Hi! Hope you're all doing well.
I finally finished the first alpha version of my renderpass importer for After Effects, and I need testers to speed up the development. Its very alpha, a bit shaky code but it can already save you some time, or a LOT of time if you have plenty of passes.
To make it useful all your passes must be in the same folder and share the same base name.
What it does:
- After clicking the Browse button Pass.Port analyses the files in the folder you selected to find their shared name (stripped off of everything after the separator tag), it's called Basename. The one detected will be shown in the Basename field
- If Pass.Port is able to detect the Basename, it will enable the Port button. Clicking it will import all found sequences, analyse them for the renderpass type (this is for the future feature of auto compositing) and for the Light Groups
- Then if AutoComp is checked, it will sort the footage into separate compositions corresponding to the detected Light Groups
- As a result you have all sequences imported and one or a few new comps, all placed into the project folder RS render passes created inside currently selected project folder. Pass.port will indicate this in its UI (and in the log file)
- The script saves all your current settings between the sessions, including the last successful folder
- Pass.Port creates a text log file with everything it has found and done named pass.port_log.txt next to your AE project file, or to your desktop if your project is not saved
- Creates 2 undo groups, one for the Footage Import and another one for AutoComp stage, so you can undo by one
What it does not:
- Doesn't rebuild your composition by the book yet, but its 100% next feature
- Doesn't support multilayered exrs by now
- The parsing is built for the default renderpass naming of C4D Redshift version only (with some variations), other Rule sets are on the list. But as long as you comply to the same rules you can use it with any other render engine
- Tested on Windows only, cannot promise if it'll work on Mac
- Doesn't change any of your files and does not access the internet
- Unfortunately it will never be able to make you a coffee
Naming the renderpasses:
A tip for getting a consistent basename for your main render and passes with takes in c4d with tokens:
for main output: .../$take/$take
for RS AOVs: $take_AOV
Or with the $camera token in the same manner. Pass.port will recognise this naming very gladly
Usage and Feedback:
You can run Pass.Port as usual using the Run Script menu, or place it into ...Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels to be able to dock it into your AE interface
It is a free script, but please do not sell it and do not include it in any products free or paid
Get it for free from the Pass.port GitHub repository and join my Discord if you're actively using Pass.Port and have some feedback/issue.
