The Dataclay Post

Automation tips for media creators.

The Magic of Using Flags in Templater™ Data Sources

Published September 15, 2022Last modified October 3, 2024

In this month’s newsletter, we are going to look at two examples of flags that can be used in your data source to manipulate dynamic layers with Templater™ in After Effects.

For these examples, we are going to reference a few segments from one of our users recent videos (Keith Hopkin) . His full video is available at the bottom of this article.

For our first flag example, Keith demonstrates how to update the source of a dynamic pre-comp layer with another pre-comp item in the Project window. In Templater’s connected Google Sheet, he wraps the name of the desired pre-comp source item with double-braces. This flags Templater to find that pre-comp item in the Project window and set it to be the source of the dynamic pre-comp layer.

In our second flag example, Keith toggles the visibility a dynamic layer by typing “{{off}}” or “{{on}}” within the Google Sheet.

Flags are just one way to control Templater from your data source. We recommend checking out the support article on Reserved Column Names as well.

And as promised, below is Keith’s full video tutorial.

Allan Barnwell

Allan Barnwell leads Sales and Marketing at Dataclay, bringing extensive experience as a creative professional and thought leader in media creation tools. With a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Allan has a diverse background in live broadcasting, film production, writing, graphic design, illustration, web and database development, technology consulting, and marketing. His passion for empowering creative professionals drives his mission to provide innovative solutions that elevate media workflows across industries.

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