Thanks Alon, the custom amount of times works now. I had set it up incorrectly.
I know you can add an effect on layers in a loop. Is this possible with Animation Presets? It doesn't appear to work from what I can see, and adding it via. a menu command means I have to select the preset for every layer (10+). I have an expression setup I'd like to add into the loop, to automatically add to all layers within a comp.
Sorry for asking so many questions, but this script is shaving off hours of repetitive work we were otherwise unable to automate. So excited!
Thank you so much for the new update with effect property control.
It works great with properties which have '1 drop down menu' or '1 value slider'. But I don't know how to get it work with property having '2 drop down menus'. Could you help me with this?
Thank you!
Hi Son Nguyen, unfortunately the second dropdown "Source, Masks, Effects and Masks" is not supported by adobe via scripting so it won't appear in the loop and can't be changed. if you are searching for a specific property of an effect, the easiest way to find it is by message the name of the property and then select "sum to list", add outside the loop list box and select the message name. you will get a list of all the names of the properties that you can copy.
Thanks Alon, the custom amount of times works now. I had set it up incorrectly.
I know you can add an effect on layers in a loop. Is this possible with Animation Presets? It doesn't appear to work from what I can see, and adding it via. a menu command means I have to select the preset for every layer (10+). I have an expression setup I'd like to add into the loop, to automatically add to all layers within a comp.
Sorry for asking so many questions, but this script is shaving off hours of repetitive work we were otherwise unable to automate. So excited!
Hi Penelope, animation presets is not supported yet but this is a good idea for the next update. I will add "apply animation preset" action. the action will search in the presets folder "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CC "version"\Support Files\Presets" or the in the correct path in mac, you can expect that update soon.
don't worry about asking too many questions, I'm glad to help you with any question and your questions also help me to come up with new features like this one.
Alon do you guys have a randomize function as well, also would love to have some premade or user presets scripts as well.
Also how do i put a transition video in back of every single video in the active comp.
Zachary, Automation Toolkit currently not supports randomization, I am planning to add this feature in future update (maybe the next one). Automation Toolkit comes with 11 ready to use automation files as examples (also with the trial version).
for you question, this is not an easy one but I will try to explain -
1. (find the transition) - you have to loop on the project items and find the selected transition video and save it in a new variable.
2. (set up the main loop) - loop on the layers in the active comp, add an "item" variable that will contain the current composition(because the action of adding video to comp is in the composition actions), select the loop name that will reference a layer and select the property "containing comp".
3. (add the transition to the comp) - add an if and check if the layer source is not equal to the transition video item (because you don't want add transition for the transitions that you add), add an action to the if and select the comp variable and then "add item" , select the transition video variable(this will add the transition video inside the composition as layer in index 1).
4. (move the transition for the right place) - add another loop inside that will run on all the layers in the active comp (to find the new transition), add an if inside and select the loop name then "index" and then type 1, so you search for the first layer and then you have to save it in a new layer variable.
5.add an action inside the main loop(the second loop), select the new layer variable and then "move after" , select the outside loop that goes through all the layers and then "this item", so you move every new transition layer after each layer. add a set line to set the "start time" of the transition layer to the in point of each layer.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
Alon i will try this sir. Thanks for the quick get back. You definitely has simplified coding.
Zachary, Automation Toolkit currently not supports randomization, I am planning to add this feature in future update (maybe the next one). Automation Toolkit comes with 11 ready to use automation files as examples (also with the trial version).
for you question, this is not an easy one but I will try to explain -
1. (find the transition) - you have to loop on the project items and find the selected transition video and save it in a new variable.
2. (set up the main loop) - loop on the layers in the active comp, add an "item" variable that will contain the current composition(because the action of adding video to comp is in the composition actions), select the loop name that will reference a layer and select the property "containing comp".
3. (add the transition to the comp) - add an if and check if the layer source is not equal to the transition video item (because you don't want add transition for the transitions that you add), add an action to the if and select the comp variable and then "add item" , select the transition video variable(this will add the transition video inside the composition as layer in index 1).
