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Hey all, I have a question about the export layer structure to PNG feature of 11.5.2.

I’m wondering if there is a way to export all frames from all layers as separate PNG files?
Right now when I export a layer structure I only get 1 PNG file for each new frame, like when you export a Json structure only without the Json file.

I noticed the ‘Export all Images’ option which does give me a PNG file for empty frames but no PNG’s for any extra exposures.

Hi, I think you should pay attention to the naming patterns.
At generation of the pictures, your files are probably overwritten by the next layer.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I’m not sure if that’s the problem, let me show you.

These are the export settings I used. For the folder and file naming patterns I just used the default settings. You can also see most frames have double exposures and also some holds.
On the left are the folders for each layer that are generated, this is all working great.
But on the right are the PNG files for one of the layers and only the first image of each new frame is exported and none of the extra exposures. You can also see the gaps in frame numbers in the names of the files.
A workaround I tried is turning all the layers into single frames. this works, but it would be really great if I could export every single frame as a PNG without messing up my project. is this possible in any way?

Thijs wrote: ↑15 Jul 2021, 22:56 A workaround I tried is turning all the layers into single frames. this works, but it would be really great if I could export every single frame as a PNG without messing up my project. is this possible in any way?

Thats what i would do.
Do you know you can restore the project back using the [=?] button from the "Handy custom Panel"

Peter Wassink wrote: ↑16 Jul 2021, 11:54

Thijs wrote: ↑15 Jul 2021, 22:56 A workaround I tried is turning all the layers into single frames. this works, but it would be really great if I could export every single frame as a PNG without messing up my project. is this possible in any way?

Thats what i would do.
Do you know you can restore the project back using the [=?] button from the "Handy custom Panel"

Hey Peter!

Yeah the [=?] is a nice fix for the workaround but it would still cost a lot of time to do this whole process for every export.

When looking in the ‘Handy Custom Panel’ I found the ‘Export all images and layers into folders’ button under Miscellaneous. I didn’t know this button existed but it does exactly what I was hoping to do with the Export layer structure to PNG.

Only visible layers are exported, folders are generated using layer names and all frames are exported to PNG.

My only problem was the naming of the PNG files. The file name didn’t include the layer name so if I would import the PNG sequences into for example After Effects the order of the layers would be lost. Also, the name added the name of the clip which I don’t really use for anything.
I made a little tweak in the script so now the name of the exported files starts with the number of the layer instead of the name of the clip. It’s a small change but it makes it perfect for me personally.

Check it out if you want: