aescripts + aeplugins

Oren Dodge

I'm super excited about the ability to use spreadsheet data in layers that are replaced by comps in the spreadsheet. Thanks for the update!!

Michael Cardeiro

Thanks Bo, sorry it took so long (I began making the update last July!)

Eric Staswick

Great update. I need help with one bit though. I am trying to bring an audio layer with some markers on it into each comp. I need to maintain those markers when the new footage is imported, when I do it manually this works fine but when I run comps form spreadsheet it does not import the markers. Ideas?

Michael Cardeiro

Hey Eric,
can you zip and attach a file you are using with markers so I can figure out why they aren't maintaining and if there's a workaround.

Eric Staswick

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qmunklwaxco5hvl/AAB2QU6FndKAetj-WNgTpg4Ta?dl=0

You can grab the files here. To clarify I want the markers in the MP3 file to come in and replace the markers on the MP3 track in CAR BASE.

Michael Cardeiro

I'll take a look Eric to see if there's a solution.

AHMET SEDAT ARIKAN

hi michael i have compsfromsheet old version. im press runcompsfromsheet    In older versions as green dots on the image below but new version buyed today but red dots... so I can not run two incompatible. alert you need to select a field with the template name. help me sorry i little speak english

AHMET SEDAT ARIKAN

I'm using the old or trial version. Can you give me the old version of the serial. instead of

Michael Cardeiro

Hi  Ahmet,

The version that you are using used to make you select which compositions in your project to use the script with.  It no longer does this and looks at every comp in your project.

Because of this, if you have more than one comp in your project, you need to tell compsFromSpreadsheet which comp to use for each line.  To do this make a column in your spreadsheet named COMP and put the name of the comp in your project to be duplicated and used for each line.

Let me know if this makes sense.

Michael Cardeiro

... To clarify I want the markers in the MP3 file to come in and replace the markers on the MP3 track in CAR BASE.

Hi Eric,

The problem seems to be that After effects doesn't copy markers when replacing a comp layer (which is what compsFromSpreadsheet does).

So if you make a sequence and just drag in WT25913.mp3 you will see the marker; but, if you create a solid in the comp/select the solid layer in the comp/alt(on a pc) drag WT25913.mp3 from the project window and drop it on the solid layer in the comp, which replaces the solid with WT25913.mp3; the marker is not there.

I quickly looked into adobe's implementation of markers in  scripting to see if I could somehow copy the marker from the object and paste it to the layer after it is replaced.  So far it is not looking promising but like I said, I only quickly looked, I will look further to see if I can figure a solution.

what are you using the markers for? could you substitute having invisible text layers that hold timecode data received from the spreadsheet?

Eric Staswick

The markers trigger the timing for the layer above. It allows my to drop markers while recording the audio and automatically trigger the transition wherever the marker is. The marker data is there but it has to be updated manually, even when you drag and drop you can right click and update and it will show the markers correctly. For now I am just manually right clicking the mp3 layer in each comp and updating. It would be nice if there was an after effects function to do this automatically but I have not found anything in the menus, was hopeful you could access the update through the script. This plugin is still saving me HOURS compared to our old workflow, just always looking for ways to be more efficient.  

Jos Buurman

Hello,

how many videos can I process in the render que? With version 4 after effects often stuck after 100 items added in the render que.

Jos

Michael Cardeiro

Hey Jos,

That answer is really up to after effects and probably has a lot to do with the power of your system as well as ae preference settings.

best thing to do if your system is getting bogged down when running the script, is enable project segmenting (settings->processing) and play around with the number of projects per segment (if it gets bogged down again, quit running and try again with a smaller number) until you find the sweet spot.

Erik Waluska

Hi, I'm having a problem that I've not experience before with this script, where the comps that are created have the "^" removed from the target text layers, which is causing expressions tied to the source text value to become broken because the layer name changes. So why is the script removing the "^" symbol, and can this be changed somehow?

