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Immigration
Version: 1.41 Sign up to be notified by email when a new version is posted
We 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 – fxphd & LUXX
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.
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- Immigration Import UI
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- Immigration Auto-Match Preview UI
Version history
- 1.41 Fixed 9.0.3 prefs bug 05/11
- 1.4 Made CS5.5 Compatible, changed r3d to be movie extension (non-sequence) 05/11
- 1.3 Added new “Pre-sort files” option to support unpadded file sequences 11/10
- 1.22 Fixed window resizing issue when switching to import mode 09/10
- 1.21 Fixed font color in CS5 status display 09/10
- 1.2 Fixed bug when replacing layers that are referenced by expressions 08/10
- 1.1 Made CS5 compatible, instructions collapsed state is now saved 04/10
- 1.036 Minor display window fixes 03/10
- 1.035 Internal update
- 1.034 Internal update
- 1.033 Added http://license.aescripts.com info 09/09
- 1.032 Fixed small licensing issue 08/09
- 1.031 Fixed Hours/Days display in browser window when using file age 08/09
- 1.02 Fixed Windows Help Window Centering issue (Windows Only)
- 1.01 Fixed Help Window Buttons (Windows Only)
- 1.0 Initial Release Aug 2009
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Hi,
Thank you for writing this script. I am using it on a PC and I am able to run the script but I am unable to dock a window or even get a window for it. I don’t have this problem on the Mac side. How can I get a dockable window for windows.
Thanks
Same as mac, install it in the ScriptUI Panels folder. Please watch this tutorial for detailed instruction on how to install and run scripts: http://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-install-and-run-scripts/
Hi. Love this script. One question/problem: I have switched to CS5.5 and have noticed that batch importing is no longer functioning properly. Batch replacing works great and importing one image sequence at a time is fine, however when I select multiple sequences and hit either “Import” or “Import to Folder” it only imports the topmost sequence and stops there. Is this something anyone else has encountered in CS5.5? Is this a known bug? My research hasn’t found any answers. Thanks a lot
Strange. Is this the same sequence? Can you give me an example of one of the file names?
HI, my apologies for the delayed response. They sequences have been majorly .exr files, but the occasional .png sequence is used too. An example naming convention that has been used in all of the sequences I’ve been importing is 123_JOB_NAME_IN_V01.exr. Usually following is the pass info (i.e. _object_01.exr), but the import problem arrises any time I attempt a batch import.
I’ve attempted reinstalling the plugin a couple of times, however batch-replace and single-file-import/replace seem to the only functions that work correctly.
One specific thing that I’ve noticed when I attempt a batch import is that when I hit “Import to Folder,” it imports only the topmost selected file and also doesn’t import it to the folder selected, but instead places the sequence in the project panel outside of all folders. I’m not sure if this information will help, but I noticed it’s something I failed to mention originally.
Thanks again for your response.
Good morning!
Love this idea, and have 2 questions about it before purchase:
1 – how does licensing work? I will want 2 or 3 seats, but will need to use it on different machines from week to week/job to job. Is there a simple process to move an install from one box to another & survive re-imaging?
2 – is there any way to leverage this tool to actually move files around? Specifically, I’m thinknig of Cinema 4D’s annoying tendency to render multiple image sequences into the same folder. Would love the ability to actually quickly & easily sort them into separate folders, and it seems like this code is ready-made to do it!
Thanks in advance for any insights!
1) We can provide a tool to de-license a machine.
2) With Immigration you don’t need to worry about all the files being in the same folder. Immigration does not modify files in the finder. We might consider this feature for a future version.
As long as the jpgs are sequentially numbered Immigration will see them as a sequence. You can either put them in different folders or rename them so they are not sequentially numbered.
Hi, I have multiple jpg images in my composition I wish to replace. When using Immigration, when I select my image folder, it automatically interprets the images as a sequence, is there anyway I can stop this from happening?
Thanks!
Hello Mr Alvarez, great job on this tool. Saves money and keeps the work fun. Thank you very much.
I have a question though, is it possible to prevent immigration to change the alpha interpretation settings of the sequences it’s replacing ?
If I have a bunch of image sequences with Ignored Alpha, once I update to a newer version using the Replace button of Immigration, everything goes back to Premultiplied Alpha. Maybe it’s an AE problem…
Yes, in the After Effets ‘Import’ preferences you can tell it how you would like it to interpret unlabeled alpha channels.
