New: Dataclay Templater Bot, Pro, Rig v3.0 – Apple M1 Support and more

Dataclay has updated all their Templater products to version 3.0, with quality control tools, native MFR and Apple M1 support, and the use of expressions for responsive layout and integration with Dataclay QUE.

What’s new in Templater v3.0?

• NEW FEATURE — Dataclay QUE Integration
  We are happy to introduce QUE! Moving forward QUE will be the primary and optimal data source for Templater. QUE exposes a REST API to leverage the full capabilities of Templater to produce dynamic videos. QUE frees you from the scalability constraints of traditional tabular data sources, such as spreadsheets, which become unwieldy as the volume and complexity of your video production needs grow. QUE supports security measures such as data-at-rest encryption as well as data masking for hiding personal and demographic data.
• NEW FEATURE — Spot Checking
  Spot checking lets you export still images or short video clips of specific frames from target compositions to help assure the quality of merged data in a batch process. Use composition timeline markers to set which frames you want exported, otherwise Templater exports an evenly distributed number of frames from the target composition. Spot checking can be performed exclusively or together with render or replication tasks, and export data can be sent to event scripts. Use new properties in `templater-options.json` to invoke spot checking via the Command Line Interface.
• NEW FEATURE — Use Expressions-based Layout Engines
  Users now have the option to turn off Templater’s auto-layout engine and Time Sculpting features. Doing this allows users to rely on layer expressions or other custom plugins to achieve dynamic layouts as Templater processes your data. For example, if Templater’s internal layout engine does not suit your needs, you can disable the Layout Engine in Templater’s preferences and author your dynamic layout using tools such as: mamoworld’s Pins & Boxes or Zack Lovatt’s Flex
• IMPROVEMENT — Optimized for AE’s Multi-Frame Rendering
  The Templater Settings effect is now “thread safe” making it optimized for AE’s Multi-Frame Rendering (MFR) feature released in 2022. Users should no longer see a yellow warning icon in the Effects Controls for Templater Settings.
• IMPROVEMENT — Support for Google Shared Drives
  Users can now store Google Sheets in a Shared Drive, and Templater will be able to access those documents. Users no longer need to explicitly share the individual Sheets with Shared Drive members.
• IMPROVEMENTS — Miscellaneous
  • License activation has improved messaging when it encounters an issue. Offline activation is now accomplished using the Templater panel.
  • You can now install Templater directly into After Effects Beta application folders on both macOS and Windows.
  • On Windows, utility executables are now signed with a digital certificate so that they pass anti-virus checks.
  • The {{off}} flag now mutes audio in addition to visually hiding a layer.
  • Added support for references to JPEG File Interchange Format (.JFIF) assets and Google WebP (.webp) formatted file assets.
  • Improved error messaging for missing output destination, missing footage root, and footage importing.