More info:

I have text layers that I'm using to set a countdown clock via expressions. In my spreadsheet, I have columns for hours, minutes and seconds. Those values go to the text layers named "^hours", "^minutes" and "^seconds", then I have a null with some expression sliders tied to the source text of those layers, which basically converts the text numerical characters to actual variable values that are then fed into another text layer that generates the clock via an expression. It all works beautifully,except that when I run the script, for some reason the "^" symbol gets removed from the text layer names and it breaks the expressions because it can't find the layer named "^hours", etc.

Erik Waluska

HA! Never mind, thanks to your notations in the script and my dumb luck I was able to figure it out myself. I just added "'^' +" to this section...

///text replace

}else if(bType == 'text'){ //text layer

var text;

if(data[buttons[bName]]){

text = data[buttons[bName]];

text = text.replace(/<br>/g, "\n\r");

}else{

text = '';

}

newComp.layer(i).property("Source Text").setValue(text.valueOf());

newComp.layer(i).name = '^' + bName;

Charl Joubert

Hi Michael.

This looks like a paid upgrade isn't it?  Can I get version 4 to stop telling me to download the new version?

Michael Cardeiro

Sorry about that Charl, that sounds annoying! 

I'll make a patch for you that doesn't check for updates as soon as I have some free time (there used to be a box to not check but that must not have made it into the window the last time I changed the interface )

Charl Joubert

Thanks Michael!  Whenever you can; it seems to only ask me once per day so that's not too big of an issue.

John Richardson

Hi Michael,

I was happy to see that you have a way of creating variable length compositions!  However, since the created comps are based on the length of a single layer within the main comp, I'm having difficulties with my project... and hopeful you can offer a solution?!

I'm curious if there's a way to use your CompsFromSpreadsheet script to account for the varying lengths of multiple video files within it. For (a simple) example, if I wanted to create iterated comps that have three video files (sequentially placed end-to-end in the timeline)... could I create a finished video that had a variable final length? The imported video files could have lengths of:

  COMP1:  10 sec video + 15 sec video + 12 sec video = 37 sec long finished video (this would be the design that CompsFromSpreadsheet would run)

  COMP2:  5 + 10 + 20 = 35 second long video

  COMP3:  8 + 12 + 9 = 29 second  long video

In other words, the solution that would basically deliver a ripple edit that would either lengthen or reduce the final "stitched" video length. Can your script accommodate this problem? If not, is there another solution you can offer / suggest (like a script that would automatically remove "blank spaces" in the timeline... in a way similar to how "extract work area" creates a ripple edit)? Or, maybe there's a work-around?

I'm looking forward to your response. Thanks.

John

Michael Cardeiro

Hey John!

Sorry it took so long to respond, I was vacationing with my family until today.

I think it would be possible to modify the script to accommodate for multiple clip lengths instead of the current single layer length method.

I'll try to work this in soon.

I'm curious if there's a way to use your CompsFromSpreadsheet script to account for the varying lengths of multiple video files within it.

mily until today


For (a simple) example, if I wanted to create iterated comps that have three video files (sequentially placed end-to-end in the timeline)... could I create a finished video that had a variable final length? The imported video files could have lengths of:

  COMP1:  10 sec video + 15 sec video + 12 sec video = 37 sec long finished video (this would be the design that CompsFromSpreadsheet would run)

  COMP2:  5 + 10 + 20 = 35 second long video

  COMP3:  8 + 12 + 9 = 29 second  long video

In other words, the solution that would basically deliver a ripple edit that would either lengthen or reduce the final "stitched" video length. Can your script accommodate this problem? If not, is there another solution you can offer / suggest (like a script that would automatically remove "blank spaces" in the timeline... in a way similar to how "extract work area" creates a ripple edit)? Or, maybe there's a work-around?

I'm looking forward to your response. Thanks.

John

John Richardson

Thanks for the reply Michael. And by the way, my example was limited to 3 variable video clip /comp lengths, but it really would be for "n" number of video clips / comps.