That would be a fantastic feature to add, Id love immigration to read the previous alpha interpretation of a file it replaces so that I don’t to manually go through all my passes and change the alpha interpretation to straight.
This is a limitation in the After Effects api. If your alpha channel is set then the replace will set it to the same, if it is set to “guess” then it will re-guess on the newly replaced footage. Here is how it is explained in the api docs: The method preserves interpretation parameters from the previous mainSource object. If the specified file has an unlabeled alpha channel, the method estimates the alpha interpretation.
Thanks for the info !
I actually found how to make my life easier, when I realised the existance of a file called interpretation rules.txt in the App Data folder…
Is there a way to remove the tooltip that pops up when hovering over filenames? “To do a Replace or Add/Replace Proxy the same number…” etc. ?
There currently isn’t a way to turn them off but that is a good suggestion that we will consider implementing in a future version.
I have a ton of image sequences within a single folder. Basically something like, left and right passes for a render but then frames 165-387 and then frames 536-657. When I try to import only the sequence from 165-387, it says the sequence is missing 149 frames and it imports both sequences, 165-387 and 536-657, as one sequence. This happens even with the set range feature displaying only the frames I want imported. Any ideas? Other than this, the software is fantastic. Excellent work!
Looks like you found a design flaw in the way Immigration decides if you want to import a subrange. If the range is not changed, Immigration assumes you want to import the full sequence. When there’s missing frames AE grabs both parts although Immigration correctly identifies them as two separate sequences. I will fix this problem in the next version but in the meantime a work around is to duplicate the last frame and name it as the next one in the sequence and then tell Immigration to import one frame less. Then it will import just the sub-range. So if you sequence is 1-10 but missing frames 4-7. Duplicate frame 3, rename it frame 4 and tell Immigration to import frames 1-3 (instead of 1-4 which is what it will default to) and then duplicate frame 8, rename it frame 7 and tell Immigration to import frames 8-10. It know this is probably a pain to do but it will work if you’re in a pinch. The next version will handle this condition automatically.
I’m a freelancer. If I buy a license, can I use it use it on different computers at different companies as long as I remember to uninstall the script when I leave?
Unfortunately not. The license if for you to use on your computers. You would need to ask the shop you are working at to buy a license. We price our software very affordably so that hopefully this is not an issue.
Hey Lloyd,
I am forever having problems with this script.. it has never worked properly for me ever since I bought my new computer..
I’ve deleted permissions.. re downloaded it.. it never seems to work right for me.. which is a shame as it is such an amazing script..
The problem I am now having is…
Illegal Character: ‘found in folder name
Folder “TEAM_SHEET” will be skipped
However there are no ‘ anywhere near the folder… the files are named roughly like this
TS_BLUE_BAR.0001.tif
any ideas.. sorry to moan.. I genuinely love this script…..
Alex
The script is great! but I don’t know how to use it with psd layers
If I want to replace “joe.psd” with “averell.psd”, each one having layers named “head”, “hat”, etc, Immigration doesn’t replace a layer with a layer but with the entire file.
Instead of having “head/joe.psd” -> “head/averell.psd”, I have “head/joe.psd” -> “averell.psd”
Is there a solution (else than replacing all layers with hand) ?
Thanks
Due to limitations in the scripting api Immigration is unfortunately not able to replace layers. If your workflow involves replacing footage on regular basis I would recommend not using layered psd files.
Hello Lloyd and congrats for such a great script !
After a long long time, i finally had the opportunity and the chance to test immigration. Unfortunately i stumble upon an issue. It looks like immigration doesn’t properly replace psd files when it comes to chosen layer(s) file. Immigration always replace the merged layers psd file whether the only selected layer(s) ?
Is it a known issue ?
Unfortuantely this is a limitation of the After Effects replace footage API.
How can I dock the script windows ?
I`m using Windows and AE 5
Thanks
Here is a tutorial on how to install and run scripts: http://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-install-and-run-scripts/
I too would very much like to ‘dock’ this while in Windows. How do you do it?
You need to install it in the ScriptUI Panels folder and run it from the Window menu. http://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-install-and-run-scripts/
What to add when anything has been said before?
Great script, saved me hours, gonna buy it asap.
Awesome script! I waited for that for four years!
Freaking great, I’m gonna definately drink for you!