4. (move the transition for the right place) - add another loop inside that will run on all the layers in the active comp (to find the new transition), add an if inside and select the loop name then "index" and then type 1, so you search for the first layer and then you have to save it in a new layer variable.
5.add an action inside the main loop(the second loop), select the new layer variable and then "move after" , select the outside loop that goes through all the layers and then "this item", so you move every new transition layer after each layer. add a set line to set the "start time" of the transition layer to the in point of each layer.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
Thank you so much for the Anim Preset addition, Alon! Works perfectly, but you need to put it in a custom amount loop to stop an endless loop. 1 times puts it across all layers once. I think multiple additions could be handy though. Not sure in what scenario, but never say never.
For users, if you accidentally put it in an endless loop like I did, ESC key works a treat.
Thank you so much for the Anim Preset addition, Alon! Works perfectly, but you need to put it in a custom amount loop to stop an endless loop. 1 times puts it across all layers once. I think multiple additions could be handy though. Not sure in what scenario, but never say never.
For users, if you accidentally put it in an endless loop like I did, ESC key works a treat.
Penelope,
thank you for letting me know about this. I need more information in order to fully understand what is the issue. it shouldn't loop endlessly and I don't see any reason to use custom amount loop in this case, can you send me your automation with the endless loop problem so I can see it myself?, maybe it's a bug that I need to fix, if you think it's a bug you can also submit a ticket.
To apply an animation preset to all the layers in the comp, first you have to loop on the layers and add action inside the loop , select the loop name, "apply animation preset" and then type the name of the preset.
I attached an example for this as automation file(make sure to unzip the file before loading it).
Thank you for constantlyupdating Automation Toolkit!. I have 2 questions:
1. Right now I can set layers, pre-comp, time indicator by comp duration. But is there a way to set the work area as well?
2. What are the options to back up all my Automation lines? Do I have to manually export every single item?
Hi Son Nguyen,
thank you for using Automation Toolkit, my goal is to expand the capabilities of Automation Toolkit as much as possible so I like to get suggestions for new features from users.
for your questions, the option to manipulate the work area of the composition is currently not supported but if you're interested in it, I'll add it in the next update.
2. you can backup the settings file of automation toolkit that contain all the automations+ the categories + the settings. For loading an old setting file you will have to replace the current settings file with the old one in the specified folder(you can just add random text at the end of the name).
you can open the folder that contains the settings file by go to the settings panel inside Automation Toolkit, then click the button "browse".
I will consider adding an option to export all the automations as separate automation files too.
Alon is it possible you could position the transitions between each layers. I like the way you got it now but would love to see it positioned in between each 2 layers in the active comp. Also can you make a code that could select 2 or more video transitions and randomly select to put in between all the layers.
Alon do you guys have a randomize function as well, also would love to have some premade or user presets scripts as well.
Also how do i put a transition video in back of every single video in the active comp.
Zachary, Automation Toolkit currently not supports randomization, I am planning to add this feature in future update (maybe the next one). Automation Toolkit comes with 11 ready to use automation files as examples (also with the trial version).
for you question, this is not an easy one but I will try to explain -
1. (find the transition) - you have to loop on the project items and find the selected transition video and save it in a new variable.
2. (set up the main loop) - loop on the layers in the active comp, add an "item" variable that will contain the current composition(because the action of adding video to comp is in the composition actions), select the loop name that will reference a layer and select the property "containing comp".
3. (add the transition to the comp) - add an if and check if the layer source is not equal to the transition video item (because you don't want add transition for the transitions that you add), add an action to the if and select the comp variable and then "add item" , select the transition video variable(this will add the transition video inside the composition as layer in index 1).
4. (move the transition for the right place) - add another loop inside that will run on all the layers in the active comp (to find the new transition), add an if inside and select the loop name then "index" and then type 1, so you search for the first layer and then you have to save it in a new layer variable.
