Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro
  • Congrats, this looks like an amazing tool!
    What really would be killer, is that if you create a series of functions, or use the ones that come with the script, that you also can assign a shortcut key to it.
    I use Excalibur a lot, and the fact that you can assign a shortcut key, makes it work so much faster. So you wouldn't have to dive into the menus to find the function. You just press the shortcut key. For example, if I select all my clips in the timeline, I press F1 to scale them to frame.

    Nonetheless, great tool that I want to explore.
  • Hi Levi,
    I hear you. We support keyboard shortcuts in After Effects, but not in Premiere Pro, since there is no clean way of doing it. I think Excalibur does it by running a tool in the background, which monitors your keyboard in the background. But this is really a dirty hack we wanted to avoid, since it has undesired side effects like not being able to distinguish if a popup dialog is currently open. 
    Any feature requests for the Premiere Pro team to allow CEP or UXP panel extensions to use keyboard shortcuts is very welcome! As soon as Adobe supports that, we would love to use it in Automation Blocks, too.
    Congrats, this looks like an amazing tool!
    What really would be killer, is that if you create a series of functions, or use the ones that come with the script, that you also can assign a shortcut key to it.
    I use Excalibur a lot, and the fact that you can assign a shortcut key, makes it work so much faster. So you wouldn't have to dive into the menus to find the function. You just press the shortcut key. For example, if I select all my clips in the timeline, I press F1 to scale them to frame.

    Nonetheless, great tool that I want to explore.

  • Hi Levi,
    I hear you. We support keyboard shortcuts in After Effects, but not in Premiere Pro, since there is no clean way of doing it. I think Excalibur does it by running a tool in the background, which monitors your keyboard in the background. But this is really a dirty hack we wanted to avoid, since it has undesired side effects like not being able to distinguish if a popup dialog is currently open. 
    Any feature requests for the Premiere Pro team to allow CEP or UXP panel extensions to use keyboard shortcuts is very welcome! As soon as Adobe supports that, we would love to use it in Automation Blocks, too.
    Congrats, this looks like an amazing tool!
    What really would be killer, is that if you create a series of functions, or use the ones that come with the script, that you also can assign a shortcut key to it.
    I use Excalibur a lot, and the fact that you can assign a shortcut key, makes it work so much faster. So you wouldn't have to dive into the menus to find the function. You just press the shortcut key. For example, if I select all my clips in the timeline, I press F1 to scale them to frame.

    Nonetheless, great tool that I want to explore.

    Yes, I thought Sir Ivan makes use of a keyboard listener. Which he won't make available to other developers since it will "open the box of pandora" as he called it. (tech support etc.. )
  • I want to get this but to tag into the conversation involving Excalibur, every job where I've tried to install Excalibur I get flagged by the IT department.  With Automation Blocks both Premiere & After Effects should be safe and not get me flagged?
  • Hi Andy,
    I guess that depends very much on the rules of the IT department. Excalibur has a tool running in the background, which monitors keyboard input (in order to add support for keyboard shortcuts), and if this is what concerns the IT department, then Automation Blocks should be fine. But of course, with Automation Blocks you can do things like writing or deleting files (as long as your user account has permissions to do that). Not sure if this is something that the IT department does not like.

    I want to get this but to tag into the conversation involving Excalibur, every job where I've tried to install Excalibur I get flagged by the IT department.  With Automation Blocks both Premiere & After Effects should be safe and not get me flagged?

  • Hi there, 
    loving the tool so far, it is so much to take in. It will take some time to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole :-)

    I was wondering, if you can modify Motion Parameters, like Rotation, Opacity, Position, etc. in future releases.

    Thx
  • Hi Thomas,
    you can change such parameters using the Set Clip Parameter Value block or add keyframes to them using the Set Clip Parameter Value at Time block.
    See the keyframing tools for examples:

    Hi there, 
    loving the tool so far, it is so much to take in. It will take some time to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole :-)

    I was wondering, if you can modify Motion Parameters, like Rotation, Opacity, Position, etc. in future releases.

    Thx

  • Hi.

    "I am using Automation Blocks in Adobe Premiere Pro. I place markers on the sequence and write information such as locations on each marker. I want to automatically place a MOGRT file, which is a text template, at each marker's location and reflect the information written on each marker. Is this possible?"
  • Hi Tsuyoshi,
    you should be able to insert the mogrt in the sequence with the Add project items to sequence block.
    To lean how to change mogrt parameters, see this tutorial:

    Hi.

    "I am using Automation Blocks in Adobe Premiere Pro. I place markers on the sequence and write information such as locations on each marker. I want to automatically place a MOGRT file, which is a text template, at each marker's location and reflect the information written on each marker. Is this possible?"

