• Adobe After Effects

  Change Layer Assignment…

  Posted by Eric Barker on March 19, 2009 at 6:03 pm

  I was wondering if there was an option, in the timeline, to re-assign the footage of one layer to another piece of footage. So, say, I have a layer in the timeline called “VideoBox”, and it’s linked to piece of footage called “Video 1.avi”. Is there an option to then switch the layer over to “Video 2.avi”?

  Note, I’m not talking about changing file reassignment in the project panel, but changing between footage/clip reassignment in the timeline.

  This would help me out a great deal in creating fairly dynamic templates. In the past, I have had to simply drag a new piece of footage into the timeline, then copy all attributes of the old layer (transformations, effects, masks, layer styles, etc.) into the new layer. Then match all blending options and parenting (which can get kind of tricky, as you can imaging). I’d like to figure out if I can avoid all that and just make the old layer choose from a different clip.

  Television Producer
  KTVF-11 Fairbanks, Alaska
  video.ericbarker.com

  Theo Brown replied 16 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Bartek Skorupa

  March 19, 2009 at 6:28 pm

  Select footage in timeline, then select footage in project panel and hit:

  “Ctl” + “alt” + “/” on Windows
  “Cmd” + “alt” + “/” on Mac.

  or if you are rather “dragger and dropper”:

  Select fotage in timeline, then select footage in project panel and drag it over the timeline holding “alt”.

  Bartek Skorupa
  Warszawa, Poland
• 

  Eric Barker

  March 19, 2009 at 6:39 pm

  Thanks! That’s EXACTLY what I was looking for! Wow, I feel powerful now. This may really improve my workflow. The “dragon drop” method is a lot faster (I have all panels open all the time), because there’s less clicking involved. And yes, Dave, it’s “alt” on Windows, but thanks for the Mac info, since I use AE on a mac at home.

  Television Producer
  KTVF-11 Fairbanks, Alaska
  video.ericbarker.com
• 

  Theo Brown

  June 24, 2009 at 2:41 pm

  Holy Cow! I’ve been using AE for years now and never thought to use this command; I’ve got 100 comps that I have to replace photos in and it’s gone from a 3-4 day project to a one day project.

  Thanks Dave & Bartek! And thanks for asking the question Eric. I feel like a big idiot for not knowing this sooner…

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