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Duplicating a group of Comps & PreComps
Hello all,
I have an After Effects project that is a 2 second news interstitial that is essentially a transition that has text flying within it. I did not create this project, it was sent by corporate. My ND has requested this interstitial with 50 different text variations.
There are 5 comps and precomps in a project folder. A final render comp containing two precomps, and each of those containing two precomps.
The easiest thing for me, to make all of these interstitials, is duplicate and rename the folder, rename the main comp, change the text in the two appropriate precomps, and do it over and over. I can then queue all the main comps and render them all out.
The only thing dragging my efficiency down is that I have to reconnect the newly copied precomps back to their accompanying master comps.
Is there any way to copy a folder of comps and precomps and have them all maintain their master/slave relationship within the folder?
I’m using After Effects CC 2017, that is not cloud-based. Thanks for reading.
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5 Replies
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It seems like you could probably just run this script on the final comps and have it make “true duplicates” (it also dupes and links precomps and even media if desired – all kinds of nice options, creates the new folders and lets you specify how the newly created objects named etc.)) ; https://aescripts.com/true-comp-duplicator/ – it’s a “name your own price” product but I paid the suggested $25.00 and it’s actually been worth so much more than that to me
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Thanks so much! I’m at a Nexstar station, but the short comps and seemingly unnecessary pre-comping is something I run into quite a bit. I prefer to keep things tighter and efficient when using precomps, and I like animations with plenty of pad for flexibility… but different strokes for different folks. Appreciate the help!
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Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve been referred to aescripts.com on more than one occasion for various things, but have never pulled the trigger on anything. Might have to soon.
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[Kevin Olmsted] “Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve been referred to aescripts.com on more than one occasion for various things, but have never pulled the trigger on anything. Might have to soon.
“For the price of these plugins compared to your time, its a no brainer 🙂
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True Comp Duplicator would take a lot of the repetitive labor and potential for error out of the manual process you described above, and leave a file structured exactly as you describe. It’s not a modification to Ae, and no one touching the file later would need to know anything about it.
But I also see the solo-freelancer-vs-team dichotomy differently. Scripts speed up work — especially that slow, grinding, error-prone, repetitive work that we have to do over and over again. That’s even more important on a team than it is for an individual! Imagine a whole room full of people, all working harder and slower than they have to. The more people on a team who refuse to learn a faster/better way, the more time is wasted across the entire organization. I strongly encourage everyone on my team to work smart, find better ways to solve our common problems, and share their learnings back with the rest of us so we can all benefit.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn]
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