5.add an action inside the main loop(the second loop), select the new layer variable and then "move after" , select the outside loop that goes through all the layers and then "this item", so you move every new transition layer after each layer. add a set line to set the "start time" of the transition layer to the in point of each layer.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
Alon is it possible you could position the transitions between each layers. I like the way you got it now but would love to see it positioned in between each 2 layers in the active comp. Also can you make a code that could select 2 or more video transitions and randomly select to put in between all the layers.
Yes, it is possible, you just have to set the start time property of the transition layer to the in point of the layer minus the duration of the transition multiply by 2, so you basically moving the transition layer to the time of the layer minus half of the duration of the transition.
I made for you the automation as you asked, it's quite complicated automation but very similar to the last one.
steps:
1. count how many transition is selected and store is number in a variable.
2. loop on all the layer, add a variable that will generate a random number every time.
3. set the random maximum property of this variable to the number of the selected layers.
4. randomize the number.
5. find the transition item by the number we generated and save it into a variable.
6. make an item variable and save the layer containing comp property.
6.add to this comp the transition.
7. find this transition layer(in index 1) and save it to a variable.
8. move the transition layer after the footage layer.
9. move the start point of the transition to the in-point of the layer minus the duration/2.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
I hope this automation will improve your workflow.
That's what I'm talking about, you are definitely a good mechanic to all your moving parts. I appreciate everything your a person I would love to do business with. Your program should get a award.
Alon is it possible you could position the transitions between each layers. I like the way you got it now but would love to see it positioned in between each 2 layers in the active comp. Also can you make a code that could select 2 or more video transitions and randomly select to put in between all the layers.
Yes, it is possible, you just have to set the start time property of the transition layer to the in point of the layer minus the duration of the transition multiply by 2, so you basically moving the transition layer to the time of the layer minus half of the duration of the transition.
I made for you the automation as you asked, it's quite complicated automation but very similar to the last one.
steps:
1. count how many transition is selected and store is number in a variable.
2. loop on all the layer, add a variable that will generate a random number every time.
3. set the random maximum property of this variable to the number of the selected layers.
4. randomize the number.
5. find the transition item by the number we generated and save it into a variable.
6. make an item variable and save the layer containing comp property.
6.add to this comp the transition.
7. find this transition layer(in index 1) and save it to a variable.
8. move the transition layer after the footage layer.
9. move the start point of the transition to the in-point of the layer minus the duration/2.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
I hope this automation will improve your workflow.
Alon is it possible you could position the transitions between each layers. I like the way you got it now but would love to see it positioned in between each 2 layers in the active comp. Also can you make a code that could select 2 or more video transitions and randomly select to put in between all the layers.
Yes, it is possible, you just have to set the start time property of the transition layer to the in point of the layer minus the duration of the transition multiply by 2, so you basically moving the transition layer to the time of the layer minus half of the duration of the transition.
I made for you the automation as you asked, it's quite complicated automation but very similar to the last one.
steps:
1. count how many transition is selected and store is number in a variable.
2. loop on all the layer, add a variable that will generate a random number every time.
3. set the random maximum property of this variable to the number of the selected layers.
4. randomize the number.
5. find the transition item by the number we generated and save it into a variable.
6. make an item variable and save the layer containing comp property.
6.add to this comp the transition.
7. find this transition layer(in index 1) and save it to a variable.
8. move the transition layer after the footage layer.
9. move the start point of the transition to the in-point of the layer minus the duration/2.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself(make sure you unzip the file).
I hope this automation will improve your workflow.
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hi Zachary,
Thank you for your last comment I appreciate it a lot!
Markers is not supported in this version of Automation Toolkit, so it is not possible.
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hi Zachary,
Thank you for your last comment I appreciate it a lot!
Markers is not supported in this version of Automation Toolkit, so it is not possible.
This seems like a really helpful tool! Quick question, can you export the automations as scripts? I'm looking to make a bunch of scripts for various tasks, and I'd hate to lose access to them if automation toolkit isn't supported at some point.
This seems like a really helpful tool! Quick question, can you export the automations as scripts? I'm looking to make a bunch of scripts for various tasks, and I'd hate to lose access to them if automation toolkit isn't supported at some point.
