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AE CS6 and Sony Vegas workflow
Hi,
I have been using Sony Vegas for years and I’m really quick on it, so I don’t really want to have to switch to Premiere.
With the constant demand for motion graphics I have been forced into learning After Effects and I really like the program.
Most of my work is quite basic with lots of talking heads and b-roll over-top. AE allows you to create some creative looking b-roll when in a pinch, but I’m not necessarily always using this program. It’s about 75% Vegas 25% AE.
I am after some helpful hints and tricks to make my work flow easier. I usually render down a master copy from Vegas and then insert everything on top of the master copy in AE, but if I start to get too many layers in AE and want to pre-compose I can’t take that master with me into each pre-composed layer can I?
Thanks!
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5 Replies
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[Evan Petkau] “but if I start to get too many layers in AE and want to pre-compose I can’t take that master with me into each pre-composed layer can I?”
You can copy and paste it in, then make it a guide layer [link] so you can see it while you’re working in the precomp for reference, but so it won’t affect your renders or the comps that contain your precomps.
What kinds of situations are in when you feel you have too many layers and want to precompose? Maybe there are other techniques we can suggest.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Thanks for the quick reply
I’m going to be doing a collection of instructional videos and was thinking of doing a lot of “floating text” either motion tracked to a handheld shot, or use the AE camera angles to make the text appear on angles as if it were a solid object in the scene.
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How are you using precomps for organization?
You are sometimes better off avoiding organizational precomps and using layer colors and the shy switch, or perhaps using a layer-tagging script like Zorro [link].
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Great, I’ll give that a try. I think I’ll use pre-comps more sparingly. Or maybe just to adjust the opacity of those layers all as one or something. It’s been quite the learning process!
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I don’t want to talk you out of using precomps organizationally — I just want to persuade you to stay smart about what you precomp and what you don’t. Some things are easier to work with in context, and as you pointed out, some things are easier to manage when precomped. Good luck, and enjoy. Ae is a lot of fun!
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
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