Dynamic link workflow advice needed

[Richard Knight]

I create a AE project and leave it open. I find any clip I then link from Premiere starts a new compostion in the same AE project.

Richard Knight

[Tom Daigon]

Dave, do it the way Richard suggested. The trick is to have only 1 AE project with all your comps within. Otherwise AE and its naming conventions can really make a mess.

When you come back to work on an existing project, the first thing to do after opening the project it is to highlight one of yourexisting AE dynamically linked clips and “Edit “Original”. That way, when you are ready to send another clip to AE, its already open and will just create just a new comp. Good luck!

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Dave Fleming]

Thanks guys, that’s how I’ll do it.

df

[Petros Kolyvas]

Might I add one other piece of advice?

Because you can’t rename comps and have them reliably re-connect I do two other things in addition to the “Single AE Project” tip, (one of which Tom encouraged in a previous post.)

1. This was suggested by Tom: Before sending to AE, copy the clip and/or clips in question and send the copy to AE, disabling the clips but keeping for posterity/security/safely on an another video track(s). (In my former life as an FCP/Shake(er), FCP would do this automatically with Shake comps (but not Motion comps).

2. In AE, because I can’t re-name a dynamically linked comps, I will usually Pre-Compose all the elements into yet-another-comp which I can name appropriately and then return to work on without wondering which automatically-generated (but generally meaningless) number is the comp I want to continue working on. I Bin all the dynamic links and don’t touch them, usually continuing to work on the now clearly-named pre-composed version of the same items. Think of it as nesting for AE. 😉

All the best,
PK

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Tom Daigon]

PK, your idea sounds great but Im not completely clear on what you are doing. Could you describe it in a step by step manner (1. 2. 3.) so I can better understand it?

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Petros Kolyvas]

Thanks Tom!

Was trying to squeeze in answers between client calls…. I’ll try to be more clear. Perhaps a screen-cap would be more efficient.

1. Before sending a clip (or set of clips) to AE, make a copy of those clips on the same timeline and disable them. You’ll have the original clips in PrPro in case something happens and you need to go back to them; there is no “revert” function for dynamically linked clips at the time of this post.

2. Send the clips to AE. As Tom mentioned, have the single AE project open already or, if this is your first dynamic link for a project, plan on using this same project for almost everything unless you have a real reason not to (of which there are, but we’ll stick to this case for the time being.)

3. Once your dynamically linked comp opens up in your AE project, select all the assets of the active comp (platform-appropriate select-all shortcut) and pre-compose it. Name this pre-comp something meaningful. This way you can give the comp a good, descriptive name. When you want to work on it in AE (with or without Premiere open), you won’t have to go searching for a comp named “PRProject.pproj/DynamicLink289” (paraphrasing). Instead you will find “The Comp I want to Comp Comp”. This becomes all the more important because of step 2 – where you’re using one AE project for everything. If, like me, you send a lot of clips to AE from Premiere Pro, making sure you don’t spend forever trying to find comps can be major time-saver.

4. Create a bin to hold the original Dynamically Linked Comps – you need them, as they contain your link back to PrPro, but since you’re working with your well-named pre-comps (which are just nested comps at this point) you don’t need them crowding your workspace.

5. Edit your nicely-named comps, knowing that they’ll still link up in PrPro.

Hope this was clearer – if I made any errors and/or blunders, let me know!

All the best,
PK

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Tom Daigon]

So the Precomp of all the assets has the Logical name and the Master Comp ( that the precomp is a subset to) has the Adobe generated name. Is that right?

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Petros Kolyvas]

Wow, you summed up my rambling quite beautifully. And, yes, that is the idea.

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Tom Daigon]

Thanks!

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Danny Nieder]

This seems like a great workflow to keep things inside AE nice and organized. There is another piece of the puzzle I would like input on, please. Once going back to the PPro timeline from AE, I will have the original clip on V1 with the original file name (something like MVI_XXXX.mov, unless I have already renamed it on the timeline) and the copied clip above it on V2 with the new DL name (such as Project Name Linked Comp XX)

First, am I missing a way for this DL clip to automatically take on the new AE comp name I gave it? If there is no way, is there a danger of renaming this new DL clip to the same name I gave it over in AE on both the timeline and in the bin?

I like how AE can be organized, but if you roundtrip 50-100 clips (or more) it seems like your PPro bin and timeline will get cluttered with a lot of “Project Name Linked Comp XX” clips. Any insight? I’m always in fear of making a wrong move and upsetting the DLs so they are no longer functioning. It seems tempermental.

Thanks for the help!