Automated import / output script with ACR for AE

[djfremen]

Hi Gang,

I'd love some help to develop an automated script for my after effects workflow.

Currently, I shoot on Andy's latest 50D TL. It's all full frame 1584 x 892 MLV.

Then I create DNG from Danne, Dubzeebees and g3gg0's recursive script with the help of MLV Dump.

The issue is I have 500 GB of unpacked DNG which all needs to be processed in AE.

So I got to thinking about AE's scripting capabilities and have a script outline planned:

AE would have to import the first DNG in a directory folder which in turn opens ACR. A default ACR preset would be selected, with color balance, noise reduction and auto color selected. Import is checked once these settings are automated.

After importing, the script creates a new composition from the imported material. Then it calls for the transform function scaled 121% and the composition setting is set to 1920x1080 @ 23.976.

Lastly, the script adds the comp to a render queue selecting ProRes 4444 (default output module) and source directory for output.

Once done, the script is reset and digs into the next folder in order, selecting the proceeding first DNG.

If done some light scripting in AE but have generally knowledge about it. What are the potential pitfalls?

I've been digging through Christopher Green's scripts as a starting point. Mainly his Selected_Comps_Changer.jsx - have a look at www.crgreen.com/aescripts/

Thanks,

[SteveScout]

I tried this as well. The pitfall is - ACR is not accessible from outside. There is no SDK for it as it is for AFX. That´s the problem. Everything else is pretty much automated, but applying the settings to every DNG sequence and then hitting OK has to be made manual.

So far this is the fastest workflow (at least known to me) for mass importing/exporting with After Effects, wrote a little tutorial about it:

http://hackermovies.com/hackermovies-magic-lantern-raw-workflow-guide

cheers,
Steffen

[dmilligan]

The pitfall is - ACR is not accessible from outside. There is no SDK for it as it is for AFX.

Not true, ACR is actually very scriptable, ever heard of XMP? I've done all sorts of scripting of ACR from bridge with this script: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=8850.0

[SteveScout]

Aah, from within Bridge. Sure. My developer just told my it´s not accessible from within After Effects, but maybe there is a way.

Of course you could apply all the settings to the DNG files from Bridge, but then you would still have to click OKAY in Afx for every single imported sequence. That´s what we´re trying to override, either while applying some sort of settings to it at the same time or not (if you can do that in Bridge with scripts).

[dmilligan]

ACR settings can be set using XMP sidecar files. You can create and modify such files easily from any target app (Br, AE, Ps, etc.). Adobe even has an open source SDK for this metadata.

IDK if it's possible override the ACR dialog in AE, but it is in photoshop, so I would think it is.

Since basically all you are really doing is using AE to transcode to ProRes, this might be possible to do entirely in Adobe Media Encoder since it now supports CNDG and importing FCP XML (which should be easy to generate). See this: http://www.creativeimpatience.com/adobe-media-encoder-grows-up/

The second feature – importing FCP XML sequences for direct rendering – has amazing potential. Not because you can take your old FCP 7 projects or import projects from other NLEs. This is still problematic and requires reconforming in Premiere Pro. But because FCP XML can be relatively easily created and edited by various tools. This essentially adds the scripting capability to AME.

Why is it great? Let's say you have 2000 files which require you to add intro and outro, and downscale them from 1080 to 720. Good luck doing it manually in Premiere. On the other hand, any decent programmer can within an hour write a short utility that will automatically create the XML file for each clip with required structure. Some can do it in a command line. All that remains is just prepare the presets, set the output directory in AME, and then import the XMLs. It's like batch encoding using ffmbc/ffmpeg.

[Danne]

Thanks for this
http://www.creativeimpatience.com/adobe-media-encoder-grows-up/

[SteveScout]

Nice! Read the AME update note, but did not think of the possibilities with the XML import. At the moment I´m not using a cinemaDNG converter though but normal DNGs, as my favorite application BATCHelor does not write cdngs. But it´s worth a try .. ideally the program that converts a batch of raw files to folders with DNG files instantly creates one of the XML files with all the names. The only advantage would be that directly in AFX you can quicker check all the shots (if the settings are right on the images) before rendering than in AME. I´ll try to see how this could speed things up!