What is the functionally correct way to have multiple layers using the same movie file?

[wideEyedPupil]

This keeps coming up and biting me. Sometimes I find that duplicating the file reference in the Project window allow me to set separate in and out points for a video track and have a second layer in a comp using the same video file.

I have a 5 minute video and I want to use multitasking cuts from the master file. Even when I seem to have two layers with seperate cuts, and then I duplicate the file reference in Project, double click it to set new reference points (no layers selected) it will then go and substitute the IN and OUT points into an existing layer.

Driving me crazy. Short of duplicating the video file I can't be sure of not having my work sabotaged at any moment and having to undo 30. minutes work to recover a layer that has scale, actor and position animations since to IN and OUT points.

Of course I could cut it in Premier, but from the layer animations, I have other layers of graphic objects in AE interacting with the movie file footage.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

The only time in and out points in a video track make a difference is if you add them in the Footage Panel. That's when you need to start duplicating assets in the Project Panel. IMHO that is almost always a bad idea.

My standard workflow for something like you describe is to create a new comp using all of the shot that I plan to use in the final AEP. I usually trim off the slate and start on the first good part of the shot, then trim off any unusable material from the end in the Footage Panel.

The next step is to create a comp from the footage (asset) in the Project Panel. I then split the layers at the cut points, then, usually, add 10 to 30 frames to the head and tail of each cut by just clicking and dragging the head and tail of the shot.

The next step is to create a pre-comp (new comp) from each of the layers trimming the comp to the length of the layer and moving all assets. I then delete the comp that I used to set up the project (main comp so far) and start work on the nested comps.  Most of my work is compositing and visual effects, most of my comps are less than 7 seconds. Sometimes I need to cut a sequence that is longer, but it never takes me more than about 10 minutes to set up even the longest project using this workflow. I end up with all comps properly named, organized in the Project Panel, and the footage is all trimmed to just the frames that I need to work on.

With some projects, I will create a new master comp or keep the original, then render a DI for editing by transitioning between all of the nested comps, but most of the time I just send each completed comp to the Render Cue, then use Render Garden to render a lossless 10 bit or better DI and an MP4 for client approval and continue working on the other shots. That way I don't have to wait for rendering, the client can get a composite for approval, and I've got an HQ DI to use in the NLE timeline. I'm not paid to endorse any product, but I find RG is one of the AE tools that will pay for itself the first time you use it on any kind of commercial project.

[wideEyedPupil]

Thanks, Rick, so i wasn't going mad, that workflow I was using is highly problematic for others also I gather from your first paragraph.

Workflow you describe makes sense, I wasn't able to step back enough to think laterally, so time poor ATM tend not to relax into lateral thinking 🙂

I'm using AME that ships with AE for rendering, and I"m only production for online so H264 is fine and source footage is more often than not garbage quality from youtube, FB, SM etc so no IQ or colour management/colour space issues to navigate. So what advantages does RG offer me over AME?