Hi Samuel, thanks! currently automation toolkit does not support exporting the code. this feature was requested by many and may be added in future version/update.
In my opinion once you start using Automation Toolkit you won't really feel the need to export the automations to code, if you have doubts I highly recommend you to test the trial version first.
About losing the your automations, I understand your concern but if adobe won't make a big change in after effects scripting, this script should work fine for a long time with very little support as any other script.
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hey Alon is it possible to put that code together for me.
Not just that but all these codes can be added to your automation folders as well.
People will always have a need for the expect and unexpected.. Thanks Zachary
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hey Alon is it possible to put that code together for me.
Not just that but all these codes can be added to your automation folders as well.
People will always have a need for the expect and unexpected.. Thanks Zachary
Hi Zachary,
I made this automation for you and I hope this will boost up your workflow,
the explanation of the automation is too complex so I will skip for this time.
one note, in order for the automation to work there need to be at least one layer inside the composition so the loop will be able to work(regular solid will work).
I attached the automation files, you have 2 options to choose from:
1.change the in and out point of the layer to the current and next marker time.
2.change only the in point of the layer to the current marker. (make sure you unzip the file).
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hey Alon is it possible to put that code together for me.
Not just that but all these codes can be added to your automation folders as well.
People will always have a need for the expect and unexpected.. Thanks Zachary
Hi Zachary,
I made this automation for you and I hope this will boost up your workflow,
the explanation of the automation is too complex so I will skip for this time.
one note, in order for the automation to work there need to be at least one layer inside the composition so the loop will be able to work(regular solid will work).
I attached the automation files, you have 2 options to choose from:
1.change the in and out point of the layer to the current and next marker time.
2.change only the in point of the layer to the current marker. (make sure you unzip the file).
Now is it possible to make a script that if you select layers in the project folders it will randomly place each layer behind each marker on the timeline?
Hey Alon is it possible to put that code together for me.
Not just that but all these codes can be added to your automation folders as well.
People will always have a need for the expect and unexpected.. Thanks Zachary
Hi Zachary,
I made this automation for you and I hope this will boost up your workflow,
the explanation of the automation is too complex so I will skip for this time.
one note, in order for the automation to work there need to be at least one layer inside the composition so the loop will be able to work(regular solid will work).
I attached the automation files, you have 2 options to choose from:
1.change the in and out point of the layer to the current and next marker time.
2.change only the in point of the layer to the current marker. (make sure you unzip the file).
Alon is it possible to let it automatically cut and put layers till the end of the marker.
Say if i have 4 layers or videos and i have a hundred markers. Is it possible to randomly cut a point and align a random layer to each marker...
Hi, so if I understand, you also want to cut randomly the in and out of the layer so it will take different time of the video every time. the last automation already cut the in and out of the layer to the markers but from the start of the footage.
I made this automation to also cut a random time from the selected footage every time.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Alon is it possible to let it automatically cut and put layers till the end of the marker.
Say if i have 4 layers or videos and i have a hundred markers. Is it possible to randomly cut a point and align a random layer to each marker...
Hi, so if I understand, you also want to cut randomly the in and out of the layer so it will take different time of the video every time. the last automation already cut the in and out of the layer to the markers but from the start of the footage.
I made this automation to also cut a random time from the selected footage every time.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Alon is it possible to let it automatically cut and put layers till the end of the marker.
Say if i have 4 layers or videos and i have a hundred markers. Is it possible to randomly cut a point and align a random layer to each marker...
Hi, so if I understand, you also want to cut randomly the in and out of the layer so it will take different time of the video every time. the last automation already cut the in and out of the layer to the markers but from the start of the footage.
I made this automation to also cut a random time from the selected footage every time.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Alon
Hi Zachary,
thanks for the compliments and sorry my instructions weren't very clear.
I attached an automation that copies all the markers from the selected layer to the comp's timeline.
Alon is it possible to let it automatically cut and put layers till the end of the marker.
Say if i have 4 layers or videos and i have a hundred markers. Is it possible to randomly cut a point and align a random layer to each marker...
