Duplicate the main comps and all the precomps that are in it

[nicolasd23169085]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering something about duplicating a comp... I know that you can duplicate one and make it independent with Cmd + D, but do you know if it's possible by doing so to also duplicate all the precomps that are in this main comp?

Let's take an example: I have this main comp called "V1". In V1, there are 2 precomps called "V1 - Precomp 1" and "V1 - Precomp 2". And in these two precomps there are also a few other precomps... you get the idea.

Now let's say that I want to make a V2 of this project, and that I want to change something in all of these precomps. I therefore need to duplicate them all. So I can start by duplicating all the precomps in the Project panel. I will have "V2", "V2 - Precomp 1", "V2 - Precomp 2"...

BUT the problem with this technique is that when I open "V2", I will still have "V1 - Precomp 1" inside it, and not "V2 - Precomp 1". The "V2 - Precomp 1" was only duplicated in the Project panel, but it didn't replace the "V1 - Precomp 1" in the "V2" main comp.

So basically, I still have all the V1's precomps inside the V2 main comp... of course I can replace them with the V2's one by one, but that's extremely annoying, especially when you have effects, links...

So my question is: do you know how can I duplicate my V1 main comp and all the precomps that are in it BUT in a way that all the precomps get automatically replaced?

Sorry for this long explanation, but I couldn't find an easier way

Thanks!

[Dave Merchant · Accepted solution]

Take a look at https://www.vdodna.com/blog/true-layer-duplicator-script-for-after-effects/

[nicolasd23169085]

The description matches perfectly! Thanks a lot, I'll download it right away!

[tkthree]

Jumping in here in 2022, this is still helpful. That link is broken but heres the new one - https://www.vdodna.com/free-tools/true-layer-duplicator-script-for-after-effects/