Target Composition

A target composition is the composition in an After Effects project that Templater processes for output. You can use different methods to select a target composition. If none of the methods are used or if Templater cannot find a composition to use as a target, Templater will display an error.

You can specify the target composition in three ways. Each way is useful for a particular scenario, but each has caveats you'll also need to consider.

• From data source: If you need to switch between target compositions while versioning your project, use a target column or property in your data source. This method of selecting a target composition overrides all other methods. In addition, you must set one of the other two methods as a backup. We recommend using "from project" for this purpose.
• From Preferences: If you always version a single composition, select the target in the Templater Preferences dialog. This is also a back-up if you forget to set the target comp elsewhere. However, you should not use this method if you switch between AEP files that may or may not contain the target name. If the target set in Preferences doesn't exist in an AE project file, you'll get an error.
• From project: If you want to version a single composition, but don't want to go to Templater Preferences, specify one target within the AE project panel. This method saves the target composition to the project file. When you reopen that project file, the target composition will still be set. This method overrides a target composition specified in Templater Preferences if you wrap the comp name in double braces {{comp name}} or double brackets [[comp name]]. It's a good choice if you have different projects with different data sources. But if you have more than one comp in the project that uses the double braces/brackets notation, unexpected behavior will result.