Hi, so if I understand, you also want to cut randomly the in and out of the layer so it will take different time of the video every time. the last automation already cut the in and out of the layer to the markers but from the start of the footage.
I made this automation to also cut a random time from the selected footage every time.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Alon
Hi Zachary,
thanks for the compliments and sorry my instructions weren't very clear.
I attached an automation that copies all the markers from the selected layer to the comp's timeline.
This is an astonishing tool which has already saved me hours of work. Is there any way to identify markers by name? Say I wanted a set of layers to align to markers with names containing a specific word. Is that possible?
This is an astonishing tool which has already saved me hours of work. Is there any way to identify markers by name? Say I wanted a set of layers to align to markers with names containing a specific word. Is that possible?
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the comment and I am very happy to hear it saved you time.
So for your question, you have to loop on the comp markers, then you will have access to the "comment" property of each marker, the comment is all the text you see on the marker.
you also have the "time" property of the marker so with this you can sync up the layer "start point" property to this time.
the only thing you have to check is if the comment of the marker contains a specific text.
so to get more control over a text you have to save the "comment" text in a new text variable.
then you will have more options like
actions:
find and replace...
make uppercase
make lowercase
remove whitespace
properties:
value
text element
text length
word count
for this I should have added the property "contain text element" but currently there isn't such a property(in the next update). but you can still do that with the action "find and replace text element".
this action will try to find the "text element" property of the text and replace this with another text or blank that you specify in the action.
first you have to set the property "text element" of the text variable to the word you want to search for, and then add the action "find and replace text element".
now in order to check if the word was in the text you have to use the if automation line and check if the value of the text variable is != not equal to the comment of the marker.
if they are not equal anymore so this means that the action found the word and replaced it,
if they are still equal, the word wasn't there.
so inside the if you can move the layers as you want.
I should definitely make a tutorial about this, I hope you understand how to create this automation.
I attached the example as automation file so you can load and examine yourself( in the automation I set the text element as a text variable with a user prompt, make sure you unzip the file).
Wow that is sensational. Thanks so much for the very prompt reply, detailed explanation, and automation preset. I was obviously looking in the wrong place. I'll explain why this is so useful to me.
I make some basic information videos, and I typically provide quotations from scholarly sources. When I do so, I display an image of the book I am quoting (usually a jpg or png), with the quoted text underneath (generated in MonkeyBars). Previously I have been aligning these layers to the audio by hand, an incredibly laborious task as you can imagine (especially when there are 20-30 of them). Then I decided I just had to look for a way to automate them.
I then started using this process.
1. Create cue markers in the narration file, using Audition.
3. Insert all my images in the composition, without aligning.
4. Use Automate to Sequence to magically align all the MonkeyBar layers and image layers to the markers in the narration file; Automate to Sequence automatically creates in/out points, so this saves me an amazing amount of time.
However, I sometimes want images and MonkeyBar titles to appear at different times; I sometimes have MonkeyBar titles which are unrelated to images, so I want them to appear at a different time to the images. This led me to use Audition to create two sets of markers, one for the images and one for the title bars.
The problem here is that Automate to Sequence can't tell the difference, so I couldn't just get it to align all MonkeyBar layers to their markers, and all image layers to their markers. This is why I hoped Automation Toolkit could help. I hope that all makes sense. I'll play with your preset and see how it works.
The problem here is that Automate to Sequence can't tell the difference, so I couldn't just get it to align all MonkeyBar layers to their markers, and all image layers to their markers. This is why I hoped Automation Toolkit could help. I hope that all makes sense. I'll play with your preset and see how it works.
Jonathan, in order to help you I need to understand how you differentiate between the 2 sets of markers, are there 2 separate files, or one file with "image" markers and "title" markers.
I gave the markers different names, like title_1, or image_2. Then in After Effects I placed two copies of the audio file into the composition, deleted all the title markers from one, and all the image markers from the other, and ran Automate to Sequence twice, once for the image layers and once for the title layers.
