What It Does
Templater automates the process of filling After Effects templates with external data. Feed it a Google Sheets document, JSON file, or tab-separated values, and it updates text, footage, and color layers across your compositions. The plugin handles layout adjustments automatically, so dynamic elements align and scale without manual positioning.
Templater comes in three editions. Rig prepares your project for dynamic content and lets you preview data-driven compositions. Pro adds desktop batch rendering and replication. Bot runs as a server process with command-line control for unattended rendering at scale.
Key Features
Universal template autofill. Map spreadsheet columns or JSON keys to composition layers. Templater reads the data and updates text, swaps footage, changes colors, or modifies solid layers. Supports international characters and right-to-left scripts.
Layout engine. When text length changes or images swap, Templater adjusts layer positions, scales, and alignments according to layout rules you define. Maintains design integrity across varying content without manual fixes.
Time Sculpting. Crop, trim, shift, or stretch layers based on footage duration. Useful when integrating clips of different lengths into a fixed-duration template. Keeps timing consistent across batch jobs.
Batch rendering (Pro/Bot). Process entire spreadsheets or selected row ranges. Apply After Effects output modules and render settings. Customize output filenames using data fields. Send jobs to Adobe Media Encoder if preferred.
Composition replication (Pro/Bot). Generate multiple versions of a master comp, each filled with different data. Replicated comps stay organized in folders and can be queued for rendering or further editing.
Command-line interface (Bot). Control Templater via shell commands. Integrate with existing pipelines, trigger renders from web apps, or automate post-render tasks with scripts. Runs After Effects in the background without the UI.
Google Drive integration. Use Google Sheets as your data source, with support for the File Picker and row highlighting. Cloud-based footage references let you pull assets from URLs.
Activity logging. Templater writes detailed logs for troubleshooting and transparency. Track what data was processed, which renders succeeded, and where errors occurred.
Who It’s For
Motion designers producing localized ads, personalized videos, or versioned social media content. Post houses handling high-volume rendering for clients with large datasets. Studios creating dynamic video for e-commerce, digital signage, or live events. Developers building video-on-demand systems that need After Effects as a rendering engine.
Templater works well for projects ranging from 15 unique renders to batches of thousands. If you’re manually swapping text or footage across compositions, this plugin eliminates that repetition.
Pricing
Templater uses a pay-what-you-want model. All three editions (Rig, Pro, Bot) offer 30-day trials with watermarks on dynamic layers. After the trial, you set your own price to purchase.
Rig is the base edition for preparing templates and previewing data. Pro adds batch rendering and replication for desktop use. Bot is built for server farms and automated pipelines.
Volume discounts apply: 10% off for 2 licenses, 15% for 5, 20% for 10, 40% for 50. Floating licenses for multi-seat studios are available separately. Enterprise pricing adjusts at renewal for organizations over 250 employees or $20M revenue.