Optimal workflow in Premiere + AE

Thanks this works perfectly! I also found the render function which i did not use before, much easier now =)

Using the create comp from selected is a very fast way to find the footage, set in and out points, and create a comp, but using Dynamic Link on very complex composites or sequences longer than a few seconds is a sketchy workflow. You should only use After Effects for the effects shots you cannot do in Premiere Pro.

More than 90% of my AE comps are under seven seconds. I am working on a shot right now from a 3-minute movie that is only 10 frames but will probably have about 40 layers. It's probably going to take pretty close to an hour to render those 10 frames.

For simple shots selecting a single shot in the Premiere Pro sequence and then choosing "Replace with After Effects Composition" is an efficient way to work. When the shot is complex I let Dynamic Link set up the AEP file and create the comp, then I undo the action in Premiere Pro and add handles to the clip and the comp in AE so I have some room to fine-tune the edit later, finish the effects shot in AE, render the comp to a suitable production format, then replace the shot in the timeline with the final. A complex shot that takes a couple of minutes a frame to render in After Effects will take much longer to render in Premiere Pro and it is a lot harder to diagnose and fix problems. If I kept the 10 frames I'm working on right now as a Dynamic Link it would kill the performance in PPro, be impossible to preview in real time, and if there was a problem I'd have to go back into AE, again and again, to try and fix it.

Trying to import an entire movie into AE and then work on the effects is a disaster waiting to happen. It is never a good idea.