I gave the markers different names, like title_1, or image_2. Then in After Effects I placed two copies of the audio file into the composition, deleted all the title markers from one, and all the image markers from the other, and ran Automate to Sequence twice, once for the image layers and once for the title layers.
Jonathan, there are 2 different approaches you can take:
1. Create an automation that moves and cuts all the layers to markers by the name of the marker,
so if the marker contain a specific word like "image" or "title", it will use only these markers to move and cut the selected layers.
I made for you this automation, it function like "Automate To Sequence" but at the start you type a text that all the markers in the specific marker set will contain so if your markers are [image_1, image_2, image_3...] you have to type at first "image". make sure you select all the layers and select last the layer with all the markers.
2. Use an automation that separate the layer will the 2 sets of markers into 2 layers with each set of markers, in this way you can still use the "Automate To Sequence" script if you want to.
I made for you this automation too, just select the marker layer and run the automation, then type the common text of all the markers in the set "image" or "title". this will create for you duplicate of the layer with only the markers that contain this text.
I hope this is what you looked for and will improve your workflow.
I don't recommend you try to understand the first automation because it's very complex, the second one is much more simple.
I attached the examples as automation file so you can load and examine yourself (make sure you unzip the file and using the latest version of Automation Toolkit).
After Run Javascript was added in 1.0.2.7 The sky is now the only limit with Automation Toolkit!
I have an enhancement request:
Currently if I'm editing 30+ Automation lines, the interface becomes slow and laggy each time I update/add new parameters. I guess Automation Toolkit tries to fetch new parameters every time the code is updated? If so, is there a way to prevent it from automatically re-loading until I finish editing the code?
Could be an option to turn off auto-reload and let users to manually type in parameters/actions/variable names... And then after they hit "RUN". Automation Toolkit can test if the code would work and if new parameters actually exist.
Again, thank you so much for your hard and fast work. You're awesome.
After Run Javascript was added in 1.0.2.7 The sky is now the only limit with Automation Toolkit!
I have an enhancement request:
Currently if I'm editing 30+ Automation lines, the interface becomes slow and laggy each time I update/add new parameters. I guess Automation Toolkit tries to fetch new parameters every time the code is updated? If so, is there a way to prevent it from automatically re-loading until I finish editing the code?
Could be an option to turn off auto-reload and let users to manually type in parameters/actions/variable names... And then after they hit "RUN". Automation Toolkit can test if the code would work and if new parameters actually exist.
Again, thank you so much for your hard and fast work. You're awesome.
Son Nguyen,
Thanks you, your feature requests help Automation Toolkit to grow and be a better a tool and your interest in Automation Toolkit is what making me develop this tool more and more.
I am aware that over 30+ lines the user interface becomes laggy and very slow, this is very frustrating and I want to fix it, I think the problem is that there are too many UI elements that constantly needs to update on every change(I think the scripts UI engine not built for this kind of heavy UI), I don't think that validating the script variables slows the UI too much, now fixing this issue is my number one priority so in the next update I will try to optimize this by loading only the lines that are currently visible.
Is there a code to randomly replace a video in the timeline with a selected random time video in the project.
Also another code is their a way to interpret selected video loops in the project by 50 or 100 times..
Hi Zachary,
I am not sure I understand how the Automation you are requesting needs to function,
from my understanding you want to replace the selected layer with a selected footage and you also want to randomize the time of the layer inside the in and out?
please let me know if this is what you are going for. the current "randomize" action is not ideal for this use of case because it gives you a round number when you need the exact number between the 2 values (in&out), in the next update i will add an option to randomize number without rounding so this will work fine so for this automation please wait for the next update.
.
unfortunately the interpret footage properties such as the "loop" are currently not supported but I will try to implement some of them in the next update.
I attached the examples as automation file so you can load and examine yourself (make sure you unzip the file and using the latest version of Automation Toolkit).
The first one works beautifully, and does exactly what I want. It's sensational! Thank you so much.
Is there a code to randomly replace a video in the timeline with a selected random time video in the project.
Also another code is their a way to interpret selected video loops in the project by 50 or 100 times..
