Essential Graphics Panel—renamed controls, but new control names not showing in the layers.

[evanld]

Note: the LinkedIn Learning lesson is for AE 2019 and I am using AE 2020.

LinkedIn Learning Training has me adding a hue transformation slider as well as two rotation sliders to the Essential Graphics Panel. When they are added to the panel, they are named generically as “hue transformation” and the other two both as “slider.” To make it easier to identify which control affects what during use, we renamed “hue transformation” to “sleeve color” and first “slider” to “Hand Open/Close” and the second “slider” to “wrist.” These name changes are supposed to be visible in the Master Comp’s Effects sublayer of the objects they are applied to as well as in any additional pre-comps made from the Master Comp. That is not the case. ALL of the controls are still named “hue transformation” and “slider,” even in the Master Comp that is directly associated with the Essential Graphics Panel.

I went through the lesson three times to see if I followed all instructions correctly. I did. Why is this not working as I'm told it is supposed to? Does it work differently in AE 2020 than it does in 2019?

In the attached image, the left image is what my file looks like. The controls are properly named in the Essential Graphics panel, but the new control names did not propagate within the Master Properties of the layer. The right part of the image is the lesson video where the control names DID propagate from the Essential Graphics panel to the Master Properties of the layer.

[Rick Gerard]

Try renaming the things  in the Extended Graphics panel instead of the timeline for the effects control panel. That seems to be a lot more reliable.

[evanld]

Thanks.

I did do the renaming in the Essential Graphics panel.

The new names did not show up even in the Master Properties of the comp that was selected as the Master comp in the Essential Graphics panel.

[evanld]

It is acutally not possible to rename the Hue Transformation or the slider instances in the layers, it can only be done in the Essential Graphics panel, but then the new names won’t show up in the layers as they are on the right side of the image I attached to my original post.

[ShiveringCactus]

I've found that once an Essential Graphics comp is added to another comp, the properties are "locked".  If I need to make a change, I have to delete the EG comp and add it again.

[evanld]

Thanks.

Being a newbie, I don’t think I quite understand what you’re saying.

A comp

[evanld]

So, for more details. We are renaming the controls in the Essential Graphics panel so that, as we work with those controls in individual comps that were made from the original Master comp, we can tell by the name whether we are operating the control that changes the color of the sleeve, or if we are operating the control that rotates the fingers on the hand, or if we are using the control that rotates the wrist.

If the control names I added won’t show up in the comps, then when the animation gets complicated, I won't have a clue as to which generically named “slider” operates which motion. Gaaack!

[evanld]

One other thing: the whole point of being able to see the descriptive names of the Master Properties in the layers of each new pre-comp I make is, for example, that any overrides I make to the position of the hand in one of the pre-comps doesn’t affect the other pre-comp of the hand.

[evanld]

Ok, I found a way around this problem that is NOT NEARLY as ELEGANT for Project panel clutter as it was in the tutorial. The tutorial file came with an existing comp called “hand rig”

Tutorial:

• Open the Essential Graphics panel
• Set the master comp in the Essential Graphics panel to “hand rig”
• Drag some controls from layers in the master comp to the Essential Graphics panel and rename them for clarity of use later.
• Make a copy of “hand rig” in the Project panel by dragging it to the Create new Composition button and then rename the copy “hands”
• In the “hands” comp, select the “hands” comp name that is in the layers/timeline panel and rename it “left”
• Select the “left” comp name in the layers/timeline panel and duplicate it
• In the layers/timeline panel, rename the second instance of the “left” pre-comp to “right”

The idea was that you could open the layers of ONE of the copies of the master comp and change master properties WITHOUT affecting the master comp itself or other instances of it that exist in the layers/timeline panel.

The problem was that the Master Properties listed in the comps/layers DID NOT rename to match the names in the Essential Graphics panel as the tutorial showed it doing.

My solution:

• Open the Essential Graphics panel
• Set the master comp in the Essential Graphics panel to “hand rig”
• Drag some controls from layers in the “hand rig” master comp to the Essential Graphics panel and rename them for clarity of use later.
• In the Project panel drag “hand rig” to the “Create a new Composition” button
• Rename this copy of “hand rig” as “hands”
• In the Project panel, NOT IN COMPS/LAYERS, duplicate “hands” twice
• Rename the one new instance of “hands” to “right” and rename the other to “left”
• Drag “right” and “left” from the Project panel to the layers/timeline of the “hands” comp
• Delete the “hands” comp/layer that was the originally the only layer in that comp
• Because I created the “left” and “right” comps in the PROJECT PANEL, I can select them individually as the Master Comp for the Essential Graphics panel.
• THEN, when I move the sliders with “left” chosen as the master comp, the color change, or other effects, affect the “left” comp/layer ONLY, AS EXPECTED

Basically, I end up with more comps in the project panel and select each comp in the Essential Graphics panel to change it without changing other instances