How to Make Automatic Reels From Data in After Effects

To make automatic Reels from data in After Effects, build one vertical composition, tag the parts that change as dynamic layers with Templater, point Templater at a data source where each row or JSON object is one Reel, and run a batch render so every row becomes its own finished video file. Templater versions the composition from the data, so one template renders many customized videos. The files land in an output folder you choose. Posting them is a separate step: Dataclay does not post to Instagram or any other social network, so the finished Reels go to your team, your scheduler or your own upload process.

This guide walks through the parts that matter for short vertical video: how to set up the Reel template, how to shape the data so each row turns into one clip, how to keep text and footage looking right in a tall frame, and how to render a whole batch without opening the project for each version. Every step below comes from Dataclay’s own documentation for Templater for Adobe After Effects.

What “Automatic Reels” Means in an After Effects Workflow

A Reel is a short vertical video. Making one by hand in After Effects is simple. Making many versions, each with different names, photos, scores or other details, is where the hours go. Automatic Reels means you design the Reel once and let the data fill in what changes.

Templater is the piece that does the filling. It works inside After Effects, reads a data source and swaps the content of the layers you have marked as dynamic. Each row in a spreadsheet, or each object in a JSON array, represents one render job. Each column, or each property key, represents one dynamic layer in the template. When Templater processes a row, it updates the layers with that row’s values and renders the result.

So the Reel itself stays an ordinary After Effects composition. You keep your animation, your type, your transitions and your sound design. What changes from version to version is only the content you chose to make dynamic.

Dataclay’s customers are After Effects users, video agencies and teams personalizing video for real estate, dealers and sports broadcast. Those are also the groups that tend to need short vertical clips in volume: a clip per listing, a clip per vehicle, a clip per player or per game.

Step 1: Build the Reel as a Vertical Target Composition

Start with a composition set to the vertical frame size your team delivers for Reels. Check the current recommended dimensions on the platform’s own help pages, since Dataclay’s documentation does not set them. Everything Templater changes will live inside this composition.

Templater needs to know which composition to process. Dataclay calls this the target composition, and a batch cannot run without one. You can set it in three ways:

• From the data source. Add a target column or property. This overrides the other methods and is the way to switch between compositions while versioning. Dataclay says you must also set one of the other two methods as a backup, and recommends “from project”.
• From Preferences. Pick the target in the Templater Preferences dialog. This suits a team that always versions one composition. Do not rely on it if you switch between project files that may not contain that composition name, because a missing target gives an error.
• From the project. Wrap the composition name in double braces, such as , or in double brackets, such as [[Reel Main]]. The setting saves with the project file. Use this notation on only one composition per project, or you can get unexpected behavior.

The data source method is useful for Reels in one specific way. If you also deliver a wide version of the same content, you can keep a vertical composition and a wide composition in one project and use the target column to choose, row by row, which one renders.

Step 2: Tag the Layers That Change

Templater only touches layers you tag. To tag a layer, apply the Templater Settings effect to it. Dataclay lists these supported dynamic layer types: text, solid, footage, pre-composition, adjustment and JSON.

Shape layers are the exception. The Templater Settings effect cannot be applied to a shape layer. Pre-compose the shape layer and apply the effect to the pre-composition instead.

For a typical data-driven Reel, the dynamic layers might be:

• A headline text layer, such as a name, an address or a score line.
• A footage layer for the main photo or clip, which changes per row.
• A solid whose color comes from the data, for a brand or team color.
• A pre-composition holding a lower third or a logo bug.

The names matter. Column names or property keys in your data source must match the names of the dynamic layers. If the layer is called headline, the column is called headline.

Step 3: Make Text and Images Fit a Tall Frame

Vertical video gives text less width to work with. A short name fits, and a long one runs off the edge. This is where Templater’s layout rules earn their keep.

Dataclay’s documentation explains that new data can change a layer’s size, alignment, color or position in ways you did not intend, and that Templater can scale and reposition dynamic layers for you. You set these rules per layer in the Templater Settings effect. The Scale Factor parameter, for example, rescales a layer to a percentage of its parent composition’s size. Rules are measured relative to the containing composition and to sibling layers, so they follow the vertical frame you built.

Two layout features help most in a Reel:

• Attachment and chaining. You can attach layers to each other so a stack, such as a name with a title under it and a logo under that, keeps its order when the top line gets longer. Dataclay’s guide to making a graphic follow changing text covers this in detail.
• Nested compositions. Applying the Templater Settings effect to layers inside nested compositions gives you more control over how they scale, align and reposition.

One caution from the docs: layout rules will not work correctly for any layer property that has Separate Dimensions enabled. Turn that off on dynamic layers before you test.