I'm looking forward to your solution, it'll really help me/others out.

Mike Gloss

Hi Michael,

Is there a way to ask the plugin to only replace text from a spreadsheet, but not duplicate the comp? I already have all my comps set up; I just need text in each one replaced. Adding each of my comps to the render queue is still okay though.

Apologies if I've missed the solution elsewhere.

Thanks!

Mike

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Mike,

Unfortunately there is no way to do this, the script is always going to make copies of your original comp(s). 

A workaround might be, since all newly created comps are put in their own folder, when the script finishes, select all the comps in that folder and choose File->Dependencies->reduce project and it will remove the originals.

Hi Michael,

Is there a way to ask the plugin to only replace text from a spreadsheet, but not duplicate the comp? I already have all my comps set up; I just need text in each one replaced. Adding each of my comps to the render queue is still okay though.

Apologies if I've missed the solution elsewhere.

Thanks!

Mike

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Michael.

This looks like a paid upgrade isn't it?  Can I get version 4 to stop telling me to download the new version?

Hi Charl,

I totally forgot about this(sorry).  Here is a version of compsFromSpreadsheet 4 that wont nag you to update.

Enjoy!

Charl Joubert

Hi Michael.

This looks like a paid upgrade isn't it?  Can I get version 4 to stop telling me to download the new version?

Hi Charl,

I totally forgot about this(sorry).  Here is a version of compsFromSpreadsheet 4 that wont nag you to update.

Enjoy!

Awesome thanks!

Charl Joubert

Hi Michael.

This looks like a paid upgrade isn't it?  Can I get version 4 to stop telling me to download the new version?

Hi Charl,

I totally forgot about this(sorry).  Here is a version of compsFromSpreadsheet 4 that wont nag you to update.

Enjoy!

Awesome thanks!

I think I broke the quote system...

Michael Cardeiro

Charl,

Did you try the version I attached in my previous post?  if it asks for a license, log into your aescripts account and look up the license for your version 4.

Charl Joubert

Charl,

Did you try the version I attached in my previous post?  if it asks for a license, log into your aescripts account and look up the license for your version 4.

It hasn't complained yet so it must be fine.  Thanks again.

Alex Dinnin

Hey Michael,

  I'm still on version 4.5. 

I'm trying to make about 96 comps using compsfromspreadsheet.. Unfortunatly it stops after 4 lines.. I can't for the life of me work out why it is doing this.

I've emailed you .txt and the .aep.. could you have a look at it please ??

regards

Alex

Liam Clisham

Any chance of a Google Docs/Drive integration in the future?

Michael Cardeiro

absolutely, souynds like a winner for the next update. 

dongsoo han

I'd like to test this plugin with SampleProject before buying it. But, I can't find compsFromSpreadsheet5.jsxbin in the Zip file.

Where can I find this file to open the script ?

Thx.

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Han,

you can get the latest version of compsFromSpreadsheet5.jsxbin here:
https://aescripts.com/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/343/

dongsoo han

Hi Michael,

I have 2 failure in using this tool.

1. I can succeed in  text and graphic, but fail to use audio. Even I try to add audio based on the document with ^audio, I can't hear any sound. Can you explain how to add audio file ? 

2. Is it possible to load excel file instead of txt file ? 

I am using CS6. But sample project is for CC. Can I get the sample project file for CS6 ?

Thx.

Chris Standley

Is there any way I can control scale on different layers using a spreadsheet?

Basically I want to have a precomp with a circle scaling up.

Then I want to duplicate this precomp 365 times with each layer having a different, pre-defined scale.

Any thoughts?

Michael Cardeiro

Is there any way I can control scale on different layers using a spreadsheet?

Hi Chris,

you cant target the scale directly with the script, but you could work around this with expressions. Here's how I would do it.

Each circle has a text layer above it that is turned off,

the circles get their scale from the text layers source text.

update those text layers with the spreadsheet.