  • Thank you.

    I read your advice and tried it.
    I couldn’t add morgts at locations based on the markers I put in advance while I was able to add morgts at the beginning or end of sequence.

    And I want to reflect comments written on each marker directly to the texts in morgts.

    If there are some advice, I would appreciate them
  • Hi Tsuyoshi,

    you can loop over all markers and then inside the loop put the block to insert the mogrt. Set to to add the clip as a custom time and as value for this custom time use the start time property of the marker.

    A helpful example to look at might be the "Render Frames at Markers" tool.

    Attached is a minimal example, which loops over all markers of the active sequence and inserts a project item at each of them

    If you have more questions, best post them in the forum, where discussion is a little bit easier.

    zip
    zip
    sample script.xml.zip
    1K
  • Thanks for the quick reply.
    Does this only apply for Clips already in a timeline?
    I'm trying to figure out, how to rotate all my footage in my project bin, before I place them on my timeline.
    Hi Thomas,
    you can change such parameters using the Set Clip Parameter Value block or add keyframes to them using the Set Clip Parameter Value at Time block.
    See the keyframing tools for examples:

    Hi there, 
    loving the tool so far, it is so much to take in. It will take some time to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole :-)

    I was wondering, if you can modify Motion Parameters, like Rotation, Opacity, Position, etc. in future releases.

    Thx


  • Yes, this is only for clips in the timeline, not for project items.
    See the tool "Selected Clips - Set Scale to Fit or Fill Frame Size" for an example:
    It loops over all selected clips in the timeline, calculates the scale needed to fit or fill them frame and then sets their clip param "Motion\Scale". If you set "Motion\Rotation" to 90 or -90 instead of setting "Motion\Scale" you should be able to rotate all selected clips.

    If you have more questions, best post them in the forum, where discussion is a little bit easier.
    Thanks for the quick reply.
    Does this only apply for Clips already in a timeline?
    I'm trying to figure out, how to rotate all my footage in my project bin, before I place them on my timeline.
    Hi Thomas,
    you can change such parameters using the Set Clip Parameter Value block or add keyframes to them using the Set Clip Parameter Value at Time block.
    See the keyframing tools for examples:

    Hi there, 
    loving the tool so far, it is so much to take in. It will take some time to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole :-)

    I was wondering, if you can modify Motion Parameters, like Rotation, Opacity, Position, etc. in future releases.

    Thx



  • Hi Mathias, I have a bunch of AeMoGRTs in a PPro Timeline. There are essentially three difference AeMoGRTs and their use is repeated across the Timeline. They each have different properties in the Essential Graphics Panel. However, they all have ONE Identical Property which is a Drop Menu. THis Drop Menu has the same name and items and shares the same name across all three AeMoGRTs. 

    Is Automation Blocks for PPro able to batch process selected AeMoGRTs in the Timeline to change the Drop Menu selection?
  • Hi Roland,
    yes, this should be absolutely doable.
    See this tutorial to learn how to set the values of Ae mogrts:
    For dropdowns, just set the value of the respective Graphic Parameter to 0 for the first dropdown entry, to 1 for the second one etc.

    If they are named identical in the template, the dropdowns should also have the same clip parameter name in Automation Blocks.
    Hi Mathias, I have a bunch of AeMoGRTs in a PPro Timeline. There are essentially three difference AeMoGRTs and their use is repeated across the Timeline. They each have different properties in the Essential Graphics Panel. However, they all have ONE Identical Property which is a Drop Menu. THis Drop Menu has the same name and items and shares the same name across all three AeMoGRTs. 

    Is Automation Blocks for PPro able to batch process selected AeMoGRTs in the Timeline to change the Drop Menu selection?

  • Thanks for the reply Mathias. I'll take a look as soon as I can. I'm now thinking about the UI that Automation Blocks generates. Does the PPro version of Automation Blocks create a UI that is separate and can run independently from the Automation Blocks - IOW, can I distribute the Automation Block as self-contained such that the user doesn't require Automation Blocks to be installed?

    BTW, I just checked the Price for Automation Blocks and its $0. Perhaps there is an issue with the aescripts site?
  • Hi Roland,
    no, the tools you create with Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro can only be launched within Automation Blocks. In Automation Blocks for After Effects you can export jsx scripts, which can be launched as any other jsx script, but even they will only execute properly if Automation Blocks is installed, since they rely on the Automation Blocks API. Premiere does not export launching jsx scripts at all, hence, we don't offer it in Automation Blocks for Pr.