Hi Zachary,
I am not sure I understand how the Automation you are requesting needs to function,
from my understanding you want to replace the selected layer with a selected footage and you also want to randomize the time of the layer inside the in and out?
please let me know if this is what you are going for. the current "randomize" action is not ideal for this use of case because it gives you a round number when you need the exact number between the 2 values (in&out), in the next update i will add an option to randomize number without rounding so this will work fine so for this automation please wait for the next update.
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unfortunately the interpret footage properties such as the "loop" are currently not supported but I will try to implement some of them in the next update.
When you get a chance would love to see how that new code is put together. Thank Thank you for that update....
Hi Zachary,
sorry for the delay, I created for you the automations.
the loop automation is very simple, you just have to set the "loop" property of the selected items to 100.
the "replace layer" automation is more complex, replacing the layer with the selected footage is very simple, using the action "replace layer". the complex part of the automation is to randomize the start time of the layer because you have to calculate the minimum start time that the layer can start from and still have enough time to reach to the out point, after you find this minimum start time you can randomize a number between this time and the in point of the layer, this is now possible because in the latest version you can randomize float number between 2 values and not just round numbers, I also used a new action called "snap to frame rate" this action will correct any number to sit on the frame. the last thing left to do is to change the "start time" property to the random start time value and then set the "in point" and the "out point" properties to their original values before we changed the "start time" property.
I hope this make sense to you and help you understand the process.
I attached the examples as automation file so you can load and examine yourself (make sure you unzip the file and using the latest version of Automation Toolkit).
When you get a chance would love to see how that new code is put together. Thank Thank you for that update....
Hi Zachary,
sorry for the delay, I created for you the automations.
the loop automation is very simple, you just have to set the "loop" property of the selected items to 100.
the "replace layer" automation is more complex, replacing the layer with the selected footage is very simple, using the action "replace layer". the complex part of the automation is to randomize the start time of the layer because you have to calculate the minimum start time that the layer can start from and still have enough time to reach to the out point, after you find this minimum start time you can randomize a number between this time and the in point of the layer, this is now possible because in the latest version you can randomize float number between 2 values and not just round numbers, I also used a new action called "snap to frame rate" this action will correct any number to sit on the frame. the last thing left to do is to change the "start time" property to the random start time value and then set the "in point" and the "out point" properties to their original values before we changed the "start time" property.
I hope this make sense to you and help you understand the process.
I attached the examples as automation file so you can load and examine yourself (make sure you unzip the file and using the latest version of Automation Toolkit).
Thank you for making UI optimization button happen! Long automations are running smoother now.
I have another UI request. It's always showing "variab..." and a lot of times I find it hard to track which variables are being used. Could it be possible to extend the length of "variable box" to fully display variable names?
My another request is to extend the use of marker comment. Currently it's set only to text variable. And if I want to it as a number indicator, I would have to use a workaround with "text length" of "marker comment", which is limited to round numbers only, not float numbers.
Dude one word Genius...... This program is the ultimate of programs....
If you could of convert this program as well to premier pro i would buy this program as well.
Thank you Zachary,
Premiere pro is not supporting scripts natively, only extensions and plugins, currently I don't interested of creating such an extension for premiere pro.
Thank you for making UI optimization button happen! Long automations are running smoother now.
I have another UI request. It's always showing "variab..." and a lot of times I find it hard to track which variables are being used. Could it be possible to extend the length of "variable box" to fully display variable names?
My another request is to extend the use of marker comment. Currently it's set only to text variable. And if I want to it as a number indicator, I would have to use a workaround with "text length" of "marker comment", which is limited to round numbers only, not float numbers.
Thank you!
Hi Son Nguyen,
The UI optimization making the UI 2x faster in very long automations, if the UI still slow i recommend to restart after effects and this will probably make the UI fast again.