Step 4: Let the Reel Length Follow the Footage

Reels built from data often use footage clips that are not all the same length. A fixed composition length would either cut the clip short or leave empty frames at the end. Templater’s time cropping solves this.

Time cropping uses the In-point of a layer to mark where the composition starts and the Out-point of a layer to mark where it ends. Dataclay’s steps are:

1. Apply the Templater Settings effect to a layer.
2. In the Effect Controls, in the Time section, check Comp Starts at In-Point.
3. Set that layer’s In-point in the timeline.
4. On another layer with the Templater Settings effect, check Comp Ends at Out-Point.
5. Set that layer’s Out-point.

You can also set both points on one dynamic layer, and as its footage changes during processing, the In-point and Out-point adjust. Dataclay recommends against using more than two layers to set the points. Time cropping requires a target composition, and it works on nested compositions at any depth. For the full method, see the guide to making an After Effects comp match its content length.

If you use time cropping, choose a render setting that renders the whole composition. Dataclay’s dclay-best-comp template renders the target composition’s full duration at best quality and, in Dataclay’s words, ensures the entire duration renders regardless of how Templater adjusts the target comp’s length.

Step 5: Shape the Data So Each Row Is One Reel

Templater reads Google Sheets, tab-delimited files and JSON object arrays. Its docs also list a QUE campaign, a plain text file holding JSON and remote JSON from a URL feed as data sources. The cells can hold text, URLs, image file paths or hex color values.

A Reel data source usually has one column per dynamic layer plus some reserved columns. Dataclay reserves these column names, and they are case-sensitive:

• id. Your own label for each output. If there is no output column, or it is blank, the id value is added to the output file name.
• output. The file name for each render job. You can put a relative path in front, such as reels/player-name, to sort files into subfolders. Dataclay advises against using a period in custom output names.
• target. The composition to render for that row.
• aep. Switches between After Effects project files per row, using absolute paths.
• module and render-settings. Set the After Effects output module and render settings template per row. These values are case-sensitive.
• render-status. Needed if you run the Templater Bot, covered below.

Do not use these names for your own dynamic layers. Dataclay warns that doing so can cause an error in processing.

Footage paths in the data are relative to the footage folder you set in the Templater panel. Dataclay suggests one assets folder per project, with subfolders for audio, images and video. If your data lives somewhere else, the guide on using a URL feed or JSON file as a Templater data source covers the remote options.

Two more details from the docs. TSV and JSON text files must be UTF-8 encoded so Templater can read international characters. And if you use a native Google Sheets document, you can fill cells with data from Google features. That can be handy for a Reel series in several languages.

Step 6: Preview Before You Render the Batch

A batch of Reels is only as good as the data that goes in. Check the template against real rows before you commit render time.

Templater has two preview modes. In manual mode, it pulls data for the range you set and updates the dynamic layers, and you step between jobs with the arrow icons. It re-reads the data source every time, so edits show up. Updated data does not appear while it cycles. Dataclay’s tip: preview a small range of rows to keep it quick.

For a broader check, Dataclay describes spot checking. Set the target composition’s work area to a single frame and render with the dclay-PNGSEQ output module, and you get one still image per row. Looking through those stills is a fast way to catch a name that overflows the frame or a photo that did not load before you render full video for every row.

Bad rows are the most common reason a batch goes wrong. Dataclay’s article on handling dirty or incomplete data is worth reading before a large run.

Step 7: Render the Batch of Reels

Dataclay lists what a batch render needs: a data source, a footage folder, an output folder, a target composition and a valid row range. Its documented steps in the Templater panel are:

1. Make sure the Templater Settings effect is on every dynamic layer and the column names match the layer names.
2. Under Batch Assets, enter the data source, footage folder and output folder.
3. Specify the target composition.
4. Under Output Options, choose a render settings template and an output module.
5. Under Transport, enter the range of rows to process. For Google Sheets and tab-delimited files, the start row must be greater than 1, because row 1 holds the column names. For JSON arrays, the start row must be greater than 0. The end row must be greater than or equal to the start row.
6. Enter a Job prefix to give every file in this batch the same prefix.
7. Click Render.

Templater installs output module and render settings templates you can load into After Effects. They include ProRes 422 HQ and QuickTime Animation modules, PNG sequence modules for spot checks, and draft and best quality render settings. Use them for a dry run, then switch to best quality for delivery.

If you are new to the idea, Dataclay’s explainer on what batch rendering in After Effects is covers the basics.

When you need a codec After Effects does not offer

The formats a social platform wants and the formats After Effects renders natively may not line up. Replicate saves a copy of the project with the data inserted, so Adobe Media Encoder can be used to render the output. You enable Send replicates to Adobe Media Encoder in Templater Preferences, set a Media Encoder watch folder to the Templater output folder, and click Replicate.

