Batch Processing of video ... at DVinfo.net

George Tasick · March 17th, 2009, 08:56 PM

Hey Everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone knows if Premiere can do "actions" or batch processing the way you can do with photos in Photoshop? Or does anyone know if this can be done using any program in existence?

What i need to do is take thousands of small video clips and then add to them item numbers, names, durations, product photos and the like. Please follow the link below to see an example of the final product.

YouTube - TB202 - Pyro Candy

Basically want to shoot the video, cut it up and name it in Premiere, render out the raw video and keep a uniform file naming system. Prepare the product photos and voice overs in a similar fashion to the videos so they correspond with their respective videos. And then combine those files and all the on screen data into an Excel spread sheet that can be loaded into premiere (or whatever software can do this) and then batch process everything including rendering.

I would imagine that this would be similar to "catalog software" for InDesign where you setup various fields within the video frame and then those fields are filled with data pulled from the Excel spread sheet. I've been doing all this manually for about 4 months now and i just keep having more and more demand for it. Unfortunately i can't get paid enough per video to hire capable people so i need to find a way to automate the process.

Another reason i need this functionality is because i now have customers wanting to re-sell the video to their customers who want their own logos/web addresses on the video. So again, i need the automation so i can have a reasonable turn around.

If anyone has any clue as to the software that could do this, please let me know.

Thanks,

George

Tripp Woelfel · March 17th, 2009, 09:07 PM

Premier doesn't do any real batch processing. A better option, though I am not sure if it will do all you want, is After Effects. It will handle custom scripts but I do not know if they will handle your tasks.

George Tasick · March 17th, 2009, 10:26 PM

After Effects can defensively do the work, i just need the script to automate the process.

I know how it would work, i just don't know how to program it.

Basically i would setup a field for each variable element (text, photos, video and audio elements), place them in the proper positions both on screen (with x/y coordinates) and within the time line. Then you would simply name the fields with corresponding names of the columns in the spread sheet and then the script would grab the data from the spread sheet and plug it into the fields that have already been setup.

If you pre-cut the video files so they are the proper length, re-size the photos so they are the proper size and pre-cut the audio ... then name each file and save them into the same folder ... you can simply enter the file path into the spread sheet and have the script follow the path listed in the spread sheet and drop that file into the proper place.

The only thing the script would have to do other than swapping out data would be to scale up or down the amount of time the graphics appear to match the length of the individual video files.

Like i said, it's just like the catalog building software for InDesign ... it's just that here we're dealing with video.

So i know how it's supposed to work ... i just need someone who can make it work!

Is anyone in here a programmer? Or do you know what kind of programmer i need to look for to make this work? Are there specific programmers for AFX scripts?

George Tasick · March 20th, 2009, 11:52 PM

Can someone tell me what kind of programing language you need to know in order to program an After Effects script?

March 17th, 2009, 08:56 PM	#1
George Tasick Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Zelienople, PA Posts: 86	Batch Processing of video ... Hey Everyone, I'm wondering if anyone knows if Premiere can do "actions" or batch processing the way you can do with photos in Photoshop? Or does anyone know if this can be done using any program in existence? What i need to do is take thousands of small video clips and then add to them item numbers, names, durations, product photos and the like. Please follow the link below to see an example of the final product. YouTube - TB202 - Pyro Candy Basically want to shoot the video, cut it up and name it in Premiere, render out the raw video and keep a uniform file naming system. Prepare the product photos and voice overs in a similar fashion to the videos so they correspond with their respective videos. And then combine those files and all the on screen data into an Excel spread sheet that can be loaded into premiere (or whatever software can do this) and then batch process everything including rendering. I would imagine that this would be similar to "catalog software" for InDesign where you setup various fields within the video frame and then those fields are filled with data pulled from the Excel spread sheet. I've been doing all this manually for about 4 months now and i just keep having more and more demand for it. Unfortunately i can't get paid enough per video to hire capable people so i need to find a way to automate the process. Another reason i need this functionality is because i now have customers wanting to re-sell the video to their customers who want their own logos/web addresses on the video. So again, i need the automation so i can have a reasonable turn around. If anyone has any clue as to the software that could do this, please let me know. Thanks, George

March 17th, 2009, 09:07 PM	#2
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	Premier doesn't do any real batch processing. A better option, though I am not sure if it will do all you want, is After Effects. It will handle custom scripts but I do not know if they will handle your tasks.

March 17th, 2009, 10:26 PM	#3
George Tasick Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Zelienople, PA Posts: 86	After Effects can defensively do the work, i just need the script to automate the process. I know how it would work, i just don't know how to program it. Basically i would setup a field for each variable element (text, photos, video and audio elements), place them in the proper positions both on screen (with x/y coordinates) and within the time line. Then you would simply name the fields with corresponding names of the columns in the spread sheet and then the script would grab the data from the spread sheet and plug it into the fields that have already been setup. If you pre-cut the video files so they are the proper length, re-size the photos so they are the proper size and pre-cut the audio ... then name each file and save them into the same folder ... you can simply enter the file path into the spread sheet and have the script follow the path listed in the spread sheet and drop that file into the proper place. The only thing the script would have to do other than swapping out data would be to scale up or down the amount of time the graphics appear to match the length of the individual video files. Like i said, it's just like the catalog building software for InDesign ... it's just that here we're dealing with video. So i know how it's supposed to work ... i just need someone who can make it work! Is anyone in here a programmer? Or do you know what kind of programmer i need to look for to make this work? Are there specific programmers for AFX scripts?

March 20th, 2009, 11:52 PM	#4
George Tasick Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Zelienople, PA Posts: 86	Can someone tell me what kind of programing language you need to know in order to program an After Effects script?