Automation Blocks - Render Import & Replace Usage

[m1jackson]

I'm trying to create a multipart render solution to render my high res images and import and replace them to quickly render QTs but I'm getting an interesting issues.

Issue #1

I'm trying to use the navigation methodology inside the "Output To" dialog to create relative paths to the project file.

[projectFolder]\..\output\[projectName].[fileExtension]

[projectFolder]\..\output\[projectName]\[projectName].[####].[fileExtension]

However When I enter these value in my output to path in Automation blocks I get the following

top is Automation Blocks, bottom is After Effects after selecting a Output To menu item

Automation blocks doesn't seem to resolve the token. I'm probably using the wrong field for this, but I thought I'd throw it to the experts.

I've tried using a straight "text" field, as well as the default "file" field. Neither seemed to work.

Issue #2

When trying to set up a Both option, Import & Replace Post-Render Action doesn't seem to work. (Please ignore the output to paths here as it's probably related to Issue #1)

I look forward to hearing anything back as I believe that tool could be really helpful for others as well.

[Mathias Moehl]

Hi Mike,

AUtomation Blocks has its own block to retrieve the project folder:

https://mamoworld.com/docs/automation-blocks/block-reference/aeProject/#block_ae_project_folder

You can combine is with other text blocks to create more complex path.

The Tinker File Path block can return the parent folder of a given file or folder:

https://mamoworld.com/docs/automation-blocks/block-reference/filesNameAndPath/#string_tinker_path

Here are some examples:

[Mathias Moehl]

For your second question:

My first concern would be that your code looks like you have three checkboxes and assume that the user only checks one of them. When more than one is checked, several of your "if" blocks will be executed and not only one of them. Maybe this is already causing your problem? I think you should better use a dropdown instead of three checkboxes here:

[m1jackson]

Thanks for your feedback. I've implemented your recommendation, but have come across some peculiarities.

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I'm getting an underscore in the filename between the name and the numbers. I broke out all the tokens for testing purposes, but I can't make the underscore go away and be a "."

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I'm also getting an error that the "The directory originally specified in the selected output module no longer exists" since the first "current project name" block isn't creating a directory. Is there a step I'm missing?

[Mathias Moehl · Accepted solution]

To create the directory you first need to only create that path of the directly itself and create it.

I recomment to split the entire process into multiple steps to keep it more manageable.

[m1jackson]

This is perfect! Thank you.

I'm assuming that I'll have to do the import and replace thru Automation Blocks as well?