Every so often, a first-time Dataclay customer will purchase a perpetual Templater® Rig license not knowing that it can’t batch output versioned media. This is an unfortunate scenario that is simply a consequence of offering this entry-level product which, none-the-less, serves a vital role in the Templater ecosystem. While not designed to batch process output from Adobe® After Effects®, it does offer some amazing features which can’t be found in any other product on the market at its price.
Templater Rig Integration with Google Sheets
- Templater Rig, like Pro and Bot versions, offers full integration with Google Sheets. This allows users to preview versioning data directly within After Effects, which is a significant advantage. Instead of manually entering or importing data, users can link their After Effects project to a Google Sheet, and Templater will use the data in the spreadsheet to populate the dynamic layers.
- This integration provides a real-time preview of how the data will appear in the final output. Users can see how text, images, and other dynamic elements change as Templater processes the data from the Google Sheet. This allows for a streamlined workflow, as users can make adjustments and corrections directly within After Effects, ensuring the final video is accurate and meets their requirements.
- While Templater Rig is not capable of batch output, it can render individual jobs using After Effects’ built-in render options. This makes it a powerful solution for small versioning projects. This is helpful in situations where users need to create a small number of customized videos or want to check how the data is applied before starting a larger project.
- The use of Google Sheets also allows for collaboration. Multiple users can contribute to the data in the Google Sheet, which can then be used to generate videos.
- Templater can use Google Sheets to populate spreadsheet cells with data from Google’s translation service, various social network feeds, and other external APIs. This further enhances the capabilities of the tool for dynamic content creation.
Cheaply Add Team Members to Workflows
- Templater Rig is a strategic tool for creative teams using Templater workflows. It allows multiple users to preview data and test rigged template designs (like Autografs) without needing to purchase additional licenses of Pro or Bot.
- It provides an affordable way to add team members to a Templater workflow. Rather than purchasing multiple licenses of Templater Pro or Bot, a team can purchase Templater Rig licenses for each team member. This is a one-time purchase, making it a cost-effective option for teams.
- This is particularly useful when the team members are involved in the initial design and data mapping process, where previewing and testing are essential, but rendering a large number of videos is not necessary. This makes it an accessible and cost-effective option for teams that want to collaborate and review work in progress.
Dataclay’s Only Perpetual License
- Templater Rig offers a perpetual license, unlike other Templater editions, meaning users can use it indefinitely after the initial purchase.
- The perpetual license of Templater Rig also includes free upgrades anytime new versions of Templater are released. This means that users can continue to benefit from the latest features and improvements without additional costs.
- Dataclay invests significant time and resources into maintaining and improving Templater code, much of which is available in the Rig version, ensuring a valuable and up-to-date tool.
Conclusion
Templater Rig is a valuable tool due to its integration with Google Sheets for real-time previews, its affordability for adding team members to workflows, and its perpetual license with free upgrades. Although it does not offer batch processing, it is a good option for individual projects, data preview, testing, and creative teams looking for a budget-friendly way to work with Templater. It is also an essential part of many customers’ workflows.
Finally, there are tons of interesting uses for Rig that many users have never considered, but should. For example, did you know Templater can be used for live events? It can be used with After Effects and NDI to facilitate live compositing workflows incorporating live data from sources like Google Sheets or JSON feeds. Or how about using it to version AE content embedded in Adobe Premiere using the Dynamic Link feature?
