I'm trying to use Adobe Media Encoder CS6 as what we in the programming world call a "build server", i.e. watch for inputs that are new or changed and build output automatically when it finds them.
Specifically, I want AME to automatically notice when there are new or changed PPro sequences, and automatically encode output for those sequences.
At first, the "Watched Folder" feature seemed perfect. it will monitor a given folder and when a new file pops up automatically encode it.
But there are 2 problems...
- It doesn't seem to support sequences. Seriously?
- Even if it did support sequences, it only seems to look for new items - not modified
So then I started thinking about the "Save Queue" approach (queue up all my PPro sequences in AME, Save the queue, backup the "batch.xml" file, then "restore" the "batch.xml" file later when I need to re-export)
Doing that would kind of give me a "Watched Folder" kind of functionality for sequences, except:
- It's actually the opposite of Watched Folder in that it would only re-export existing sequences and *not* new ones (of course, I guess I could always restore, add any new sequences, then re-back-up the "batch.xml" again...)
- It's not automatic - I'd have to manually do the restore / run open AME
- A sequence would always be encoded regardless whether it actually changed.
The "Watched Folder" seems to be a no-go because it doesn't support sequences. The "batch.xml" seems pretty kludgy, but I guess it's better than having to manually re-enter the sequence information every time it changes (i.e. PPro > select sequence > File > Export > Select filename > Say yes to replace it > choose "entire sequence" > choose "Queue" > say "yes" to replace filename again > ugh).
Does anybody have any ideas? I can't believe I'm the only person in the world that has the seemingly basic unmet need.