Automate your Google Sheet to render After Effects assets based on your input data

[@lorcanpreston4643]

Nice work - very cool to see this coming together. For other automations such as sports tables or fixtures have you considered hooking an API up to a custom spreadsheet? It might be something you already do but it's something I'm exploring more and more after spending long periods of time updating scores and scoreboards. Interested to hear your thoughts.

[@BallerFX]

Hi Lorcan, yes, been working on something the last 7-8 months that connects an API to my projects to automatically update content like stats + scores. Using spreadsheets like this was the stepping stone to get me to think more wholistically about it, and is great for automation particularly in batch renders.

[@MaxAFTV]

Hey Justin! Absolutly love your tutorials! Keep them up! I got a question. I have a soccer stats animation which basicly says Player + goals for example. Now I hook that up to templater to a google sheet. But the issue is that on 1 occasion it has 5 players with their ammount of goals, and the next time it has like 8. Any advice on what would be the way to make this work? So i can get my input from a google sheet. Hook that up to after effects but it renders a stat graphic with 5 rows when its input is 5 rows in the google sheets. and 8 if 8. Love to hear how you would tackle this!

[@BallerFX]

Thanks Max...whew, coming in hot!! haha Multiple ways to do this. If you're just using a Google Sheet with no API integration, here are a few ideas: 1. Make separate comps for each kind with the same naming structure, that way if you have 6 rows of input data, you'll render the comp that has 6 inputs. In theory, this is probably simplest since it's duplicating what you already have as far as naming conventions while also limiting expressions linking to other layers. This also assumes that you're manually rendering. 2. Next thought would be adding a column in your sheet that returns the number of columns that have input data. So, if you have 5 columns, you'll input a 5 (or automate number if possible). Then, within AE, create a dummy text that's mapped to the new column. Then, for each text layer in AE, you'll want to map the opacity to that dummy text and do a conditional statement saying if that dummy text number is less than or equal to that text layer number, then opacity should be 100. If not, opacity should be 0. There's definitely more to this one, especially if you want it to dynamically adjust size + y position based on the number of inputs needed. This would allow you to keep within one comp, and also requires more "networking" through expressions to tie everything together. Number 2 can be simplified if you have a goal total number, which would allow you to map the opacity for the goal scorers to that total goals number instead of adding dummy text. The total number becomes the only one to be driven by the spreadsheet. Those would be the two places I'd start to explore first...hope that helps and would love to see how it turns out!

[@josephfconti]

Love the streamlined automation here! I've recently started using Data Merge in InDesign for static graphics and its proven to be a great time saver for outputting a series of designs across 32 NFL, 30 NBA, 30 MLB teams using just a single template doc. Is there some sort of plugin for After Effects for rendering out that you're using and if so, do you know if something similar exists for Indesign? Thanks for the great content

[@BallerFX]

Thanks Joseph! Ya I use Dataclay's Templater to do rendering out of AE with a spreadsheet. I'm not aware of something similar for InDesign. I have seen Dean Davies using Figma to make updates for designs quickly if that kind of workflow could help you there!

[@kevingahan445]

With pro can two employees use this license or do you need a license for each employee?

[@BallerFX]

Hi Kevin, Depends on how you're set up. Possible to use rig + Pro if both don't need rendering power, and one is used to set up comps. License is activation/deactivation. If you have more questions, Dataclay's support team is top notch, and will be able to assist you. Email: [e-mail] and use BallerFX somewhere in the headline, and they'll be able to help you get the right licensing setup for your needs! In case you haven't seen this yet, here's a video that provides an explanation (and code for rig) of the different versions, as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap2lZYyblLGKkJI