Just saved me like 3 hours. Gonna buy it soon for sure.
This plugin is awesome, cant possibly thnk you enough for the hours this plug-in just saved me!
Glad you are enjoying it!
Hi Lloyd,
I’m using AE CS4, v 9.0.3, I just downloaded the trial version today, I get this error:
unable to execute script at line 4058, After Effects error: The section name and key (General Section, Default Import Sequence FPS) could not be found in the preferences.
thanks
Will
v1.41 works with 9.0.3 now.
hi lloyd,
i downloaded the trial version as described in the update mail. but the error still appears in CS5.5
cheers
joerg-mark
We accidentally uploaded the wrong archive. It has now been corrected, please re-download.
I just upgraded to CS5.5 and when I open Immigration, I get this error:
“Unable to execute script at line 3919. After Effects error: The section name and key (General Section, Default Import Sequence FPS) could not be found in the preferences.”
Thanks for reporting that. I just posted v1.4 which is 5.5 compatible.
Thanks for the super quick response. I’ll download the update now.
For some reason.. this has stopped working..
I select the files I want to Import.. hit Import into folder.. and nothing happens..
very strange indeed…
Did it work before? Anything else you could tell me that might help us figure out why it stopped working?
Sorry Lloyd.. appreciate it was a bit vague…
It used to work.. However I did reset all my preferences as AE was playing up..
When I started Immigration again.. I added my id number.. and in installed all ok..
Is there an Immigration preference I can reset ??
regards
The immigration preferences are stored in the After Effects preferences so resetting the AE prefs will reset the Immigration prefs. How did you reset the AE prefs?
I deleted the After Effects preferences file !!
Then try officially deleting the prefs. You do this by holding down the Control-Shift-Option-Command keys all at once while launching AE. You should get an alert asking if you want to delete the prefs. Hit ok and you’ll have a fresh set of prefs. See if this solves the problem.
Hi Lloyd.. it’s strange.. I reset the After Effects prefs.. and it still doesn’t work… it appears to get stuck.
It says at the top .. scanning folders, please wait….
Finished Parsing FOlder:
Any ideas ??
ALex
Very strange. Maybe it’s a permissions issue? Does it not work on a specific folder? What AE & OS are you running?
I don’t think it’s a permissions issue.. all folders are set to read and write..
I’m running Mac OSX vers 10.6.7 .. AE CS5 10.0.1.19
it’s all very strange
My only guess at this point is something might have happened to your user account. Can you try it from a different account to see if it works?
Hey Lloyd,
Aplogies it has taken so long to get back to you about this.. unfirtunatly I’ve been really busy.. and having spare time to look into this has been difficult..
ok.. so you are right.. I have created a new User Account.. and it now works fine..
So is the only answer to now migrate everything from my old user to the new one..
or is there a better work around ??
Alex
Creating a new user account was the workaround. Since something was clearly corrupted with your old user account I would only move over things you need and would not do a blanket transfer as you might reintroduce the corruption. This is just a guess of course but I also prefer to be over-cautious with these things.
Cool! Keep up the good work.
Hi. Looks fantastic. I just tried it but is it possible to recognize sequence with missing frame? I have sequences out od a 3D app that I rendered like every 7 frames. so my sequnce goes like: example_0000.exr, example_0007, example_14, and so on. In after affect I have to check “force alphabetical order”.
Force alphabetical order is not a feature in the current version of Immigration. It is planned for the next version.
Hi
For how long does a license last?
best regards from Denmark
Forever on the current version. Dot upgrades are free. It is possible that a new license will be required if there is a major revision (ie 2.0) but that has not been determined yet.
Ok -thanks
Hi Lioyd,
Immigration rocks! But there is a little interface glitch: every time i click the import button, all my interface panels get resized (probably to their default width?).
AE Version 10.0.1 on MacOS 10.6.4
Tracked down the issue and it is now fixed in version 1.22
I’m on Snow Leopard 10.6.4 and running AE CS4 (9.0.2.42). Any idea why the Preview window doesn’t come up when I click the PREVIEW FILE MATCHES button?
Thanks!
Not sure why this would be happening. Are you still seeing the issue? Can you try with a different set of files?
Hi there,
I’m having this problem as well.
I wasn’t having the problem last week when I was still under the TRIAL license. but now that I’ve bought the license, I can’t preview what files will be replaced.