    Thanks for the reply Mathias. I'll take a look as soon as I can. I'm now thinking about the UI that Automation Blocks generates. Does the PPro version of Automation Blocks create a UI that is separate and can run independently from the Automation Blocks - IOW, can I distribute the Automation Block as self-contained such that the user doesn't require Automation Blocks to be installed?

    BTW, I just checked the Price for Automation Blocks and its $0. Perhaps there is an issue with the aescripts site?

  • Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro is a game-changer for me. I love how it lets me build my own tools for any editing task, without having to write a single line of code. It also has over 50 ready-made tools that are super useful and versatile, like exporting with folder structures, fast shot numbering, and batch renaming.

    The best part is that it works flawlessly with Premiere Pro, and I can access all the tools from a handy panel. I can also browse and download more tools from the community library, or share my own creations with other users. The plugin is very easy to use, and the tutorials are clear and helpful.

    Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro has made my editing workflow so much faster and smoother. I enjoy editing more than ever, thanks to this! It is totally worth the price, and I can’t wait to see what the developers will come up with next.

    - BrodieTV

  • Please create "remove all offline clips" script for automation blocks. Thanks in advance.
  • Oh, yes, that's easy :-)
    You find it now in the community library at 

    Project Management/Project Items/Remove Items/Remove All Offline Project Items.xml

    here is the direct download link to the tool.

    Attached is a screenshot showing what the block code looks like.




    Please create "remove all offline clips" script for automation blocks. Thanks in advance.

    Screenshot 2024-01-25 at 12.09.44.png
    2066 x 864 - 142K
  • Hi!

    I'm wondering on the creation of a tool that identifies a still on a V track and uses the start and end time of each still or block of stills as information to automatically mute the audio in the segment below, in A track.

    Is this possible to achieve with Automation Blocks?
  • Hi Daniel,
    you could write a block script which loops over all clips of your V track and checks for each of them if it is an image. If it is an image, it could retrieve the start and end time of the clip in the sequence and then find the audio clip which is active at that time. Then it could add volume->Level keyframes at the start and end to mute/unmute. You probably want to add some extra logic to check if multiple images are adjacent.
    So, yes, should be doable. It is a bit more work than what I can do here for free, but you can either try it yourself or I am sure that one of our experts can also implement that in a few hours or work.


    Hi!

    I'm wondering on the creation of a tool that identifies a still on a V track and uses the start and end time of each still or block of stills as information to automatically mute the audio in the segment below, in A track.

    Is this possible to achieve with Automation Blocks?

  • Thank you! I will try!
    Hi Daniel,
    you could write a block script which loops over all clips of your V track and checks for each of them if it is an image. If it is an image, it could retrieve the start and end time of the clip in the sequence and then find the audio clip which is active at that time. Then it could add volume->Level keyframes at the start and end to mute/unmute. You probably want to add some extra logic to check if multiple images are adjacent.
    So, yes, should be doable. It is a bit more work than what I can do here for free, but you can either try it yourself or I am sure that one of our experts can also implement that in a few hours or work.


    Hi!

    I'm wondering on the creation of a tool that identifies a still on a V track and uses the start and end time of each still or block of stills as information to automatically mute the audio in the segment below, in A track.

    Is this possible to achieve with Automation Blocks?


  • I can't seem to run anything in automation blocks. It gives me this error each time: ERROR: TypeError: null is not an object (line 6). How can I remedy this?
  • Hi Kes, 
    could you please open a support ticket at
    and include the following infos:
    - when you (re)start Autpmation Blocks and click the "Run" before clicking on any script, do you also get the error message? (if no script is loaded, yet, Automation Blocks should run an empty script which should always work fine and show "DONE".
    - which operating system are you using?
    - did you make sure to install the most recent version of Automation Blocks (1.0.015)?
    - which version of Premiere Pro are you using?


    I can't seem to run anything in automation blocks. It gives me this error each time: ERROR: TypeError: null is not an object (line 6). How can I remedy this?

  • Is it possible to add the "Auto-Reframe" effect to a list of highlighted video clips or sequences? 
  • Hi Jacob,
    currently, this is not possible, but the Premiere Pro scripting engine actually has a function to execute Auto-Reframe. Therefore, it sounds like an interesting feature to add in the future. I've put it on my feature request list now.

    Is it possible to add the "Auto-Reframe" effect to a list of highlighted video clips or sequences? 

  • Would it be possible to add keyboard commands as an automation block? That way you could access other commands, menus and menu items?
  • We try to support as much as possible from the Pr and Ae scripting APIs. Ae supports executing menu commands, therefore, we could an a block to execute menu commands, too.
    Premiere's API does not support that as far as I know. 
    If you are adventurous, note that Automation Blocks can execute files , like windows bat file, shell script file on mac. Maybe you can use this to launch some external tool which simulates a key stroke?

