How To Add Video In AE

[JamesFox2573]

I'm very new to AE. I was under the impression that you can add your video to AE, then add motion graphics, effects, etc., on top of the video. However, I recently read a post that said it is not recommended that you add minutes-long/hours-long video to the timeline for editing. Video should only be a few seconds long. I am confused becuase I thought it would be easier if you add your entire video to AE to add motion graphics/effects to it. Is this not how it shold be done? Should your video be cut up only into the parts needed then added to AE, then complied in PR? I hope I'm making sense. 

[Towerguy]

Hi. What you've read is correct. AE is for adding effects, compositing, adding motion graphics etc. using shorter sections. Only use AE for things that you can't do in PR. AE is not a video editing program, is much slower and is a more complex program to learn. Much of what you can do in AE you can also do In PR.

[JamesFox2573]

Thanks for your reply. I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. If I have a 5 minute long video, but must add several elements of motion grpahics and effects to it, I should cut the video in PR, then add only the part of the video I need to to AE, add graphics, etc in AE, then reassemble the completed video back in PR? Is that right, or is there a less tedious process to this? I feel like I am missing something. 

[Towerguy]

You can use Dynamic Link to send sections from PR to AE so that you can work on them and they will update. Look up 'Adobe Dynamic Link' to see what I mean. You could theoretically use AE for everything but it is much much much slower than a dedicated editing program like PR - it has limited playback time and is terrible with sound, apart from having every element on a seperate layer which can quickly become tedious. There are also a lot of the same effects and graphic capabilities within PR.

[JamesFox2573]

Tbank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

[Rick Gerard]

If you are very new you need to start with the Learn workspace to figure out the User Interface and basic controls. Then you need to spend at least a couple of hours with the User Guide. It's available on this forum, the After Effects product page, and through the Search Help field in the top right corner of After Effects. Just jumping in and poking around is not the way to start. Searching YouTube for tutorials is also generally a really bad idea for newbies because most new tutorials out there, even ones with thousands of views, are poorly explained and very often inefficient recipes for effects that well-meaning enthusiasts have copied from somebody else. Almost every problem with a tutorial I have answered on this forum in the last three or four years come from very poorly explained and often terrible techniques presented by enthusiasts. 

Once you get a handle on the basics for beginners and work your way through a few of the tutorials (most have sample footage) in the User Guide, you will be able to start exploring other techniques. Until that, you are just playing with lit firecrackers waiting for them to blow up in your hand.