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A smart import and batch replace tool that greatly improves the workflow of importing and replacing files especially file sequences and highly nested hierarchies.

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License Price: $20 (Add to cart to buy license)
The free download is the full version of the script which is fully functional without a license for 2 weeks.
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Immigration This script will run in After Effects CS3This script will run in After Effects CS4

Version: 1.033   Sign up to be notified by email when a new version of this script is posted

HYPA recently completed a project involving thousands of files from multi-pass rendering making up many image sequences. The finder struggled to list the directory contents, even after several minutes, however Immigration sailed through the files and immediately became an essential part of our workflow saving lots of time and streamlining the process. I can’t imagine working with After Effects and image sequences without it.
                                                                         Tim Clapham – Hypa TV

Immigration turns the pain usually associated with importing and batch replacing files in After Effects a joy. While browsing for import, it shows file sequences as one line item instead of a long list of files. Immigration uses a custom algorithm to scan the file system at speeds dramatically faster than even the OS can. In our testing a server folder with 30,000 files that takes over 5 minutes to open in the finder opens in 12 seconds in Immigration (and that includes file-sequence detection!). If you frequently find yourself waiting for the OS to open folders then you will love Immigration.

You can then select more than one file or sequence and either import them all at once or batch replace files already in your project. You can easily assign a frame rate to all imported files at once. Immigrations’ Auto-Match Replace™ algorithm will automatically match files with similar names so you don’t have to. It shows you a preview so you can make sure the matches are what you want. It color codes the match depending on how close it is. This is convenient if you name your revised files with a new version number or date.

If your files are already neatly organized in folders, Immigration will duplicate and maintain the folder hierarchy within the After Effects project.

You can customize Immigration to only search for certain file extensions, and file age. So for example you can tell Immigration to only display .exr files that are less than an hour old. You can also tell it to include or ignore folder by name so if you would like it to ignore a folder in your hierarchy (an archives folder for example) you can do that easily.

Immigration Tutorial

Version history
1.0 Initial Release Aug 2009
1.01 Fixed Help Window Buttons (Windows Only)
1.02 Fixed Windows Help Window Centering issue (Windows Only)
1.031 Fixed Hours/Days display in browser window when using file age 08/09
1.032 Fixed small licensing issue 08/09
1.033 Added http://license.aescripts.com info 09/09

Last updated August 3rd, 2009
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About the author

I am a freelance art director and After Effects artist in New York City. I aim to provide high quality scripts that provide clever solutions for After Effects workflows.

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    15 Comments

    • excellent lloyd.
      love the new design of the site as well…
      can’t go wrong with a little bit of grain ;)

    • Hi lloyd
      there is a problem with the immigration demo tutorial it doesnt open on my computer can you check that please or is it the same as the AE NY presentation you did?
      thanx
      Dotan

    • @Dotan – The video works for me here, make sure you have flash installed and you javascript enabled on your browser

    • Lloyd this is awesome, instead of wasting 15 minutes or more to import all the sequences, rgb, ao, masks…..it just took me 10 seconds!! I work in after effects for 10 years now, and always had this boring part of importing the sequences for compositing, and you just make it simple..

      Great script, thanks and keep up!

    • Thanx for the reply the problem was in my browser i fixed that
      thanx for the script its great
      can you explain the difference between buying the single or site licence?
      Thanx

      • Site license enables you to use the same license on an unlimited number of machines on the same network. If you are just using the script for yourself then the single license will do.

    • Thanks for the script, it works great and saves a lot of time!
      Do you think that it’s possible to have an option to use the foldername instead of the filename for a sequence? Much like when importing a sequence and checking the ‘Force alphabetical order’ box.
      Thanks!

    • @Thaumar – I will add that feature request for the next version

    • This is an awesome script… It comes in handy because right now I am dealing with abt 100 3D passes and this script has saved me prob 4 hours of work in the last week. I do wish for an option to choose what alpha we want to conform to. We use pre multiply a lot and sometimes the AE guess is not correct…
      Thanks though, amazing script!

    • @P-Lo – Noted for a future version. In the meantime you can into Preferences->Import and set “Interpret Unlabeled Alpha As” to what you would like it to be (instead of “Guess”)

    • It would be good if you could figure out how to batch replace psd layer files that have been imported as a sequence! *hint hint*

      Great script nonetheless, saves heaps of time thanks!!

    • Hey Lloyd,

      I don’t normally post comments about scripts.. but immigration needed me to speak up.

      I’ve been doing 3D and After Effects for over ten years now.. And I have huffed and puffed about how stupid the import into AE is.. and finally you solve my problem.

      thankyou thankyou thankyou..

      any chanch you could add pixel aspect ratio to the import section ??

      thanks again

      Alex

    • hi Lloyd,

      How can i make this run on After effects 7.0 on windows, i have put the jsxBin file in the script folder but cant run it through scripts menu, it say an error. I have seen the installation video but that doesnt seem to cover AE 7.0.
      Please let me know how to get this working .
      PS. i am fairly new to after effects.

      Thanks

    • Just wanted to come back and thank you again…

      168 different 3d renders varying length etc..

      this tool is a dream..

      thankyou so much…

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