How to change the framerate of an entire project (all comps, layers, keyframes, and assets)

[shapiro500]

Hello there,

So, I'm a stupid idiot, and I imported all these TIFF sequences at 30fps and then did all of my VFX work for the client in 30fps in comps that are 30fps with rotoscoping frame by frame over many layers in 30fps timelines.  So actually the client is using 23.976 and now I need to make this all 23.976.  I'm fixing it temporarily by making new comps that are 23.976 and putting in the 30fps comps in there and stretching it so it's playing the same number of frames, but at 23.976.  But is there any way to convert all of my working comps and assets to 23.976?  Or do I just have to stick with this workaround for now?

Thanks,

Gavin

[Mylenium]

rd: Comp Setter - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

Mylenium

[Roei Tzoref]

this happens because Ae has a default for interpreting a sequence (it's in the preferences and it's 30fps) and I have done this mistakes a few times too.

I think the way you handled it was the correct way.

if you re-interpret your footage to 23.976fps or change the work comps to 23.976fps, there will be an offset with your original keyframes.

my advice to you is keep working the way you did (put the 23.976 roto comp in a 30fps comp timeline and stretching, put a 23.976fps interpreted sequence below as a reference) and not change the frame rate of the roto comps to 23.976 or re-interpret the footage.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

A frame is a frame. This is going to raise a few eyebrows and probably start an argument or two in the thread but if blending a few frames in the original image sequence footage is acceptable then all you have to do is change the frame rate of the master comp you are using for the final render. There is absolutely no reason to change the frame rate of every comp or reinterpret the imported image sequences. If you just have to deliver all of the original frames in the image sequence to the client then all you have to do is render the master comp as an image sequence and send it to the client. Please let me explain.

If the project does was not supposed to be exactly 30 seconds for example and there is no sync sound then just render an image sequence and you are good to go. Just deliver an image sequence. If you need to deliver a 23.976 fps video then import the image sequence into Premiere Pro, After Effects or the Adobe Media Encoder and interpret the footage at 23.976 fps to render a video. Your animation will just take a bit longer to playback but you will not loose or blend any frames.

If you have sync sound or the animation is in sync with the imported video (image sequence) then using Mylenium's script will only help you change the frame rate of each comp. The script will not keep animation synec to the timing of the action in the imported footage if you re-interpret the footage and change the frame rate. Here is why. If you put a 30 second audio track in a composition that is 10 fps the audio will be 30 seconds. Put that same audio track in a composition that is 60fps and it will still be 30 seconds, so changing the frame rate of a composition will not change the speed of the sound. Changing the frame rate of a composition does not change the playback speed of footage placed in that composition even if it is an image sequence. Changing the interpreted frame rate of footage always changs the speed of the playback.

Now let's talk about animation. If you have your composition set to 30fps and you set a keyframe at 10 seconds and another keyframe at 20 seconds, then you go back and change the composition frame rate to 23.976 fps or 15 fps or 60fps, the keyframes will still be at 10 seconds and 20 seconds because keyframes are based on time, not frames. Changing the frame rate of the master comp will not change the timing of anything in any nested comp

So if your timing to the imported video is critical and you have sync sound then re-interpreting your image sequences is going to change the playback speed of that footage only. You may be better off just changing the frame rate of the composition and letting some frame blending happen when you render. That's what has been happening in NTSC countries since TV began when they put movies on TV 24 fps footage has to be interlaced and frame blended using 3:2 pulldown to keep the timing accurate and avoid the slowdown and the result is not unacceptable.

This is kind of a hard thing to wrap your head around and I hope I've explained it correctly. If you have sync sound and you absolutely must not blend any frames changing the interpretation of your footage (image sequence) will require that you adjust the timing of everything else in your composition and this could be a big can of worms. If you just need to deliver a modified copy of the original image sequence then you don't have to do anything but render a new image sequence. I will say it again. If blending a few frames in the original image sequence footage is acceptable then all you have to do is change the frame rate of the master comp you are using for the final render. There is no need to change the frame rate of every nested comp in the project. I don't do this all the time but I have mixed frame rate nested comps and footage in projects all the time and most of the time, blending frames is no problem at all.

If you are still confused please clarify the exact requirements of your project and let us know.

[Pica Pie]

Sure. Until you need to time assets from a NLE to the project, then frame rate starts to matter.

[Ben Tr]

real, sometimes that 1 frame timing really matters especially on a hard cut

[Warren Heaton]

rd: Comp Setter (free) is a script available from Jeffrey Almasol to change the frame rate (among other settings) of selected Comps.

For your circumstance, you could test this in a duplicate project.  Depending on what you're doing, you may or may not need to go through each Layer and nudge keyframes based on the new temporal resolution.

Edit:  I see that Mylenium already linked to this.  So, this is a +1 for rd: Comp Setter.