[Paul Roper]

OMG I’ve found a solution! From trawling around for an answer, I stumbled across this: https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/replace-multiple-clips-in-timeline-using-shift-alt-windows/m-p/12231950#M360840

…someone suggested using alt-shift drag, instead of just alt-dragging the clip onto the sequence, and IT WORKS!!! Shout this from the rooftops, because this secret shortcut is a godsend!

community.adobe.com

Replace multiple clips in timeline using Shift+Alt (windows)

Hi there, I have a sequnce that I assembled using an edl.  I would now like to replace those clips with a multi-camera (or nested) sequence.  I thought I could select all clips in the sequence and then Shift+Alt drag … Continue reading

[Paul Roper]

I’ve been trying to do exactly the same thing (but in the year 2024) – and PPro is being very annoying. Here’s my situation:

I’ve made a 16:9 sequence, with quite a few cuts, from mainly 16:9 supplied footage.

I now need to make 1:1 and 9:16 versions; the client has supplied me with 1:1 and 9:16 footage – the same duration, codec etc. as the 16:9 shots, just specifically re-rendered/reframed (by them) to be 1:1 or 9:16. So I duplicate my 16:9 sequence, set it to 1080×1080, and then try to replace all the 16:9 shots with their respective 1:1 versions. What a pain that is turning out to be!

I cannot simply replace the source footage in the Project panel, because then all my 16:9 shots (used in the 16:9 sequence) would be 1:1. I need to alt-drag the 1:1 shots onto the 16:9 shots in the 1:1 sequence, and for PPro to REMEMBER AND TRANSFER MY IN AND OUT POINTS…which seems beyond PPro’s capabilities – even though AE has been able to do this for decades. So my question is – is there any way to replace a clip, without having to:

1. Open the 16:9 clip in the Source monitor
2. Check and remember the in-point
3. Open the 1:1 clip in the source monitor
4. Set the in-point to match the 16:9 shot
5. alt-drag the 1:1 clip into the sequence

This seems like a ludicrous procedure…surely there’s a simpler way? (I wondered about duplicating the project, deleting my 16:9 sequence, relinking the footage to the 1:1 footage, then importing that project into my main project. But there must be an easier way, isn’t there?)

Thanks in advance for any help!

~ Paul

[Paul Roper]

Oh yes! Checking the scripting system was also one of my first thoughts, and I thought I’d checked that – I looked in the prefs and couldn’t even find the option to change it (I’m sure it used to be in there, didn’t it?) and because the option wasn’t even in there, I assumed that Adobe must’ve dropped the old ExtendScript system completely, and JavaScript was the only option these days. As you suggested, it’s in the Project Settings (has it always been there?) and indeed, for some reason, it was set to Legacy ExtendScript! I think that must’ve happened during a recent AE update – I’ve always used JavaScript expressions since it became an option years ago. (I’m on AE 2023 and AE Beta – I like using the beta version, but often switch back to the release version when AE misbehaves…but inevitably the same problems are there in the release version – like non-playback, non-refreshing of the comp viewer…but those are another, old, issue!).

And now those text expressions work perfectly. Thanks, Dan!

[Paul Roper]

6 years on, and we still don’t have anything like Premiere’s lovely project panel in AE. Feel free to upvote my suggestion here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-ideas/better-project-file-bin-management-like-in-premiere/idi-p/14036445#M2387

community.adobe.com

Better project/file/bin management, like in Premiere

I find the Project Panel in AE very restrictive when compared to Premiere's Project panel. I wish AE had Premiere's bins, different views, etc. It gets very tedious having to double-click dozens of shots to see what's what in AE; … Continue reading

[Paul Roper]

Hello Emil,

A few things spring to mind when looking at that animation:

The background dots – these could be made like this:
Create a shape layer

Add a path going from one side of the screen to the other

Add a dashed line

Add a gap to the dashed line

Adjust the dashes/gaps, and keyframe those values

Add a repeater to repeat in the y-axis all down the screen

The circular smeary lines: There’s a plugin on aescripts.com called Thicc Stroke. I’ve never used it, but it’s free, and I think it can do stuff like this.

Background lines going diagonally: See above – same as the other bg dots. If I was doing it, I’d create a separate shape layer for this, and just carefully line it up with the ‘straight’ bg dots.

0:26 – nothing of interest happens here. The image merely slides off screen (position x keyframes) and fades out, with motion blur turned on.

Tapered dash to centre – could be that Thicc Stroke plugin. Else it could be done (tediously) with repeated shape layers, with the scale set to, say 95% for each repetition. Or it could be done by animating the squares moving from the outside to the centre, then using the Echo effect to show lots of frames ion screen at once.

Experiment and enjoy!
~ Paul

[Paul Roper]

I’m only on C4D Lite at the moment, and I don’t think that comes with the Connect thing 😕.

[Paul Roper]

Maybe I just imagined the existence of a “previous/next” point selection shortcut. But yeah – using the Structure Manager could be useful. More useful than the Keyboard Shortcuts list in the Maxon Help being an image (instead of text), therefore completely unsearchable!

C4D’s inconsistency in how up/down arrow keys do stuff is a bit annoying*. If I’m in the Structure Manager, I can click on a point, then if I hit the up/down key, it highlights the various coordinates, but it’s impossible to arrow-key over to the Point Number, therefore not possible to use that shortcut to select another point! I have do it ye old fashioned way, and click on the Point number.

*and sometime, going up/down will select stuff in the Object Manager, and sometimes it’ll move a point around in the view.

[Paul Roper]

A nice simple expression! I find it fascinating to see old problems and solutions pop up, years later!

Ahh yes – I think I was working on an audio course for lynda.com for this and wanted a piano keyboard’s keys to flash when “pressed”.

[Paul Roper]

Nobody? I’m still waiting patiently here…
🤣

[Paul Roper]

With reference to all that complicated nonsense for adding commas in numbers, I always simply do this:

Number(x).toLocaleString()

…where x is your number. Couldn’t be simpler! For example, bung this in the Source Text of a text layer with a Slider control:

x = effect("Slider Control")("Slider").value.toFixed(0);
"$" + Number(x).toLocaleString()