    Would it be possible to add keyboard commands as an automation block? That way you could access other commands, menus and menu items?

  • With Automation Blocks, is it possible to create Adobe Premiere sequences based of data from a spreadsheet?
    For example, there's a template Premiere sequence that I need replicated many times, but with slightly different graphics each time (say the same video but in different languages).
    Can Automation blocks use a spreadsheet full of file names to create those sequences?
  • Hi Sam,

    here are some examples to get you started:






    Sam Caino said:
    With Automation Blocks, is it possible to create Adobe Premiere sequences based of data from a spreadsheet?
    For example, there's a template Premiere sequence that I need replicated many times, but with slightly different graphics each time (say the same video but in different languages).
    Can Automation blocks use a spreadsheet full of file names to create those sequences?

  • I tried creating a script that converts footage to 23.976, but it keeps rounding to 23.98. Is there a way around this?
  • Hi Sam,

    Automation Blocks does not round the framerate. When I set the framerate of a project item with Automation Blocks and then right click on it and choose "Modify->Interpret Footage". The dialog in deed shows 23.98 instead of 23.976. However, if I try to enter 23.976 in this dialog manually, it also changes it to 23.98. Not sure if it is just the dialog rounding the display of the number (i.e. if it just changes to the rounded number when the dialog is opened or already when Automation Blocks attempts. to set it).

    Sam Caino said:
    I tried creating a script that converts footage to 23.976, but it keeps rounding to 23.98. Is there a way around this?

  • Thanks for your reply about the frame rate.
    I see what you're saying about the display in the Interpret footage menu. However, if you look at the frame rate metadata column in your bin where the clips live, setting it manually displays 23.976, but setting it with automation blocks displays 23.98. Do we know why this happens?

    While it may seem like a non-issue, my editors will flag it if they see anything other than 23.976
  • Hi Sam,


    Sam Caino said:
    Thanks for your reply about the frame rate.
    I see what you're saying about the display in the Interpret footage menu. However, if you look at the frame rate metadata column in your bin where the clips live, setting it manually displays 23.976, but setting it with automation blocks displays 23.98. Do we know why this happens?

    While it may seem like a non-issue, my editors will flag it if they see anything other than 23.976

  • Is there a way to...
    -Duplicate (or make a copy) of a project item?
    -Change the audio channel layout of an audio file (Modify/Audio Channels)?
  • Congrats, this looks like an amazing tool!
    What really would be killer, is that if you create a series of functions, or use the ones that come with the script, that you also can assign a shortcut key to it.
    I use Excalibur a lot, and the fact that you can assign a shortcut key, makes it work so much faster. So you wouldn't have to dive into the menus to find the function. You just press the shortcut key. For example, if I select all my clips in the timeline, I press F1 to scale them to frame.

    Nonetheless, great tool that I want to explore.
    This is possible with the new update 1.1.000 we published today. 
  • Hi Sam,

    there are no built-in blocks to change audio channel layouts, but you can do it with the new Execute Code Block which is included in Automation Blocks 1.1.000, which we just published.
    Here is an example.

    You can clone sequences and for duplicating other project items, you probably need to read their media path and then import that media file a second time.
    Sam Caino said:
    Is there a way to...
    -Duplicate (or make a copy) of a project item?
    -Change the audio channel layout of an audio file (Modify/Audio Channels)?

  • Thank you.
    Would there be way to modify clip/audio channels...
    -Clip Channel Format: Change to Mono
    -Number of Audio Clips: Change to "2"
  • Hi Sam,

    I just added a second audio channels example for you:

    In the example,we change the audioChannelsType and audioClipsNumber such that a stereo file uses two mono tracks instead of a single stereo track.

    Sam Caino said:
    Thank you.
    Would there be way to modify clip/audio channels...
    -Clip Channel Format: Change to Mono
    -Number of Audio Clips: Change to "2"

  • Hi!
    I'm very interested in this script for auto-updating parameters in mogrts. I watched the YT tutorial but have a question- will the text update even when the text parameter is inside a group or even in a sub group in the Essential Graphics panel? Thanks!
  • Hi Marissa,
    I didn't test it, but I think parameters inside groups should be accessible in exactly the same way.
    I recommend to try with the free trial version before you purchase.
    Hi!
    I'm very interested in this script for auto-updating parameters in mogrts. I watched the YT tutorial but have a question- will the text update even when the text parameter is inside a group or even in a sub group in the Essential Graphics panel? Thanks!