What's New

Templater Changelog

For details on each release of Templater, please read the Templater Changelog.

Templater 3.5: New Features & Improvements

Templater 3.5 contains the exciting new Dynamic Essential Properties feature as well as significant enhancements to the Dynamic Subtitles utility introduced in the 3.4 release. It also includes UI updates and several bug fixes.

New Feature: Dynamic Essential Properties

Templater now supports using data to change and control values of properties promoted to the Essential Graphics panel in After Effects. While you can dynamically update the values of essential properties on nested pre-comp layers (layers within a composition), it is not possible to change values within the primary composition itself, as indicated by the following image.

Using After Effects' built-in tools, you can build a primary composition with a manually configured set of essential properties. You can then nest an instance of that primary comp into a new timeline and have Templater adjust parameter values within the "Essential Properties" group for that "pre-comp" layer.

The nested comp starts with the essential properties at the default values set in the primary comp. But because the nested comp is now a layer, you can change the "instanced" values in one of two ways:

From within the "Essential Properties" group on the layer
By selecting the pre-comp layer, going to Window > Properties, and finding the Essential Properties

The values in that pane can be adjusted using a data source.

This feature also allows Templater to support Motion Graphics (.mogrt) templates. Users often purchase these templates because of their high design quality. The templates are designed to be customized, and producers can now do so quickly, easily, and iteratively using Templater.

Dynamic Subtitles Improvements

Work from a Floating or Docked Palette

You can now launch Dynamic Subtitles and choose whether to dock the palette or keep it a floating palette. Previously, only the floating palette was available.

Edit Subtitle Content for SRT Rig

You can now open and edit an SRT file from within the Dynamic Subtitles utility. Templater opens the file for the current comp using your system's default application for the SRT file extension. Changes to the SRT file are saved and appear as soon as you reload the comp in Templater.

Edit Subtitle Timings for an SRT Stack

You can now edit the timings of individual subtitles by adjusting specific layers within an SRT Stack. This allows editors to fine-tune when subtitles appear, and how long they stay on-screen, in each iteration of a video. The feature is especially helpful when adjustments are needed for subtitles in different languages.

Sync Changes from an SRT Stack to an SRT File

When you make changes to subtitle content, timings, or both, you can now sync those changes back to the appropriate SRT file from within the Dynamic Subtitles utility. Sync is available from the SRT Stack pane, even if content changes were made on the SRT Rig and no SRT Stack was created. The sync operation is one-way.

Export Changes from an SRT Stack to an SRT File

The new Export feature in Dynamic Subtitles lets you export a copy of the SRT file for the current job to a local directory. This is useful when the original file is accessed via URL and you need a local copy. If you have made changes to subtitle content, timings, or both, these changes are automatically synced to the SRT file before it is exported. There is no need to sync and then export as two separate steps. Export is available from the SRT Stack pane, even if content changes were made on the SRT Rig and no SRT Stack was created.

New Text Layer Options When Creating an SRT Rig

Dynamic Subtitles now supports both Point Text and Box Text options for the dynamic text layer in an SRT Rig. The default setting is box text.

Create an Anchor Position for Subtitle Text in SRT Rig

Anchor Position is based on the x-height of your selected font and is the point from which your text scales. If you select box text, it is also the point from which your text wraps. You can choose from Top, Middle, or Bottom, giving you greater control over how your subtitles appear.

New Box Text Settings When Creating an SRT Rig

For SRT Rigs that format the text layer as box text, additional new settings enable editors to:

Set a Base Threshold: Controls how far down in the video the box text can appear. Editors can move the box on individual layers in an SRT Stack, but never below the base threshold.
Set a Wrap Margin Threshold: Controls text wrapping within box text to ensure the desired margins are maintained.
Remove new line characters: Sets a preference for handling hard returns in the SRT file. When selected, hard returns in the source file are removed so that new lines are controlled by text wrapping only. This is a global preference.

These settings flow through to the SRT Stack if one is created. They cannot be edited after the rig is created unless the editor detaches the layer and uses AE tools to do so manually.

Settings Available in AE Essential Graphics Panel

The user experience for editing Dynamic Subtitles has been greatly enhanced. Now, when an SRT Rig is created, all of the associated settings are automatically promoted to the AE Essential Graphics panel. This makes it dramatically easier for editors to adjust settings and immediately see the effects of their changes on the current job.

Support for HTML bold and italic tags in SRT Files

Editors can now apply faux bold, faux italics, or both to individual subtitles by editing SRT files to include HTML markup. The markup (for example, <b>Date</b>or <i>Timestamp</i>) can be seen in the subtitle layer markers. You can only apply HTML markup to the entire subtitle; in other words, you cannot apply bold to part of a subtitle and italics to another part.

HTML markup is applied at the SRT Rig layer and carries through when an SRT Stack is created. The markup is also saved when you use the new sync or export features.

User Interface (UI) Updates

In Adobe After Effects 2025, the ScriptUI was updated to enhance accessibility. All Templater dialogs have been updated to correspond to these changes.

Fixed Issues

These issues have been fixed in Templater 3.5:

Google Sheets documents sometimes failed to retrieve on Windows machines.

Spreadsheet cell values that contain operands are now interpreted as strings.

Templater now correctly handles null values in a dynamic footage layer as "faulty".

Templater 3.4.1: New Features & Improvements

Templater 3.4.1 offers incremental improvements to features introduced in the 3.4 release.

Adjustment: Time Sculpting Requires Target Comp

You must now set a target composition to use any of the Time Sculpting features. When a target composition was not set, Templater applied the Time Sculpting algorithm to every timeline in the project. Multiple passes per comp were required, which could use a considerable amount of processing time. This change allows you to preview your sculpting rules in the target composition while better managing resource usage.

Enhancement: New Parameter for Dynamic Text Styling

Dynamic text styling now supports paragraph justification.

Fixed Issues

These issues have been fixed in Templater 3.4.1:

In non-English installations of After Effects, Templater labels and replicated file names contained garbled characters.

In some cases, Templater dynamic text styling was forcing centered text into left or right justification.

Templater 3.4: New Features & Improvements

Templater 3.4 offers several new features, significant UI changes in Templater Preferences, and two new events that can be scripted against.

Feature: Templater Autograf Rigging Utilities and Dynamic Subtitles

Autograf Rigging Utilities are purpose-built utilities for common applications of customized video compositions and replicates.

The first utility to be released by Dataclay is Dynamic Subtitles. This utility enables users to automate the addition of closed captions, translations, audio descriptions, and other onscreen text. The result it is a substantial increase the production speed for videos which require subtitles.

Additional rigging utilities are planned for future releases. Developer users can even create their own rigging utilities and optionally share these with the Templater user community.

Feature: Dynamic Text Styling

Taking full advantage of After Effects 2024 capabilities, Templater now supports dynamic text styling. With this release, the font-face and direction properties can be styled directly from your data source. Support for additional properties is planned for future releases.

Enhancement: Time Sculpting Preview Focus

A new setting is available in Templater Preferences for customers who use Time Sculpting. This setting helps you better see the effects of your Time Sculpting setup when previewing target compositions. Because this setting has a major effect on the author experience, it is disabled by default and should only be used with Time Sculpting.

UI Enhancement: Reorganized Settings in Templater Preferences Dialog

The Preferences dialog has been reorganized and streamlined to make it easier for you to configure settings. The configurable options have not changed, just their presentation.

New Event: Footage Download

The new footage download event can be used in shell scripts, ExtendScripts, and the command line interface (CLI) where needed. This makes it easier for users to apply their own pre- or post-download processing before updating the target composition. This event only applies to remote footage.

New Event: Footage Processing

The new footage processing event can be used in shell scripts, ExtendScripts, and the CLI where needed. This makes it easier for users to apply their own processing pre- or post-AE and Templater video processing before updating the target composition. This event applies to both local and remote footage. It does not apply to footage created within the AE project file (that is, footage that is itself an AE comp).

Feature Enhancement: Flags

Flags let you manipulate some properties of dynamic layers from within your data sources. Users can now wrap terms used as flags in either double braces {{ }} or double brackets [[ ]]. Previously, only double braces could be used.

New Reserved Column Names

With introduction of Dynamic Subtitles, there are three new reserved column names:

srt-data srt-bg srt-display

New Bot Property Keys

In support of the new Footage Download and Footage Processing events, there are 12 new Bot property keys for use in the command line interface (CLI):

`pre_cmd_ftg`	`pre_cmd_ftg_async`	`pre_jsx_ftg`
`pre_cmd_dl`	`pre_cmd_dl_async`	`pre_jsx_dl`
`post_cmd_ftg`	`post_cmd_ftg_async`	`post_jsx_ftg`
`post_cmd_dl`	`post_cmd_dl_async`	`post_jsx_dl`

New Pre-defined Argument Macros for Shell Scripts

In support of the new Footage Download and Footage Processing events, there are 11 new pre-defined argument macros for use in shell scripts:

`$dl_file_uri`	`$dl_file_name`	`$dl_file_dir`
`$dl_file_mime`	`$dl_file_ext`	`$dl_file`
`$ftg_layer`	`$ftg_name`	`$ftg_file`
`$ftg_dir`	`$ftg_ext`

New Object Methods for ExtendScript API

In support of the new Footage Download and Footage Processing events, there are four new object methods for use in ExtendScripts:

$D.download() $D.footage.layer() $D.footage.source() $D.footage.item()

Fixed Issues

These issues have been fixed in Templater 3.4:

The Templater Time Sculpting algorithm broke when nested compositions were part of its layer reconfiguration.

In scenarios where an audio-only layer with a Templater Settings effect applied to it had time-based parameters configured to monitor sibling layers, users received this unwanted After Effects error dialog: "after effects invalid image buffer size (0x0) (37 :: 102)".

In a particular scenario, the Templater layout algorithm broke and cascaded throughout the project. This happened if a composition contained both:

Layers that could not have effects applied, such as Camera or Light layers, AND
A set of layers assigned to a Templater layer group.

Now, users can have any type of layer within a composition that also has a set of layers assigned to a Templater layout group.

As of After Effects 24.3, the confirmation dialog for emptying the disk cache can no longer be bypassed for automation using the Templater advanced preference Purge all memory caches after each job. Therefore, this preference no longer empties the disk cache after each processed job. It does clear out all RAM, image, and undo caches. Users who enable disk caching and the Templater Bot on the same machine must manually clear the disk cache after every job. We strongly recommend that users of AE 24.3 and any version of Templater Bot should optimize the AE disk cache to minimize disruption to their automated workflows.