be clear on (2), the issue happens when I’m trying to set a filter - ie select a satellite in it’s filter drop down, or try to set an action like reassign selected jobs to another satellite. When I interact with the dropdown, my selection(s) in the dropdown will be cleared if the render-status changes for any job in the campaign before I apply / submit the selection(s).

@jeff oh, thank you for clarifying

@yansfeld The answer is most likely going to have to do with the way that Templater processes project files. Because of how tangled and dependent AE projects can become, Templater reversions all the layers in all the comps in a project when it runs. This is mainly to ensure that layers aren’t accidentally left out of the process due to an error in dependency logic. That’s just a guess, but we’ve seen issues in the past where Expressions on plugins that aren’t being used can cause an issue since they still need to be reversioned when Templater runs. It sounds like everything is running normally, but if you run into any other issues or have any further questions, please feel free to get in touch. Thanks!

@jasontcox we’ve also used something called gifsicle, which is a command line tool for optimizing gifs (homepage). What you do in this case, you render a version from AE’s render queue, then you do a post-render action to transcode to gif with ffmpeg and then compress with gifsicle. These event scripts require Templater Bot. You’ll need to add gifsicle and ffmpeg to your SYSTEM PATH. Here’s an example of a script (Windows BAT file) that I’ve used. Feel free to use it as a baseline to remix for your own purposes. (No warranties implied) @ECHO ON SET RENDER="%~1" SET RPATH=%~dp1 SET ID=%~n1 SET FRAMERATE="15" SET SCALE="0" SET COLORS="256" SET PALETTE="%RPATH%palette.png" SET FILTERS=fps=%FRAMERATE%,scale=%SCALE%:-1:flags=lanczos SET GIFOUT="%RPATH%gifs\%ID%.gif" SET GIFCOMP="%RPATH%gifs-lossy\%ID%.gif" SET FULLRES="%RPATH%full-res" SET GIFFINAL="N:\email-campaigns\newsletter" ffmpeg -v warning -i %RENDER% -vf %FILTERS%,palettegen=stats_mode=diff:max_colors=%COLORS% -y %PALETTE% ffmpeg -i %RENDER% -i %PALETTE% -loop 0 -lavfi "%FILTERS% [x]; [x][1:v] paletteuse=dither=bayer:bayer_scale=3" -vcodec gif -y %GIFOUT% gifsicle %GIFOUT% -O3 --lossy=200 --output %GIFCOMP% move /Y %RENDER% %FULLRES% copy /Y %GIFCOMP% %GIFFINAL%

@jeff THank you so much - I took the open/closed quotations route and it works fine. Appreciate it! -Joe

@veteos Thanks for letting us know what you found. This diagnosis aligns with our assumption that that error is caused by a logic problem with a Time Sculpting layer. Hopefully, this will help in troubleshooting this sort of problem if it comes up again in the future. Thanks again!

@jcreifenberg You can absolutely use Templater to change a layer’s font! It’s a bit tricky, but it basically involves using Templater to bring in data that is referenced by an After Effects Expression. There are a few limitations, but let me see if I can explain the basics. So, for this scenario, we’ll have two layers, “text” and “font”. “Text” will be the layer whose font we want to change “font” will be a text layer populated with whatever font we wish to apply. Once both layers are bringing in data correctly, we’ll want to add an Expression to the Source Text property of the “text” layer. Alt or Option-click on “Source Text” and add this expression: text.sourceText.style.setFont(thisComp.layer("font").text.sourceText); This expression will take whatever is in the “font” layer and apply it to the font property of the “text” layer. So if the “font” layer contained “Arial-BoldMT” (with no quotes), that should change the “text” layer to the font Arial Bold. There are a few limitations to this method of font changing. First, you’ll need to make sure you’re referencing the exact font name, or else AE won’t be able to read the data from the “font” layer. There are a few different ways to get this information, but one easy way is to hit the white and grey “play” button in the Expressions section, choose Text>Font, and then choose the appropriate font/style. Another limitation to this method is that you’re constricted to the font styles that After Effects supports. I did some digging, and it doesn’t appear that AE has strikethrough support in their font engine. If you can find a strikethrough-based font, that should work, but AE doesn’t seem to support that particular style right now. Finally, you might take a look at this entry on Adobe’s website for more information about using Expressions to control Text Properties. There are some other options explored on this page, like Faux Bold or Faux Italics, that might be useful to your project. Many of these options can be controlled using the same Expression logic described above. Hopefully, that’s enough to get you started, but if you have any questions, please feel free to let us know. Thanks!

@hiredgoon In addition to any responses you might get here, please feel free to contact us directly at support@dataclay.com. We keep an internal list of Freelancers with Templater experience that we’d be more than happy to share with you. Thanks!

@rgutierrez Unfortunately, Templater requires layers that are being versioned with data to be set to “visible” in After Effects. This has to do with how AE reports layer visibility to plugins like ours. That being said, we’ve encountered issues like this in the past, and I believe that there might be a workaround that could work for you. Generally speaking, the way around this is to create a second text layer and then use the pick whip to map the “Source Text” property to the original layer that has Templater applied. This should allow you to manipulate the second text layer’s visibility settings while still maintaining the data from the primary layer. Hopefully, that solution should work for what you’re trying to do, but if you run into any problems, just let us know, and we’ll see what we can do. Thanks!

@jeff Thank you for clearing things up! I was thinking the same, that the only way would be to go with Templater Bot Event Scripts.

@jeff Thanks! Very clear

@ariestav Thank you! It’s a great feature when building from scratch - much appreciated.

@jeff Thanks a lot! And thanks for the link to the reserved column names. I couldn’t find that in the website but rushing with a project and learning in the way I’m sure I missed that… Thanks again!

@jeff Thanks for the feedback!

@jeff That is fantastic. I will test this out today.

@jeff Checking those worked. Simple fix. Thanks Jeff!

@jeff thanks for your detailed answer. So currently, the only way is to work in a team project, is to convert to local before Templaer, and then import the resulting project to a new team project. Brobably is not worth the mess, as a project becomes big enough to require a team project, this could be messy. We will try to find other ways of colaborating in big projects. thanks!