I think that would work fine, let me know if you're not good with expressions, I can help out.

Chris Standley

Hello, Michael.

Thanks for the reply.

Just had a play with the script and it's not quite what I'm trying to do.

I need an expression that pulls info from a spreadsheet based on the index number of the layer and alters the layer's scale. 

So - Layer 01 (Index 01) I want to scale to 10%

Layer / Index 2 - I want to scale to 35%

And so on for 730 layers.

Nothing more than that, but I'm really rather stupid so I can't figure it out.

Any help is appreciated..

Michael Cardeiro

Hey Ridvan,

at what stage in the process does this show up? after you point the script to your text file?

Engarde media

Michael. 

Is the script Case sensitive when replacing image/audio files?

grtz

k

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Kenneth,

Replacing layers with project items is case sensetive ("Pic.jpg" in your spredsheet will not match "pic.jpg" in your project).

On a side note, if you are importing assetts (using a > instead of a #) case sensetivity depends on your os.  In windows, filenames are not case sensitive.  In mac I think filenames are case sensitive.

Engarde media

Hey Michael.

Thanks for the info. I figured out that it was the problem indeed.

Another question.

I have a basic PSD, that contains 1 smart-object that's used 2x in the PSD.

Layer 'item1_full' and 'item1_crop'. 

I have openend that PSD as a composition and used those 'item1_full' and 'item1_crop' layers in my AE comp.

Now I want to replace those 2 layers with other layers that are based of the same PSD! So they layernames are exactly the same, I just replaced the image in that SmartObject. 

Can you replace PSD layers imported as compositions with each other? I see AE gives it a name like 'item1_full/basic.psd'.  Should I use this name in the excel? 'item1_full/newimage01.psd' 'item1_full/newimage02.psd'  ... ect.   And import all my PSD's as compositions?

Phfew.. hard to explain

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Kenneth,

There is no way to import specific layers of a psd, any imported layer will be imported flattened

Kenneth Powers

Is there a way I can get a demo project for After Effects CS6? I downloaded the trial and when I tried to open the demo project I got the following error: "The file you are attempting to open was created with After Effects 13.2 (Windows 64) and cannot be opened with this version."

Michael Cardeiro

Hey Kenneth,

Here's  a cs6 version of the sample project

Neal Sickles

Hi Michael, 

This is just what I was looking for and am excited to try it out.  I downloaded the trial version and ran some tests.  I've gotten through most of the little obstacles I had in setting up the project and spreadsheet for my needs, except for one kink in the chain.  I have to show a number to display the inches symbol (ex. 3").  That is how it looks in my spreadsheet in Excel, but when I convert it to Tab Delimited it shows up as "3""".  And when I clean it up in the Tab Delimited format to, 3", and then run the script in AE, it still shows up as "3""".  So, I'm wondering if you know how I can get around this so I can just have it set correctly in Excel.  

Thanks,

Neal

Michael Cardeiro

Hi Neal,

Excel does some wacky things when it converts to tab-delimited text.  For instance, if you have a comma in a field, excel will treat this as the end of the field, and anything after it as part of the next field.  That's why you can enter <c> in a field and compsFromSpreadsheet will convert it to a ,

I am currently working on a minor update involving the inrterface.  I can roll in the ability to have <in> or <q> be converted to "

Neal Sickles

I see.  I look forward to that version.  Thanks for the quick reply!

David Gerberding

I would love to see an example of what this script can output.  I have a general understanding of what it does, but a couple of examples of finished videos that used it would be helpful.  

Pairing up a spreadsheet and a base comp, could this be used to create hundreds of videos with unique member data in them, each one specific to that person?

By the way, I attempted to run the Sample Project, but it only rendered one comp before failing with a flock of sheep.

Sean Endler

i'm getting this error (see attached) 

Sean Endler

curious why this error message is displaying. anyone have any ideas, this is a paid version of the plug in btw