I’ve tried it under a different set of files and from a different AE project, but no good.
MAC OSX 10.6.8
AE 10.0.2.4
Cheers
After Effects restart and replaced a few files in random new project.
This fixed it.
Cheers
Great, thanks for letting us know that you got it work.
I’m in the middle of shooting a feature right now and because my editing system is so old, I’ve resorted to offline editing. As a test, I wanted to see how forty minutes of my movie looked in full HD on a tv, so I imported my Vegas timeline into AE and started the task of replacing all my offline files with their onlines by hand (I’m going from .avi to .mov). I got to thinking, “There has to be a script for this”. I found Immigration and it was love at first sight! I will most definitely be purchasing this script, you saved me at least 10 hours of work!
Thank you!
-El
Love to hear these stories! Thanks for sharing.
v1.2 doesn’t seem to like my naming convention of putting [brackets] in my folder name. It completely skips it and all enclosed folders.
After Effects uses brackets to designate the frame range of a sequence filesequence[1-100].tif so that unfortunately makes brackets incompatible for folder or file naming.
Love this one – Thanks Lloyd.
How can I upgrade my version for the CS5 compatibility?
Just download the free trial, it will automatically recognize your license.
Thank you sir!
I’ve used this script with much success in the past in CS4– definitely changed my workflow when working with CG, but now Im trying to use for the first time in CS5 with latest version and having issues with being able to select more than one seq at a time, its like selection array isnt updating. This makes Immigration pretty useless on CS5 until it gets fixed.
(Mac) v1.1
User Error: restarted computer and works perfect. Thanks for writing script.
Awesome script
Does not work with file names in Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Maybe others, Dont know. Maybe there is some setting I can adjust. Im pretty retarded when it come to AE scripts
Error message:
Path not valid or file no longer exists or insufficient permission to access file.
Drag in import is working fine for these files im receiving from china.
Looking forward to future versions.
See you around Lloyd
Mike Moore
Definitely have not tested it with chinese file names, but will definitely look into it for a future version.
Hi,
I wan tot try this out – but it downloads JSXbin file for the demo version – it’s not covered in the FAQ what to do with that.
Demo – OSX 10.6 AE CS4
jsxbin is a binary jsx file but it is installed and run the same way. Install it in the ScriptUI Panels folder according to the installation guide: http://aescripts.com/faq/how-to-install-and-run-scripts/
By the way, if you don’t have permission to install scripts in the ScriptUI Panels folder you can also run it by selecting File->Scripts->Run Script File
Hello, i’m very interesting with your script but there is a big hole, he doesn’t understand sequences with no padding like a sequence containing “xx.0.jpg … xx.100.jpg … xx.1000.jpg”
thanks
PS: I’m using the demo in aecs4 on win7
Yes, this is a known limitation of the script. When you first run the script there is a dialog box explicitly telling you this. The reason is that files are read in from the system in order and the files are not in order when they don’t have padding. Immigration could sort the files to get around this but this would kill all the speed benefits and I think this is one of Immigration’s main features. If I can think of another workaround that maintains the speed I will incorporate it into a future version.Version 1.3 now supports unpadded image sequences
Good News!! version 1.3 now has support for unpadded sequences. To turn it on check the “Pre-Sort Files” option.
This is such a fantastic script Lloyd! For anyone dealing with 3D and compositing in AE this is such a great improvement to the workflow.
Much Appreciated.
About 1 in 4 times, Immigration isn’t picking up any image sequences in folders I direct it to. What could be the cause of this? Are there any naming no-nos that it doesn’t like?
O… M… G… This script saved my bacon tonight! My C4D Net Render dumped 75,000 images into a single folder. Trying to even *open* that folder was painfully slow. Trying to import into AE was even more grueling — beachballs forever!
The good folks at the CGTalk C4D boards recommended this script… and wow! Immigration is simply a marvel! If you do any type of multi-pass rendering, this is a must-have script in your toolbox.
Any chance of Adobe integrating this into CS5?
Just wanted to come back and thank you again…
168 different 3d renders varying length etc..
this tool is a dream..
thankyou so much…
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
All the scripts on the site have icons indicating which versions they are compatible with. Immigration is compatible with CS3 and above.
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
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!!
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”)
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
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.
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!
excellent lloyd.
love the new design of the site as well…
can’t go wrong with a little bit of grain