First step
#1 CSV File
Create a list of all text variants as a csv list. Use semicolons to separate columns! You can create it in Numbers or Excel, or just write it in Textedit as unformatted text (UTF8). You can create a csv file in a simple spreadsheet on my website.
The first line in the csv is the header, which contains the column names. These must be unique names, with no spaces, tabs or special characters! The next lines are the text you want to put in the Motion template.
If a row contains no text in any column, it will be empty in the motn project. However, each row must the same number of semicolons (number of columns). If you're writing the list by hand, you'll need to remember this, when you export a csv file file from a program like Numbers or a simple spreadsheet, this is done automatically. Upload your csv file to this page. You can find a sample csv file here.
#2 Motion project
Create a Motion project with as many text fields as you need. The names of the fields and their order in the project are irrelevant to the script. In the contents of these fields, enter the text that identifies the field. For example, field-first, field-second, or anything that allows easy identification.
Must be a unique value with no spaces, tabs or special characters!
The contents of these fields will be replaced with text from your .csv file. Upload your Motion project to this page. An example Motion 5 file can be found here.
#3 Next step
Once you have uploaded the csv and motn files, use the preview to check that all the items are correct. If a file is not previewed, it may have an incorrect structure.
Both files should have the same number of fields. The number of columns in the .csv file should match the number of text fields in the motn file. If everything is OK, proceed to the next step.
Second step
#4 Motion fields
In the left part of the table you will see a list of fields from the Apple Motion motn file. If something doesn't look right, something may have gone wrong, or the motion file may be incorrect. Errors are rare, but they do happen. Just like in life :-)
#5 CSV fields
On the right-hand side of the table are the drop-down lists. Each contains a list of columns from a .csv file. Select the appropriate value for the field from the Motion file. The fields in the resulting Motion projects will be replaced with the value you selected. If you don't select anything, the field will be empty in the Motion project.
#6 Generate a list of Motion templates
When the "Generate motn" files button is clicked, the fields in the Motion file will be replaced with the selected items from the columns of the csv file. A list of Motion projects is generated. As many rows as you enter in the csv file, the number of Motion projects will be generated.
Finalize
#7 Result
The table shows the result of replacing the fields in the motn file with the fields in the csv file.
The number of projects generated corresponds to the number of lines in the csv file. If not, check the syntax of both files. Perhaps the semicolons in the csv file are not placed correctly or the motn file contains errors in the text fields.
#8 Render
Download the zip file and unzip the directory on your computer. In the Compressor application, set the default settings you need. For Lower Third, which is usually Apple Prores 4444, color and alpha channel. Load all your projects into Compressor and just render. By default, the output files are in the same folder as the source files. You can also copy files to Compressor Watch Folder ( work with watch folder user guide ) or use Compressor droplet.
That's all :-)
#9 My experience
Mistakes can happen, but I've been using this script to generate about 70 - 90 Lower Third at a time for several years, every week. And I am satisfied. It took me several hours to do it by hand.