Using a Remote Footage Location

Templater can use footage from cloud-based storage locations in your dynamic layers. You will need to provide a URL for each remote footage asset in your data source. When Templater sees a footage URL, it automatically creates a folder named [TEMPLATER DOWNLOADS] in your footage source directory. It then downloads the file from the URL to this folder.

Remote Footage URL Processing

WARNING  If your version of Templater is earlier than 3.3.1, you must provide a direct download link that includes the file name and file extension for the asset (for example, .mp4, .wav, and so on). Templater uses the URL to determine the name and extension for the downloaded file.

As of Templater 3.3.1, you can use either direct download links or share links from source footage locations. Share links typically do not include a file name or extension. Therefore, the algorithm for processing remote footage URLs has changed from what's described in the preceding warning.

  • Templater downloads the remote footage asset from the URL and names it with a random hash, but does not assign the name a file extension.
  • Templater detects the MIME type of the downloaded file. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) types are two-part identifiers for binary file types and content transmitted online.
  • Templater verifies whether or not the MIME type is supported by Adobe After Effects.
  • If the MIME type is supported, Templater appends a file extension based on the MIME type.
  • If the MIME type is not supported and the URL includes a file extension, Templater appends that file extension to the downloaded file.
  • If the MIME type is not supported and the URL does not include a file extension, Templater writes a detailed message to the error log and moves on. You can review the error log, correct the issue, and try again.

TIP For Google Drive assets that are very large files, sometimes Templater cannot download them correctly. Instead, the downloaded file is an HTML text file that says Drive was unable to scan for viruses. If you see this error, try providing a direct download link instead.

Templater-Download Cache File

Unless you disable it in your preferences, Templater maintains a cache file named templater-download.cache in the [TEMPLATER DOWNLOADS] folder. This file provides a reference to the original links in Templater's data source and the Templater-created file names. Following is a sample file entry:

{
	"t": "2023-09-15T13:24:18Z",
	"u": "https://drive.google.com/uc?=download&id=1tQ_s3410_72qmy348nrts",
	"f": "901mpoy6284adfmo7d8eijv8e6hnlk6.mp4"
},

When the cache file is present, Templater checks each footage URL against the cache. If the file has already been downloaded, it uses the existing downloaded file. This can speed up processing time and also reduce the size of your downloads folder.

The templater-download.cache file is limited to 32 KB in size. When this limit is reached, Templater begins deleting the oldest entry. You can also manually delete the cache file at any time. Templater will create a new file when needed.

To use Templater's download cache:

  1. Open Templater Preferences.
  2. In the Footage section, clear the checkbox for Allow unique downloads for cloud based assets.

If your remote footage is itself dynamic (in other words, the footage changes each time the URL is visited), you should enable Allow unique downloads for cloud based assets. That way, Templater pulls a fresh file every time.

Supported Remote Footage Assets

Supported file types can vary depending on factors like the operating system. After Effects may not support certain types of files on Mac OS, or may use a different file extension for the imported file on Mac as opposed to Windows.

This table provides a breakdown of Templater support for the file types commonly used for remote footage. Where more than one extension is possible for a MIME type, Templater appends the first extension shown in the Possible Extensions column.
MIME Type Detected by Templater Source Possible Extensions Extension of Imported File (Mac OS) Extension of Imported File (Windows OS)
application/octet-stream Dataclay .mp4 .mp4 .mp4
application/postscript IANA .eps, .ai, .ps .pdf

.pdf
application/pdf IANA .pdf .pdf .pdf
image/vnd.adobe.photoshop IANA .psd .psd .psd
image/bmp IANA .bmp, .dib .bmp .bmp
image/tiff IANA .tif, .tiff .tif .tif
application/x-director Apache .dir, .dcr, .dxr, .cst, .cct, .cxt, .w3d, .fgd, .swa    
image/dpx IANA .dpx .dpx .dpx
image/x-dpx IANA .dpx .dpx .dpx
image/gif IANA .gif .gif .gif
image/jpeg IANA .jpeg, .jpg, .jpe .jpg .jpg
image/aces IANA .exr .exr .exr
image/x-exr Data .exr .exr .exr
image/x-pict Apache .pict, .pic, .pct    
video/x-flv Apache .flv Not supported* Not supported*
image/x-ms-bmp Data .bmp .bmp .bmp
video/x-f4v Apache .f4v .mp4 .mp4
application/mxf IANA .mxf .mxf .mxf
video/mpeg IANA .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe, .m1v, .m2v .mpg .mpg
audio/mpa IANA .mpa .mp3 .mp3
audio/mpeg IANA .mp3, .mpga, .mp2, .mp2a, .m2a, .m3a .mp3 .mp3
audio/mp3   .mp3 .mp3 .mp3
video/mpv IANA .mpv    
application/mp4 IANA .mp4, .mpg4, .mp4s, .m4p, .m4v .mp4 .mp4
audio/mp4 IANA .m4a, .mp4a, .m4v    
video/mp4 IANA .mp4, .mpg4, .mp4s, .m4p, .m4v .mp4 .mp4
video/quicktime IANA .mov, .qt .mov .mov
video/x-msvideo Apache .avi Not supported by After Effects .avi
video/x-ms-wmv Apache .wmv Not supported by After Effects .asf
audio/x-ms-wma Apache .wma    
video/x-ms-asf Apache .asf, .asx Not supported by After Effects .asf
audio/x-aiff Apache .aif, .aiff, .aifc .aif .aif
audio/x-aac IANA .aac .mp4 .mp4
audio/aac IANA .aac, .adts .mp4 .mp4
audio/wav   .wav .wav .wav
audio/wave   .wav .wav .wav
audio/x-wav Apache .wav .wav .wav
application/x-shockwave-flash Apache .swf .swf .swf
application/json IANA .json, .map    
text/jsx   .jsx    
image/webp   .webp .webp .webp
application/x-subrip Apache .srt    
model/obj IANA .obj    
application/x-tgif Apache .obj    
image/heic IANA .heic .heic OR .jpg .heic OR .jpg
image/heif IANA .heif .heic OR .jpg .heic OR .jpg
image/svg+xml IANA .svg, .svgz    
image/png IANA .png .png .png

*The .flv extension is on After Effects list of supported files, but the application itself generates an error on import.