Automating Your Pipeline with Python

The work that isn't animation — renaming frames, building folder trees, converting formats — quietly eats hours. Python makes it disappear.

Project setup

Write this once, run it at the start of every job:

import os, sys

name = sys.argv[1]
base = f"/Users/you/Projects/{name}"

for folder in [
    "01_assets/footage", "01_assets/audio",
    "02_project_files",
    "03_renders/wip", "03_renders/final",
    "04_delivery"
]:
    os.makedirs(f"{base}/{folder}", exist_ok=True)

print(f"Created: {name}")

python setup.py client-name

Whole folder tree, named consistently, in under a second.

Batch rename frames

AE renders frames like comp_[0000].png. This cleans them up:

from pathlib import Path

render_dir = Path("/path/to/renders")
for i, f in enumerate(sorted(render_dir.glob("*.png"))):
    f.rename(render_dir / f"output_{i:04d}.png")

Notify on render complete

Install watchdog and point it at your renders folder. It fires a desktop notification (or a Slack message) the moment new files appear. No more tabbing back to check.

Start with the folder script. Customize it to your actual workflow. Then find the next annoying repetitive thing and automate that. That's it.