One comp with several variations

[iamjustoneman]

Hi all, 

I have a comp that currently contains 32 images on 32 layer. At different stages of the main timeline I plan to pull in a different image. Before I duplicate the comp 32 times and just have one image in each comp, I wondered if there is anything smart I can do in AE to use one comp but override the visible layer.

I use Figma a lot and I can do this with Instances and Variants. Does anything similar exist for AE?

Thanks

Lee

[Mylenium]

Basically no. You can employ tricks like pulling an image from another layer to e.g. a solid with an effect (buffer copy for rendering), but you can't do so across comps. Similarly, you could in theory set up a convoluted Essential Graphics thingy and replace the footage source in it, but as long as you stay inside AE it has no advantage over just working with native comps. So more or less duplicating stuff already is the most efficient way to go about it.

Mylenium 

[iamjustoneman]

Thanks Mylenium, I'll continue with multiple comps.