Creative Workflow Hacks

It’s a common problem to run into fields issues when working with imported footage in After Effects. An equally common way to address the problem is to use the Interpret Footage->Main Dialog(Command or Control-F) and press the“Guess 3:2 Pulldown” button in this dialog. Multiply this times 100 footage items (You can only select one footage item for Interpret Footage to be available) and you’ll be crying out for help. The following script gives you that help.

Simply select the footage items of interest, run this script and each item will have “Guess 3:2 Pulldown” applied.

{
var proj = app.project;
	
if (proj) {
		
app.beginUndoGroup("Set Field Separation");
// loop through all items selected in project window
		
for (var a = 0; a < proj.selection.length; ++a) {
		
thisItem = proj.selection[a];
		
// check item is footage and is not a still image
		
if (thisItem instanceof FootageItem && !thisItem.mainSource.isStill) {
		
// set footage's field separation type.
		
thisItem.mainSource.guessPulldown(PulldownMethod.PULLDOWN_3_2 );
	
  }
}
		
app.endUndoGroup();
  }
}

The next step would be to integrate applying the excellent fields kit plugin set to problem footage, but that's a project for next time.

A downlodable version of the script is available here