Step 8: Run It Hands-Off With the Bot or QUE

Rendering from the panel works when someone is at the machine. For a steady flow of Reels, such as a clip every time a new listing or a new game result appears, Templater can run in the background.

The Templater Bot watches the data source. Dataclay’s documentation describes the loop:

1. New or updated rows are added to the data source, by hand or through a connected front-end application.
2. The Bot periodically checks the data source and picks up rows whose render-status is ready.
3. It marks them queued, then processing, while Templater versions and renders each one.
4. It sets each row to done, or to an error code such as ERR::MEDIA or ERR::AFXHOST if something failed.
5. It keeps checking for new rows.

One warning from the docs: when the Bot updates the render-status column, any formulas in those cells are overwritten with their result. Keep formulas out of that column. For the settings worth changing, see how to configure the Templater Bot.

For bigger operations, QUE is Dataclay’s render queue and API for sending jobs to satellite machines running Templater. A job moves through ready, queued, processing and done. Canceled, or an error code, means it stopped or failed. That lets a team spread a large Reel batch across several machines instead of one.

Templater can also run from the command line. Dataclay notes that the free trial has every feature, including the command line, with a watermark on dynamic layers.

Step 9: Get the Finished Reels Where They Need to Go

Templater writes rendered files to the output folder you set. From there, delivery depends on your workflow.

Dataclay’s Projector can take over after rendering. It deploys finished videos to Vimeo, JW Player, Frame.io and an AWS S3 archive. Projector can transcode, and you can set either an output width or an output height while it keeps the aspect ratio. It can also make GIF previews.

What Projector does not do is post to Instagram or any other social network. Dataclay is clear on that. For Reels, the usual path is that the files go to a folder, a storage bucket or a review tool, and your social team or scheduling tool publishes them from there.

A Reel Template Checklist

Before you run a large batch, go through this list. Each item comes from a requirement or warning in Dataclay’s documentation.

• The vertical composition is set as the target, by one method, with a backup if you use the target column.
• Every layer that changes has the Templater Settings effect, and shape layers are pre-composed first.
• Column names match layer names exactly, and none of your layers use a reserved column name.
• Separate Dimensions is off on dynamic layers that use layout rules.
• Time cropping uses no more than two layers, and the render setting renders the full composition.
• Footage paths are relative to the footage folder.
• Text files are UTF-8 encoded.
• The row range follows the start and end row rules.
• You previewed a small range and spot checked stills before rendering everything.
• Output names avoid periods.

For a wider look at the same method applied to other kinds of personalized video, see how to make hundreds of personalized videos from data.

The Bottom Line

Automatic Reels in After Effects come from one well-built vertical template and a clean data source. Templater fills the dynamic layers from each row, layout rules keep text and images inside the tall frame, time cropping lets the length follow the footage, and a batch render, the Bot or QUE turns every row into its own file. Projector can move those files to Vimeo, JW Player, Frame.io or S3. Posting to Instagram and other social networks stays with your team or your scheduling tool, because Dataclay does not post to social networks.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make automatic Reels from data in After Effects?

Build one vertical composition, tag the changing parts as dynamic layers with Templater, connect a data source where each row or JSON object is one Reel, and run a batch render. Templater renders one finished video per row into your output folder. Dataclay does not post to social networks, so publishing is a separate step.

What data sources can drive a Reel template?

Templater reads Google Sheets, tab-delimited files and JSON object arrays. Its documentation also lists a QUE campaign, a plain text JSON file and remote JSON from a URL feed. Column names or property keys must match the names of the dynamic layers.

Can Dataclay post my Reels to Instagram?

No. Dataclay does not post to Instagram or other social networks. Projector deploys finished videos to Vimeo, JW Player, Frame.io and an AWS S3 archive, and your team or scheduling tool posts from there.

Can one project render both a vertical and a wide version?

Yes. Put both compositions in the project and add a target column to the data source to choose which one renders for each row. Dataclay says to also set a backup target method, and recommends “from project”.

How do I stop long names from running off a vertical frame?

Use Templater’s layout rules in the Templater Settings effect. They scale and reposition dynamic layers relative to the composition, and attachments keep stacked layers in order. Make sure Separate Dimensions is off on those layers, because layout rules do not work correctly with it on.

Can Reels render automatically when new data arrives?

Yes. The Templater Bot periodically checks the data source for rows marked ready in the render-status column, renders them, and sets each to done or to an error code. QUE can send jobs to several satellite machines running Templater.

Can I try this before buying?

Yes. Dataclay’s free trial has all features for all versions, including the command line, with a watermark on dynamic layers.