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Molgaard
Participant
March 9, 2011
Question

How to ignore missing frames in an image sequence?

  • March 9, 2011
  • 4 replies
  • 64794 views

I'm working with a JPEG image sequence, and have deleted frames frames at various points before bringing them into AE. Instead of skipping the missing frames, AE renders missing media frames in place of the ones I deleted, instead of just skipping them. Is there a way around this without having to manually rename all of the images so there are no missing numbers?

Thanks,

Molgaard

      This topic has been closed for replies.

      4 replies

      A
      anttir57345984
      Participant
      September 16, 2021

      I got a sequence of 100K frames.

      i am trying to replace some of those with different renders randomly, since AE can not just put a transparent in there I need to find a workaround.

      difference matte didnt work because there is a scrolling frame number to mess it up.

      So only thing to do is to render 100000 blank alpha frames with same name and write over the frames with the footage i got.

      B
      ben.bland
      Participating Frequently
      December 30, 2015

      For what it's worth, I had a similar problem and got round it with a mix of different settings. Selecting "Alphabetical Order" seemed to work on some folders and was unnecessary on others, despite being very similar files and folders.

      In some cases, the sequences imported with thousands of missing frames. In these case, I was able to select "Alphabetical Order" and another check box for "Multiple Sequences". This tried to import the JPEG sequence thousands of times but I was able to just stop the import after the first sequence came through, and it worked a treat.

      P
      patrickabroad78
      Participant
      February 22, 2013

      Check the "Force Alphabetical Order" box when importing.  (On a Mac, it's right under the "Targa Sequence" box that you have to check to import the sequence).

        maximiliann.com
        maximiliann.com
        Participant
        July 12, 2015

        Thanks - this worked a charm.

          mistigrif51231268
          mistigrif51231268
          Participating Frequently
          July 27, 2015

          @patrickabroad78I can't check this box (it's grey and not black) Please help me !

          Mylenium
          Mylenium
          Legend
          March 9, 2011

          Unfortunately not. AE is quite dumb in that department If the images are at regular intervals, it would be possible to skip them using time-remapping with an expression or some time-stretch trickery, but otherwise eitehr filling in the gaps or remapping manuall is pretty much the only option.

          Mylenium

          R
          Community Expert
          Rick GerardCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 9, 2011

          Batch rename is a very simple process in Bridge, Windows and on the Mac. If your sequence works with the removed frames then you can simply batch rename the files with sequential numbers. It will take you about two minutes.

            erikmalk
            erikmalk
            Participant
            August 9, 2021

            Just a note on batch renaming if anyone is using a camera raw sequence that relies on .xmp sidecar files (for example with an LRTimelapse workflow). You can rename in Lightroom, but you need to make sure you read the xmp metadata into your LR catalog before renaming, then after rename, you need to "save metadata to files" for the full sequence again. Alternatively you could also rename your original .xmp files in a bridge batch rename to make the new dng sequence names. I have used both rename options successfully, but I am now using "force alphabetic order" method descibed both others here as it is quickest option. 

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