As for you requests, the variable names are not fully displayed in order to keep the UI compact so you won't need to scroll too much, i recommend you to name your variables and not use the default generated name so it will be easier to track. also i will try to add an option to extend the length of the "variable box" so you can type the size you want.
for the markers request, i think i understand your problem, you want to convert text variable (like the comment property) back to numbers, so you can set other number properties,
i had already solve this issue in previous update by introducing the action "convert text to numbers" to the number variable, you first need to create a number variable (and set it to temp value, 0 will work fine), now you can add after this line an action, and select the variable name, then select the action "convert text to numbers", now you can select a text you want to convert, this action will try to convert the text (if the text is number) to number and apply this number to the value of the number variable. this should solve your problem.
Too bad you couldn't make a new gui for after effects preview, cause boy o boy after effects cc20 is super slow. It's sad when your codes are 100 times faster than after effects cc20, maybe you should be the lead developer .
Couple codes i wonder if is it possible to decompose a selected comp into a new folder?
Also is it possible to render into a Gif file format, outside the render que and then import back into project folder?'
Also is there a way to auto scale all layers in timeline.
Dude one word Genius...... This program is the ultimate of programs....
If you could of convert this program as well to premier pro i would buy this program as well.
Thank you Zachary,
Premiere pro is not supporting scripts natively, only extensions and plugins, currently I don't interested of creating such an extension for premiere pro.
I know you can add an effect on layers in a loop. Is this possible with Animation Presets? It doesn't appear to work from what I can see, and adding it via. a menu command means I have to select the preset for every layer (10+). I have an expression setup I'd like to add into the loop, to automatically add to all layers within a comp.
Sorry for asking so many questions, but this script is shaving off hours of repetitive work we were otherwise unable to automate. So excited!
unfortunately the second dropdown "Source, Masks, Effects and Masks" is not supported by adobe via scripting so it won't appear in the loop and can't be changed.
if you are searching for a specific property of an effect, the easiest way to find it is by message the name of the property and then select "sum to list", add outside the loop list box and select the message name. you will get a list of all the names of the properties that you can copy.
animation presets is not supported yet but this is a good idea for the next update.
I will add "apply animation preset" action. the action will search in the presets folder
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CC "version"\Support Files\Presets" or the in the correct path in mac, you can expect that update soon.
Alon
Automation Toolkit comes with 11 ready to use automation files as examples (also with the trial version).
1. (find the transition) - you have to loop on the project items and find the selected transition video and save it in a new variable.
3. (add the transition to the comp) - add an if and check if the layer source is not equal to the transition video item (because you don't want add transition for the transitions that you add), add an action to the if and select the comp variable and then "add item" , select the transition video variable(this will add the transition video inside the composition as layer in index 1).
5.add an action inside the main loop(the second loop), select the new layer variable and then "move after" , select the outside loop that goes through all the layers and then "this item", so you move every new transition layer after each layer. add a set line to set the "start time" of the transition layer to the in point of each layer.
Zachary, Automation Toolkit currently not supports randomization, I am planning to add this feature in future update (maybe the next one).
Automation Toolkit comes with 11 ready to use automation files as examples (also with the trial version).
1. (find the transition) - you have to loop on the project items and find the selected transition video and save it in a new variable.
3. (add the transition to the comp) - add an if and check if the layer source is not equal to the transition video item (because you don't want add transition for the transitions that you add), add an action to the if and select the comp variable and then "add item" , select the transition video variable(this will add the transition video inside the composition as layer in index 1).
5.add an action inside the main loop(the second loop), select the new layer variable and then "move after" , select the outside loop that goes through all the layers and then "this item", so you move every new transition layer after each layer. add a set line to set the "start time" of the transition layer to the in point of each layer.
For users, if you accidentally put it in an endless loop like I did, ESC key works a treat.
I need more information in order to fully understand what is the issue.
it shouldn't loop endlessly and I don't see any reason to use custom amount loop in this case,
can you send me your automation with the endless loop problem so I can see it myself?,
maybe it's a bug that I need to fix, if you think it's a bug you can also submit a ticket.
Alon
currently automation toolkit does not support exporting the code. this feature was requested by many and may be added in future version/update.
You’re such a legend! I have another request: Can Automation Toolkit run .js .jsx ... code?