Tracing video file to source project!

I will add to this thread that to see the full path to the project in Bridge metadata, you need to right click >File Info...> Then click on 'Raw Data' on the left panel and scroll through the text until you see a path. I couldn't figure out how to show it in the interface panel.  

Bring the render into After Effects. With the clip highlighted in the Project window, go to Edit -> Edit Original...

After Effects will open the original project.

If you want to include project links in the Metadata of videos you render you must use the Render Cue. The settings are in the Output Module. Include Project Link is right at the top.

There are no options that I can find in the Adobe Media Encoder to add the AE project file link. 

The screenshot is from a test comp that I loaded into the AME that included the project link. The link cannot be seen anywhere in the metadata panel in AME.

I added a comp to the Render Cue and to the AME. I also added the rendered comp to the AME and rendered both files. From Premiere Pro, the MP4 from the comp opened QuickTime when I selected Edit Original. Both the lossless original from the Render Cue and the compressed MP4 made from the original lossless file contained the metadata required for AE to open up and go to the file. 

Here is the last few lines of the metadata for the MP4 rendered from the lossless movie created in the Render Cue. The full path and project name is right there:

<creatorAtom:fullPath>/Users/rick/projects/Dropbox/SampleProjects/animated boxes.aep</creatorAtom:fullPath> </creatorAtom:aeProjectLink> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF> </x:xmpmeta>

The comp rendered by choosing Open Comp in Media Encoder has no such information:

</xmpMM:Pantry> <dc:format>H.264</dc:format> <as11u:threeDType>3</as11u:threeDType> <as11u:pictureRatio>12:5</as11u:pictureRatio> <as11u:signingPresent>0</as11u:signingPresent> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF> </x:xmpmeta>

The Metadata from that file does contain a bunch of other info from the comp but the link to the project file is nowhere to be found. I can find out what layers were in the comp and what effects were used, but no link to the project is included. 

<rdf:li rdf:parseType="Resource"> <dc:format>application/vnd.adobe.aftereffects.layer</dc:format> <xmpMM:InstanceID>xmp.iid:4b188e69-5245-4e8c-9f33-5d27b00570fb</xmpMM:InstanceID> <dc:title> <rdf:Alt> <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">Shape Layer 15</rdf:li> </rdf:Alt> </dc:title> </rdf:li> <rdf:li rdf:parseType="Resource"> <dc:format>application/vnd.adobe.aftereffects.layer</dc:format> <xmpMM:InstanceID>xmp.iid:54134ed9-cb94-40e4-88ca-4d1d3b718100</xmpMM:InstanceID> <dc:title> <rdf:Alt> <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">Fractal Noise</rdf:li> </rdf:Alt> </dc:title>

This might be a nice feature request.

No way. Video is video, and projects are projects. In fact different recipes (projects) can produce the same meal (output) in AE. How would you differentiate that? You have to know yourself. The rest is between you and your file organization methods and this is nothing anyone can take off your shoulders. You just have to develop the discipline to name your files and folders meaningfully and keep them organized in a sensible way.

Mylenium