How to manage transitions / cross dissolves when using dynamic links with after effects?

[perfarny]

Hi All,

I'm on latest Premiere Pro and After Effects CC 2018. I have a project in Premiere Pro where I've laid out a section of my footage that uses cross dissolves between them. I've then taken several of these clips and created dynamic link objects for them to add titles in After Effects. The issue I've stumbled on is: when I'm done in After Effects and view the footage back in Premiere Pro, titles are all there but the cross dissolve transitions are gone -- not too surprised about that, I guess, but - - if I now select two of the adjacent dynamic link objects and try to add a cross dissolve back into it, it says it doesn't have enough frames to do so and will duplicate frames. And, I'm unable to elongate the footage of the dynamic link object to compensate, while there's lots of extra footage in the original where I don't have this problem. So, I'm stuck on how to manage transitions when using dynamic links?

I'm guessing there's a fundamental workflow piece I'm missing / not using? I was thinking about selecting all of the clips at once and creating a single dynamic link for it so the transitions would already be included but that doesn't give any flexibility in case I want to change them later for some reason. I have to believe there's a simpler way to be able to retain the transition work I've done in Premiere when doing this?

Thanks for your help!

-Per

[yenaphe]

Hello,

when in After Effects, you should be able to make your linked composition longer.

Open the composition in the timeline, and using ctrl-k (cmd-k on mac) shortcut, you should have the Composition properties dialogue.

In the duration parameter change the duration to something longer, and click ok. If your original clip was longer, you should be able to extend it.

Now, go back to Premiere, and you should be able to do your dissolve.

Hope this helps,

Seb

[perfarny]

Thanks much for the response!

I was able to extend it in After Effects - great. I can now also drag the end of the clip out in Premiere to extend its duration. However, I cannot extend the beginning of the clip in Premiere, and I wonder if that's at the core of what I'm now observing: with all of my clips on one single track, back to back:

1. I'm unable to add the cross dissolve transition. It just does nothing whether I drag or CTRL-D.
2. If I move the clip that's behind the one I have selected out, then I can add the transition, but it only puts it at the end of the clip. If I have no adjoining clips either before or after the linked object, it will create dissolve transition both at beginning and end of clip (but obviously not across to another clip).
3. I can also now select the moved out clip and apply cross dissolve to both beginning and end of the clip.
4. Moving the clips back together, accomplishes a transition but it (obviously) is just like a fade-out/fade-in to/from black, since the dissolve is not applied across both clips.
5. If I stagger the clips across 2 video tracks, I can apply the dissolve to the top most layer and get close to having what I had prior to the dynamic linking, but since I can't extend the lower track on the beginning end, I have to move it left and even if I extend out on the end at this point to fill the gap I created, the timing of the transition is all off.

So, I'm closer, but not quite there. Other thoughts?

I appreciate the help!

-Per

[MyerPj]

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything with the actual clip you are sending over to AE. if not, I would suggest just making the title in AE, and importing that comp into PP and laying it over the video. You can modify it in AE whenever you want, and you'll see the changes in PP right away, sometimes without even saving the changes yet in AE.

[perfarny]

Hmmm, interesting.

I'm anchoring text within the footage, i.e. motion tracking. Would your suggestion still work if I'm doing that?

If so, how exactly do I save just the comp in AE and bring it into PP? And - am I able to view the video footage within AE still so I can see where I'm putting it?

Thanks,

Per

[MyerPj]

So it does sound like you need the footage in AE, to do the tracking. You can try setting that video layer as a "Guide Layer" So, then it wont render, you could also turn off  the visibility of that layer and just the text would come thru:

You can find Guide Layer info here... Adjust layer properties in After Effects

[perfarny · Accepted solution]

I spent an hour on the phone with Adobe and they're going to escalate the case. This seems like something so simple it should just work. That said - - I just came up with a workaround.

First, what we tried (amongst a couple of other things that I actually don't recall right now but were far less promising): Select two clips (both were on same track and had dissolve applied, see V1 below) and choose to replace with AE comp. Make changes in AE, then back in PP - cut the dynamic link clip at point where I want transition and apply transition here. It seemed promising as it allowed me to place the transition there across the 2 clips, i.e. the software let me do it. But, when you play it back, it actually didn't apply it all. So - that one's a bug to me, plain and simple.

Workaround: place my clips into two video tracks not one. Overlap the clips in the areas I want the transitions. Replace with AE comp, and when back in PP, just apply the transition to the upper layer. I get the desired result.

Visually, here you go:

1. Video 1 = how I had it originally setup
2. Video 2&3 = copied clips from V1, alternated them across 2&3, extended clips both at beginning and end as needed, and then manually reset the transition times/duration to mirror what they were in V1
3. I then copied V2&V3 to V5&V6, and then selected to replace those with AE comp
4. After I did work in AE, came back to PP and added the transitions to V6 (i.e. top layer).

So, it gets me the desired end result, but there's a bit more effort involved.

Thanks all for chiming in, and still curious if others have different workflows here.

-Per